Blue Jays reportedly meet with Shohei Ohtani in Florida as free agency rumours swirl

Fans of the Toronto Blue Jays are finding plenty to be excited about on Tuesday morning as they continue to look for clues that the hottest free agent in baseball history might be taking his talents north of the border.

According to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, Shohei Ohtani and his camp are believed to have met with the Blue Jays for a tour of the team’s spring training complex in Dunedin, Florida on Monday.

“All day Monday, there were signs something was happening between the Jays and Ohtani,” wrote Rosenthal. “While a timetable for Ohtani’s free-agent decision is not known, the meeting would indicate that the negotiations with the Jays and other clubs are entering the final stages.”

Blue Jays General Manager Ross Atkins turned his scheduled in-person press gathering at MLB’s winter meetings in Nashville into a zoom meeting on Monday. When asked by reporters, Atkins would not shed any light on where he was, further fuelling speculation surrounding Toronto and baseball’s biggest free agent prize.

“In the eyes of some of the baseball people that I’ve spoken to here in Nashville, that suggests a pursuit of Shohei Ohtani is ongoing,” says Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith, on Atkins absence in Nashville.

Reports have suggested Ohtani and his camp are putting a high value on privacy during their ongoing discussions with his suitors.

Nearly the entire baseball industry attends the annual winter meetings. Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi says he can only surmise that the Blue Jays GM not being there is tied to the teams’ pursuit of Ohtani.

“You have got to be careful because I think you can very easily try to read tea leaves, and interpret what you want to interpret,” he says. “(But) the Blue Jays are very clearly making this a tough choice for him.”

The Los Angeles Dodgers have long been considered the favourites to land the Japanese superstar, with the Chicago Cubs, San Francisco Giants, and the Los Angeles Angels (where Ohtani has spent his six MLB seasons) still considered by many to be in the running.

Pundits suggest his new contract will cost somewhere in the $500 million range and above.

A left-handed batter and a right-handed pitcher, Ohtani has been dubbed a “unicorn” of the sport due to his ability as both a hitter and a pitcher, something not seen since Babe Ruth more than 100 years ago.

He became the first two-time unanimous Most Valuable Player in MLB history when he took home the American League (AL) honour for the 2023 season.

Ohtani led the AL with 44 homers and hit .304 with 96 RBIs, eight triples and 20 stolen bases in a season at the plate that ended Sept. 3 because of an oblique injury.

He was 10-5 with a 3.14 ERA in 23 starts on the mound, striking out 167 and walking 55 in 132 innings before tearing the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow on Aug. 23.

With files from the Associated Press