The year 2023 in Major League Baseball has been the year of Shohei Ohtani, both on and off the field.
Although the Japanese player initially won his second American League MVP award in three seasons thanks to spectacular performances as a hitter and pitcher with the Los Angeles Angels, all attention was focused on his contract, which expired at the end of the last World Series.
His new deal promised to be huge, but now a second serious elbow injury in five years will keep him off the mound in 2024. Would it also reduce his market value? No way!
Ohtani, after much speculation, has finally decided to stay in California with the Dodgers, who offered him a golden bridge of $700 million over 10 years, the majority of which will not be paid until after the final year of this pact.
As if Ohtani’s signing wasn’t enough, the Dodgers added another one just before Christmas. They won the derby for Yoshinubu Yamamoto, the young pitching prodigy from Japan, by signing him to a 12-year, $325 million deal.
The Dodgers have therefore agreed to pay more than a billion to two players: we are slowly getting closer to the prediction of the Cowboys Fringants who announced in “La Tête à Papineau” that a baseball player had just signed for a billion…
Yankees strike big blow
While everyone was eagerly awaiting Ohtani’s signing, it was the New York Yankees who hit the first home run of the winter games by acquiring young power hitter Juan Soto in a mega trade with the San Diego Padres.
In order to get Soto and Gold Glove-winning outfielder Trent Grisham, the Yankees gave up three promising young pitchers and catcher Kyle Higashioka.
At 25, Soto has the potential to become one of the best players of his generation, but he is already on his third team in six seasons.
Blue Jays stagnate
The Jays had a season that fell short of expectations. It was as the third team drafted that they managed to qualify for the playoffs, on the very last weekend of the season. Their playoff journey in the American League, however, lasted only two games: the Toronto team was eliminated by Quebec’s Édouard Julien and the Minnesota Twins.
While Bo Bichette has been a consistent performer, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has had a disappointing season, hitting just .264/.345/.444, 26 ERA, 94 PP, his worst production at any level — excluding his first MLB season.
On the mound, the Jays were able to count on solid seasons from Kevin Gausman, third in the Cy-Young voting in the American League, and Chris Bassitt. Yusei Kikuchi also bounced back well after a difficult 2022 season. On the other hand, Alek Manoah took a serious step back, even being assigned twice to the AAA level. His future with the club would also be called into question.
Their autumn was hardly more glorious.
The Queen City team has also bitten the dust in all the transaction and free agent files. Linked to all the big names — Ohtani, Yamamoto, Cody Bellinger, among others — it finds itself at the time of writing with the same formation as last year, minus Matt Chapman. The third baseman is currently a free agent. In short, the Jays are in great need of reinforcements with a view to 2024.
Julien’s hatching…
Julien arrived through the front door with the Minnesota Twins. The Quebec second baseman, after having had success at all levels in the minor leagues and having made the eyes of all baseball widen last year, in the Arizona Fall League, did not miss his arrival with the big club.
Recalled in May, he did not drop back to AAA this season, maintaining offensive averages of .263/.381/.458 with 16 doubles, as many home runs, 37 PP and 60 PC in 109 games. These statistics earned him a spot on the Twins’ playoff roster — he was used in their six games — and finished seventh in the voting for the most outstanding rookie in the American League.
Rumors are that Minnesota is going on a payroll cut. If that’s the case, Julien will be the first to benefit.
…and a step back for Toro, Leblanc and Lopez
The season was more difficult for the three other Quebecers knocking on the doors of the Majors.
Charles Leblanc, who thought he had found his niche with the Miami Marlins after an interesting first break with the Florida team, was instead released from the club’s 40-man roster and spent the season at the AAA level.
His numbers there were worse than in 2022, before he was recalled by the Marlins. He signed a minor league contract with the Angels last November and is hoping to earn an invite to major-league camp.
For his part, Abraham Toro continues to be a “AAAA” player. He spent the season at the AAA level in the Milwaukee Brewers organization, where he posted very interesting statistics (.291/.374/.471, 8 CC, 36 2B, 58 PP). But these numbers only earned him nine small games in the Majors, where he did well, with eight hits in 18 appearances, including two home runs and nine RBIs. That won’t stop him from joining a fifth organization in five years: he was traded in November to the Oakland Athletics, in exchange for a minor league player.
As for Otto Lopez, he seems to be a victim of the Jays’ infield congestion and, it must be said, of lackluster statistics at the AAA level this season (.258/.313/.343, 2 CC, 35 PP, his worst numbers in the minor leagues in his career). Recalled for only one game in 2023 (in which he did not participate), he seems to have reached a crossroads within the Toronto organization.
Goodbye A’s, hello expansion?
Major League Baseball owners voted unanimously to move the Oakland Athletics to Las Vegas after the last World Series. To say there are still some loops to be closed is an understatement.
It remains unclear where the A’s will play in Las Vegas, though the team plans to build a new stadium on the Strip. The lease on the aging Oakland Coliseum expires after the 2024 season, but a potential new home in Nevada wouldn’t open until 2027, leaving the relocation, the first in MLB since the Montreal Expos moved to Washington, somewhat unclear.
The A’s relocation and the announcement of plans to build a new stadium in Tampa Bay could pave the way for expansion in Major League Baseball.
Unfortunately for Montreal fans, it appears that the Quebec metropolis will not be in the picture. The Montreal Baseball Group is said to have no interest in an expansion team and the political will to invest in the construction of a new stadium in the city center is not there. In addition, it seems that there is no “baseball plan” in the pipeline for the major renovation work that must take place at the Olympic Stadium.
As of this writing, Nashville, Tennessee and Salt Lake City, Utah appear to have the upper hand over Charlotte, North Carolina and Portland, Oregon.
