Thoughts on Ohtani and the future of Sportsnet's booth

Shohei Ohtani was left with "a rather negative impression" of the Angels' season. Go get 'im, Ross! Plus: Some interesting news on Dan Shulman's new contract with ESPN.

So I guess we have to talk about Shohei Ohtani, huh?

Or, actually, check that. We don’t have to talk about him. We don’t have to talk about anything. It’s the offseason! But let’s talk about Shohei Ohtani — hands down the best and most valuable player in the sport, a bargain at $30 million, a free agent after next season, and apparently not exactly thrilled with how things are going with the Angels.

“I have to say that August and September in particular felt longer to me than last year,” Ohtani told reporters at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on Tuesday, speaking in Japanese, according to the Associated Press. “We were not able to play as many good games as we would like — including 14 consecutive losses. So I have a rather negative impression of this season.”

That seems like a perfectly valid and honest assessment, and doesn’t necessarily change anything about the Angels’ situation with their two-way superstar. But it’s a clear reminder that there very much is a situation there. If the Angels can’t convince him to stay with their moribund joke of a Hall-of-Fame-career-wasting franchise over the next year, he will hit the open market next winter and easily come out with the richest free agent contract in the history of the sport. Anaheim will be left with nothing. (Well, a couple of draft picks, but essentially nothing.)

Could they actually let it come to that?

I mean, it’s the Angels. The dumbest outcome is not just possible but likely. Yet from a purely cold-hearted asset-management perspective they’d be crazy not to at least explore the idea of a trade.

Cue every Jays fan and their mother concocting trade proposals!

Which… fair enough. Ohtani is like a video game create-a-player come to life — a pitcher with a 2.33 ERA who led the American League in strikeouts-per-nine and also happens to be one of the best hitters on the planet. But herein lies the problem: how on earth do you value just one year of that guy? And, more to our point, how badly, if you’re the Blue Jays, do you blow up your farm system for one year of someone who, a) has a $30 million salary, b) will only be here for a year without an extension that will make retaining one of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. or Bo Bichette long-term extremely difficult, but, c) is as good a player as you’ll ever have a chance to acquire and fits your specific 2023 needs — he pitches, he hits from the left side, he could absolutely play centre field — unbelievably perfectly?

Also, how do you outbid all the other non-tanking teams for his services?

The answer, more likely than not, is that you don’t. You can’t. You won’t.

Unless a full-fledged teardown is in the offing — a tough thing to do with Mike Trout still around — the Angels will almost certainly take one last chance at riding their pair of superstars to the playoffs, with the trade deadline providing one last potential route to get anything back for him before Ohtani walks. Yes, that creates the risk of a Josh Donaldson situation, where if he’s hurt or underperforming the deals available then won’t be nearly as good as what they’d be offered this winter, but that’s probably a risk you take when the alternative is punting on your season before it even starts. Especially when you have Ohtani and Trout!

But even if the Angels do decide to trade him, it’s pretty hard to envision him winding up on the Blue Jays. Not necessarily because they “don’t have the horses,” to use the parlance of our times, but because they likely won’t see one year of Ohtani at $30 million as the best use of the things it will take to get him.

A big reason for that, I think, is Logan O’Hoppe.

Acquired from the Phillies in a deadline day deal for Brandon Marsh, O’Hoppe instantly became the Angels’ top prospect. He was especially good after the trade, slashing .306/.473/.674 for the Double-A Rocket City Trash Pandas, and made his Major League debut in September. He is a right-handed-hitting catcher.

Now, the fact that the Angels have a big-league-ready catcher at the top of their system maybe doesn’t completely rule out their going after one of the Jays’ surplus ones — their best and most obvious trade chips — but it definitely complicates things. To offer up the most appealing package to Anaheim the Jays would probably have to look at moving other guys.

Top pitching prospect Ricky Tiedemann would get a conversation started, but that’s a guy who looks like he’s going to be really useful to the Jays sooner rather than later, and for a long time. I think I’d only go there if I was truly confident I could get an extension done with Ohtani — and with the amount of money involved I wouldn’t be shocked if the Jays wouldn’t even do that.

Still, there could be a path to do a deal without Tiedemann or one of the catchers. But I suspect the suits at Rogers wouldn’t be thrilled with it. The example for it exists in the Mookie Betts deal.

Back in February 2020, Betts, who was to be paid $27 million for his final year before free agency, went from Boston to L.A. for a young big league outfielder coming off a 2.1 WAR season in Alex Verdugo, infield prospect Jeter Downs (ranked number 44 by MLB Pipeline at the time), and catching prospect Connor Wong (L.A.’s number 29 prospect per Pipeline, but coming off an outstanding 40 game showing at Double-A). Also going with Betts in the deal was David Price and $48 million in cash — enough to cover half of Price’s remaining contract.

In other words, in getting rid of one year of a top five position player in the game, Boston got Verdugo, Downs, Wong, and $75 million off their books. That’s a great haul from that cold-hearted asset-management perspective we talked about earlier, but mostly because of the financial component.

The Angels have their own version of Price’s deal on their books. Anthony Rendon is signed through 2026 and is owed $152 million between now and then, yet has turned into a league-average hitter and has only played 105 games over the last two seasons combined. I’m not sure you’d have to do like the Dodgers did and take on half of what’s left on that deal, but still, if third-baseman-of-the-future Anthony Rendon isn’t unappealing enough, making the financials work would probably push the Jays’ payroll into territory that I just don’t see them — or the suits — being comfortable with. They could likely put together an upsized version of Verdugo, Downs, and Wong though!

If we’re looking at a more traditional trade, I think the model has to be — and I’m sure I’ve written about this before! — last year’s deadline blockbuster that sent Max Scherzer and Trea Turner from the Nationals to the Dodgers. Scherzer was a rental but Turner had another year left on his deal, meaning L.A. got something similar in shape to two seasons of elite performance (1.5 for Turner, .5 for Scherzer), which is in the same realm as what you’d get from a year of Ohtani. Going the other way were four prospects, including Keibert Ruiz (ranked 16th by Baseball America at the time), and Josiah Gray (ranked 56th by BA and 21st by FanGraphs at the time).

Even if the Jays’ catchers aren’t appealing to the Angels, with Tiedemann, Orelvis Martinez, and others, they could likely put a package together that could approach that kind of value if they really wanted. Would it appeal enough to beat other offers and get a deal done? Maybe. Would they really want to? Doubt it!

The Jays’ farm system isn’t threadbare, but it’s not exactly overflowing with elite talent either. They have a surplus at catcher and if they’re going to swing big on a short-term guy, that seems like the best place to do it from by far. Unfortunately — though I’m sure we all already know this — this probably means Ohtani ain’t a-comin’.

Now go out and prove me wrong, Ross!

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An interesting bit of Dan Shulman news…

Andrew Marchand of the New York Post reported something rather relevant to Blue Jays fans here on Tuesday, breaking news that Dan Shulman will be making his final World Series radio call for ESPN this year. Jon Sciambi will take over next year.

“The moves are all very cordial and come with both Sciambi and Shulman receiving new contracts,” the report states. “Shulman, by his choosing, will only do college basketball for ESPN, where he is the network’s lead play-by-player.”

According to the report, this is all related to Sportsnet’s ability to continue to produce Blue Jays telecasts throughout the team’s playoff run, which we saw for the first time this year. Dan, of course, was off on duty with ESPN during the Jays’ brief-but-painful series against Seattle, with Buck Martinez taking the lead call. Marchand writes that now, “if the Blue Jays ever made a run to the World Series, Shulman would be on the call throughout.”

First of all, that’s awesome. More Shulman, please. Always.

Secondly, I wouldn’t necessarily read so much into that last comment as to conclude that Buck has made any kind of decision on his future — Marchand may simply not be aware of what’s going on there — but it’s very noticeable how things are lining up for Dan to be the main guy. Which he sort of has been the last couple of years anyway, though not officially — if that’s even a thing.

First, Buck drops a “quiet bombshell” to Simon Houpt of the Globe and Mail about potentially not returning to the booth. To wit:

His illness gave him a new perspective, especially after he heard from so many fans who have struggled with cancer themselves or dealt with its ravages in their family.

“It made me realize that you don’t need to sweat the small stuff,” he says. “I’m 73 years old. I’ve had a phenomenal life. I’ve been very fortunate in many, many regards. Never been sick, and I know how fortunate I am, and I look at life a little differently now. I’m not concerned about it, I’m not worried about it. I just understand that I’ve been privileged and I will appreciate every opportunity I have going forward.”

He’s not certain exactly what that means. His current contract is up at the end of the season. Will he be back?

“I don’t know,” he says, quietly.

This is a surprise. I try to keep the moment light, and joke that perhaps he’s negotiating with Rogers, the owner of Sportsnet (and the Jays) through the pages of The Globe and Mail.

“Nah, nah, nah,” he says. “It has nothing to do with Rogers. It’s just me. You know, I’ve been through a lot. And, you know, my wife and I have had a lot of discussions about it. I don’t know.” He mentions that, the following Monday, he’s due to fly to Houston for three days of medical follow-ups.

Now we hear that Dan’s ESPN contract only has him doing college basketball — a sport that runs from November to March, or exactly the span of time there are no baseball games to broadcast. Based on Marchand’s reporting, Dan is clearly planning on being back in the booth for the Jays going forward. Buck’s contract is up. It’s maybe not so hard to put two-and-two together here.

Precisely what that means, I couldn’t say. But I think it’s pretty safe to surmise that we’re going to be hearing a whole lot of Dan calling Jays games next year, which is also incredible news. If the torch really is being passed here, you can only marvel at how lucky we are to have such a tremendous successor.

Yet, while I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t be absolutely be overjoyed with having Dan as the exclusive play-by-play person for the Jays, I certainly hope there’s still plenty of room for Buck, too, if he wants it. He’s a legend for a reason, he can still call a great game, he’s great as the colour guy, and he deserves to have a proper send off — and not have his last game be one that Sportsnet ought to burn every single tape of!

I’m not Buck, so I can’t say what the proper way to use him going forward should be, except that I’m sure every Jays fan would like it to be on his own terms.

Lastly…

Nick and I have finally decided when the next Blue Jays Happy Hour will be coming your way live on Callin, and it’s noon on Wednesday!

Get the Callin app and follow us on there to come join us live to talk all things Jays — including about some of the stuff in this post, undoubtedly!

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