NEWSLETTER
I expect this week (and beyond) to be RIFE with Shohei Ohtani rumors and reports and speculation, so I don’t want to go nuts on the first night of the GM Meetings. But this was just a touch too good not to at least share.
Apparently, according to Bob Nightengale at least, the buzz has the Chicago Cubs as particularly aggressive on Ohtani:
“The Dodgers remain the heavy favorites. The Chicago Cubs and Rangers are serious contenders, with several GMs saying that the Cubs may be the most aggressive team for his services. And it would be foolish to count out the Boston Red Sox, New York Mets or even San Francisco Giants.”
The most aggressive team for Ohtani’s services, eh? That’d be awesome.
To be clear, this is just the speculation of some non-Cubs GMs. They could be wrong. I don’t know that the Cubs would be tipping their hand too much, too publicly, just yet.
Moreover, even if it were true that the Cubs were going ALL OUT for Shohei Ohtani, that still doesn’t mean that they would land him. As we’ve been hearing for months, the money is likely to be there for Ohtani wherever he wants to go. You’re going to have to sell him on your city, your organization, your culture, your future, and so on and so forth. It may wind up the case that the money is roughly the same everywhere, he just decides he wants to be in X Location, no matter who pursues him “most aggressively.”
All that said, it’s not as if this is coming out of nowhere. Remember, reports started circulating way before the season ended that the Cubs were going to go after Ohtani. They may not ultimately land him, but why WOULDN’T they seriously pursue a unicorn superstar whose on and off-field impact can be organization-altering?
Maybe the elbow injury and subsequent surgery changed the calculus a bit, but that might be a dollars and cents thing, rather than a level of aggressiveness thing.
I’ll want to hear this coming from more sourced reports before I let myself buy in too much, but I would love for the Cubs to at least give themselves a real shot at Shohei Ohtani.
