NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Dave Roberts started to dodge the question about Shohei Ohtani, rocking back and forth in his seat and staying silent for three seconds before his big admission:
“Yeah, we met with him,” the Los Angeles Dodgers manager said Tuesday at the winter meetings, making Roberts’ club the first to publicly admit a sit-down with the unique two-way player likely to break baseball’s salary record.
Officials on other teams danced meticulously around the question as if choregraphed by Bob Fosse. Toronto general manager Ross Atkins, who sparked speculation of a possible meeting by holding his Monday media availability on Zoom rather than at the winter meetings hotel, had this to say: “Some meetings that occur, that don’t occur, I’m not going to get into the specifics of.”
New Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell batted away Ohtani queries as if in a cross-examination. After saying he had not met with Ohtani, Counsell was asked whether anyone in the Cubs front office had. Counsell replied: “I have not.”
Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, another prized free agent, could be sought by the New York Yankees and Mets, who set payroll records this year in their third season under owner Steve Cohen. The Mets’ projected final 2023 payroll is about $346 million and their luxury tax roughly $102 million.