It’s not often you can call Shohei Ohtani a loser in anything. He’s one of the best players in baseball, and excels as both a pitcher and hitter.
He’s also one of the nicest players in baseball, and has a personality and smile that makes him so fun to root for and watch. However, this offseason, Jim Bowden of The Athletesc labeled him a “loser” in his article picking the winners and losers of the offseason. Here’s why:
“In October, Ohtani inexplicably agreed to a one-year, $30 million contract for the 2023 season, despite the fact he was arbitration-eligible and with five years of service time could have compared himself to every player in the game. He was the AL MVP in 2021 and the runner-up to Judge this year. Judge was just paid $40 million per year; Correa was paid $35 million for 2022 and just signed a new deal for $350 million. As a star two-way player, Ohtani is a unique case, and he would’ve had a strong argument for a contract in the $35 million to $45 million range. Yes, his $30 million contract set a record for arbitration-eligible players. Yes, he will be a free agent after next season and stands to make a lot of money. But I think it would have been easy to convince an arbitrator that as a unicorn two-player, Ohtani should be paid more in recognition of what he provides as both a pitcher and a hitter.”
Yes, Ohtani probably could have gotten a lot more money from the Angels this offseason. But he doesn’t seem like the kind of person who would haggle over money, and just seemed happy to make a deal with the team to avoid arbitration. Next offseason will be the time he truly cashes in, so for now, he’s just focused on improving his game and winning with the Angels.
So, yeah, maybe you can call him a “loser” for not getting more money. But he’s still making a record $30 million for an arbitration-eligible player, and has allowed the Angels to be even more aggressive this offseason in their pursuit of a World Series in Ohtani’s final season under contract with the Halos.
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