Shohei Ohtani free agency: Dodgers reportedly used 6-year-old Kobe Bryant video pitch to land star
Kobe Bryant's legend in Los Angeles keeps on growing. This time, it was at Dodger Stadium.
The late Los Angeles Lakers star played a significant role in the Dodgers' signing of Shohei Ohtani, per ESPN's Jeff Passan, with the Dodgers using a six-year-old video message from Bryant to successfully woo the free-agent superstar.
The video was reportedly filmed in 2017 as a favor to the team, three years before Bryant's death in a helicopter crash. His reported pitch was that there is no better place to win than Los Angeles and no better team in baseball to win with than the Dodgers.
Apparently, the message landed, via ESPN:
"That was one of the highlights of the whole meeting," Ohtani told ESPN through his interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara. "I was really surprised to see it. It was a strong and touching message."
When Bryant said Ohtani's name, it took him aback. They never met, but Ohtani marveled at his commitment, to his craft, to his sport, to his team. Mizuhara, who is as much consigliere to Ohtani as the conduit for his words, grew up in Los Angeles and understood what it meant for Bryant to vouch for the Dodgers. A minute of his time, of the presence he still casts, felt like a wonderful eternity.
That video was likely filmed in advance of Ohtani's first MLB free agency in late 2017, and it's unclear why it wasn't used then. In December 2017, Ohtani signed with the Los Angeles Angels.
Of course, there were several other reasons Ohtani decided to sign with the Dodgers this time. The $700 million certainly helped, even with most of it deferred. The Dodgers' decade of winning was also a plus, as was the fact that the team treated it as not enough.
After the successful pitch, Ohtani is already paying it forward with the Dodgers. He was reportedly present for Los Angeles' presentation for free-agent pitcher (and his Team Japan teammate) Yoshinobu Yamamoto and reportedly helped convince trade acquisition Tyler Glasnow to sign a five-year, $135 million extension.
"It was important to Shohei that this wasn't the one group we were going to make," Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said Thursday at Ohtani's introduction. "I think anyone who's watched us operate over the years, we're trying to add really good players at every turn."
