The scouting battle for Ohtani Shohei (29, LA Angels), who has emerged as the best player in the major leagues, is fierce. Clubs that openly say they will participate in the free agent recruiting battle are not bored.
On the 11th (Korean time), US CBS Sports quoted Seattle chairman John Stanton and said, “Seattle will consider superstars (recruitment), but will focus on nurturing young players.”
Seattle won 7 victories in Boston on the 3rd, Los Angeles Angels from the 4th to 7th, and San Diego on the 9th and 10th. With this, Seattle marked 62-52 and became the 4th place in the American League Wild Card. Wild is big, and it is only 1.5 years behind the third-place Toronto Blue Jays.
For Seattle, now is important. We have to throw the number of wins for fall baseball.
However, many are wondering if Seattle will jump into the race to sign Ohtani this offseason.
Ohtani will be eligible for free agency at the end of this season. The recruitment battle is already fierce. The Los Angeles Dodgers have already shown great interest, and the New York Yankees and New York Mets are also potential clubs.
Will Seattle really open its wallet? There is a connection between Seattle and Ohtani. In 2017, Ohtani announced his entry into the US with a posting system, and one of the seven teams that jumped in to sign him was Seattle. At the time, Ohtani chose the Angels after much consideration.토토사이트
It is also related to Japan. There was a time when Japanese game company Nintendo was a major shareholder in Seattle. So, several Japanese players such as Ichiro Suzuki, Kenji Jojima, and Kazuhiro Sasaki played for Seattle.
President Stanton opened his mouth. “We will focus on finding great players. Over time, through our system, we will grow into the best player until the end.”
However, “we will be watching free agents during the open season to fill the gaps. From our point of view, Ohtani is a unicorn. We will definitely be watching him and engaging in dialogue. But we think it’s a great team with or without him.”
CBS Sports said, “What is clear is that Ohtani will receive a huge amount of money. Officials predicted that Ohtani would receive the highest payout in sports history in excess of $500 million.”