Angels Insider Suggests Club Could Explore Incentive Laden Contract for Shohei Ohtani

Things could get very interesting this winter.

When the news came out that Shohei Ohtani had suffered a torn UCL, the entire baseball world held their collective breath. The hope was that the face of baseball wasn’t hurt too badly, but the reality is nobody was certain.

Ohtani will be shut down as a pitcher for the rest of the season but will continue to swing the bat. He and the team are searching for second opinions to try and avoid him needing another Tommy John Surgery.

But the injury does bring up some valid questions pertaining to his impending free agency this winter. Many teams could be skeptical to pay him over $500 million without knowing how his two-way abilities will be affected long-term.

It has been suggested that any interested teams could get creative in how they structure a contract offer to Ohtani. They could add incentives for games pitched and other methods to get him the money that he deserves.

There are plenty of creative ways to structure a long-term deal that accounts for Shohei Ohtani eventually pitching and hitting. Base salary as a DH with huge incentives for games pitched that boost salary, etc. But it just makes his free agency so much more complicated. #Angels

— Mike DiGiovanna (@MikeDiGiovanna) August 24, 2023

He won’t have any short list of suitors even with the injury, but the overall money that he will command will scare teams off. There is only a small amount of teams that can afford him and provide him with a chance to win consistently each year. This should limit things for everyone involved.

The Angels remain a viable choice for Ohtani this winter, despite many believing that he will indeed leave when he is able to. But with this injury, he could decide that he wants to rehab with the team that he knows.

Things just got even more interesting as the season starts to wind down. This will be a major storyline to watch and should be fascinating to see play out.