It must be a profoundly miserable experience to be an Angels fan where you get to see two absolute superstars (Ohtani and Trout) be completely wasted on #### teams and organizational disarray season after season.

I think a sale would decrease chances of trade; as a prospective owner, I'd want Ohtani as an asset in my organization. I know his contract is only another year, but I would plan on selling Ohtani on my vision for the franchise.

A sale would speed up the timetable for either a trade or an extension. No new owner is going to want to start their tenure as The Ones Who Traded Ohtani.

It would be refreshing to see the Dodgers finally get infused with a bit of talent.

Ohtani will either get traded before the sale, or resigned slightly after the sale (with the new owner and Ohtani haven't already ironed out vision and details)

Don’t think there’s much chance a sale is agreed to and finalized before Ohtani is a free agent. These things take a long time. Ohtani’s clock is up at the end of next season.

Angels should just package Ohtani, Trout, and Rendon together, take the best offer, and start over with a clean slate.

#5 will astonish you, no I guess it won't.

It must be a profoundly miserable experience to be an Angels fan where you get to see two absolute superstars (Ohtani and Trout) be completely wasted on #### teams and organizational disarray season after season.

You said it, and I think I've rooted for the Angels for exactly seven games in my entire life.

I see the Mets and the Yankees on that list, but I thought Ohtani didn't want to play for any East Coast team.

That being the case, I'm rooting for a miracle and hoping he lands on the A's or the Mariners.

Some of the names being tossed around in that excerpt are a bit absurd. You're trading for one year of Ohtani plus an exclusive negotiating window to pay him $40+ M a year. That's not worth the #1 prospect in the game, just wait for him to be an FA. The Dodgers gave up a pretty nice package and ate extra money for Mookie; 2+ years of a 23-yo Soto just went for mlb.com's #23 prospect plus two former top prospects in Abrams and Gore, both still more than young enough to turn into good players. Something in that range is what we should expect for Ohtani.

I thought Ohtani didn't want to play for any East Coast team.

That was his position when he first signed, but his experience may changed his outlook. I don’t believe he’s addressed the question recently, and probably won’t unless he’s a free agent.

That was his position when he first signed, but his experience may changed his outlook. I don’t believe he’s addressed the question recently, and probably won’t unless he’s a free agent.

Even if it's true he'd be dumb to say it.

Even if it's true he'd be dumb to say it.

Why? He already did it once. Ohtani's already set for life, and his obsession appears to be wholly with baseball, not money. Besides, even if he told every team east of the Rocky Mountains to go pound sand, a bidding war between the Dodgers and Angels alone would break the bank.

Why? He already did it once. Ohtani's already set for life, and his obsession appears to be wholly with baseball, not money. Besides, even if he told every team east of the Rocky Mountains to go pound sand, a bidding war between the Dodgers and Angels alone would break the bank.

He's made $9.5M, he's hardly rolling in it.

In any case, why would you shut off any offers? If you get the Yankees to make a stupid offer, you can get you preferred team to offer you 90% of stupid.

He's made $9.5M, he's hardly rolling in it.

In my world, $9.5 million is rolling in it. And, he’ll be making $5.5 million more next year, at a minimum.

I know we are talking about a different world when it comes to MLB players, at least the ones who are good enough to make it to free agency (or even arbitration, for superstars).

He's made $9.5M, he's hardly rolling in it.

He's projected to make between $20 and $25 million in endorsements this year alone. This doesn't count how much he's made in the previous three years here, and ignores the $3 million or so he made in salary playing in Japan as well as his pre-2019 endorsements. Add that to his $9.5 in MLB salary, and .... yeah, he's fine.

In any case, why would you shut off any offers?

I wouldn't, but Ohtani has already done it once when he came to the states. Who knows if he'll do it again? It's just notable that he HAS done it, which means he might well do it again.

He's projected to make between $20 and $25 million in endorsements this year alone. This doesn't count how much he's made in the previous three years here, and ignores the $3 million or so he made in salary playing in Japan as well as his pre-2019 endorsements. Add that to his $9.5 in MLB salary, and .... yeah, he's fine.

He's fine, but in a world where players are signing $300M deals, he's practically middle class.

He's fine, but in a world where players are signing $300M deals, he's practically middle class.

Do you really think his next contract won't hit $350M if the Yankees aren't in the bidding?

Why does everyone think the Yankees will be the leading suitor. I'd expect the Mets and Dodgers to both easily clear the offer the Yankees make. Why do you think Hal Steinbrenner got booed on Paul O'Neil day?

I semi-expect Judge to leave too, though I think he will not perform as well away from the Yankees as he has for them. The Yankees would be foolish not to make a good offer to Judge. But, I just don't see them being the top offer.

I wouldn't, but Ohtani has already done it once when he came to the states. Who knows if he'll do it again? It's just notable that he HAS done it, which means he might well do it again.

I don't believe snapper is suggesting he can't do it, just that if he's at all interested in maximizing his next deal (which most guys seem to be), then publicly shutting off an entire area of the country is not the way to go about it.

I don't believe snapper is suggesting he can't do it, just that if he's at all interested in maximizing his next deal (which most guys seem to be), then publicly shutting off an entire area of the country is not the way to go about it.

Correct. And even if he doesn't care about the extra $100M, surely there's a charity he cares about that could use $100M? Why give a gift to a billionaire?

Do you really think his next contract won't hit $350M if the Yankees aren't in the bidding?

Don't you mean "if the Yankees ARE in the bidding"?

I don't believe snapper is suggesting he can't do it, just that if he's at all interested in maximizing his next deal (which most guys seem to be), then publicly shutting off an entire area of the country is not the way to go about it.

Isn't the reason for that because of the comparative distance to Japan? The west coast is closer to Japan than the east coast, making travel easier. I don't think it's a question of money, just convenience to his friends, family, and Japanese tourists who would make seeing him play part of their vacation plans.

Isn't the reason for that because of the comparative distance to Japan? The west coast is closer to Japan than the east coast, making travel easier. I don't think it's a question of money, just convenience to his friends, family, and Japanese tourists who would make seeing him play part of their vacation plans.

I'm sure. And I think it's perfectly reasonable for Ohtani to have no desire to leave the west coast. I think more players would be wise to not just take the highest offer, but find the place they're most comfortable.

But for the purpose of negotiating the best contract, even if you yourself are going to limit your choices to a particular geographic area, it doesn't benefit you to publicly rule out a whole slew of potential bidders. That's snapper's point, and it's correct.

Isn't the reason for that because of the comparative distance to Japan?

Sure, but after a few years of repeatedly traveling to the east coast and back Ohtani might now look at it a bit differently. Or maybe he’ll just wait to see the offers before he decides how much that still matters. With the new MLB schedule, Ohtani will still be appearing regularly on the west coast even if he signs with an east coast team.

I don't believe snapper is suggesting he can't do it, just that if he's at all interested in maximizing his next deal (which most guys seem to be), then publicly shutting off an entire area of the country is not the way to go about it.

Right, and I'm saying that Ohtani's already shown that maximizing his salary isn't necessarily his primary interest. The first time around, he wanted a place that would let him both pitch and DH, he wanted to be geographically closer to Japan, and he wanted a place that had a significant Japanese-American presence. SoCal, NorCal, and Seattle all fit that mark now. A bidding war with just the West Coast teams alone would easily push Ohtani's contract over the $400 million mark. (Do people not think the Dodgers wouldn't pay that for him?)

Yes, he could possibly make more with more bidders. Literally no one is arguing the other side of that. It just wasn't his first consideration when he got drafted in Japan, it wasn't his first consideration when he came to the States, it's possible that it won't be his first consideration this time around. Even if it's not his first consideration this time around, his next contract is still going to be a mammoth one.

Isn't the reason for that because of the comparative distance to Japan? The west coast is closer to Japan than the east coast, making travel easier. I don't think it's a question of money, just convenience to his friends, family, and Japanese tourists who would make seeing him play part of their vacation plans.

Non-stop from Tokyo to LA looks to be 10 hours. Non-stop to NY is 13. Is that really a meaningful difference? You're writing off most of a day either way.

#27 Yeah. An extra 3 hours on a plane is a pretty big deal to a lot of people.

Don’t think there’s much chance a sale is agreed to and finalized before Ohtani is a free agent. These things take a long time. Ohtani’s clock is up at the end of next season.

Sometimes, but not always. The Nationals went on the market shortly after Opening Day; the goal is reportedly to have the sale wrapped up by November. We’ll see how it works out.

27. If you are asking whether an already interminably long 10 flight is made worse by adding on another 30%, the answer is most certainly yes. Having made these flights all my life, especially to Australia and New Zealand, every hour counts

I don't miss not doing this any more . I will say if you do it, Singapore Air is the only way to go if you you can afford it

Those new Overture planes are supposed to do NY to London in 3 hours. Maybe Ohtani can get one of those in his contract.