Where will Ohtani play in 2024?

[ten ocho recon scout]

6 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

Yep, and slowly morphs into Paul Walker in a GTR

And the Angels fail to score the guy from second with no outs right afterwards.

[ScottT]

50% chance he plays in Anaheim 

[Jay]

2 hours ago, Inside Pitch said:

Yep, and slowly morphs into Paul Walker in a GTR

I have to admit that would be pretty cool.

[eligrba4ever]

His physical breakdown makes it a tricky offseason of free-agency for Ohtani. He probably won't get $600 million or more over a decade. A second elbow reconstruction and a fully lost season of pitching turns him into a premium DH and little more for at least one season. In his 30s, there is no guarantee he'll ever be as effective as a pitcher as he was pre-injury. 

I also wonder how much trust he has in the Angels' medical staff.

I wish Shohei well in his future endeavors, The locker clear-out seems pretty final from an Angels' standpoint.

[Vegas Halo Fan]

3 hours ago, Inside Pitch said:

I have it on good authority that the Angels plan to play clips from all the Fast and Furious movies where Dominic Torreto talks about family on the scoreboard during the Angels final home game.  No way Ohtani can walk away after that.

He can if he isn't in the ballpark to see it.

[Ariamus]

Don't care.

[Jay]

Based on what I'm seeing unfold here I almost hope he goes somewhere else.

[SoCalDucksFan]

I assume that when Ohtani leaves, the funny looking home run hat goes with him.

[Slegnaac]

20 hours ago, ScottT said:

50% chance he plays in Anaheim 

100% chance if he signs with an AL West team.

[Angels in 2030]

It’ll be one of LAD, Mariners, SF or SD (in that order).

[notherhalo]

I just hope it's a winner not named the Dodgers, unless he spends the bulk of that contract on the IL

Seattle would be a good choice for him but LAD wins so much...

Edited September 17, 2023 by notherhalo

[Slegnaac]

Could Artie pay Ohtani to not sign with the Dodgers?

Asking for a friend.

[T.G.]

@FromJapan - where do you think Ohtani will sign? What’s the sentiment in Japan?

[ten ocho recon scout]

6 hours ago, T.G. said:

@FromJapan What’s the sentiment in Japan?

 

[REDneck]

1 hour ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

 

This is f#cking awesome!

[Jason]

Dodgers can afford to way overpay for him so that's where he goes. Since he will be strictly a DH, I think the Halos are out as they will need that spot for Trout and Rendon in order to try and keep their bats in the lineup.  

[SoCalDucksFan]

3 hours ago, Jason said:

Dodgers can afford to way overpay for him so that's where he goes. Since he will be strictly a DH, I think the Halos are out as they will need that spot for Trout and Rendon in order to try and keep their bats in the lineup.  

What makes you think Rendon is going to play next season?

[FromJapan]

On 9/18/2023 at 10:05 PM, T.G. said:

@FromJapan - where do you think Ohtani will sign? What’s the sentiment in Japan?

On September 18th (Japan standard time), Ohtani was featured on NHK's 9pm news show.  The reporter was Shuta Yamamoto (Correspondent, NHK General Bureau for America), who has been primarily in charge of the MLB since August 2020 and has been focusing on covering Ohtani.  He has published and updated  Ohtani's words from before the WBC opening to most recent, titled "The collection of Ohtani's sayings 2023 (in Japanese)".

Here are his thoughts on the key points regarding Ohtani's transfer.
"What is certain is that he wants to be on a winning team. Since he will be 30 years old next year, I think his top priority is to reach the playoffs, considering the rest of his playing career."

(Link) Yamamoto Shuta | NHK WORLD-JAPAN News 

Meanwhile, a Japanese commentator has even suggested that the Angels may be the only team where Ohtani can return to pitching, as they have supported him as a two-way player to the best of their ability. 

Reference in Japanese: Yahoo! Japan news on September 18
----

(My personal prediction)
The Angels' current situation is difficult to improve in a short period of time, so Ohtani is likely to choose another team if he decides that his wish will not come true unless he leaves. His destination team may change, depending on the severity of his elbow injury, the type of surgery, and whether he can return to pitching after successful surgery. So I can't predict his destination team right now.

----

(The sentiment in Japan)
The following MLB teams are popular among Japanese fans.

• Long-established teams in major metropolitan areas (e.g., the Yankees and the Dodgers)
• Teams with which Japanese players are or have been affiliated
• West Coast teams (which are relatively close to Japan)

For example, a Yankees cap is a popular fashion accessory among Japanese girls.

From the perspective of people living in Japan, MLB teams are not supported by Japanese fans as their local teams. For this reason, even though the possibility of Ohtani's transfer has been reported in Japan, there have been no detailed reports on the specific candidate teams he might transfer to. If Ohtani were to leave the Angels, unless they are rare die-hard fans of a specific team, many Japanese people would be rooting for him and his new team without any particular preference, even if they are not familiar with.

 

[Stradling]

10 hours ago, SoCalDucksFan said:

What makes you think Rendon is going to play next season?

What makes you think he’s retiring?

[T.G.]

Poll will close on 11/1/2023 at noon.

[Taylor]

I'm so over this narrative.

[Angels 1961]

San Diego cutting payroll so they are out. Seattle will not put up that kind of money so they are out. SF would spend but not winning every year so they are out. Angels 8 losing seasons so they are out. Dodgers maybe but they do not like 8 or 9 year deals. Dodgers win every year and really do not need Ohtani. JD Martinez on 10 mill to DH had nice year. Jason Heyward picked off scrap heap very nice year. So why would they spend 500 mill. I'm going out on limb and say it will be Cubs.

[YouthofToday]

Bookies don’t even have the Angels as a top 8 favorite.

I see no scenario where Ohtani picks the Angels. 

[fan_since79]

Why are we assuming Shohei will require $500 million?

Who knows what he wants? His agent may want that total but in the end it's Ohtani's decision. Right?

[Chuck]

My vote