Blue Jays GM Atkins dodges question about meeting with Ohtani
Where in the world was Toronto Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins yesterday?
Well, he still isn’t exactly telling, but he’s perhaps offering up a few hints along the way.
Yesterday afternoon, Atkins was scheduled to meet with members of the media in Nashville at the annual MLB Winter Meetings before notice was given that he’d be holding a press conference over Zoom due to a “scheduling conflict.” The late notice suggested that Atkins was not in town and likely somewhere else meeting with a possible future star of his team.
Via The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, Atkins was reported to have met with high-profile free agent Shohei Ohtani on Monday at the team’s spring training complex in Dunedin, Florida, but he’s not giving up much about it.
Being interviewed on Tuesday morning on MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM, Atkins had a bit of a laugh with host Steve Phillips when pressed on his whereabouts.
Where in the world was Ross Atkins yesterday?
"Everybody has me in like four different places, it's so funny."
Hey @NoradSanta, can we get a Shohei Ohtani tracker this year? 👀👀#BlueJays | #NextLevel pic.twitter.com/ynYlY0873i
— MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (@MLBNetworkRadio) December 5, 2023
“How was the flight from Dunedin last night?” Phillips asked, joking about putting a NORAD tracker on the Blue Jays GM.
“Everyone has me in like four different places,” Atkins replied with a laugh. “The best was the texts I was getting from other GMs, everyone’s speculating, guessing. Listen, any deal, like when we were acquiring George Springer, trading for Jose Berrios, signing Kevin Gausman, these deals, any deal to pull off that is of some significance is exceptionally complex, exceptionally competitive, and exceptionally difficult to execute.
“There’s so many stakeholders in the cases of the players that I’m mentioning that I’m having to balance and respect and then just doing the best possible job to make your team better.”
Ohtani, the reigning American League MVP and the only full-time two-way player in the major leagues, is expected to land a lucrative long-term deal that could go upwards of $500 million wherever he ends up signing. While it’s anyone’s best guess where Ohtani ultimately ends up, Toronto, at the very least, still appears to be in the running.