Jake Mintz
FOX Sports activities MLB Analyst
NASHVILLE, Tennessee — The largest story in baseball is a ghost.
Shohei Ohtani, who, within the close to future, will obtain the most important contract in American sports activities historical past, has turned his free company into a dull, soulless slog. In six MLB seasons, the two-way Japanese dynamo has captivated the baseball-loving world, reshaping our expectations of what is attainable.
His free company to date this winter has been the other.
In addition to a latest report that Ohtani met with the Blue Jays at their Florida spring coaching facility, it has been crickets. Straight-up nap time. And that is by design. Ohtani and his agent, Nez Balelo, have saved negotiations on lockdown. No buzz, no rumors, no anticipation, only a vaguely worded warning that groups leaking their communication with Ohtani would have it held towards them. That warning has apparently labored and the move of knowledge out of Ohtani-world has been bupkis.
That technique has turned what may have been essentially the most compelling story in sports activities into sleepy nothingness. Ohtani is essentially the most enthralling participant to ever attain the open market and his free company has been a downright bore.
That is a missed alternative.
Everybody on the MLB winter conferences in Nashville is considering Ohtani and speaking about Ohtani. However neither he nor Balelo are right here. His free company has dominated the dialog with out offering any cause — in addition to, in fact, Ohtani’s on-field magnificence.
That gradual technique, in accordance with sources, has dictated these comically drab winter conferences. There have been few signings, and in addition to Sunday night’s Braves-Mariners commerce, groups have but to decide on one other significant swap. Ohtani’s stranglehold available on the market is partly accountable. Many groups, like the remainder of us, are at midnight. That is led to a wait-and-see strategy; why be aggressive now earlier than you recognize the place the market’s greatest prize goes to land?
A part of this trudge has to do with the absence of a wage cap in MLB. Evaluate that to the NBA and NFL, which each have strict spending limits that generate intense anticipation adopted by a blast of pleasure upon the “opening gun” and a wave of transactions. The MLB offseason, conversely, can really feel like a chore as a result of free company is so drawn out.
Even nonetheless, a typical free company for Ohtani would have fostered an enormous mainstream curiosity, in Ohtani himself, the membership who finally indicators him, and the game as a complete. Brokers clearly preserve a stage of privateness in relation to contract negotiations, however permit for a standard stage of buzz to achieve the general public. Why? As a result of it retains their shopper related. Relevance is energy, energy is leverage, leverage is cash.
However as a result of Ohtani is so wanted, Balelo has no incentive to supply or allow rumors about his shopper’s preferences or course of. Which is comprehensible for Ohtani, although unlucky. That is, in spite of everything, leisure. No one watches baseball for the reality. It compels, excites, and elicits consideration as a result of it is fulfilling. Transactions and the encircling hypothesis intensify that dynamic.
That is to not say Ohtani and Balelo ought to flip some of the defining two months of a participant’s life right into a circus. Balelo’s tasks are to (1) fulfill the wishes of his shopper and (2) get Ohtani as a lot cash as attainable. If Ohtani needs to maintain issues on lock, Balelo just isn’t erring by abiding by that request.
Shohei Ohtani & Dodgers might be finest match in all of MLB
That does not imply it does not suck for the remainder of us.
Current megastar free companies hardly ever crossed over into true headline information, however the pursuits of Aaron Decide, Manny Machado and Bryce Harper all supplied various ranges of drama. Though Decide returned to his earlier employer, the drama about his involvement with the Giants and Padres was scintillating, “Arson” Decide kerfuffle apart.
Machado and Harper, who each journeyed by free company after the 2018 season, balanced professionalism with leisure. Thriller groups, subterfuge, secret visits? That stuff makes the world go spherical, it drives curiosity, dialogue, eyeballs. It helps to make the league compelling, helps to develop the game. Bear in mind when Machado confirmed as much as Residents Financial institution Park for a gathering and a few Philly building employee screamed “get that cash” as he entered the yard? Or that picture of Harper’s title subsequent to a White Sox emblem on the United Heart in Chicago? That is completely innocent hypothesis. Sufficient to chew on, a blanket by the chilly baseball winter.
That is nothing in comparison with, say, when LeBron James held “The Resolution.” Weird and self-serving? Certain. However James understands leisure, and his free-agency announcement was excellent tv, great theater. Ohtani’s job search, by comparability, has been like watching paint dry. That it’s going to nearly definitely conclude in anticlimatic trend makes it much more disappointing.
To be clear, Ohtani doesn’t “owe” the game something. He has already carried out greater than sufficient to develop the sport. If he needs to show his free company right into a sleepy, newsless slog, that is his proper. And it isn’t like he wants the cash. It is simply that pushing it to Fort Knox-levels of secrecy accomplishes nothing. Ohtani goes to obtain a big bucket of cash from his desired employer it doesn’t matter what. Limiting the move of knowledge has no advantages, it simply makes the method gentle years much less compelling for the general public.
Jake Mintz, the louder half of @CespedesBBQ is a baseball author for FOX Sports activities. He performed school baseball, poorly at first, then very nicely, very briefly. Jake lives in New York Metropolis the place he coaches Little League and rides his bike, generally on the identical time. Observe him on Twitter at @Jake_Mintz.
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