Where Giants stand in Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes, per MLB executives
Where MLB execs currently pin Giants' chances to land Ohtani originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
Los Angeles Angels two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani's long-term future won't be decided until at least November. Until pen meets paper, it will be one of the most intriguing storylines in baseball.
Could Ohtani -- one of the biggest names to enter MLB free agency in the sport's history -- join the Giants next offseason?
ESPN's Buster Olney recently spoke with MLB executives and evaluators to assess where league chatter stands around Ohtani's future heading into the summer months. He listed the Los Angeles Dodgers as the clear favorite to land Ohtani, followed by "three more front-runners" in the San Diego Padres, New York Mets and New York Yankees.
The Giants were featured in the next tier, titled "others in the mix" along with the Seattle Mariners and Chicago Cubs.
"San Francisco would probably have to do what it did not do with [Aaron] Judge -- go far beyond competing offers, despite extraordinary payroll flexibility," Olney wrote.
The Giants missed out on Judge this past winter, finishing second to the Yankees after the slugger signed a nine-year contract worth $360 million to remain in New York. Then, they backed away from an agreed 13-year, $350 million contract with shortstop Carlos Correa over long-term concerns surrounding his right ankle.
They will head into another offseason in search of signing a cornerstone free agent to keep up with the Dodgers and Padres, their star-studded NL West rivals.
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Ohtani, whose current .857 OPS at the plate pairs with an AL-leading 90 strikeouts on the mound, likely will demand record-breaking money. There has never been a free agent like him.
"He's in a position to tell teams that if they're not prepared to make a huge offer -- say, $500 million -- then there won't be a visit," one evaluator told Olney. "All [Ohtani] really needs is two big-market teams bidding, but he may have as many as eight to 10 teams, and [agent] Nez [Balelo] may look for a way to separate the teams that are serious from the others."
Giants fans might not enjoy reading the Dodgers currently are considered the favorites to land Ohtani, but the Japanese superstar's future remains a great mystery.
"Anybody who tells you they know what's going to happen," one evaluator told Olney, "is completely full of s--t."
