Article: Twins Strike Out On Ohtani

[Cody Christie]

Shohei Ohtani is close to picking his first big league team. Unfortunately for Twins fans, that team won’t be in Minnesota. Ohtani, the Japanese two-way player, informed the Twins on Sunday that they had been eliminated from contention. Besides the Twins, the list of rejected teams included the Yankees, Red Sox, Athletics, Brewers, Pirates, Blue Jays, Diamondbacks and Mets.At one point during Sunday afternoon, MLB Insider Jon Heyman had reported that Ohtani was “telling teams he prefers a smaller market.” This sounded great to Twins fans with a smaller market in the Midwest calling Ohtani’s name. Not very long afterward, he brought Twins Territory back down to earth:

Mike Beradino at the Pioneer Press reported that Ohtani and Nex Balelo, his agent, didn’t give any reason as to why the Twins had been eliminated. According to him, they told the Twins they were “very appreciative of the interest and the pitch.”

 

Ohtani is meeting with teams in Los Angeles and his finalists include a lot of West Coast teams. This includes the Seattle Mariners, San Francisco Giants, San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angeles Angels. Another team like the Chicago Cubs or Texas Rangers could sweep in and get him but he seems destined for the West Coast.

 

During the 2017 campaign, Ohtani fought through a quadriceps and ankle injury. However in 2016, he slashed .322/.416/.588 with 22 home runs. On the mound, he was even more impressive with a 1.86 ERA including 174 strikeouts in 140 innings.

 

The Twins struck out on Ohtani so now maybe the focus can turn to signing a different frontline starter like Ohtani’s countryman Yu Darvish.

 

Were you disappointed with the news? Leave a COMMENT and start the discussion.

 

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[D.C Twins]

Not surprising....still hurts

[sftwinsfan]

Levine should travel over to Japan and Jerry Maguire him.  Show up at his doorstep and respond with "I'm not letting you get rid of me, how about that!"  

[drock2190]

I'm not too disappointed. The chances were slim anyways. The Yankees were spurned as well and that's a victory right there!

[Brandon]

i wonder what we can trade for with our extra money to help those still in it give him a reasonabke offer. could we trade with SD for hand with international money and a prospect like tyler jay and kohl stewart.

[Brandon]

angels have bedrosian, giants have strickland i guess, i dont kniw who seattle has but i bet we can find a controlable reliever that thriws gas for our international funds and.....

[Mike Sixel]

No surprise, no disappointment.

[Han Joelo]

Japan to MSP:  11 hours 43 minutes
Japan to SFO:  10 hours 10 minutes
Japan to Dallas: 12 hours 42 minutes
Japan to Seattle: 9 hours 27 minutes

 

All times courtesy of:  https://www.flight-durations.com

 

For another look, check out this website:  https://www.greatcirclemapper.net/en/great-circle-mapper.html?route=RJAA-KMSP&aircraft=66&speed=. You can customize plane size; I chose an Airbus 320.  Faster than what the first website quotes.

 

Great Circle flight paths are neat to think about, unless you believe the Earth is flat.  I remember flying from Seattle to Amsterdam and looking down at the far north of Canada.  That was a surprisingly short flight.

 

What would he make, 2-3 flights per year?  The difference is around a half a day of your life, sitting on a plane.  Small potatoes.  Maybe this guy isn't the guy I thought he was.  All the plotting and planning, his pick of all 30 teams, and he limits himself because of sitting in an airplane for an hour or two?

Edited December 4, 2017 by Han Joelo

[DaveW]

Or maybe he wants somewhere with a decent Japanese community like Seattle? SF etc?

Doubt it’s becuase an extra hour or two of flight time

[mlhouse]

 

Japan to MSP:  11 hours 43 minutes
Japan to SFO:  10 hours 10 minutes
Japan to Dallas: 12 hours 42 minutes
Japan to Seattle: 9 hours 27 minutes

 

All times courtesy of:  https://www.flight-durations.com

 

For another look, check out this website:  https://www.greatcirclemapper.net/en/great-circle-mapper.html?route=RJAA-KMSP&aircraft=66&speed=. You can customize plane size; I chose an Airbus 320.  Faster than what the first website quotes.

 

Great Circle flight paths are neat to think about, unless you believe the Earth is flat.  I remember flying from Seattle to Amsterdam and looking down at the far north of Canada.  That was a surprisingly short flight.

 

What would he make, 2-3 flights per year?  The difference is around a half a day of your life, sitting on a plane.  Small potatoes.  Maybe this guy isn't the guy I thought he was.  All the plotting and planning, his pick of all 30 teams, and he limits himself because of sitting in an airplane for an hour or two?

 

Those calculations are erroneous.  When you travel from Asia to U.S., the jet stream is behind you.   So, you can travel to Hong Kong to CHicago in about 14 hours.  But when you travel from the U.S. to Asia, the jet stream is against you.  So, then it takes you 14 hours to travel from San Francisco to Hong Kong.  

[Squirrel]

Those calculations are erroneous. When you travel from Asia to U.S., the jet stream is behind you. So, you can travel to Hong Kong to CHicago in about 14 hours. But when you travel from the U.S. to Asia, the jet stream is against you. So, then it takes you 14 hours to travel from San Francisco to Hong Kong.

 

It’s that to Hong Kong from SF but 10-11 to Tokyo. So what.

 

Who knows exactly why Ohtani didn’t choose Minnesota but as some said he wasn’t going to no matter what was done. That’s too bad for us and I truly believe Ohtani missed a good opportunity. I was hoping it would be otherwise but then there it is and so it goes. Time to move on. I’ve been a lot of places and I’d certainly give Minnesota consideration. Minneapolis is one of my favorite cities, along with San Francisco, but I’ve lived there and if you’ve never been, I can see how it wouldn’t stand up in someone’s mind being in ‘the middle of nowhere’ compared to places on the west coast. Perception is very difficult to overcome on paper. Too bad he didn’t at least consider visiting before saying, ‘Thanks but no thanks.’ I blame no one but Ohtani for that choice. He asked every team to do their due diligence, wish he had done the same before saying no, but again, there it is and so it goes. I can see how LA might appeal, but yuck, I’d hate to live there, especially in summer (unless you consider Santa Barbara to be part of the LA sprawl, then I could.) But San Diego, San Fran or Seattle? Yeah, I could live there, especially San Fran. It is on the top of my list of cities, but that’s me. And again, who knows specifically why it is what it is and would doubt location alone was a factor. But maybe it ended up being more important than initially reported. Now let’s get to work Twins; don’t skip a beat and get things done.

[Roaddog]

Disappointing, yet not unexpected. So I'm assuming we get a call because of our pool money.

[T_J]

I doubt they get calls about pool money. Time to sift through the former Braves prospects and blow the bucks there.

[Respy]

Honestly no idea why Otani requested pitches from all MLB teams if he was that dead-set on the west coast.  I'd have to assume some teams are a bit frustrated over the wasted effort.

[Winston Smith]

 

Honestly no idea why Otani requested pitches from all MLB teams if he was that dead-set on the west coast.  I'd have to assume some teams are a bit frustrated over the wasted effort.

I'm fairly sure it wasn't him but his agents. Nice way to get a book on nearly all the teams for future neg. He likely has always had a small list of teams he'd go to but his agents are milking this for all it's worth, imo.

[Thrylos]

 

Japan to MSP:  11 hours 43 minutes
Japan to SFO:  10 hours 10 minutes
Japan to Dallas: 12 hours 42 minutes
Japan to Seattle: 9 hours 27 minutes

 

[rdehring]

 

I doubt they get calls about pool money. Time to sift through the former Braves prospects and blow the bucks there.

 

The Braves cheating could be tailor made for the Twins who have a lot more International money remaining than only a couple teams.  Let's get their top guy or maybe a couple of the top four or five.

[Blake]

I'll be interested to see if Ohtani goes to a pitcher friendly park.

 

Also, I have to wonder if the reason Ohtani wanted a pitch from all teams was due to the fact he wants to be a two-way player and, therefore, wants to know exactly how a team plans on using him when he isn't pitching.

 

Side note: I don't think Molitor is the kind of guy who can be successful with a two-way player.

[Squirrel]

And temps in Minnesota in January are a factor why? Maybe temps in April and October would be, but not sure how January is relevant unless he intends to take up permanent residence wherever he signs.

[Doomtints]

Seems like he wants to be close to home -- i.e., the West Coast.

 

Hello, Dodgers. 

[nicksaviking]

 

Honestly no idea why Otani requested pitches from all MLB teams if he was that dead-set on the west coast.  I'd have to assume some teams are a bit frustrated over the wasted effort.

 

Says my kid every night that he has to do homework.

 

It was a courtesy to allow all teams in the offer, it wasn't a jerk move. And who knows, perhaps some team would have presented him with some persuasive information that otherwise wasn't available to he and his agent.

[mikelink45]

Not disappointed.  As I have said before I do not like chasing players - I am an old fashioned develop him ourselves.  If he turns out to be what is expected there will be another chance when he becomes a free agent.

 

In the meantime, get a coach - maybe our new extra pitching coach, to go and spend time with Romero and Gonsalves and get them primed for Spring Training and beyond.  Invest in our own players.

[beckmt]

It can never be wrong to add more talent. Go after some of the Braves players that were freed.

[The Wise One]

 

And temps in Minnesota in January are a factor why? Maybe temps in April and October would be, but not sure how January is relevant unless he intends to take up permanent residence wherever he signs.

Everything is relevant in recruiting. Whatever one can use against another is fair game. 

[gunnarthor]

The only thing surprising was that the Yankees were left out.

 

 

[Shaitan]

At this point I feel like there's no way he can live up to the hype anyway. 

[Thrylos]

 

And temps in Minnesota in January are a factor why? Maybe temps in April and October would be, but not sure how January is relevant unless he intends to take up permanent residence wherever he signs.

 

He will spend at least 2-3 weeks there in January between the winter caravan and Twinsfest

[ashbury]

He will spend at least 2-3 weeks there in January between the winter caravan and Twinsfest

Doing what, taunting fans that he won't be signing with us?

[Monkeypaws]

If I had the opportunity to live in San Diego, or San Francisco, I'd take it.

[Vanimal46]

I'd be more disappointed if I was a fan of the only West Coast team *cough* Oakland *cough* left off of his wish list. 

 

Ohtani to Minnesota is as much of a pipe dream as going on a date with Scarlett Johansson, or Brad Pitt. Whatever floats your boat!