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Do The Red Sox Have A Chance To Sign Shohei Ohtani?

Trey Daubert / MLB / September 18, 2023

Shohei Ohtani Red Sox — Do the Red Sox actually have a chance to sign Shohei Ohtani? An interesting wrinkle may be a factor in Ohtani’s free agency decision. (Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports)

Do The Red Sox Have A Chance To Sign Shohei Ohtani?

It’s obvious by now that Shohei Ohtani prefers to play on the West Coast. Is there a way that he would change his mind and consider a club on the East Coast? If so, do the Red Sox possibly have an inside track on convincing Ohtani to sign with them?

It sounds like the Red Sox at least have a shot to sign Ohtani in free agency. Peter Gammons believes he is interested in joining Boston. The motivation for Ohtani to sign with Boston is “partly because of his relationship with New Balance CEO Jim Davis,” according to Gammons.

Ohtani is currently repped by New Balance and has a long term sponsorship deal with them. However, it should probably be noted that if Ohtani is willing to come east, the Mets are probably going to be the top bid with the amount of cash Steve Cohen has at his disposal.

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Roster wise, Ohtani makes sense anyway. In Boston though, it may be a complicated fit since it seems like the Sox want to DH Masataka Yoshida. Ohtani will need to DH in 2024 given the elbow injury he suffered. Ohtani and Yoshida do have a relationship given their time on team Japan. Maybe that helps the Sox’s chances. Still, it’s a way better team than what the Angels sported this year and the Sox could be an instant contender if they just fix the starting rotation. That needs to be done whether Ohtani joins the team or not.

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