Where is Shohei Ohtani going?

The greatest free agent in the history of Major League Baseball has not yet made his decision, or maybe he has, and we won't know about it until he's good and ready.

We do know this, he doesn't want any information out there. Shohei Ohtani, who could be a $500 million pitcher. Hit her. Hit her first pitcher a year from now. Elliot Johnson.

I mean, in my mind, same price. Joining us on the Adam Gold show. Um, what do you make of the Shohei Ohtani lack of information? And is it problematic for Major League Baseball as some people are suggesting?

Um, so it's, it's the people that have the microphone that have the problem with it, Adam. So I can appreciate your disposition on this. So the writers are kind of upset and, you know, probably Major League Baseball is a little upset.

Now, don't get me wrong, from it, I would say what the NFL really does a great job of is controlling how information comes out that's negative and how information comes out that's positive. So it would definitively have been more beneficial to kick off Nashville, the winter meetings, the hostel, the generation of interest for the game that it kicks off with Shohei Ohtani going, say, Sunday night or Monday, you know, but here we are, he's allowed as an individual to handle his business. And he's chosen to go this route because of his value system. So everyone needs to kind of chill out, relax, realize that he wants to do this right. And he wants to do it on his terms. And it is 100% his right to do it that way.

So if they want to speed things up, then maybe they need to change the rules. But I would say that he's 100% allowed to do it the way he wants to all signs point to LA for all the Dodgers fans out there. The only thing that changes that is Dave Roberts shooting himself in the foot and telling everyone that he met with them, right? If that indeed the case that he spins and goes to say the Giants as a result, well, then Dave Roberts should be fired. They could have had no Tony jersey now going to not only a different team, but an in division competitor and their absolute chief rival. Elliot Johnson is joining us here. First of all, I had not even thought not for a single second hadn't even thought about Oh, Tony's free agency. Look, I know there's a bunch of teams that are interested. I know that he because I think his preferences to stay on the West Coast really does limit the choices that he's got probably to San Francisco and Los Angeles. Maybe not in that order, but I wouldn't rule out completely him staying with the Angels, and I wouldn't rule out maybe even Seattle with their history with Ichiro because I think that probably matters a little bit here.

But I was reading, you know, browsing the web trying to find stuff to talk about. And like, it did occur to me that it's in some ways a major league baseball problem. Because other leagues own the off season their off seasons. The National Football League is I mean, they only play for four months for crying out loud. They play September, October, November, December, January, the playoffs got a Super Bowl.

It's like 20 weeks. Baseball's like half the year. And the NFL owns their off season and everybody you could talk about the NFL in freaking July, June, when nothing is going on. But even the NBA has a robust off season, you know, level of conversation. Major League Baseball doesn't have that anymore.

And I think that's where people are getting at is that the Otani courtship could be so much more attention grabbing. And it's not. I don't know that. I think you're right.

It's his right. And I don't know that it's a fixable problem for baseball. Well, you can change the rules. I mean, you can make the free agency window different. You can find you can find a way.

Let me put it that way. There would definitively be ways to make it happen. Major League Baseball, for the most part, controls the ways that the CBA gets written up. Right. They actually even have a rule where if they present it in year one, if the players don't like it, they have a right to find a way to implement it in years with or without their. Who signed that? So Major League Baseball, this is a Major League Baseball problem. This is a Ron Manfred problem.

If they solve, they will, Adam, I can promise you that. And, you know, we're relative to the other sports. I think we just do a poor job of marketing things like that. I mean, we're basically talking about, you know, this generation's Joe Montana or Tom Brady.

And it's not even really necessarily something that's getting celebrated the way that it possibly should. I mean, he's he's arguably the greatest player that we have ever seen, because he he checks every single box, assuming he can come back and pitch. He checks every single box.

And I will argue forever. And I've had conversations with baseball writers about this. I think every single team in Major League Baseball can afford to sign him because he's to me, he's free. He pays for himself. And he probably helps you turn a profit with whatever you pay him based on the amount of money that he will generate just in Jersey sales. I mean, you're going to if you paid him 60 million dollars a year, I think you make that back just in merchandising right away. So I believe that there's a small market that sustain you and I are on the same page here with that.

I think it's it's all a game. I think the markets like Baltimore and Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, they're scamming their fans. Let me let me just fold this into the 25 year old pitching sensation from Japan, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who is I don't know, maybe the Dodgers are the front runner there. And they're not going to get Ohtani and they're going to get this kid. 25 years old. And apparently the asking price is 30 million a year.

So where are we with this? I know Steve Cohen, Mets owner, flew to Japan to meet with him. They have their own Japanese pitcher, Kodak Senga, who is second in the National League Rookie of the Year voting, even though he's in his 30s. It's kind of weird, but he's a rookie.

What are your thoughts on this kid and how good he can possibly be? So his market's been a lot more robust, I think, than people anticipated. So I think the Red Sox are the favorite to get him right now. That can change at any moment. But the bidding has intensified a lot. I think everybody's kind of waiting slowly but surely for Shohei to go.

And then you know, there's that domino effect. I say, you know, a player that we're going to talk about later, hopefully, is Soto got moved. We got Shohei needs to go for the other things. And I remember, you know, this time last year, everybody was waiting for Aaron Judge to go. And, you know, and I was in Nashville for a couple of days at the winter meetings, Adam. So, you know, everybody's kind of in a hurry up and wait kind of a plan where everybody knows Shohei's going to take his time. And so it was kind of an interesting dynamic to be there where people are wanting to get things done. But we all, everybody knows that we're waiting for the most important, you know, story of the winter meetings and of the offseason to get done first so that other things can kind of go. So things are happening here and there.

But everyone knows that that's the most important one. And then things will start to open up after that gets done. All right, let's get to Juan Soto. Yankees got him for a few minor league pitchers and maybe those minor league pitchers will turn out to be really good.

The math doesn't work out. The probability of prospects becoming impact players is low. I remember when the Mets traded a whole bunch of big prospects to the Mariners for Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz and Jared Kalenic, who was the big prospect in that deal, although there were other prospects. He's been good, but certainly not great.

Certainly not high impact. So it's always good business, I think, to trade prospects for established players. And Juan Soto is about as established as you get. He's 25 years old. He's one of the best hitters. He's a good outfielder. I don't know if I would call him a great outfielder, but he's a good outfielder, not going to hurt you. But he is just an unbelievable player. And he's 25.

And he's left handed. So he is going he should crush in Yankee Stadium. How do you sum this deal up? Well, he's the Yankees are only guaranteed one year. What they're hoping for is that they he's a Yankees guy. They show him what it's like, they create a familiarity, they get to negotiate and negotiate with him for a year. He's not gonna he's not gonna sign a an extension while he's there for all the Yankees fans.

I mean, I would be very surprised. He's gonna go to free agency and then the Yankees can have the opportunity to create that familiarity and that relationship with that they can hopefully keep him for. He'll probably get a 12 year 550 maybe. He's he's a generational roles as well. He makes everyone around him better in so many different ways. He tires the other the other side's pitching staff.

I would love to hit around him. He would be an incredible teammate to have in any lineup, Adam. So not only did they get him, but they also got Grisham Trent Grisham, which is an interesting ad. So they've got Verdugo, they've got Grisham, they've got Soto, they've got options.

Judge is going to move to center. They've got really good lineup. Now, the guys that they gave up, we'll see what they end up becoming.

But really, it was a big deal. The reason why the Padres had to offload all these guys is because they're hurting financially. That is them with the trade market. But when as it pertains to a talent like Soto, you're going to get premium talent in return. So we'll see if the Padres get anything here in the next few years. All right, final thing before we have to let Elliot Johnson go appreciate his time. As always, Durham Bulls legend, former Atlanta Brave, Kansas City Royal, Cleveland Guardian. I'm sure you kept all your guardian memorabilia and of course, the Tampa Bay Rays. The Alex Verdugo deal between the Yankees and Red Sox, the rare trade where the Yankees and Red Sox actually do business together.

It was problematic for me. From this standpoint, I'm reading the article and this is not a quote, but it's they're like afraid of Verdugo going into free agency because he is one more year before it becomes I think it's one more year before it becomes a free agent. And here's what I can't get. How much could Alex Verdugo possibly get in free agency that would scare the Boston Red Sox if he's a good player and he's a starter? He's not. He's not a killer offensive. He's a good player.

And that's as far as it goes. How could the Red Sox possibly be afraid of what he might command in free agency? They either want him or they don't. Agreed.

So they're not, Adam. So Alex Cora doesn't want him on the team anymore, so they sent him out. There you go. Thank you. Let's not make this outdated. Let's not, you know, whatever it is, he doesn't get along with him. He doesn't like him. He's a great player.

Okay. He really is. He's a great player. He means well.

Maybe he's off-putting with his personality style, but so be it. He's a good baseball player. The Yankees are glad that they have him.

He's going to do well. Afraid of his free agency. I mean, you could make the argument, no disrespect to Haim Bloom.

He's a friend of mine, but I mean, being afraid of Mookie Betts' free agency was a huge mistake. Although I think that that was much more of a decision from ownership than it was. Yeah.

And then they just caused him to fall on the sword as a result. So there's that as well. All right.

Yeah. Just free agency in any way, shape, and form. But the one thing I'll say to you to go back to prospects hurting you, junior Kamenaro that the Rays stole from the Guardians in a trip is going to be one of the best players in the big leagues for years to come here, Adam. So there are outliers where it does work out like that. And I think that that kid is going to be a star.

Oh no, it's, it's, it's just a numbers game. Clearly some prospects become stars because almost everybody in the big leagues at some point was a top prospect. So it definitely does happen. But, uh, I think you're in terms of percentages, you're always in good shape. If you can, if you can, especially if that star is young, like Soto, I mean, I don't think that the Yankees could have given up their top five prospects for a Juan Soto.

I would still consider it a good deal. Uh, Elliot Johnson, you are my friend. I appreciate your time. Thank you so much. Pleasure as always, Adam.