Report: Shohei Ohtani left meeting with Blue Jays last winter with bags of team apparel

The Toronto Blue Jays seemed pretty darn close to signing Shohei Ohtani.

In an article written for The Atheltic, Ken Rosenthal not only reported that Rōki Sasaki visited Toronto, but that Shohei Ohtani left the Player Development Complex wearing Blue Jays gear. 

The [Blue Jays] memorably pursued Shohei Ohtani last offseason, hosting him during the Winter Meetings at their spring-training complex in Dunedin, Fla. Ohtani left the complex with bags of Jays gear and wearing a Jays cap, and with his dog, Dekopin, outfitted in a Canada jacket. But days later, he signed his heavily deferred 10-year, $700 million contract with the Dodgers.

In hindsight, there was a reason for Blue Jays fans to get excited. The biggest reason was that MLB Network’s Jon Morosi reported that Ohtani was on a plane to Toronto, but it ended up being Dragons’ Den’s Robert Herjavec.

At the end of the day, the two-way superstar ended up signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Last season, he slashed .310/.390/.646 with a career-high 54 home runs in 731 plate appearances for a 181 wRC+ and a 9.1 fWAR, and that’s without being able to pitch due to rehabbing from Tommy John surgery. The Dodgers also won the World Series, their fourth in franchise history.

It was the complete opposite for the Blue Jays. Their pivot moves included signing Justin Turner, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Kevin Kiermaier, and Yariel Rodríguez and that ended up giving them a 74-88 record at the trade deadline. They sold all but one of their expiring free agents (Ryan Yarbrough) and fell in the draft lottery to the eighth spot when they had the fifth-best odds to move to the first overall pick.

This off-season has been similar in a way, as they missed out on the top free agent, Juan Soto. Not only that, but they reportedly thought they were going to land Corbin Burnes before he ended up signing with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The Jays have at least signed a closer in Jeff Hoffman and traded for Andrés Giménez, but more needs to be done, like adding a power bat in Anthony Santander and a starting pitcher, hopefully Sasaki.

Still, it’s nice to think what could’ve been if Ohtani actually ended up signing with the Blue Jays last off-season.