Waiting for Shohei: MLB free-agent market slow as Ohtani mulls big money
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Baseball is waiting for Shohei.
Big-name free agents appear in no hurry to strike deals at the winter meetings, biding time until Shohei Ohtani potentially breaks the record for richest contract set 4 1/2 years ago by Mike Trout.
And Japanese free agent Yoshinobu Yamamoto could be holding up the starting pitching market.
“It’s probably a little slower from a conversation standpoint at a winter meetings than it normally would,” New York Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns said Monday. “A possibility is that, yeah, the top of the free-agent market hasn’t moved yet, and often it takes the top of the free-agent market moving for the rest of the dominoes to fall.”
Ohtani, the two-way unicorn who has won two of the last three AL MVP awards for the Los Angeles Angels, is expected to get a deal topping $500 million — even though he won’t pitch again until 2025 following elbow surgery.
Trout’s contract was for $426.5 million over 12 years.
There was no sign at the winter meetings of Nez Balelo, Ohtani’s representative at the Creative Artists Agency, a contrast to the many other agents working the vast lobbies and suites of the Gaylord Opryland Resort &Convention Center for talks involving their clients.
Behind Ohtani in the hitters free-agent pecking order are Cody Bellinger and Matt Chapman, both represented by the sport’s biggest agent, Scott Boras. Among starting pitchers, the market includes Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery, also represented by Boras.
Farhan Zaidi, the San Francisco Giants’ president of baseball operations, would like a faster pace to offseason negotiations.
Toronto general manager Ross Atkins, like Balelo, may be offsite. His briefing with Blue Jays writers was shifted on short notice to Zoom, with Atkins citing scheduling conflicts.
While San Diego slugger Juan Soto has been the biggest name mentioned in trade talks, the first deal announced in Nashville was a less prominent swap. The Atlanta Braves acquired outfielder Jarred Kelenic, pitcher Marco Gonzales and infielder Evan White from the Seattle Mariners late Sunday for right-handed pitchers Cole Phillips and Jackson Kowar. Seattle is sending Atlanta $4.5 million on Aug. 1, offsetting part of the $29 million Gonzales and White are guaranteed.
Seattle dealt third baseman Eugenio Suárez to Arizona last month for reliever Carlos Vargas and catcher Seby Zavala.
Milwaukee finalized an $82 million, eight-year contract with 19-year-old outfield prospect Jackson Chourio.
