Former manager reveals if Angels' Shohei Ohtani would move to East Coast

Former Los Angeles Angels manager Joe Maddon has discussed if he believes two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani would relocate to the East Coast via free agency later this year. 

"I think more than anything, Shohei wants to go somewhere where he feels assured that he's gonna have a chance to win, to win a championship, be part of a championship team annually," Maddon said during an appearance on the "Starkville" podcast with Jayson Stark and Doug Glanville, as shared by Danny Abriano and Ben Krimmel of SNY. "That's gonna be important to him."

Jon Heyman of the New York Post has repeatedly insisted Ohtani would now consider playing in an East Coast market such as New York more so than he did five years ago. The 2021 American League Most Valuable Player is commonly linked in rumors with the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets but recently had nice things to say about the home ballparks of the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees. 

The Yankees could try to trade for Ohtani this summer. 

"And a part of that, I believe – and I don't have any inside information about this – is that when he first came here he said, pretty much that, he wanted to stay on the West Coast because Japan, it was new to him, everything was new," Maddon continued about Ohtani. "I think the guy's been Americanized, he's kind of like captured the hearts of pretty much everybody in this country...He's adaptable anywhere right now. That opens up everything. Including Canada. I mean, he'll go anywhere I think now to play baseball. There's gonna be a lotta suitors." 

It's thought Ohtani could earn more than $600M total assuming he isn't traded this summer and tests free agency after the season, as expected. Along with the previously mentioned clubs, the Chicago Cubs, Seattle Mariners, San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants are among the teams that could at least kick the tires on securing the services of the sport's most marketable star. 

Maddon said he believes the Angels' chances of re-signing Ohtani are "not very good," especially if they are not viewed as contenders by the All-Star break. The former skipper added that "there's several teams that are not gonna get outbid on this one," such as the franchise associated with big-spending owner Steve Cohen.