5 reasons the Red Sox deserve to be the front-runners for Shohei Ohtani
The two-way star is poised to make a decision as soon as free agency opens and has seemingly narrowed his top choices to the Dodgers, Rangers, and Red Sox.
It's no secret to anyone that Shohei Ohtani has pitched his last game with the Los Angeles Angels after not being able to crack the playoffs in his tenure there, but in making his decision about where he goes next, there has been a lot of mystery surrounding that.
There have been numerous reports ranging anywhere from the Chicago Cubs splurging when they normally wouldn't to a team like the New York Mets making a splash and adding to their rotation and lineup that much better.
According to ESPN.com's Jeff Pasan, Ohtani "has affinity for three teams." Those three teams are the Texas Rangers, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Boston Red Sox.
While the two-way star is not expected to pitch again until 2025, and is expected to serve exclusively as a designated hitter in 2024 after getting elbow surgery at the end of the 2023 season, don't expect that to diminish his value as he is expected to come back with a vengeance on the hill once he is fully recovered from surgery.
FanSided insider Robert Murray recently said that Ohtani might make his decision earlier than expected.
Here's why the Red Sox deserve to be Ohtani's top choice.
No. 1: Ohtani won't be the ace elsewhere
If Ohtani decides to go with Texas or Los Angeles, chances are he won't be the ace at either spot.
The Dodgers have Clayton Kershaw's contract to wrangle with this off-season, but let's be real, it's just a matter of meeting at the right number for him and he'll be a Dodger for life. If he goes somewhere else, it might be towards the end of his career, but he doesn't appear to be slowing down anytime soon. Not to mention their secondary starters of Walker Buehler, and (when he comes back from injury) Dustin May.
If he were to go to the Rangers, they have not one, not two, but three already established starters who would be an ace on any other squad in Max Scherzer, Jacob deGrom (when he returns from injury), and Nathan Eovaldi.
Sure, he won't be pitching in his first year of any deal, but once he is he will be looking to lead the staff and make sure they make it into the playoffs under HIS watch, not someone else's. Plus with the money he is commanding of almost $100MM per year, give or take $10MM, any team in their right mind is not going to pay him that to be their number-two, number-three starter or (in Texas' case) number-four starter.
The Red Sox have the best set up for him where he can walk through the door, and immediately become their ace. He won't be day one seeing as he won't be pitching in 2024 (as alluded to in the previous paragraph), but just to know that he WILL BE leading the rotation as early as 2025, should be enough for him to heavily consider Boston.
No. 2: Ohtani's already established relationships with current and potential players
It's no secret to anyone in Boston that Masataka Yoshida was an excellent signing by former Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom last winter, but it may pay more dividends than initially thought as Yoshida's relationship with Ohtani, a significant one I might add, may add to why Ohtani should be coming to Boston.
The two played together on Team Japan in the World Baseball Classic in 2023, and supposedly have more than just a cordial relationship.
Are Masataka Yoshida and Shohei Ohtani becoming best friends? A lot of people are saying that. pic.twitter.com/Pt7G6OmYql
— Jared Carrabis (@Jared_Carrabis) March 10, 2023
In addition to Yoshida, Ohtani also has an established relationship from that same team with potential Red Sox pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamato - a former teammate of Yoshida with Orix Buffaloes - whom Boston has been linked to ever since he said he will be moving from Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan to Major League Baseball.
Both pitchers played on Samurai Japan together, and formed a duo that felt almost impossible to stop in the WBC. With existing relationships with both players, it almost seems like Boston is a dream come true for Ohtani.
No. 3: Ohtani's love for pitching at Fenway Park
Multiple reports have surfaced recently saying that while Ohtani likes being close to the New Balance headquarters, where he has a close relationship with the president of the company, Passan reported as well that he has a "fondness for pitching at Fenway Park".
While, there is something to be said that a pitcher should be able to pitch in any park that he calls home, loving pitching at Fenway is not something you hear out of just every pitcher's mouth. It's a very hit-or-miss (no pun intended) park, and unless your name is Pedro Martinez, or any other pitcher who has had wild success with the Red Sox, chances are they will say they hate pitching there.
It's truly more of a hitter's park with the short porch in right field, the Green Monster in left, and the Bermuda Triangle that is... Well... the triangle where the center field wall, the warning track, and the Red Sox bullpen meet.
As a hitter, Ohtani would most likely feast as well. Sure, it would take a lot more to hit home runs at Fenway Park for him as he usually goes to right center, but if he worked on hitting the ball the other way some as well, he could rack up a few doubles hitting it off the Monster.
No. 4: The Red Sox have the money to spend
At the end of the day free agency comes down to one thing, and it's not necessarily always your role with the organization. What is it? Money!!!
Given that the Red Sox were out of the top 10 in all of baseball, according to Spotrac, when they are normally in the top three. Boston is on track to have a monster off-season, especially now that they have an ownership group that is more willing to open their checkbooks.
It is estimated that the Red Sox have over $250 MM that they can allocate this season to free agency or absorption of salaries, and if $100 MM of that went to Ohtani that nearly cuts it in half, but keep in mind this is also before all of the revenue of Ohtani jerseys, Ohtani t-shirts, Ohtani this and Ohtani that come into play.
Why this wasn't a thought before the 2023 season is beyond me, but it appears from all reports that John Henry is ready to open the checkbook and let his new Chief Baseball Officer, Craig Breslow, do his job.
No. 5: Craig Breslow has said that pitching is his Red Sox priority
In one of his first interviews, Breslow said to Chris Smith of MassLive.com, that pitching is a priority for the Red Sox this offseason.
Breslow has not exactly outlined what the plan will be moving forward with pitching, but he understands where the team struggled the last few years and knows how to get a strong pitching core, especially through his last position as pitching coordinator for the Cubs.
Most importantly with Breslow, he knows this is a priority because he understands the fanbase from playing for Boston, and understands how much they value the man on the hill. Yes, the man at the plate is important too, but he knows that in the case of this off-season, pitching needs to be number one.
As a former pitcher Head of Baseball Operations, Chief Baseball Officer, or whatever you want to call him is now in charge of their moves, Ohtani should look at that and think that that is something that proves the Red Sox are a good fit.
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