Shohei Ohtani free agency: How one team has become the current favorite to sign MLB’s best player

With Major League Baseball’s steady season winding down, it is just about time for a high-stakes pageant that can have world implications for the winner. No, now not the World Series, however Shohei Ohtani’s front to free company. 

Ohtani, 29, not too long ago suffered a torn ulnar collateral ligament and underwent surgical treatment that can stay him off the mound till 2025, despite the fact that he plans to be able to hit for Opening Day 2024. He’s nonetheless anticipated to land the richest contract in league historical past, with insiders forecasting a deal topping the $500-million mark. So it is going when the player in query has occupation marks that come with a 148 OPS+ and a 145 ERA+.

It’s too early to understand how, exactly, Ohtani’s marketplace will shake out — deficient seasons from anticipated suitors like the New York Mets and San Diego Padres may modify their plans in surprising tactics. Even so, more than a few front-office assets who’ve spoken to CBS Sports in contemporary weeks about Ohtani’s free company are positive about one factor: the Los Angeles Dodgers can be in the combine and are seen as the current favorites to sign baseball’s best player.

Below, CBS Sports has highlighted 3 the reason why the Dodgers are and can stay the favorites to land Ohtani heading into the opening of bidding.

1. Third time’s the attraction?

This wintry weather would possibly not be the first time the Dodgers chase Ohtani as a free agent. The Dodgers have attempted to sign him two times prior to, together with as an novice, making it transparent that the group has lengthy been enchanted by means of him.

There’s no indication of the way shut the Dodgers had been to touchdown Ohtani out of highschool, as different big-league golf equipment had been additionally identified to have pastime. He used to be so enamored with the concept of signing with an MLB group that he directed Nippon Professional Baseball league groups now not to draft him. 

“Every time we talked to someone that had seen him, the conversations had a little bit (more) life to them than typical,” former Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti told The Athletic. “We knew it was real. We knew he was real.”

The Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters later decided on Ohtani with the No. 1 general select and satisfied him to sign and broaden as a two-way skill. He would cross on to spend the first 5 seasons of his skilled occupation with them prior to being posted for MLB attention. That’s when the Dodgers as soon as once more attempted to land Ohtani. They had been amongst a handful of groups to be granted in-person conferences, however he made up our minds to sign up for the Los Angeles Angels.

2. Past transactions hinted at long term plans

We’re now not retconning historical past once we write that the Dodgers have appeared intent on chasing Ohtani for some time. Consider that final December we attributed their sluggish offseason partly to the anticipated pursuit of Ohtani:

Unprecedented gamers have a tendency to obtain exceptional contracts, that means the Dodgers may well be leery of including what they understand as needless long-term commitments to their books prior to they have got an opportunity to recruit the player they maximum need. Should the Dodgers have to sacrifice the upside in their 2023 roster for that effort? No. But once more, that is an acknowledgement that there are different forces that may dictate how groups method the wintry weather, starting from the possession stage to long term plans.

Sure sufficient, the Dodgers didn’t sign (and feature now not since traded for) a unmarried player with a assured contract for the 2024 season. (Several additions do have choices for subsequent 12 months.) That suggests Andrew Friedman and Brandon Gomes sought after to stay their powder dry for an all-out pursuit this wintry weather.

3. Preferences might align

Attempting to divine what a player prioritizes in a particular method is a idiot’s errand. In basic, maximum gamers need to make as a lot cash as conceivable; win as many video games as conceivable; be shut to a definite location; or satisfy two or all 3 of the ones elements. The actual order (and significance) of the ones priorities is for the ballplayer and their illustration to know and leverage.

Ohtani demonstrated that cash is not his primary motivating issue when he left NPB for MLB prior to he used to be in a position to earn greater than the big-league minimal. To that we are saying, so what? That piece of information is needless because it pertains to this wintry weather since Ohtani is sure to become an overly wealthy consumer it doesn’t matter what.

The different items of the equation — the successful and the location — would appear to desire the Dodgers. Ohtani has many times mentioned that his best purpose is successful a World Series name. The Dodgers have captured most effective one of the ones in recent times, however they have been the winningest regular-season team all the way through the Pandemic Era for a explanation why — they usually appear most probably to stay a pressure.

As for the location, Ohtani’s first foray into free company noticed him prioritize the west coast. All however one of his seven finalists had been positioned in a West department: the Dodgers, Angels, Padres, San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers, and Chicago Cubs. Perhaps that used to be a accident, or possibly it is a desire that has modified with time. 

If now not, depend it as one more reason why the Dodgers are the favorites to land Ohtani this wintry weather — as though they did not have sufficient operating of their desire.