Shohei Ohtani free agency: Giants president says team was presented same deal as Dodgers
Farhan Zaidi said the Giants were agreeable to every term in the deal
Shohei Ohtani’s $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers — and its unprecedented deferrals — shocked the world, but probably not the San Francisco Giants.
One day after the Dodgers officially announced the biggest deal in sports history by total value, Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi told reporters that Ohtani’s camp had presented the exact deal to San Francisco, and the Giants were agreeable to it.
Ohtani instead opted for the Dodgers.
Farhan Zaidi on Shohei Ohtani: Proposal from Ohtani to Giants was exact deal he wound up getting with LA. "We said we were agreeable to it.... It was going to come down to a choice by the player at that point."
— John Shea (@JohnSheaHey) December 13, 2023
Zaidi on commitment from Giants ownership on Ohtani: "Every financial target or request that was made was met and was met pretty quickly." Preference for SoCal won out, Zaidi contends.
— Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) December 13, 2023
Ohtani’s $680 million in deferrals were reported to come from Ohtani himself, with the idea being that the delayed money (at no additional interest) would aid the Dodgers in building an elite team around him by reducing the competitive balance tax hit and the real-life value of the contract. The deferrals lower the present-day value of the deal to about $460 million.
Zaidi’s admission shows that the plum deal wasn’t just a Dodgers special. Ohtani knew what he wanted, and the Dodgers were simply his favorite among the teams that said “yes.” It’s not difficult to understand why, as the team has been a consistent winner for the past decade and is located in very familiar territory for Ohtani.
Still, this figures to make one of MLB's premier rivalries even more compelling over the next few years, especially with the Giants striking a six-year, $113 million deal with Korean free agent Jung Hoo Lee on Tuesday.
As for which other teams were amenable to the Ohtani deal, that remains unclear.
How much did the Blue Jays offer Shohei Ohtani?
The Blue Jays were widely seen as the runners-up for Ohtani, thanks to the wild 24 hours that preceded the player's announcement that he would sign with the Dodgers.
The exact numbers the Jays presented — and whether they accepted the heavily deferred, $700 million proposal — remains unclear. Sportsnet's Ben Nicholson-Smith reported Sunday that Toronto was "right there" with an offer described as very competitive.
Nicholson-Smith went on to speculate that the final bid was well above $600 million, though all sides apparently declined comment when asked.
Beyond the Dodgers, Giants and Blue Jays, it's unclear how far teams got with Ohtani. The New York Yankees, Seattle Mariners and Chicago Cubs lingered for a while but all seemed to bow out in the week before Ohtani made his choice.
The New York Mets had maybe the funniest reaction to all of this, with team owner Steve Cohen complaining that Ohtani's agent never reached out to him personally. Because we all know that if you want something, you should wait and see if it comes to you.
