Shohei Ohtani really deserves a billion dollar contract after his unreal World Baseball Classic
Ohtani #Ohtani
This is the online version of our daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Subscribe to get irreverent and incisive sports stories, delivered to your mailbox every morning. Here’s Charles Curtis.
Oh, you think I’m kidding here, don’t you?
No, I’m serious. Shohei Ohtani deserves a billion dollars for his next contract.
Did you see the World Baseball Classic and how the Japanese sensation did everything at both the plate (.435 average, 1.345 OPS) and on the mound (1.86 ERA, 11 strikeouts, a 0.72 WHIP) including strike out his Angels teammate Mike Trout to clinch Japan’s win?
Heck, I’m not even the one who said it first! That would be Cubs hurler Marcus Stroman on Twitter: “Give Ohtani a billion dollars. Mythical unicorn god on the baseball field!”
Correct take. I even did some math: If Max Scherzer (the highest-paid pitcher) can make $43.3 million this year and Aaron Judge (highest-paid hitter) is getting $40 million, then what does Ohtani deserve next winter when he’s a free agent?
Well, figure that $83 million figure is fair for a player who can both hit moonshots nightly AND pitch like a Cy Young winner. Bump that up to 10 years — I don’t care that Ohtani is 28 and we’ll all wonder how long he can keep this dual hybrid role up, you’ll have to pay a premium to get a “mythical unicorn god” — and add on some incentives, and boom: [Dr. Evil voice and pinkie] ONE. BILLION. DOLLARS.
MLB owners could more than afford that. Well, maybe not EVERY owner, but that’s a drop in the bucket for Steve Cohen.
But you get my point. As the great Sarah Langs pointed out on Twitter Tuesday night, rightfully in all caps: “NOBODY ELSE HIT A BALL HARDER OR THREW A PITCH HARDER THAN SHOHEI OHTANI DID, THE ENTIRE WBC. LET THAT SINK IN.”
Exactly. Pay the man. A lot.
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MORE:
Hear Japanese broadcasters’ electric call of Shohei Ohtani striking out Mike Trout to win WBC
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