MLB Insider Provides Unsettling Update Regarding Dodgers' Push for Shohei Ohtani

Not great to hear...

It has been an expectation for a while now that free agent Shohei Ohtani would end up with the Dodgers this winter. They are the frontrunners for his services and are expected to be aggressive in landing him.

However, MLB insider Jeff Passan of ESPN provided an update on the free agency of Ohtani, and it may not be as clear cut for him to head to the Dodgers as it may have seemed.

“The Dodgers, Rangers and Boston Red Sox all are expected to be in the Ohtani sweepstakes, according to sources. And though the industry's overwhelming expectation is that he winds up with the Dodgers, that line of thinking is perhaps presumptive.”

Per Jeff Passan of ESPN

There will be plenty of suitors for the services of Ohtani, and teams are going to throw the bag at him to try and entice him to sign with them. But Ohtani has made it clear previously that money isn’t everything to him, and that he cares more about joining a consistent winner.

The Dodgers are one of the only teams in baseball that can accurately give him the chance to win the World Series each season, while also paying him what it will take. They also have the farm system in place to be successful for many years down the line as well.

“Ultimately, this will come down to Ohtani's priorities. If it's money he wants, nobody has more than New York Mets owner Steve Cohen. If it's resonance in Japan, no relationship between team and player matches that of the Seattle Mariners and Ichiro Suzuki (though the notion that the Mariners will pay top dollar for Ohtani simply is not real at the moment). And if it's comfort, he can just go back to the Angels, who gave him relative carte blanche the past six years.”

Per Jeff Passan of ESPN

Nobody truly knows what Ohtani wants or where he wants to go since he doesn’t speak to the media often. It’s as good as anyone's guess, but the Dodgers can provide him with everything he wants and more.

The hope is that when the dust settles, Ohtani will be a member of the Dodgers for the foreseeable future. Fans everywhere would be extremely thrilled, and Ohtani would finally be on a contending team.