Shohei Ohtani News: Angels Two-Way Superstar Expected to 'Stay Out West'
Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani is heading into his sixth season with the Halos, which means he'll be hitting free agency after the season. A full year ahead of his availability, rumors are already swirling about where he's going to end up.
Over at USA Today, Bob Nightengale writes that geography could come into play for Shohei as he decides where to sign.
Those close to Shohei Ohtani predict he’ll stay out West when he becomes a free agent simply because of his lifestyle. He rarely ventures out, his friends say, and thoroughly enjoys his privacy.
When he was a free agent coming out of Japan in 2017, he narrowed his choices to seven teams: The Angels, Padres, Dodgers, Mariners, Giants, Rangers and Cubs. The Cubs were the lone finalist not in the NL West or AL West.
The most intriguing part of this saga will be finding out how much geography actually matters to Ohtani compared to dollars. Five years ago, Ohtani was subject to international signing bonus limits, so teams were much more limited in their ability to overwhelm him with a high-dollar offer. With the money roughly the same no matter where he went, it made sense that Ohtani focused on things like geography.
But next year, teams will be able to throw as much money at Ohtani as they want. Sure, Shohei might prefer to stay out west, but would he really choose a western team if a team on the east coast offered him significantly more money?
That's a question we just do know the answer to. Ohtani has proven to be a unicorn on the field, so it's possible his motivations in free agency are different from what we've seen from 99% of other players, too. We just won't know until next year, probably.
