In his first comments as he enters what could be his final season with the Angels, two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani offered as many assurances he would stay with the team as the team has played postseason games during his tenure: zero.
“As of now,” he said through interpreter Ippei Mizuhara during a terse, half-hour press conference split between English and Japanese, “I’m an Angel, and that’s all I want to focus on.”
The three dozen reporters in attendance tried several times to persuade him to indicate whether he intends to re-sign with Los Angeles, the team that signed him from Japan before the 2018 season. Ohtani, 28, dodged each attempt in an increasingly ludicrous fashion.
“I’m really not thinking about free agency right now,” he said.
Asked whether he would be open to signing an extension with the Angels, he instead discussed the nature of time. “This is my last year,” he said, “And I’m aware of that.”
Asked whether he was committed to reaching free agency, he instead offered a brief explanation of contract law. “This is the last year of my contract and if I don’t sign an extension, naturally that means I’m going to be a free agent,” he said.
Reporters redirected. Do the figures some industry officials have suggested he might command on the open market—$400 million, even $500 million—blow his mind?
“I’m not really an expert with free-agent markets, so I don’t really want to get into that,” he said. “Like I said earlier, I just want to focus on this season. The goal is to win a championship.”
O.K., well, what about the Angels? Does he think they are well positioned to win that championship?
“I’m not a super expert,” he said. “You should probably ask [general manager Perry Minasian].”
Rick Scuteri/USA TODAY Sports
His words were almost dull enough to make you forget how he dazzles with his play, sizzling fastballs at 100 mph and launching homers at 115 mph—sometimes in the same inning. No one else has ever done what Ohtani has done. He will get paid as no one else ever has, too.
But he insisted Thursday that he wasn’t thinking about that. At one point, he strayed from reality altogether. “I’ve never been a free agent,” he said, “So I don’t know what it feels like.” This is not entirely true; when the Nippon-Ham Fighters, his Japanese league team, made him available to MLB teams in December 2017, the 23-year-old Ohtani became an international free agent, eligible to negotiate with all 30 teams. Players under the age of 25 are subject to rules capping their bonus, so all the teams’ offers were negligible for a player who could have commanded $200 million if he had waited two years—the Angels got him for $2.315 million—but every team produced an elaborate presentation during a process that became known as the Shohei Sweepstakes. Ohtani chose Los Angeles.
On Thursday he declined to say whether he would make the same choice this winter. He has expressed concern over the years that the organization has been so moribund during his time there. They employ him and center fielder Mike Trout, the two best players in the sport, but have not authored a winning season in their five years together. Ohtani has played for two GMs—Billy Eppler, who signed him and was fired after 2020, and Minasian—and four managers—Mike Scioscia, who retired after ’18; Brad Ausmus, who was fired after ’19; Joe Maddon, who was fired midway through last season; and now Phil Nevin. In the team’s best year of the Ohtani era, it finished 10 games out of first place in the American League West. Its eight-year playoff drought leads the sport.
The Angels seemed to clear a path toward relevance when owner Arte Moreno announced in August that he would explore a team sale, but he reversed course last month. Ohtani said he did not have an opinion on Moreno’s ownership of the team.
Asked whether he believes the Angels are as committed to winning as he is, Ohtani paused. “I do firmly believe that the Angels are on the same page as me, that they want to win just as much as I do,” he said. “I can’t tell you what they really are thinking, but I would like to believe that.” He never even bothered with platitudes about having enjoyed his time with Los Angeles.
A few minutes later he headed toward the weight room. He had work to do. He is an Angel. As of now.
