MLB Insider Says It’s a “Long Shot” Shohei Ohtani Signs with Cubs
With the MLB winter meetings quickly approaching, rumors continue to swirl surrounding the free agency and future of two-time American League MVP Shohei Ohtani.
A handful of teams, including the Chicago Cubs, have been linked to the 29 year-old superstar. However, one top MLB insider believes it’s a “long shot” that Ohtani, who spent the first six years of his Major League career with the Los Angeles Angels, leaves the Left Coast.
In the most recent episode of the Jack Vita Show, longtime national baseball writer for USA Today Bob Nightengale assessed the free agent market for Ohtani.
Nightengale has the Angels and Los Angeles Dodgers as the frontrunners to land Ohtani, with the San Francisco Giants, Texas Rangers and the Cubs also in the mix.
“I think the Giants will probably offer him the most money, but he likes to hit, so I’m not sure if he wants to hit in San Francisco,” Nightengale said. “That’s why Kris Bryant turned them down, Aaron Judge turned them down. Giancarlo Stanton vetoed a trade, so it’s tough to get a big slugger that wants to go to San Francisco. The two dark horse candidates of course are the Cubs and the Texas Rangers. The Cubs have been perceived as a dark horse candidate all season long, by Angels people. They think they’re going to come hard. We’ll see. There’s the pitching factor. You want to know when you have a game. You don’t want to have a rain delay or a rainout. You don’t have those rainouts in Southern California. If he goes to Texas, it’s a controlled environment.”
Nightengale notes that a very regimented and routine-oriented Ohtani might not be up for pitching in a ballpark that welcomes rainouts and rain delays, each of which would throw off his pitching schedule. April and May can be very rainy and chilly in Chicago. In Southern California, the weather has a tendency to stay a comfortable 75 to 80 degrees. The Rangers play their home games at Globe Life Field, which has a retractable roof.
Ohtani will bring incredible monetary value to whichever team he signs with, and the Cubs are expected to make him a handsome offer.
