While I continue to regard all Shohei Ohtani “he’s thinking this,” or “he is choosing that” reports as dubious – I think it’s all just so locked down on their side of things – I am open to reports from the various team sides about how they might be proceeding. And, candidly, I am particularly open to hearing about how possible non-Cubs suitors are out. Gimme that confirmation bias!
The world champion Texas Rangers have long been cited as a serious suitor for Shohei Ohtani, both because they were involved last time around, and because they are a major-market club that plays in the AL West. I would argue that the team’s actual geographic location – if there is a preference at all – should matter more than where they play 20% of their road games, but whatever. It’s a thing people said.
But then the latest RSN update dropped, which opened up the possibility that the Rangers could be the next team to lose their deal with Diamond/Bally, risking the next decade of $110-ish million annual payments they were expecting. That’s a whole lot of uncertainty to inject into a situation where a team, already loaded with significant long-term commitments, is thinking about committing another $500 to $600 million. I’m not saying it means the Rangers could no longer participate, but I am saying it was weird that no one thought it was a big wrench.
Finally, someone is saying it’s a wrench.
From Ken Rosenthal at The Athletic:
“(T)he potential termination of (the Rangers’) local television rights deal leaves them without full clarity on how much revenue they will generate in 2024.
As such, the Rangers are approaching the free agency market in something of a wait-and-see mode, according to major-league sources who were granted anonymity in order to speak freely. In theory, they still could sign Shohei Ohtani, the top free agent on the market and a player in whom they have interest. Ownership, however, is sorting through how it will approach the market, sources said.”
In theory.
Maybe I’m just being a far-too-hopeful Cubs fan, but I read that as: yeah, we are probably not going to be able to do this Ohtani thing.
The timing is also interesting, because there was a report yesterday – not a source I typically cite, so I was reluctant to go whole hog on it – that the Rangers were out. Michael Marino, who has certainly gotten some things right before, said that teams that feel they don’t have a serious shot are dropping out, and that includes the Rangers. Again, it’s not a report I would’ve leaned heavily on without the Rosenthal report – but when you consider them together, plus the timing, it does make you a little more likely to think that the Rangers are indeed out.
Of course, even if that’s true, it’s not like the path is completely clear for the Cubs. The Dodgers are going to remain the heavy favorite until this thing is decided. But getting another serious suitor out of there nevertheless sounds good to me.