Shohei Ohtani is Joining the Los Angeles Dodgers

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Here I was, thinking I could take a pleasant slumber on a Saturday afternoon, and the biggest story in baseball history dropped on my face. I was dazed and confused. I couldn’t believe what my dreary eyes were seeing. Shohei Ohtani is now a Los Angeles Dodger.

Shohei Ohtani's deal with the Dodgers is for 10 years and $700 million.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 9, 2023

And it’s not coming cheap. 700 million dollars for ten years is a crazy thing to see. I knew Ohtani was going to get a crap ton of money, I even joked about him getting $700M, but I truly never expected it to get to this.

Shohei Ohtani's contract has significant deferrals that include most of his salary — an idea, a source said, that was Ohtani's. In deferring the money, it reduces the cost of the competitive-balance-tax hit and will allow the Dodgers to build a better team around him.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 9, 2023

Then Ohtani wants to be the nice guy and get much of the money deferred. He wants the Dodgers to get better so he’s not hogging up all of the team’s payroll. This guy is really pissing me off. After this deal, I was really hoping the Dodgers would stop spending in free agency. They got their big three in Ohtani, Betts, and Freeman. What more could they need? They shouldn’t be able to continue to get the top-of-the-line players, but who knows? There’s no cap space in baseball. If they wanted to, they could get the like of Yamamoto.

Of course, Ohtani is the best player in MLB right now. He just won his 2nd MVP in three years, but eventually, he can’t keep up being a two-way player. I think he will try pitching one more time, but if there’s another significant injury like he had this year, Ohtani will give up pitching. At that point, you’re paying a guy $70M, before deferrals, to hit the ball. For the Dodgers sake, I hope they win a championship fast.

Now I’m going to turn this into a Mets blog, so if you’re not a Mets fan, begone bozos.

The Mets, I am told, never made a formal offer to Ohtani after it became clear the numbers would be higher than the team was comfortable going.

— Mike Puma (@NYPost_Mets) December 9, 2023

It seems like the Mets saw the asking price from Ohtani and immediately backed out. I am 100% on board because $700M for a player is wild. But now is the time for the Mets to open up the checkbooks officially. They gave Scherzer and Verlander the highest AAV at the time, which was nice. The Mets have yet to sign a big free agent to a long-term deal. If we are going to praise Uncle Stevie and how much money he has. I need to see Yoshinobu Yamamoto in a Mets uniform. The Mets need to back up the trucks for him and give him more than he needs. I need to know if the Mets are truly big spenders. Keep wining and dining the man, and don’t let him leave Queens (or wherever the meeting is being held) until pen is on paper.