Boston Red Sox Rumors: Shohei Ohtani will be worth every penny

The Boston Red Sox are the Boston Irrelevant Sox since they unceremoniously kicked one of baseball’s best executives, Dave Dombrowski, to the curb after the 2019 season.

The once-feared juggernaut has bottomed out in the American League East Division behind the likes of the Tampa Bay Rays and the Baltimore Orioles in two of the past three years.

The team’s attempt evidently at the behest of its owners to become the Tampa Bay Rays of the north has failed.

Hope springs eternal in Red Sox Nation though 2023 will determine if the team completely reverses its success under Dombrowski by finishing last again under Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom.

Signing two players actually were big-market team moves. They signed Rafael Devers to a huge extension and also signed the now well-known hero of the World Baseball Classic for Japan, Masataka Yoshida.

Yet, if the team actually wants to be relevant again, they can do so after this upcoming season with one signing. That would be signing Shohei Ohtani.

Boston Red Sox need to step up big-time

Ohtani’s performance as the World Baseball Classic’s MVP should have come as little surprise. He’s simply the best, as the old saying went.

Resultantly, his price tag has gone from the astronomical roughly $500M over X years to an even more, mind-numbing $600M and more.

Without a doubt, no team other than a truly big-market team can afford that ticket. The Boston Red Sox are one of those teams.

In a Justin Leger article on nbcsports.com, here is what two top Boston baseball writers opined on the topic.

John Tomase had this to say,

"“I’ve done sort of a 180 on this one because for years, I was of the mind, let other teams spend 3, 4, 500 million dollars on players because it’s bad business,” Tomase said. “But the game has changed and right now, very few impact players even reach free agency. Rafael Devers is the latest example. These guys are getting locked up.“When you have a generational talent like Ohtani and you are a Red Sox team that is desperate for interest — because even if this team exceeds expectations and pulls a 2021, we all know we’re just doing the same thing next offseason of shuttling out one one-year contract for another one-year contract. Shohei Ohtani is someone you can hitch your wagon to as a fan, as an organization.”"

Gasper had a different view,

"“I hate to be the party pooper, and I love Shohei Ohtani as a player. And if the Red Sox sign him, I wouldn’t be mad. But just objectively, taking the emotion out of it, I wouldn’t do this,” Gasper said. “Because I just look at the Angels and they haven’t had a winning record their last few years. That’s not Shohei Ohtani’s fault, but this isn’t the NBA. Like, you can’t just sign one guy and he changes your whole franchise."

Tomase had it right.

 Red Sox needs Shohei Ohtani

Having alienated a good portion of the ever-loyal Red Sox Nation, the Red Sox owners have a golden opportunity to bring relevance back to their ball club. (Of course, in addition to cash, it will also depend on whether Ohtani would actually want to be part of one of the most storied franchises in baseball history, and the best one in the 21st century.

The argument here is simply this, money should not be the factor that scuttles that deal for Boston. That all depends on the owners and their attitudes.

Having been booed almost off the stage at their winter festivity, they should have gotten the message. Their new “strategy” if it can be called that, is not only largely a failure but it’s not at all what Red Sox Nation wants.

Signing Ohtani, or at least going all-in trying is what they need to do. Having Yoshida on hand won’t hurt at all. But first, it’s all on the owners.

Will they again act like a truly big-market team, or demure, and accept mediocrity and worse? It says here they should go all-in for Ohtani. If they care, it’s the best option they have.