Latest Shohei Ohtani Rumors as Free Agency Saga Continues

Friday, December 8 will forever be known as one of the craziest days in baseball social media history. And while social media was full of Shohei Ohtani news and rumors, we enter Saturday in pretty much the same place we were on Friday — with nothing official.

So, here's all the latest news and rumors surrounding Ohtani watch.

J.P. Hoornstra of Dodgers Nation, who reported on Friday that Ohtani was signing with the Toronto Blue Jays, has posted an update on Saturday morning on DodgersNation.com. Here's the update, which answers questions about the status of Ohtani, and doubles down that Ohtani will ultimately end up with Toronto.

ESPN's Alden Gonzalez was among those to report that Ohtani has yet to make a decision on his free agency, and while he still could ultimately end up in Toronto, nothing was finalized yet.

Source: Shohei Ohtani has not made a decision yet.

That’s not to say it won’t ultimately be the Blue Jays; my understanding is that, at this point, that decision has not been made.
— Alden González (@Alden_Gonzalez) December 8, 2023

That's the only concrete report about Ohtani's free agency decision, but we got plenty of speculation on Friday regarding Ohtani's whereabouts.

Jon Morosi of MLB Network reported that Ohtani was on a flight to Toronto. That came amid a morning of speculation as social media watched a flight take off from Orange County to Toronto.

Sources: Shohei Ohtani is en route to Toronto today.

A representative of his agency, CAA, would not comment when asked about Ohtani’s travel plans.

At this hour, Ohtani does not have a signed agreement with any @MLB team. @MLBNetwork
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) December 8, 2023

Morosi's report was then shot down by USA Today insider Bob Nightengale, and Morosi later issued an apology on social media for reporting inaccurate information.

Shohei Ohtani is NOT in Toronto.
Ohtani is NOT on a flight to Toronto.
Ohtani is at home in Southern California.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) December 8, 2023

Today, I posted reporting that included inaccurate information that Shohei Ohtani was traveling to Toronto. I regret the mistake and apologize to baseball fans everywhere. I am deeply sorry for letting you down.
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) December 9, 2023

So who was on that fateful flight?

Shark Tank and Dragon's Den star Robert Herjavec, who had some fun with the situation on Instagram after the fact.

After a Friday of chaos, Saturday, thus far, has been relatively quiet. We are continuing to wait for the greatest player in the sport to announce his decision, and at this point, it's hard to rule anything out.

Will he sign with the Blue Jays as Hoornstra is reporting? Will he still elect to sign with the longtime frontrunner Dodgers? Willhe decide that all of this chaos was exactly what he didn't want, and choose to remain with the Angels where he's been able to live a relatively private life for the last six years?

These questions will hopefully be answered soon, but at this point, it's hard to know when Ohtani will announce a decision.