President Jed Hoyer and the Chicago Cubs nonetheless consider they’re within the combine for two-way celebrity Shohei Ohtani.
Hoyer wouldn’t provide any particulars Tuesday past that, nevertheless, as Major League Baseball’s free company and commerce market largely stay at a standstill ready for Ohtani’s resolution as his courtship stays shrouded in secrecy.
“I’m not going to comment on it, but we have not been given a status check (by Ohtani’s camp), so to speak,” Hoyer mentioned on the second day of the MLB winter conferences.
Hoyer denied a USA Today report that claimed the Cubs had balked at Ohtani’s 10-year price ticket of a minimum of $500 million and so they seemed to be out of the bidding.
“I don’t know where that came from, there’s nothing to report whatsoever,” Hoyer mentioned. “On all the Ohtani stuff, just like I would any free agent, I’m not going to talk about discussions or meetings or where it is, just keep that quiet like anything else.”
The Cubs’ silence on the Ohtani entrance prolonged to supervisor Craig Counsell, who saved his solutions easy when questioned concerning the group’s involvement.
Have the Cubs met with Ohtani?
“I have not,” Counsell replied.
How concerning the entrance workplace?
“I have not,” he repeated.
Counsell acknowledged he has been on the cellphone with free brokers to recruit since becoming a member of the group final month, noting, “Not a lot, but yes.” He ended his 20-minute availability Tuesday afternoon downplaying one other Ohtani-related query, this one centering on whether or not his assertion of getting not met with reigning American League MVP is meant to be a sign of the extent of the Cubs’ curiosity in him.
“Look, I don’t think this is my spot to talk about individual players,” Counsell mentioned. “It’s a great question, but not the spot to talk about it.”
It introduced a stark distinction to how Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts, talking concurrently across the nook from Counsell on the Gaylord Opryland Resort, dealt with the subject Tuesday. Roberts confirmed Los Angeles met with Ohtani for 2 to a few hours a few days in the past at Dodger Stadium. He complimented Ohtani’s poker face and mentioned he felt good concerning the Dodgers’ probabilities of touchdown him.
“He had questions for us, just trying to get more of the landscape, but being in this league for six years he’s got a pretty good idea of the Dodgers, what we’re about, the city itself,” Roberts mentioned. “So, for me, and speaking for our guys, it was just a pleasure to get to spend some time with him.”
Ohtani and his agent, Nez Balelo, wished to maintain this course of extraordinarily non-public. It’s unclear what Ohtani, who has not spoken to the media since early August, is prioritizing when selecting his subsequent staff. Roberts didn’t sound involved about publicly confirming the Dodgers’ assembly with Ohtani.
“I don’t feel like lying is something that I do,” Roberts mentioned. “I was asked a question, and yeah, I think to be forthright in this situation, we kept it quiet, but I think that it’s going to come out at some point that we met, and it obviously already has. So, I don’t think myself or anyone in our organization would want to lie about it.”
Hours later, Dodgers basic supervisor Brandon Gomes was a lot much less forthright. He expressed shock to reporters that Roberts had mentioned their get-together and mentioned, “I have no idea” if this could damage their try.
The Cubs are ready to regulate as wanted if Ohtani indicators elsewhere. But for now, the group nonetheless has its sights set on Ohtani.
“The truth is, with this free-agent pursuit and others, very few people are aware of what’s being discussed or what’s going on, on purpose. All sides have kept it that way and I think it’s going to stay that way,” Hoyer mentioned. “I really feel like on this case, yeah, there’s actual secrecy, however everybody is aware of there may be secrecy. I believe there’s been others which are actually secret that nobody knew about, if that makes any sense.
“I’ve seen this kind of secrecy before, but it wasn’t necessarily public secrecy if that’s even a thing you could say.”
“You’ve got to be really careful not to get caught waiting on any one particular thing,” Hoyer mentioned. “I’ve learned over the years that you’ve got to have a lot of lines in the water and you can’t assume anything is going to get done. Sometimes the dominoes fall as you think, but if you assume they’re going to fall that way, you can get yourself in a lot of trouble waiting so clearly we’re working on a ton of different stuff.”
“It’s hard to see in the future that well, you’re betting on human beings with bones and ligaments and all those different things, but certainly there’s times when a player has talent, it has to make sense to do that. So yeah, in theory, I love to keep a deal shorter. If you have to pay a little more per year, I think it makes some sense to do that to make your future that much more nimble. But there are times when it makes sense to do it.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com