The Los Angeles Dodgers signed two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani to a record-breaking contract over the weekend, but they obviously weren’t alone in the pursuit. Ohtani had tons of serious suitors, and one of those came from inside the division.
In a conference call on Tuesday, San Francisco Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi confirmed that the team made a record-breaking offer to Ohtani in free agency. He also said he assumes the Giants weren’t the only team to do that, and that they revised their deal upwards as the process went on. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reported these comments on Tuesday.
Ultimately, Ohtani decided to sign with the Dodgers, a reason that Zaidi believes was due to geography.
While it’s fair to assume that geography and remaining in Los Angeles likely had something to due with Ohtani’s decision, it’s a bit unfair to say that’s the reason the Dodgers ended up winning out.
It’s been more and more apparent that Ohtani has wanted to sign with the Dodgers for some time, and since they met his record-breaking contract demand, they were able to consummate a deal.
The Giants have struggled over the last few years in attracting top-level free agents.
The Giants were in on Aaron Judge last season, but ultimately lost that battle to the New York Yankees.
They had Carlos Correa, but after a failed physical and an inability to rework a contract, lost him to the Minnesota Twins.
This offseason, they have again been in on all the top free agents, but thus far, have just come away with Jung Hoo Lee from Korea, per reports.
Zaidi can blame geography all he wants, but Ohtani clearly wanted to be a Dodger — and clearly, the Giants’ competitive offer wasn’t enough to convince him otherwise. Slusser even reported that Zaidi said the Giants agreed to everything that Ohtani ultimately finalized with the Dodgers.
Photo Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports