Two-way celebrity Shohei Ohtani is a Los Angeles Dodger. The 2-time AL MVP signed a 10-year contract to remain in southern California, simply with a brand new crew — and the deal has damaged new floor in MLB because the richest settlement within the sport’s historical past.
Ohtani has but to make any historical past with the Dodgers, however one of many franchise’s all-time nice gamers has now spoken on the Japanese phenom’s arrival. Clayton Kershaw, himself a free agent, expressed his pleasure at Ohtani’s signing — however was not but in a position to decide to enjoying with him in 2024.
Dodgers announce Shohei Ohtani signing with modern anime video
Kershaw: The cash is loopy, however Ohtani is a novel expertise
Throughout an look on AM 570 LA Sports activities, Kershaw mentioned Ohtani‘s arrival at Dodger Stadium, joking in regards to the conclusion of LA‘s “secret mission.”
“(It is) nice for the Dodgers, clearly. It is simply a lot cash. It is loopy,” Kershaw stated. “However he’s a novel expertise, and I do not assume there’s anyone like him.”
Ohtani will not have the ability to pitch in 2024 as a result of surgical procedure on his proper elbow, however the 29-year-old will nonetheless have the ability to rake because the Dodgers’ designated hitter. Ohtani has swatted a minimum of 34 house runs in every of the previous three seasons and has hit 40-plus twice — in each his MVP seasons of 2021 and 2023.
The entire monetary dedication is unprecedented, if not “loopy,” however an settlement to defer $680 million of the $700 million owed to Ohtani will make the contract a lot simpler for the Dodgers to digest as they proceed to enhance a perennial championship contender.
Will Kershaw pitch once more?
The final time baseball followers noticed Kershaw on the mound was Recreation 1 of the NL Division Collection in opposition to the Arizona Diamondbacks. He was eliminated after getting just one out and permitting six runs because the Dodgers misplaced the collection’ opening recreation — on their method to getting swept out of the postseason.
Kershaw doesn’t need that exhibiting to be his MLB swan music. He appears intent on returning for a seventeenth season after he is sufficiently recovered from a shoulder operation “someday subsequent summer time.”
It’s anticipated that if Kershaw returns for 2024, he’ll both signal a short-term cope with the Dodgers — the one crew for which he is ever performed — or be a part of his hometown crew, the reigning World Collection champion Texas Rangers.
