Even with his immediate on-field value cut in half by elbow surgery, Shohei Ohtani remains baseball’s most coveted free agent.
With contract offers rumored to be in the $600 million neighborhood, the two-way sensation is believed to have met with Toronto Blue Jays officials at the team’s spring-training complex in Dunedin, Florida, according to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal.
Rosenthal goes on to report that Ohtani has met with more than one club thus far, although an exact timetable on his free-agency plans has not been revealed. In typical Ohtani fashion, Japan’s most celebrated athlete has refrained from publicizing – or even leaking – any details about his ongoing free-agency tour.
There remains a possibility that the 2023 American League MVP could re-sign with the Los Angeles Angels, for whom he played his first six MLB seasons, ranking among the best hitters and pitchers in the game.
But there are reportedly many other suitors as well, including the Blue Jays, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners and Chicago Cubs – teams that appear to be unconcerned that Ohtani will strictly be a designated hitter for the foreseeable future following his second Tommy John surgery.
![Two-way star Shohei Ohtani, 29, is rumored to be attracting offers upwards of $600 million](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/12/05/13/78596773-12827601-image-a-26_1701782813979.jpg)
Two-way star Shohei Ohtani, 29, is rumored to be attracting offers upwards of $600 million
And even when Ohtani returns from the elbow procedure, which isn’t expected to be until 2025 at the earliest, there remains concern about his future as a pitcher.
Only a handful of hurlers have successfully returned from two Tommy John surgeries, although that list includes the Texas Rangers’ Nathan Eovaldi, who has won a pair of World Series titles since his second TJ procedure in 2016.
The Blue Jays’ reported interest in Ohtani comes as the team’s home stadium, the Rodgers Centre, is getting a $300 million renovation.
Meanwhile, baseball’s winter meetings are taking place in Nashville, where Ohtani and his fellow Team Japan pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto were said to be holding up the free-agent market.
![Yoshinobu Yamamoto (pictured) is the second biggest name on the free-agent market](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/12/05/13/78596999-12827601-image-a-29_1701782978135.jpg)
Yoshinobu Yamamoto (pictured) is the second biggest name on the free-agent market
![Newspapers across Japan celebrated Shohei Ohtani's second American League MVP award](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/12/05/13/78596767-12827601-image-a-27_1701782867087.jpg)
Newspapers across Japan celebrated Shohei Ohtani’s second American League MVP award
![Fans in Oshu City, Japan celebrate news that Shohei Ohtani has won his second AL MVP award](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/12/05/13/78596099-12827601-image-a-28_1701782917513.jpg)
Fans in Oshu City, Japan celebrate news that Shohei Ohtani has won his second AL MVP award
‘It’s probably a little slower from a conversation standpoint at a winter meetings than it normally would,’ New York Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns said Monday.
‘A possibility is that, yeah, the top of the free-agent market hasn’t moved yet, and often it takes the top of the free-agent market moving for the rest of the dominoes to fall.’
Curiously absent from the winter meetings has been Nez Balelo, Ohtani’s representative at the Creative Artists Agency. Whereas other big-name agents like Scott Boras are traditionally very visible during the annual conferences, Balelo has been a ghost.
Besides Ohtani and Yamamoto, other top free agents include several Boras clients, such as outfielder Cody Bellinger, third baseman Matt Chapman, as well as pitchers Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery.