Rants & Raves

What I am reading into the Ohtani delay is that his favored team (?) has not ponied up the money he is after. He is waiting, hoping that they will meet his demands . Quite possibly, no team is meeting his demands. It seems like he would have signed if his demands were being met.

Oh, how I love these baseball “journalists” and pundits. Most of the stuff that’s reported is them repeating other stuff from other pundits that is, in itself, usually a figment of someone’s imagination.

Ohtani is going to Toronto. It’s a done deal. Apparently not.

This Ohtani back and forth here has been going on, ad nauseum, for months now. You have the pro-Ohtani folks, and those who think he’s not worth it.

“His contract will hamstring the Dodgers ability to sign players in fiscal year 2029!” “By the end of his contract in ten years the Dodgers won’t be getting a good return on investment!” … LOL! Or something to that effect.

Really. Not to be dour about our future personal prospects here, but most of you all here are in your 70s. To be blunt, you’re going to be dead in ten years. Why do you care about how Ohtani will be performing then? How ’bout you just enjoy the moment?

I’ve had to change my expectations as a Dodgers fan. I don’t have expectations that the Dodgers will win the WS. The playoff structure has turned October into the baseball equivalent of March Madness. It’s just a randomized tournament, and regardless of how stacked, talented or deep the Dodger team is, their likelihood of winning it all is unfortunately very slim, and contingent of the vicissitudes of who’s hot, and who’s not.

So, I don’t care. If the Dodgers win it all. …icing on the cake. At this point I’d just rather watch the best player on Planet Earth play for the team I follow for 162 games.

Having Ohtani – or a whole gaggle of the best players money can buy – will not guarantee a WS win. Just ask Steve Cohen. You know what is guaranteed? That you’ll have the privilege of watching the best player on Planet Earth play for the team you follow for 162 games. And some of you are adamantly opposed to that? To each his own … I guess.

Oh, how I love these baseball “journalists” and pundits. Most of the stuff that’s reported is them repeating other stuff from other pundits that is, in itself, usually a figment of someone’s imagination.

Ohtani is going to Toronto. It’s a done deal. Apparently not.

This Ohtani back and forth here has been going on, ad nauseum, for months now. You have the pro-Ohtani folks, and those who think he’s not worth it.

“His contract will hamstring the Dodgers ability to sign players in fiscal year 2029!” “By the end of his contract in ten years the Dodgers won’t be getting a good return on investment!” … LOL! Or something to that effect.

Really. Not to be dour about our future personal prospects here, but most of you all here are in your 70s. To be blunt, you’re going to be dead in ten years. Why do you care about how Ohtani will be performing then? How ’bout you just enjoy the moment?

I’ve had to change my expectations as a Dodgers fan. I don’t have expectations that the Dodgers will win the WS. The playoff structure has turned October into the baseball equivalent of March Madness. It’s just a randomized tournament, and regardless of how stacked, talented or deep the Dodger team is, their likelihood of winning it all is unfortunately very slim, and contingent of the vicissitudes of who’s hot, and who’s not.

So, I don’t care. If the Dodgers win it all. …icing on the cake. At this point I’d just rather watch the best player on Planet Earth play for the team I follow for 162 games.

Having Ohtani – or a whole gaggle of the best players money can buy – will not guarantee a WS win. Just ask Steve Cohen. You know what is guaranteed? That you’ll have the privilege of watching the best player on Planet Earth play for the team you follow for 162 games. And some of you are adamantly opposed to that? To each his own … I guess.

As of 7.28 CDT Ohtani has not signed with any team and had not made a decision yet per MLBTR. Anything else is pure bullshit.

I’m not dead yet.

Right about now… I believe nothing of what I hear and half of what I see!

Red Sox To Acquire Tyler O’Neill

Hoping we start seeing more action. Good add for bosox.

I would like to see:

1. Muncy at DH

2. Trade for RH power bat at 3rd and/or Short stop

3. Sign or trade for non-platoon OF with power

4. Sign Yamamoto for high AAV, 4- year deal.

5. Trade for durable #3 SP.

See how season progresses and be ready to trade more prospects to power up for WS run.

I heard the plane got diverted to Boston. Uh oh!!!!!! Is Dave Robert’s flying the plane?

Bob Nightingale is reporting Ohtani wasn’t on the private flight heading to Toronto. He is at his home in SoCal right now.

Hope all of this Ohtani to Toronto is BS

Thinking more about Ohtani: If he didn’t want to be a Dodger six years ago why would he want to be one now? He obviously doesn’t like the press and it’s been said he’s not after every last dollar. So Canada makes some sense. Plus, in LA he wouldn’t be THE man. He’d share that with Mookie & Freddie and others later. PLUS? All this phony secrecy stuff really strikes me as primadona behavior. Reminds me of MadBum telling Puig not to look at him. So damn dumb.

well if it’s true, it’s time for friedman to step it up! honestly not all that disappointing news. make cleveland an offer for jose ramirez they can’t refuse. busch, vargas and cartaya. dh max.sheehan , grove and rivas for cease. sign imanaga .try to sign hoskins and we’re done!

OK, get busy, AF:

1. Sign JDM – $38 MM

2. Sign Imanaga – $92 MM

3. Sign Yamamoto – $280 MM

4. Sign Lee – $85 MM

5. Sign Garver – $40 MM

That’s $535 MM which is less than Ohtani and you get 5 impact players!

BooYAH!

Looks like happening –

3:00pm: Ohtani is en route to Toronto, per Morosi, though he adds that Ohtani does not have a signed agreement with any team.

This is absolutely amazing news.

I’m sorry some of you will be disappointed but I truly believe this is the best thing for our Club going forward.

Very excited about the season ahead and the moves AF will make to strengthen the Rotation.

Now you can see why Doc said what he said,

Exciting times ahead

Blake Snell, Dylan Cease, and Imanaga could all be in dodgers rotation but they still need a Leftfielder that bats right handed or a eight fielder that bats right handed and then put Heyward and Deluca in Leftfield. That I say could be by way of trade could it be Glasnow and Arozianna could be or a Tylee Oneal or how about this move outman to left field and then sign Kevin Keilmier or Michael Taylor both started centerfield for the one the blue jays and second one the Twins last year now the Dodgers can start doing more stuff.

Will the Japanese community be more excited about 2 Japanese players Yamamoto AND Imanaga on the Dodgers, than 1 player Ohtani?

Yamamoto AND Imanaga will cost about the same as Ohtani per year, maybe even slightly less.

Will the Japanese community like another Asian player, Lee on the Dodgers?

Will the Korean community like Lee on the Dodgers and come watch him play at Dodger stadium?

DH’s are easy to find because all they have to do is hit and we don’t know if Ohtani will ever pitch again and if he does how good he will be.

The Dodgers main need is starting pitching.

Ask yourself those 3 questions and consider the other 3 things.

Now some sources say Ohtani hasn’t made a decision. None of the usual folks have said he’s going to the Blue Jay’s. Did somebody jump the gun? All this is quite hilarious.

Well, apparently, Ohtani is going to Toronto. I thought he would. Different cat. The Dodgers have been saved from themselves. Now they can sign JD or find another DH and focus on pitching.

Initially, I liked the idea of the Dodgers signing Shohei, but then the money got crazy. No, beyond crazy.

It would have created a massive boat anchor to future roster changes and additions.

Will they now go all in on Yamamoto? Is he as good as they say?

Or will they focus on the Japanese lefty and making a trade.

Another bat right hand bat wouldn’t hurt

It’s a great day for LA.

From MLBTRadeRumors –

Conflicting Reports On Ohtani, Blue Jays

By Darragh McDonald | December 8, 2023 at 1:15pm CDT

The Blue Jays are set to sign two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani, per a report from J.P. Hoornstra of Dodgers Nation. Nothing is official but Hoornstra reports a formal announcement is expected as soon as tonight. Ben Nicholson-Smith and Shi Davidi of Sportsnet and Alden Gonzalez of ESPN push back by saying that a decision has not been made.

The white sox already said they’re not trading Roberts jr.

Ohtani going to the Jays for 580 million. Dodged a bullet there.

Go get Yamamoto and Cease and Roberts JR guys and sign Kike and bring back JD Martinez before he goes to the Giants.

Maybe not a done deal ?

The Blue Jays are set to sign two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani, per a report from J.P. Hoornstra of Dodgers Nation. Nothing is official but Hoornstra reports a formal announcement is expected as soon as tonight. Ben Nicholson-Smith and Shi Davidi of Sportsnet and Alden Gonzalez of ESPN push back by saying that a decision has not been made.

Hoornstra says it’s the Blue Jays!

Ohtani should finalize the contract with the Dodgers if it includes Trout… now that M. Bets is permanently at 2nd base Merry Xmas !

By the way, there is a private jet on the way to Toronto from Orange County, whatever that means.

Good analysis JayB. The additional revenue Ohtani brings is important to offset his salary cost. But Ohtani turned down and disrespected the Dodgers the first time around. The Dodgers brought Friedman, Roberts, Kershaw, and Turner to meet him and he was disinterested.

The Angels benefited from having 6 prime years of Ohtani for $42 million total. The first 5 years, they only paid him $12 million. They also had Trout who was the best player in baseball. And they did not have even a winning season in the 6 years of Ohtani. The idea that Ohtani will bring 1-3 WS titles in the next 6 years is optimistic. It is a team game and elevating one player above the other players is dangerous, especially an injured and aging player. Veteran Dodger players like Buehler and Will Smith have brought a WS title and multiple division titles to LA and are still guaranteed under $10 million total, yet the Dodgers will give $600 million to a non-Dodger. I could see this contract causing the Dodgers to lose their younger guys in the future. I would invest first in Dodger players before making an outsider the highest paid player in MLB history. They did the same thing with Bauer in 2021 and it did not work out then.

Gotta look at this in a glass-half-full kinda way, guys.

If he signs here, we’ve got ourselves quite possibly the best player of all time.

If he signs in Toronto (or elsewhere), we’ve just saved ourselves 600 mil to spend on other players, half of which will be available for Yamamoto whom we actually need more than we do Shohei. And that will still give us lots to further build our roster.

There have been few (if any) references to what Ohtani means economically in extra revenue. The estimates of what he is worth in world wide marketing and extra ticket, parking, & concession sales is between $25-50MM/year. The Dodgers are probably on the low end of that because ticket sales will increase but not as much because of what we draw every year.

If we assume $25MM, that brings his annual net cost to $25-30MM, well within the ballpark for a superstar hitter. I understand the issues of handcuffing the team in the later years of the contract. However, I have to believe the contract would provide some sort of insurance against his never pitching again.

With that in mind, if he could help bring 1-3 championships in the next 6 years, signing him is kind of a no brainer. I’m fairly certain all this has gone into the team’s analysis of this deal. I also cannot understand all the “don’t sign him” comments on this site. He is the best player in the game today. If he does pitch well again, he will be the best player in the game for several years to come. You do not pass on this kind of opportunity and accept whatever risk is involved.

I of course will have no input or effect on the Ohtani situation.

I am not eager to see the Dodgers commit that much money ($500M+ as speculated) over 10 years (as guessed). Just doesn’t seem prudent to me. Happy to have a competitor spend that much!

Hate to see that level of resource spent on one person, even if they are a superstar (who can’t pitch for a year). I guess we’ll know soon enough…..

In a corporate environment if no comment is the expected response and running your mouth screws up a big deal you would not be emplyoed much less considered a breath of fresh air last i checked Dodgers were a corporate environment just saying

Could Ohtani end up becoming a PR disaster if secrecy is going to be a contingency while playing for a major market team?

I’m beginning to wonder if he will be able to handle the media circus that is going to follow him the rest of his career.

Things got pretty spicy between former Dodger and current SportsNet LA analyst Jerry Hairston Jr. and Sid Seixeiro of Breakfast Television Toronto.

It began with Hairston making a sales pitch to Shohei Ohtani on why he should sign with the Dodgers rather than the Toronto Blue Jays.

“Like Tommy Lasorda said, ‘If you want to be a real Angel, you have to put on Dodger blue…’ Canada is too cold, man! In your lovely Newport Beach home, you can commute— if you want to stay there— to Dodger Stadium every single night. The fanbase is electric. The stadium is always rocking.”

It’s definitely crazy.

It’s time for the Dodgers to step forward and tell Ohtani we need an answer. They probably won’t want to do that. But it is the right thing to do. If it cost you the player so be it.

Have to wonder if they go all in on Yamamoto if they lose Ohtani.

There is no guarantee that Ohtani will make a decision this weekend. That apparently was just speculation from one individual, who had no direct knowledge. Funny how that works. Spread like fire.

There are numerous paths to success. The longer this goes on, the better those other paths look.

The Dodgers need pitching. Ohtani won’t pitch in 2024. The DBacks have a pretty good rotation. The Dodgers are young, potentially very good. They need a couple of vets.

The clarity that Friedman is talking about is the cost of acquiring that pitching will cost more in prospect capital.

Short term gain taking a bite out of the future.

I do like Imanaga. Pretty good lefty.

Ohtani is a different cat. Wouldn’t be a surprise to see him end up in Toronto or even back with the Angels.

One thing going around is that Yamamoto loves the Dodgers. But $300 million?

Why would the Dodgers fire Robert’s. What is he suppose to do lie? All this hush hush crap was nonsense. Roberts was a breath of fresh air.

If ohtani dose not sign with Dodgers will they fire Roberts since he gave us an example of what a moron is?

Morosi says decision is imminent and may come today. (just passing on the info)

The Dodgers may not be allowed by the Ohtani camp to announce his signing even if he signs. Only that they have signed an unnamed player for 500 mil.

Ohtani signs with us today. I’ll bet my LADT membership on it.

Montgomery is rumored to be signing back with Texas. Let him go there. Better options out there.