“If Boston gets Ohtani…”
The Los Angeles Dodgers have a new nemesis in the Shohei Ohtani free agency battle. The Boston Red Sox. MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reported to the New York Post on June 6, “Ohtani and Boston are starting to be linked. One executive with an interested team believes they are a real threat.”
“If the Red Sox get Ohtani, maybe the Boston faithful can forget about Mookie Betts (LA Dodgers), at least for a while,” Hayman wrote. For a while, anyway.” In other words, the Red Sox could wash away the pain of losing Betts by bringing in Ohtani.
The Red Sox are steeped in tradition and rival the New York Yankees for the most prestigious title in baseball. However, they finished last in the American League East for the second straight year last year and this year. They’ve finished last in the division three times in the last five years. There is no better card than Ohtani to revitalize the slumping team.
Furthermore, Boston sent Betts to the Dodgers in a three-way trade with the Dodgers and Minnesota Twins ahead of the 2020 season. At the time, the Red Sox dealt Betts and David Price to manage the team’s payroll, but have since felt the void of Betts.
Betts joined the Dodgers and signed a massive $365 million extension on July 12. Since then, he has become a model star and a franchise player. This season, he was in the National League MVP race with Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Atlanta Braves. It’s a painful reality for Boston.
There’s another connection between Ohtani and Boston. It’s New Balance. “The Celtics are interested because of Ohtani’s relationship with New Balance CEO Jim Davis,” according to Boston.com. The Celtics have the advantage of having New Balance’s headquarters in Boston, which gives them a leg up in the battle for Ohtani.
Boston president Sam Kennedy told Boston.com, 스포츠토토 “We have a group in our baseball operations department that is coming up with every idea you can imagine and turning everything on its head. We’ll look at anything that will make us better in the short term and the long term.”
“There’s a desire to compete. After two disappointing seasons, you hear us talk and sometimes those words sound hollow. But there’s nothing like winning in Boston. And we need to get it back. We want to get back.”
While he didn’t directly mention Ohtani because the free agency period hasn’t officially opened yet, he did indicate his intentions to participate in the bidding war for Ohtani. In addition to Boston, Heyman believes the Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Los Angeles Angels will be in the mix. Boston has emerged as the Dodgers’ leading contender.