Shohei Ohtani free agency rumors: Team meetings to be kept secret in bidding war for two-way superstar

If you may have discovered the early days of Shohei Ohtani’s free agency to be quieter than expected, then relaxation confident that it is by way of design. According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, Ohtani and agent Nez Balelo are intent on protecting issues mum — to the level they could debit groups who leak information about and all the way through the dating procedure.

“If visits between Ohtani and a team are reported publicly, it will be held against the team, so the circles will be tiny and tight,” Passan wrote on Tuesday. 

Ohtani and Balelo’s insistence on protecting main points shut to their vest makes sense sufficient. It stands to reason why that Ohtani is almost definitely uninterested in coping with the nonstop hypothesis and scrutiny that ruled what’s most probably to be remembered as his ultimate season with the Los Angeles Angels. (That stuff comes with the territory to an extent, however let’s accept it: he is been uncovered to greater than his proportion already.)

Besides, a part of the rationale that gamers and brokers (and groups, thoughts you) leak information on free-agent pastime is to create drive and achieve leverage in negotiations. Atypical gamers create unusual scenarios, and Ohtani does not require the ones sorts of methods as a result of he is arguably probably the most proficient participant in the game’s historical past. 

Here’s what CBS Sports wrote about Ohtani after we ranked him because the No. 1 free agent to be had this iciness:

Welcome to probably the most expected free agency in league historical past. Ohtani is not going to pitch subsequent 12 months after present process elbow surgical treatment to proper a torn ulnar collateral ligament, but he is anticipated to be in somebody’s lineup as a DH come Opening Day. (He’s slated to go back to the mound in 2025.) Ohtani is bound to obtain a mammoth, record-breaking payday in the meantime. Why would not he? He’s ranked in the highest 10 in each ERA+ and OPS+ since debuting, and alongside the best way has single-handedly shifted the Overton Window on two-way gamers. It’s honest to surprise how his workload will trade in the longer term — possibly he one day shifts to a reduction function? — however that is the possibility you gladly abdomen if you find yourself blessed with the chance to signal the type of anomaly who invokes references to Leon Day, Bullet Rogan, Martín Dihigo, and Babe Ruth. “Destiny is the music of the improbable,” Kenneth Patchen as soon as wrote. “Were it otherwise, almost anyone could exist.” Make certain you have the opportunity to experience Ohtani’s music this iciness, even because the noise round him ramps up. 

Passan provides that some possible suitors consider Ohtani may just make his choice in a rather fast method, possibly ahead of Major League Baseball’s annual iciness meetings kick off in early December.