Blue Jays were "right there" with final offer to Ohtani: report
Were the Toronto Blue Jays ever serious contenders for Shohei Ohtani? Or were they just used as leverage for his eventual $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers?
While at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter — either way, the Jays won’t be signing the electric two-way star — it appears that Toronto wasn’t exactly trying to lowball Ohtani.
According to a report from Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith, the money wasn’t too far off from the $700 million figure offered by the Dodgers.
“Sources familiar with the negotiation say the Blue Jays’ best offer was in the same financial ballpark as the Dodgers. One source with knowledge of the talks said the Blue Jays were ‘right there’ with an offer described as very competitive,” Nicholson-Smith wrote. “The specifics of the final number aren’t known, but to be ‘right there’ with a $700 million offer certainly suggests a final bid well above $600 million from ownership at Rogers Communications Inc.”
Given that the previous most expensive contract in MLB history was Mike Trout’s $426.5 million over 12 years, Toronto’s owners did sound like they were willing to spend quite a bit of cash to pay for Ohtani. And considering Toronto’s previous richest contract belonged to George Springer at $150 million over six years, it would be four times larger than anything they’ve ever committed to for a single player.
Regardless of the final result of signing in LA, the whole Ohtani saga — one of plane tracking, erroneous reports that he was on his way to Toronto for a press conference, and a whole run of conspiracy theories — is one we’ll surely not be soon to forget.