Angels News: Shohei Ohtani Deserves 'Two Salaries,' According to Joe Maddon

Ohtani's former manager spoke about his impending 2023 free agency.

Former Angels manager Joe Maddon joined the Dan Patrick Show to talk baseball. Among the topics was his former superstar, Shohei Ohtani. Patrick asked Maddon about Ohtani's impending free agency in 2023, and how he should go about it. 

He then asked him if Ohtani, the two-way superstar, deserves to be paid differently than a normal one-way player.

"You have to," Maddon said in response to whether someone should pay Ohtani two salaries. "I mean this is two players. It really is. I mean it’s unique to negotiate or evaluate a Shohei Ohtani. He’s not one dude. You look at his pitching record and look what he did at the plate offensively…his pitching keeps getting better. I witnessed it personally. Offensively it’s been really good the last couple years."

You can't blame Maddon for thinking Ohtani deserves to be paid like the two-way superstar he is. Coming off his unanimous MVP 2021 season, Ohtani was even better in 2022.

As a hitter, Ohtani ranked among the league leaders in home runs, RBIs, triples, walks, runs and OPS. As a pitcher, he ranked among the league leaders in wins, ERA, WHIP strikeouts and K/9.

As a hitter, he was nominated for the Hank Aaron award. And as a pitcher, he's a top candidate for the AL CY Young. He's truly a once-in-a-lifetime type player.

"You’re paying one guy to do two different things and he does it on a level that’s a top 5, top 10 in all of baseball," Maddon said.

It'll be interesting to see exactly what type of contract Ohtani gets at the end of next season. He already broke the MLB record for his one year, $30 million contract he signed with the Angels this year to avoid arbitration.

But for now, Ohtani isn't thinking about any of that. He's fully focused on helping the Angels win in 2023.