News rocked the baseball world on Saturday when superstar Shohei Ohtani announced on his Instagram that he is going to sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The reported contract is a record-breaker coming in at 10-years and $700 million. How does this all relate to the New York Mets? What did Mets’ owner Steven Cohen have to say after the deal?
According to Will Sammon of the Athletic, owner Steve Cohen said, “The agent never reached out to me personally and I think that’s pretty telling.” Well, what’s this mean?
As the Athletic report alluded to, it appears pretty clear Ohtani was not interested in coming to New York. He was long rumored to have no desire moving to the city, and that likely played a large role in his decision to not have any correspondence between his agent and Steve Cohen, the richest owner in baseball.
When a player has no interest in playing for an organization, there really is nothing that team can do. Even if that said team can easily afford the mammoth, record-setting deal that said free agent ended up signing. Regardless of all that, it is extremely clear Ohtani had no interest playing for the Mets – as owner Steve Cohen alluded to.
Another aspect of the Athletic report that is interesting, and not surprising in the slightest; it remains clear that owner Steve Cohen is very much involved in any type of negotiations. If the Mets’ owner expected Ohtani’s agent to reach out to him directly, that implies it is known that Cohen is one of the individuals that are on the frontline of contract negotiations. Not surprising in the slightest given what the record-setting deal ended up being and what we have come to know about Cohen since he took over as team owner.
