In the past five major league seasons, the New York Mets They are one of the teams that have spent the most money on contracts, the figure amounts to $1.6 billion and for the next season this number could go up even more, since it is possible that one of the main objectives of the metropolitan team is to hire Shohei Ohtani, who will be a free agent at the end of the season.
The Mets have not won the World Series since 1986 and the main objective with the million-dollar investments they have been making is to win the title again, Will Ohtani be the missing piece for the Mets?.
Ohtani is currently one of the best baseball players in the world, some experts are even already putting numbers on his new contract for next season. It is spoken close to $550 million dollarsabout $300 million as a hitter and another $250 million as a pitcher.
But Do the Mets have to pay that amount for a player? The short answer would be “yes” but it would not be that easy, currently the Queens team has a payroll of $358 million dollars a year, which would drop to about $236 million in 2025 with the departure of players like Carlos Carrasco, Justin Verlander, Jose Quintana and Max Scherzer.
Ohtani should be seen as two players, because as a pitcher he would be part of a rotation that would take on a new air since Carrasco, Quintana, Scherzer and Verlander are all over 35 years old.
Even recently during the World Baseball Classic Billy Eppler Mets general manager, was at Tokyo Dome during Japan’s game against Italy and witnessed Ohtani’s start for his national team, fueling rumors of the Mets’ possible test of the Japanese to include him in their squad for the season 2024.
strong competition
Despite the expensive contract that would be buying Ohtani, there are several teams that are financially able to go after the Japanese, so the Mets will not have the easy way if they want to persuade the 28-year-old player.
A clear and always fixed option is the NNew York Yankees, the Mets’ neighbors always want the best stars and some rumors already link him to the Bronx. Another team that has spent out of control in recent years are the San Diego Padresso money would not be an impediment to bring a big star like Ohtani and try to get his first World Series.
Los Angeles Dodgers It is Ohtani’s favorite team and the one he was originally going to play with in the Major Leagues, so it is possible that the Japanese will stay in the same city but change leagues. Last but not least, there is the option of the Angels offering him a contract extension and staying with the same team where he has already been for 5 seasons.
For the moment we will have to wait for the decision Ohtani makes at the end of the season, for the moment the Mets have the Japanese in the folder of possible hires for the upcoming campaign.
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