Shohei Ohtani, 29, has rejected a qualifying offer from his original team, the Los Angeles Angels, and the bidding war has begun in earnest. The Los Angeles Dodgers have emerged as the favorite, but the World Series champion Texas Rangers cannot be ruled out.
“Texas is the team to watch in the battle for Ohtani,” The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal said on Thursday (ET).
On Thursday, news broke that Ohtani had turned down a qualifying offer. Qualifying offers (QOs) are one-year contracts offered to free agents by their original clubs, worth an average of the salaries of the top 125 players in Major League Baseball. This year’s qualifying offer is $2.025 million (approximately KRW 26.6 billion). That’s up $675,000 from last year’s $19.65 million.굿모닝토토 주소
Ohtani’s refusal was understandable. It’s clear that he’s going to get a lot more than that.
As a hitter this season, Ohtani batted .304 with 44 home runs, 95 RBI, 102 runs scored, 20 doubles, a .412 on-base percentage, a .654 slugging percentage and a 1.066 OPS in 135 games, and as a pitcher, he went 10-5 with a 3.14 ERA in 23 starts and 132 innings. He led the American League in home runs. It was a tremendous performance considering his season ended prematurely with a torn medial collateral ligament (UCL) in his right elbow.
While we won”t see a two-hitter next year, Ohtani”s impact as a hitter can”t be ignored, which is why the local media has been speculating about his contract.
On the local front, the Dodgers are the favorites. The San Francisco Giants, Atlanta Braves, New York Mets, and Boston Red Sox are also in the mix.
“If I had to pick a team to seriously consider signing Ohtani, it would be Texas,” he said, “They just won the World Series. You want to keep the momentum going. They’ve invested $800 million in free agency, but I think they’re going to keep investing, personally. Chris Young is a general manager who hates to lose like crazy. The ownership team has expressed a willingness to help, even if it means increasing the payroll. The financial outlook is bright with a World Series championship.”
Rosenthal says, “It’s hard to say because there are so many teams that are interested in him. Teams with deep pockets, like Texas or the Chicago Cubs, or the two New York teams (Mets and Yankees), will contact his agent to see how much money they need. Ultimately, we don’t know which team Ohtani is most interested in. We’ll just have to wait and see.”