“Those feelings get stronger by year,” he said of his desire to play on a winner. “It sucks to lose. I want to win.”
Even so, there is much speculation that he wants to remain on the west coast, which could make the Los Angeles Dodgers the favorite to sign him. The Dodgers mostly laid low in free agency last winter, making for speculation they’re saving up for Ohtani.
Coincidentally, two Dodgers’ players, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, were mic’d up for FOX at the time as they played defense in right field and at first base. With the Dodgers expected to be one of the favorites to land the Japanese superstar, the players were asked if they wanted to make their own case for Ohtani to join them.
“I think that would be considered tampering,” Betts said with a chuckle.
“I think we can say all 30 teams would want him,” added Freeman.
And while Ohtani has been around long enough, six years in the big leagues, fellow superstars still marvel at his ability.
“What I didn’t realize is how fast he is,” Betts said. “To see it in person, at his size, it’s pretty amazing.”
He can also hit and pitch a little, in case you haven’t heard. He’s leading the majors with 32 home runs, as well as in slugging percentage and OPS, in addition to pitching to a 3.32 ERA that doesn’t do justice to his dominance when he’s on his game.
And with the Angels fading fast in the AL West, having lost eight of their last nine games to drop to 45-46, with Mike Trout on the IL due to a broken hamate bone in his hand, there is new speculation about whether Ohtani could be dealt at the Aug. 1 trade deadline.
Reports out of Anaheim for months have said Angels owner Arte Moreno doesn’t want to be known as the person who traded one of the greatest players in the history of the game, and maybe that sentiment will rule the day.
However, for a franchise that has been unable to get a sniff of postseason play even with Trout and Ohtani, fear of embarrassment is a bad reason for not at least finding out what the Angels could get at the trade deadline.
So who knows, maybe GM Perry Minasian convinces Moreno in that regard over the next month.
As for what it all means for the Mets or Yankees, it’s hard to know.
The Yankees wanted Ohtani desperately when he came over six years ago, but because he didn’t wait until he was a full-fledged free agent, they were limited, along with every other team, as to how much they could offer him.
Still, they put on a full-court recruiting press and were devastated when they didn’t get him, which led to them quickly pivoting and trading for Giancarlo Stanton -- surely to be remembered as a mistake if they don’t win a championship with him in the remaining five years on his contract.
As for trying to sign him as a free agent, they may be reluctant to add still another mega-contract to those of Stanton, Aaron Judge, Gerrit Cole, and Carlos Rodon.
For the Mets, there is also the question of just how much money Steve Cohen is willing to spend after setting a record for payroll only for his team to stumble through the first half of the season.
If he thinks one player, even a player who hits and pitches, could change everything in 2024, then perhaps he outbids the Dodgers and everybody else, but the Mets almost certainly need to prove that’s a possibility over the second half of this season.
It’s hard to see the Mets giving up top prospects for two months of Ohtani if the Angels do decide to trade him, with no guarantee that he’ll stay. Cohen is too committed to building from within for that.
In any case, the speculation is only going to increase by the day from here to the deadline, first, and then the start of free agency.
The Seattle fans at the All-Star Game left no doubt about that.
