Dodgers News: Andrew Friedman Dances Around the Shohei Ohtani Question

We may just be in April of the 2023 season, but it’s hard not to look ahead to what’s coming in about seven months from now. When Shohei Ohtani enters unrestricted free agency, it’ll create one of the greatest bidding wars in sports history. The MLB has never seen a talent like Ohtani, and he’s going to get the richest contract in MLB history.

The Dodgers are sure to be in the mix for Ohtani. They have the resources to make a deal happen, and seemed to sit out this past year’s free agency to fully load up for a run at the two-way talent.

While we obviously knew the Dodgers would be involved in trying to sign him, Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman was asked about it in an interview with Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register. While he tried his best to dance around the question and not talk about specific players — as the Dodgers never do — he did make it pretty clear that this team wants to win now, and will do what it takes to get there.

“Obviously I wouldn’t get into specific players. But also – our mindset would never be, ‘Hey, let’s wait a year or two or three for this.’

“That would never be our mindset. We feel like we have the talent in this room to be a really, really good team.”

Bill Plunkett, Orange County Register

As far as Friedman answers go, this is as good as you’re going to get. He’s not saying the team is going to go after Ohtani, but he’s making it clear that this past offseason isn’t a sign of things to come. The Dodgers are ready to make some win-now moves, and that starts with the best free agent of all time, Shohei Ohtani.

While there’s no guarantee the Dodgers are going to sign Ohtani considering just about every team would love to have him and who knows how high his price tag is going to be, they’re assumed to be one of the favorites. They can offer him just about any amount of money he wants, they can offer him a chance to be a part of a perennial postseason contender and — they have the advantage over every other team (not including the incumbent Angels — they can offer him the ability to remain in a city he clearly loves playing in.

Ohtani would have to move to play for any other MLB franchise — but with the Dodgers, that wouldn’t be the case. He would get to continue playing in the city he’s lived in for the past six years, and he would get to play for a much, much better team.

While we didn’t need Friedman to confirm the obvious about the team wanting Ohtani, it’s nice to know that he feels confident in this group, and is going to take a win-now approach in the offseason (and hopefully sooner at the deadline). Let’s just hope Ohtani wants to play for the Dodgers — because if not, the lack of activity this past offseason is going to look much, much worse.

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