Red Sox Reportedly Set Their Interest Level In Shohei Ohtani At Offseason Meeting

Boston needs to upgrade their roster significantly

Scott Neville | Oct 10, 2023

Red Sox Reportedly Set Their Interest Level In Shohei Ohtani At Offseason Meeting /

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Boston Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox are set to make notable changes to the roster after two mediocre seasons.

While the pitching staff reigns as the top area of need, all eyes will remain on impending free agent Shohei Ohtani as fans will clammer for the two-way sensation up until the ink dries on his next contract.

Could Boston be a realistic landing spot? There has been growing optimism that the Red Sox should be seen as a "real threat" to sign the superstar. Unfortunately, a local reporter in the know is pouring cold water on the idea.

"According to a source, at a preliminary planning meeting for the Red Sox offseason, held last month, Ohtani was not at all a focus," MassLive's Sean McAdam wrote Sunday.

"Meanwhile, another source noted that principal owner John Henry remains philosophically skittish over the prospect of the kind of lengthy mega-deals (that it would take to land Ohtani.

"That doesn’t mean that it can’t still happen. We’ve seen how quickly a course correction can take place when it comes to ownership. But having floated the possibility myself earlier, I’d have to consider it a real longshot now."

A healthy Ohtani would have been quite a bit more expensive but also would have made a lot more sense for the Red Sox. As it stands now, Ohtani will not pitch again until 2025, and Boston's rotation cannot afford to wait another year before getting meaningful help.

If Henry and company are willing to add frontline starters on top of Ohtani, great. They would make their money back in spades from Ohtani's marketability alone and become instant World Series contenders. However, it's hard to expect them to open their wallets to that degree after what Boston witnessed over the last few seasons.

This is far from a kill shot regarding the Ohtani sweepstakes but the sourced information certainly is not what fans wanted to hear.

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Published Oct 10, 2023

SCOTT NEVILLE

Scott Neville covers the Boston Red Sox for Sports Illustrated's new page "Inside The Red Sox." Before starting "Inside The Red Sox", Neville attended Merrimack College, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Media with a minor in Marketing. Neville spent all four years with Merrimack's radio station WMCK, where he grew as a radio/podcast host and producer. His propensity for being in front of a microphone eventually expanded to film, where he produced multiple short films alongside his then-roommate and current co-worker Stephen Mottram. On a journey that began as a way to receive easy credits via film classes, he received a call from "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" star Charlie Day. Day advised him to make a feature-length film, which he completed his senior year. While writing the film, Neville completed an internship for United Way as part of their NFL Partnership Program. Neville ran the blog for a team of interns and hosted an internet show called "United Way's NFL Partnership Series" where he interviewed NFL alumni. After college Neville wrote for SB Nation's "Over The Monster," a Red Sox sister site of the flagship brand. His work would eventually lead him to a job as a content producer with NESN, where he would cover all sports. After developing as a writer with the top regional network in the world, he was given the opportunity to join the Sports Illustrated Media Group in his current endeavor as the publisher of "Inside The Red Sox." The successful launch and quick rise of "Inside The Red Sox" led to Neville joining the Baseball Essential ownership group, a national baseball site under SIMG. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottNeville46 Email: nevilles@merrimack.edu