Even before the Major League Baseball off season started talk had already started about two names Japanese pitcher/outfielder Shohei Ohtani and Miami Marlins outfielder and National League M.V.P. Giancarlo Stanton. On Friday we found out who one of these two would be playing for in 2018 and there was talk at first that both would have new teams by the weekend, but the other move didn’t go anywhere close to what people thought.
Of course the signing we know about is that Ohtani has decided to sign with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The Angels beat out the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, San Diego Padres, Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers and the Chicago Cubs for Ohtani’s services. Ohtani had shortened his list to those 7 teams and held meetings with all of them over a 48 hour period before deciding on the Angels.
Ohtani’s agent Nez Balelo of CAA Baseball issued a statement on his clients and thanking the 7 teams that where involved in the meetings. Balelo described that the reason Ohtani signed with the Angels is that he felt a “bond” with them. Ohtani definitely didn’t take the most money that he could’ve as the Angels have about $1 million dollars less to offer him than the Rangers or the Mariners could’ve in a signing bonus.
The Angels will be responsible for the $20 million dollar posting fee that goes to the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, but because Ohtani is 23 years old his contract is much easier for the Angels to deal with.
Because of his age Ohtani is considered an amateur under Major League Baseball’s collective bargaining agreement. That means that his contract with the Angels will be a minor league deal. That contract comes with a minimum salary of $545,000 as a major leaguer. Then like all other players Ohtani will be eligible for arbitration after three years of Major League service and will qualify as a free agent after six years of service in the Majors.
The next question is how will the Angels handle Ohtani. It appears as though he’ll go right to the top of their starting rotation and that’s not a surprise at all, but what about finding at bats for him. The Angels have a solid outfield with Justin Upton in leftfield, Mike Trout in centerfield and Kole Calhoun in rightfield; so at bats might be tough to come by there. Now of course since he’s in the American League there is the designated hitter spot except the Angels have a future Hall of Fame player in that role by the name of Albert Pujols. Now there are reports that Pujols is trying to lose weight this off season so he’ll be able to play more at 1st base, but we won’t have the answer to that until spring training. Now there is also a chance that Ohtani won’t be able to hit major league pitching as well as he hit Japanese pitching. There are quite a few scouts out there who don’t think that his bat will be as effective, but again will have to wait until spring training to find that out. Now while scouts have question his hitting they do all agree that the Angels just added a front line starting pitcher.
Now the case for Stanton isn’t as clear. It looked and it was even reported that the Marlins and the Giants where close on a deal that would send Stanton to San Francisco for a package of prospects and that the deal could possibly be done by the weekend. Stanton put an end to all of those rumors when he informed the Giants that he wouldn’t waive his no-trade clause for them. Stanton also let the St, Louis Cardinals know that he wouldn’t waive his no-trade clause for them either.
While the Giants where the front runners to land Stanton the Cardinals where in talks with the Marlins as well. So now that Stanton has ended any talk of him heading to St. Louis or San Francisco; where might he be willing to go? There where reports that Stanton has giving the Marlins four teams that he would be willing to waive his no-trade clause for. Those teams are the current World Series winners the Houston Astros. The 2017 World Series winners the Chicago Cubs. Stanton would also accept a deal to the New York Yankees or the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Interestingly three of those teams the Astros, Yankees and Dodgers all have very well stocked farm systems and could give the Marlins what they would be looking for to get a rebuild started.
As I’m sure everyone knows the Marlins where purchased by a new ownership group led by Derek Jeter, who spend his entire career with the Yankees. Jeter has already made one deal with the Yankees this off season. Miami sent right handed pitcher Michael King and some international pool money to the Yankees for left handed pitcher Caleb Smith and 1st baseman Garrett Cooper. That deal was made when the Yankees thought they where in the running to sign Ohtani.
There are reports that the Yankees and the Marlins are having “serious” talks on a perspective Stanton deal. The Dodgers are also involved in trying to work out a Stanton trade, but those reports also indicate that the Yankees talks are farther along than the Dodgers talks.
As I’m sure you could guess both teams have an issue with assuming the $295 million dollar commitment left on Stanton’s contract. Both the Yankees and the Dodgers have player under large contracts that they could put into a Stanton deal, but it doesn’t appear that the Marlins would be interested in those type of players.
As of now there have been no reports of the Astros or the Cubs being involved in any talks to acquire Stanton, but with the winter meetings getting ready to start that could change rather quickly.
Where is your landing spot for Stanton? Should Miami send him to the American League so they won’t have to face him? Or does it matter to them and they’re just looking to move that contract and get their rebuild started?
Feel free to leave your comments here or find me on Twitter @Burketime.
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