FromJapan

The full text quoted from Ohtani's Instagram.
I’m happy to announce that I will be donating approximately 60,000 youth gloves to every elementary school in Japan. That comes out to around 20,000 elementary schools.
I’m hoping the kids can spend their days happily with a lot of energy through baseball.
I’ll be looking forward to sharing the field one day with someone that grew up using this glove!
Lastly, I would like to send my appreciation to everyone that was involved and helped this project come true.
 

Ohtani will donate a total of about 60,000 gloves, three to each of around 20,000 elementary schools in Japan. The Japanese text on the right, handwritten by him, means “Let’s play baseball!”
 

Ohtani will donate a total of about 60,000 gloves, three to each of around 20,000 elementary schools in Japan. The Japanese text on the right, handwritten by him, means “Let’s play baseball!”
 

Ohtani will donate a total of about 60,000 gloves, three to each of around 20,000 elementary schools in Japan. The Japanese text on the right, handwritten by him, means “Let’s play baseball!”
 

I have always liked Stassi. Always felt he was a solid Catcher. Glad he will be back. Glad his son is okay. 

Certainly, the contents of this Japanese sports media article were nothing more than speculation.
They went of their way to hold meetings in person rather than online.
At least, it is speculated that
It is necessary to maintain a high level of confidentiality. It has a huge impact on the management of the team. At the GM meeting, it is certain that many other teams would ask questions about this, so it was necessary to carefully prepare answers to anticipated questions.

I'm paraphrasing a little.
(Original article in Japanese) Sankei Sports on November 7th
[MLB] Did Angels' Moreno, Carpino, Minasian hold an exceptional strategy meeting at the venue of GM meetings to retain Ohtani?
[Scottsdale, Arizona on November 6th (7th, Japan Standard Time)]
The day before the MLB general managers meetings, which bring together all GMs, front office executives and agents, Arte Moreno, the owner of the Los Angeles Angels, John Carpino, the team president, and Perry Minasian, the general manager, held a meeting at the venue.
It seems that the top brass of the Los Angeles Angels held an emergency meeting regarding the retention of Shohei Ohtani, who is the biggest free agent attraction this offseason. It is unusual for Moreno and Carpino to appear at the venue of the GM meeting. The three of them, including GM Minassian, discussed for over two hours in a restaurant at the venue in the morning. After completing the meticulous "strategy meeting" for the GM meeting, Minasian saw off Moreno to the parking lot and moved around the venue with a smile.
Ohtani became a free agent for the first time in his career on November 2 (November 3, JST). The Angels, his team until this season, had an exclusive negotiating period for 5 days from November 2, but after the deadline of 5pm Eastern Time on November 6 (7am on November 7, JST), Ohtani's side will be able to negotiate with any team in MLB.
Minasian, the Angels' general manager, is scheduled to be interviewed on both November 7 and 8 (November 8 and 9, JST) during the GM meetings. His comments on Ohtani's future will be closely watched.
  

(Link)
MLB.com on November 5th
Where's Ohtani headed? Our guess is 1 of these 8 teams
Dodgers are still 'favorites' for Ohtani (report)
MLB.com on November 6th
The 9 most fascinating free agents of the offseason
 
Japanese sports media is rife with speculation about Ohtani's future, with most articles simply re-reporting American news.
 
 

The Orix Buffaloes announced on November 5 (Japan Standard Time) that they have approved pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto's transfer to MLB through the posting system.  He has already signed a contract with the agency Wasserman in preparation for his transfer.
His comment:
"During my seven years at Orix Buffaroes, I was able to grow a lot as a baseball player. I want to become a player competing in the world's best league."

The Orix Buffaloes, to which Yamamoto belongs, recently advanced to the post-season in 2021 and 2022.
2021
In the playoffs (NPB calls it the "Climax Series"), which will compete for the right to participate in the Japan Series, he pitched in one game and won a shutout with four hits and no walks.
(YouTube) Highlights on Nov. 10, 2021
 
In the Japan Series, he appeared in games 1 and 6 as a starting pitcher. He pitched 15 innings over two games with 20 strikeouts and two runs allowed.
Game 1: 25 BF, 6.0 IP, 5 H, 0 HR, 2 BB, 0 HBP, 9 K, 1 ER
Game 6: 35 BF, 9.0 IP, 6 H, 0 HR, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 11 K, 1 ER
 
2022
He started the one game of the Climax Series and pitched with eight scoreless innings.
(YouTube) Highlights on Oct. 12, 2022
 
In the Japan Series, he started in Game 1, but left the mound in the begining of 5th inning with injuring his side, giving up 4 runs and being the losing pitcher.
Game 1: 17 BF, 4.0 IP, 4 H, 2 HR, 1 BB, 0 HBP, 4 K, 4 ER
-----
Yamamoto won the Sawamura Award for the third consecutive year, which is equivalent to the Cy Young Award. 
 

The Orix Buffaloes, to which Yamamoto belongs, recently advanced to the post-season in 2021 and 2022.
2021
In the playoffs (NPB calls it the "Climax Series"), which will compete for the right to participate in the Japan Series, he pitched in one game and won a shutout with four hits and no walks.
(YouTube) Highlights on Nov. 10, 2021
 
In the Japan Series, he appeared in games 1 and 6 as a starting pitcher. He pitched 15 innings over two games with 20 strikeouts and two runs allowed.
Game 1: 25 BF, 6.0 IP, 5 H, 0 HR, 2 BB, 0 HBP, 9 K, 1 ER
Game 6: 35 BF, 9.0 IP, 6 H, 0 HR, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 11 K, 1 ER
 
2022
He started the one game of the Climax Series and pitched with eight scoreless innings.
(YouTube) Highlights on Oct. 12, 2022
 
In the Japan Series, he started in Game 1, but left the mound in the begining of 5th inning with injuring his side, giving up 4 runs and being the losing pitcher.
Game 1: 17 BF, 4.0 IP, 4 H, 2 HR, 1 BB, 0 HBP, 4 K, 4 ER
-----
Yamamoto won the Sawamura Award for the third consecutive year, which is equivalent to the Cy Young Award. 
 

HKS, Inc. designed Globe Life Field (opened in 2020).

This company was also involved in the design of Escon Field Hokkaido (opened in 2023), home of the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (NPB).
 

In 2016, Garcia appeared in only 4 games for the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants and was released from his contract after getting no hits in seven at-bats. He then defected and signed with the Cardinals.

Houston is in ALOT of trouble! 

Houston is in more trouble

(Link) "Shohei Ohtani: Beyond the Dream" Debuts November 17 on ESPN+
In Japan, it will be exclusively distributed on "Disney+".
 

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.
 

Introduction
In a recent post, I re-assessed Mike Trout's career trajectory via WAR and comparable players, pointing out that as things stand, his 85.1 fWAR ranks him 30th all-time, and he's likely going to end up somewhere in the latter half of the top 20, depending upon to what degree his career revives. Of especial note, his 71.4 through his age 27 season (2019) was the best in major league history; now, through his age 31 season (2023), his career fWAR of 85.1 ranks him 8th among his age cohort. So if you don't want to read that other post, the takeaway is that he's slipping down the all-time rankings, and while he was arguably the greatest player in baseball history through age 27, he's fallen to the back half of the top 10 because of his sub-par age 28-31 seasons. Or to put it more starkly:
Through Age 27: 71.4 fWAR (1st all-time)
Age 28-31: 13.8 fWAR (395th all-time)
Through Age 31: 85.1 fWAR (8th all-time)
I want to go a bit further with this and make an argument that Trout has a good chance of having a career bounce-back over the next few years. So this is a bit more positive than the last!
There are two facets of it: One, observations of Trout as a player and his penchant for adjusting over the last 13 seasons and two, which I'll focus on in a sequel post, an analysis of historical comps and how they fared in their 30s.
PART 1: Mike Trout - The Great Adjuster
It was often remarked of Trout earlier in his career that a major component of his greatness was his ability to adjust. Laypeople who follow baseball casually, and don't think much about deeper technical elements, tend to think that there is a direct, one-to-one relationship between a player's stats and their improvement. While there is obvious, logical truth to this, it discounts the dynamic nature of baseball: hitters and pitchers adjust to each other, and if a hitter maintains a certain level of performance over long periods of time, it likely means that he's actually improved in terms of refinement of skills due to the necessary adjustments that are made to maintain a statistical threshold. In other words, staying at the same level of time actually might mean continual improvement, even if only in small ways (aka, adjustments).
There is also normal fluctuation. A player hitting .302, .293, .287, and .312 over a four-year period isn't necessarily getting better or worse - it is just normal fluctuation; trends are key here. If the same player hits .312, .302, .293, and .287, it may imply some degree of decline (in terms of contact, at least). And of course some statistics, like batting average, are more subject to oscillation than others are (e.g. walk rate).
But in terms of the initial point, if a player averages a .300 BA over, say, a five-year span, it actually probably means he's improved his skills as a hitter.
When hitters first show up in the big leagues, they have to adjust to major league pitching. Imagine making the jump from AA to the majors. Whereas in AA, as a hitter you might face several guys within the entire league that have blazing, elite stuff, but most pitchers are still in the process of refining their skills, and some won't even ever have real major league careers; in the majors, you'll face dozens of pitchers with elite stuff, and the baseline level is, well, a major league pitcher. After a hitter becomes more comfortable and gets in a groove, pitchers get to know them and how to pitch to them, what is proverbially called "the book" on said player. Hitters adjust, and then pitchers try to find and exploit more weaknesses. So it is an ongoing back-and-forth of adjustments and counter adjustments. Now I would argue that it becomes less pronounced over time; that there's a big adjustment period early on--the hitter to major league pitching, then the pitchers to the maturing hitter, and any further back-and-forth diminishes in impact over time as after a few years in the big leagues, hitters stabilize at a certain "plateau" level.
Inevitably hitters age. Usually starting around the age of 30 or 31, and then increasing at age 33-34, the skills of hitters decline. It may show up in reduced bat speed, diminishing eyesight and hand-eye coordination, but more importantly, the aging body's inability to bounce back as quickly as it did in one's 20s. Anyone who is in their 30s or older knows this first-hand; from hangovers to hard physical work, to lack of sleep, etc, the older you get, the longer and harder recovery is. This can be somewhat counter-acted by more stringent health regimes, but eventually Father Time catches us all. This factor is probably far more important than skill decline, at least in the first half of a player's 30s. I can't remember where I saw it, but I read somewhere that hand-eye coordination doesn't really start declining until around 40. This is why you find the occasional hitter who is just as good in their late 30s as they were in their 20s: from Barry Bonds (ignoring other factors) to Hank Aaron to Ted Williams, and other players who had peak hitting seasons in the latter half of their 30s.
This is exemplified by Ted Williams who, in 1957 at the age of 38 had his career best wRC+ of 223 (!). But he was starting to slip in other ways - he played in 132 games, and it was between two relatively pedestrian (for him) 174 and 179 seasons, the latter of which was followed by an 111 season at age 40, by far his career worst. But Williams finished out his career with a 184 wRC+ in 1960 at age 41, which was very close to his career average of 187. Meaning, the skills were there to the end, but he fluctuated more, presumably due to age.
Mike Trout was always a great adjuster early on: pitchers would find a weakness and exploit it, and then for a month or so, Trout would struggle. But then he'd adjust, and he'd figure out how to hit what was being thrown at him. Like all great hitters, he receives fewer good pitches to hit than, say, a David Fletcher, which in turn illustrates how great hitters--when maintaining the same stats year to year--are actually improving. Trout in 2012 (167 wRC+) was receiving a lot more good pitches to hit then he was after, yet he actually continued to improve as a hitter, peaking in 2018 with a 188 wRC+.
What is also quite notable about Trout's career, even through 2022, was how he didn't vary that far from his career hitting line. Through 2023, his career wRC+ is 170; from 2012 to 2022--discounting the Covid-shortened shortened 2020 season and his mostly-lost-to-injury 2021 season--his seasonal wRC+ ranged from 167 to 188, a very tight band of 21 points. Even in 2020 he wasn't far out of that range, with a 160 wRC+.
That is an absurd degree of consistency. Among a sampling of great hitters, here are the ranges of their wRC+ in full seasons from age 20-30 (so again, discounting Trout's 2020-21 seasons):
Mike Trout: 167-188 
Hank Aaron: 103-178 (or after his rookie year, 144-178)
Willie Mays: 120-173
Ken Griffey Jr: 106-164 (after his rookie year, 132-164)
And so on. Or we can look at a few contemporary stars:
Mookie Betts: 107-185
Bryce Harper: 111-197
Aaron Judge: 141-209
This can be further illustrated in this chart, which depicts season WAR for Trout and his three contemporaries:
 

(Ccolumn width is relative to plate appearances)
What is notable about Trout from the above are two things: One, his consistency, and the fact that unlike most players, great or not, he doesn't have any huge outlier seasons, either good or bad - at least through 2022. Meaning, he doesn't have an equivalent season to Aaron Judge's 2022 (209 wRC+ vs 165 for his career), which is the 15th highest wRC+ in major league history; or Betts 185 in 2018, or Harper's 193 in 2015 -- or really any of their down seasons.
Now to be honest, this year he did seem on pace to have, by far, the worst season of his career, with a 3.0 WAR and 134 wRC+ in 82 games. He was turning things around with the bat, so if he had stayed healthy and played 130+ games, chances are he would have come close to 7 WAR and surpassed 150 wRC+. But even then they would have been career lows for him.
Two, Trout entered the league in a Venusian manner: a fully formed superstar performing at a Hall of Fame level, almost from day one (that is, after his cup-o-coffee in 2011). Betts and Harper took several years to find an elite level. Judge, however, like Trout had a great rookie year, but was already 25 years old - the same age as Trout in 2017.
The big question is: Can Trout make the biggest adjustment of his career, that is to an aging and injury-prone body? An optimistic view would hold that just as the Dude abides, so too does Trout adjust. I worry less about this year's 134 wRC+--especially when you consider that he's just a year removed from 176, and also that his performance this year was greatly marred by a terrible slump which was bookended by periods of relatively vintage Trout--than I am his inability to stay healthy. In other words, if he stays healthy, I fully expect something at least close to vintage Trout. I believe that the days are gone when Trout regularly puts up 8-10 WAR seasons, but certainly he has to be better than what we've seen the last three, injury-ridden seasons, when he average 4.1 WAR and 79 games per year. Right?
It is also worth noting that some of Trout's myriad injuries going back to 2017 were rather flukey: book-ended by two flukey hand injuries, one in 2017 due to a bad slide and the other his hamate bone earlier this season. While we can try to feel optimistic about the flukey nature of these injuries and consider a similar injury in 2024 to be unlikely, it does seem to be that Trout--perhaps due to the big-muscled bulkiness of his body--is, like other similarly built players of the past, truly "injury prone." Meaning, even if we consider that such flukey injuries are exceptions and not the rule, we cannot discount the possibility that they're far more likely for a guy like Trout than they are for "differently-bodied" (smaller and lighter) players like Mookie Betts.
But we can hope, and even with the injury-prone label, there's no reason to think that Mike Trout doesn't at least have several more almost-full seasons (e.g. 120-140 games) left in him. If I were to hazard I guess, we could see game totals over the next seven years like so: 130, 135, 107, 128, 111, 104, 58. Or something like that. Am I being optimistic? Pessimistic? Only time will tell.
 
To be continued...
 

On October 9th (JST)
(YouTube) This Was Almost Bad News For Playoffs...
----------
On October 6th (Japan Standard Time), Bauer threw Live Batting Practice at Yokohama Stadium and joined the team practice for the playoff. The camera on the left rear in the first X(tweet) below was set up by himself for YouTube. He threw a total of 86 pitches to 6 players, and the fastest pitch was 93.8mph.
 

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.
 

English translation of Ohtani's comment on becoming the first MLB home run leader as a Japanese player:
"I am humbled and honored to be mentioned in the same breath as the great Japanese players who have excelled in MLB. I would like to thank my teammates, coaching staff, and fans for their support in helping me achieve this goal."
Reference in Japanese: Sponichi Annex (the website of Sports Nippon Newspapers) on October 2nd, 2023

Cecil Fielder was the first MLB player to become the home run leader after playing NPB. He moved to the Hanshin Tigers (NPB) from the Blue Jays after the 1988 season, and then transferred to the Detroit Tigers after the 1989 season. He was the home run leader for two consecutive years in 1990 and 1991. 
On April 28, 1998, Hideo Nomo (Dodgers) hit a solo home run off José Mercedes against the Brewers, which was the first home run by a Japanese player in MLB.

Don't worry! I'm wearing pants.
 
 

Here's the full Press Release from the Angels on Shohei Ohtani's 2023 accomplishments in PDF format for download.
SHOHEI OHTANI’S 2023 SEASON IN REVIEW.pdf