Shohei Ohtani's Contract: Pending Signature & Financial Impact
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:03 - Me and you were just discussing,
00:05 everyone in baseball is kind of waiting right now.
00:08 I don't think anybody's gonna sign
00:09 until they know what's gonna happen with Otani,
00:11 because there's obviously teams involved with Otani
00:14 that can then go and spend those dollars elsewhere
00:18 when they don't get him.
00:19 But with the big winter meetings being next week,
00:22 which is where last year we saw Turner and Judge
00:24 and really all the big guys go and sign,
00:27 it feels like Gabe, we're getting a little bit closer
00:30 with Otani and there's a few teams that are starting
00:33 to maybe peek out ahead of others
00:35 in terms of where he might go.
00:37 - You're bang on Carver, as far as the timing of this.
00:39 You know, you see it other sports,
00:41 NHL hockey, July 1st, the floodgates open, right?
00:44 NBA, they're already cutting deals before the deadline
00:47 and the moment that they're allowed to talk,
00:52 you have deals announced.
00:53 Baseball is a little bit different, right?
00:55 There's the off season, it takes weeks,
00:57 takes a month or so, but as you mentioned,
01:00 you've got the winter meetings.
01:02 And also, if you're gonna give a player five, six,
01:04 $700 million, you wanna do it before Christmas, Carver.
01:08 You wanna sell season tickets, you wanna sell jerseys,
01:11 you wanna get momentum going into holiday season,
01:13 going into spring training,
01:14 people booking spring training trips.
01:17 Showy Otani is gonna have an instant financial impact
01:20 on whatever organization that he signs with.
01:24 It should be noted that every 17th day of the month,
01:28 people wear Otani's jerseys in the country of Japan.
01:32 Like, we're talking millions of jerseys sold, Carver.
01:34 You know what I'm saying?
01:35 Like, not just Tim Tebow, 55,000 jerseys sold.
01:38 No, no, like, you know, 2.2 million jerseys sold or whatnot.
01:42 So there's a lot to it from a business standpoint,
01:45 but you're right, it's getting real right now.
01:47 And we've all known the Los Angeles Dodgers
01:49 are sort of somewhat believed to be the front runners.
01:53 He already lives in Los Angeles.
01:54 He doesn't have to move.
01:56 He doesn't have to leave his house.
01:57 He can stay in the same house that he lives in right now.
02:00 He's been very vocal about his favorite player in the league
02:03 and the guy that he wants to play with the most
02:04 is Bookie Betts.
02:06 There's a lot to it here and the Dodgers need him,
02:09 but the Rangers have a tax-free environment, Carver.
02:12 They have a very good baseball team.
02:14 And imagine that, getting $700 million tax-free,
02:17 essentially.
02:18 There's no tax in Texas.
02:20 I don't think he cares.
02:21 I think he's rich anyways.
02:23 And the Toronto Blue Jays, just people,
02:25 a lot of people think, no, Toronto won't do this and that.
02:28 But I know a lot of people don't realize this.
02:30 The Toronto Blue Jays are the richest team in sports.
02:34 They're the richest, they are richer than Ballmer.
02:38 They are richer.
02:38 They are the richest organization in Major League Baseball.
02:42 By far.
02:43 I guess the only one individual man is Cohen.
02:48 Yeah, Cohen isn't Rogers.
02:49 The difference is the Blue Jays are owned by a company.
02:52 They're not owned by a man.
02:54 There's a board of directors, Carver.
02:56 Like, if you're running the Blue Jays,
02:58 you can't just sign Soto or Otani, like if you're the GM.
03:02 You have to go to the Rogers board of directors,
03:05 sit in front of 12 smart dudes in suits
03:08 that run cable companies.
03:10 And a great line, I was told,
03:12 I used to have an inside pipeline into that room
03:15 and Anthopolis wanted to sign David Price
03:18 and an extension, $200 million.
03:21 And everybody ripped the Rogers company board
03:24 for rejecting it.
03:25 It's probably a good idea, wasn't it?
03:27 That they weren't on the hook
03:28 for $217 million to David Price.
03:30 But their line to Anthopolis was,
03:33 "Why would we give $217 million
03:36 "to an over the hill pitcher
03:38 "when we can invest that in a fiber optic cable line?"
03:41 (laughing)
03:42 Right?
03:43 You've got to give them an answer back
03:44 why it works for them.
03:46 Well, sir, because we are going to make this much money
03:48 and we will reproject this much sales.
03:51 You have to come prepared for this.
03:53 Word is the board is in, Carver.
03:56 So we're talking about like one of the seventh
03:57 biggest telecommunications company in the world.
04:00 AT&T is bigger, Warner is a few, Verizon.
04:04 They're massive, these people.
04:05 Like billions and billions and billions
04:08 and trillions, et cetera.
04:10 I still don't think he's going to do it.
04:12 I think he's listening to the offers.
04:14 I believe he's going to end up with a Dodger still.
04:16 I think Juan Soto ends up with the Yankees.
04:20 And I think Cody Ballinger
04:22 is what the Blue Jays come home with.
04:23 (laughing)
04:24 - Yeah.
04:25 - It's much more prediction.
04:26 - I think a lot of times too,
04:29 these teams have a feel that maybe they know
04:32 he's going to go to the Dodgers,
04:34 but they want to keep their,
04:35 they want to kind of show their fans
04:37 that they were quote, "in it."
04:38 - And other players, you nailed it, Carver.
04:41 So right now, other rich guys,
04:43 other big time players in the league are like,
04:45 "Damn, Blue Jays have money for Otani.
04:47 "What about me?
04:47 "I wouldn't mind playing there."
04:48 - Yeah.
04:49 (upbeat music)
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