Texas Rangers Remain Major Player in Shohei Ohtani Free Agent Derby
For now, Los Angeles Angels superstar Shohei Ohtani intends to take at-bats at designated hitter, despite the torn UCL he suffered in his right elbow during his last start.
For Ohtani, he will have to have surgery — most likely Tommy John surgery — for the second time since he joined the Major Leagues in 2018.
Writers that cover MLB have written plenty about Ohtani in the past 24 hours and most of them believe that Ohtani remains the top free agent on the market this offseason, in spite of the fact that it’s likely he’ll miss most, if not all, of the 2024 season.
To that end, the New York Post wrote about the Top 10 teams that have a chance to sign Ohtani in the offseason.
The Texas Rangers made the list.
The Rangers came in at No. 5, behind the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Angels and Boston Red Sox. The logic for the Rangers that high?
Word is they are “doing a lot of work on it.” They did make it as a finalist last time, and their future looks better now, thanks to their willingness to spend (and wise choices). Would he go to an Angels rival?
Ohtani’s future as a two-way player has to be taken into consideration for any team that pursues him this offseason. Will he continue to pitch after two surgeries on his UCL? He is 10-5 with a 3.14 ERA this season, with 167 strikeouts and 55 walks. That followed up a 15-9 season with a 2.33 ERA in 2022.
He could land a big-money, long term deal despite the injury because as a designated hitter he is one of the game’s most productive hitters.
As a batter this season Ohtani has slashed .304/.405/.664/1.069 with 44 home runs and 91 RBI. For those that are skeptical that Ohtani could finish the season as a DH and then have surgery, Philadelphia slugger Bryce Harper did the same thing in helping the Phillies reach the World Series in 2022.
The teams behind the list on the Rangers are the New York Mets, Chicago Cubs, Seattle Mariners, San Francisco Giants and New York Yankees.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
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