Shohei Ohtani Won’t Be Hitting BOMBS or Throwing FIRE in a Twins Uniform

According to multiple reports, the Minnesota Twins are no longer contenders to sign Shohei Ohtani. This information was relayed to the club on Sunday, via Ohtani’s representatives. Thus far, The “Japanese Babe Ruth” has only granted meetings to the San Francisco Giants and Seattle Mariners.

Damnit. With the Vikings, Gophers Men’s Basketball, and the Timberwolves all winning on Sunday, the Twins took an “L”. We don’t get to have a full-day of nice things. On the bright side though, so did the Yankees. Like Minnesota, New York was informed of their own misfortune, on the Ohtani sweepstakes. Once considered front-runners to land Ohtani, the Bronx Bombers were less than thrilled to hear the bad news:

Technically, the Cubs and Rangers are still in the mix. My message to those fan bases: Don’t hold your breath. It doesn’t take a Geography savant to figure out Shohei wants to play on the West Coast. The Dodgers, Angels, and Padres are all still considered to be potential suitors for Baby Babe. As of Sunday evening, unlike the Giants and Mariners, those three organizations were yet to confirm any potential meeting. I’m sorry Athletics, but you’re out. The Bay Area already has the Warriors. They have nothing to complain about.

Twins fan’s fantasies of obtaining a power-hitting, 102 MPH throwing freak of nature are dead. There will be no 23-year-old phenom coming in from his outfield spot to throw smoke past Aaron Judge. At least not for us.

If you’re not up to speed on the Asian Baseball League legend, we’ve done a couple of articles on him recently. If you wish to further your education (knowledge is power) click here: Japan’s Babe Ruth.

Now what? There’s no crying in baseball. Minnesota needs to shake this one off and move onto the next potential move. The Twins currently have $3.25 million in their International Signing Pool. That money was being saved to offer Ohtani. Now that we’re out of the running, the thought of trading those funds is on the table.

Falvey and Levine can trade some/all of said cash to one of the West Coast organizations in exchange for a prospect. The 5 teams still considered to have a shot at Shohei are VERY motivated to do something along those lines. They’d use the money, acquired from the Twins, in attempt to entice Ohtani with a larger signing bonus.

It was rumored the 23 year-old wanted to be the only Japanese star on his team. Maybe he knows something we don’t. Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish is considered one of the most coveted free agents available this offseason. His name has been swirling around these parts as a possible signing. If we can make it happen, I’m all for it. A three game series where opposing hitters see Santana, Berrios, and Darvish sounds good to me.

As always when talking about Yu, cue the music:

 

Johnny Minnesota @mnsportsnstuff
Minnesota Sports Fan MinnesotaSportsFan.com

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