Shohei Ohtani’s free agency has been *the* story of the MLB offseason, but at the same time, there has been little information about where the two-way superstar could be leaning.
That’s by design, and some major media personalities haven’t appreciated Ohtani’s approach. Leave it to former NFL star J.J. Watt to call out some weird takes popping up as of late.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported last month that Ohtani would hold any leaks against teams, which has led to some of baseball’s biggest newsbreakers being left in the dark on the entire saga. Aside from Dodgers manager Dave Roberts surprisingly revealing that the team met with Ohtani, there has been almost nothing out there from teams. That has brought on takes like these:
Athlete does public free agency tour…
Media: “Look at the ego. All about themselves. Attention seeker.”
Athlete tries to keep everything private:
Media: pic.twitter.com/D92wk8EJVD
— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) December 6, 2023
Just in the past 24 hours, we’ve seen Buster Olney, Stephen A. Smith and Chris “Mad Dog” Russo criticize Ohtani on ESPN. The Athletic’s Braves beat writer David O’Brien also called Ohtani’s approach pretentious.
But as Watt pointed out, there isn’t really anything Ohtani could do here to keep reporters satisfied. If he let the entire free agency play out in the public eye, he’d get criticized in a similar way LeBron did when he signed with the Heat. It would be a circus, and sure, someone would probably scoop the decision. Yet, by taking this private approach, Ohtani gets to focus on the decision on his own terms and see which teams he can actually trust.
There’s nothing wrong with that, and fans agreed with Watt for calling out the entitled complaints by some media members.
This was how Twitter reacted
The secret here is that both of these translate into "I'm mad that they're not giving *me* the scoop" https://t.co/OScJfMnt1O
— "Jeff" Veillette (@JeffVeillette) December 6, 2023
Please take a moment in your day today and spare a thought for @Buster_ESPN and @stephenasmith who both just got ROCKED by a helmet to helmet tweet from the great @JJWatt! 👑 https://t.co/RnDRq2mpzT
— Geoff Stoddart (@GeoffStoddart) December 6, 2023
shohei is not doing anything wrong here. it's all these sport media bozos that are annoying. https://t.co/cm1HaUoq7C
— yessi (@yessiii_d) December 6, 2023
If I'm Ohtani, I don't grant an interview for anyone associated with these ridiculous articles ever again. Make these buffoons get their scoops second-hand from Japanese media sources. https://t.co/sQvFimKSby
— Adam Doctolero (@AdamDoctolero) December 6, 2023
Thank you JJ! SAS needs to cut it out with his terrible Ohtani takes https://t.co/sXoMTOVNVX
— Ian 😇 🧀 (@angelsfan270) December 6, 2023
"A celebration of baseball" absolutely sent me the first time I saw it. All MLB free agency does is highlight the fact that there are like six teams that can afford Ohtani. https://t.co/0RwMB2iyJJ
— Kyle (@puckandrally) December 6, 2023
Stephen A: "I don't have time to watch baseball outside of the Yankees.
Also Stephen A "Shohei hasn't won anything yet and he shouldn't be worth all the hype"
So Stephen A never saw the WBC where Ohtani carried Japan. And he never saw Ohtani play on a torn UCL hitting wise. https://t.co/xRafUvsPlA
— Brian (@BkcSports) December 6, 2023
The whining from media people about the "lack of excitement" during winter meetings has been pathetic. https://t.co/ZjoFooBfxX
— Michael Strawn (@LifeInCharts) December 6, 2023
Facts…fans are still having fun imagining Shohei on their team. Insiders aren’t having fun cause they have little to report. https://t.co/l3TdHXD9Zr
— Caleb Johnson (@ATLjohnson18) December 6, 2023
