It’s a foregone conclusion that superstar Shohei Ohtani will play his last game for the Los Angeles Angels this season.
Angels team owner Arte Moreno’s surprise announcement on Jan. 23 that he’s not selling the team only strengthens the case that Ohtani will leave.
That sets up the big question: where does Ohtani land? It seems unlikely a team will part with the package of talent the Angels would demand to move him before the trade deadline. So that leaves free agency after the 2023 season.
According to SNY’s Andy Martino, New York Mets owner Steve Cohen is already instructing team officials to find a way to bring Ohtani to the Mets.
Martino wrote Wednesday, “According to sources, Cohen has already been talking openly to upper level Mets people about going after Ohtani this winter.”
In fact, while Martino says it’s very unlikely the Mets would try to trade for Ohtani before the deadline, he doesn’t rule out the possibility Cohen will tell Mets GM Billy Eppler to make a deal.
“The Mets owner wants the top players in the league and is willing to be aggressive in pursuing them,” Martino wrote. “Is it within the realm of possibility that he tells Eppler to trade Francisco Alvarez, Brett Baty and more for Ohtani, and then offers Ohtani $450 million on the spot?”
“The Mets would probably say no, that is not within the realm of possibility. They would say that there is zero chance that they will trade for Ohtani. And they would almost certainly be correct. It’s just that with Cohen, we can never rule anything out completely.”
Ohtani is expected to command a contract in the $400 million to $500 million range. That would require some creative financial work to make it feasible for the payroll-heavy Mets. (Hey, they once infamously gave a 35-year deal to Bobby Bonilla to help make ends meet.)
The New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers are also expected to be in the hunt for Ohtani.