Milwaukee Brewers: Crew Out of the Running for Shohei Ohtani

News broke Sunday evening that Japanese phenom Shohei Ohtani had whittled down his list of potential teams. The Milwaukee Brewers received word from the superstar player.

After submitting their responses to Ohtani’s questionnaire, the Milwaukee Brewers didn’t seem that optimistic about landing the two-way player. As it turns out, they were right. It’s been reported that the Milwaukee Brewers are officially out of the sweepstakes.

Well, that stinks. As enticing as it would be to see Ohtani hit bombs and throw his blazing 102 MPH fastball in Miller Park, we will now only be able to watch him do it as an opponent.

Frankly, signing Ohtani was a long shot. He would fit in the rotation easily, but he wants to hit on a regular basis. The at-bats in the Milwaukee Brewers lineup are difficult to find at this point. So, instead of reshuffling the entire outfield picture to fit Ohtani in, David Stearns can go about his business as usual.

According to Tom Haudricourt, the Brewers used the success of current left-handed sluggers Travis Shaw and Eric Thames as a part of their pitch to entice the left-handed hitting Ohtani to come to Miller Park. But in the end, it wasn’t enough to convince Ohtani that Milwaukee was the best fit for him.

Who’s in? Who’s out?

The Milwaukee Brewers weren’t the only team that found out they would be out of the running in the Ohtani sweepstakes. At the time of publication, here is the list of teams that are either in or out, according to MLB Trade Rumors.

In

• Seattle Mariners
• San Francisco Giants
• San Diego Padres
• Los Angeles Dodgers
• Texas Rangers
• Chicago Cubs
• Los Angeles Angels

Out

• Milwaukee Brewers
• New York Yankees
• Boston Red Sox
• Minnesota Twins
• Oakland Athletics
• New York Mets
• Toronto Blue Jays
• PIttsburgh Pirates
• Arizona Diamondbacks
• Tampa Bay Rays
• St. Louis Cardinals
• Chicago White Sox
• Atlanta Braves
• Miami Marlins
• Detroit Tigers
• Washington Nationals

Unknown

• Cincinnati Reds
• Colorado Rockies
• Houston Astros

What do we know now?

Ohtani is said to prefer a smaller market and somewhere on the west coast. The Brewers only fit half of that description. The Giants are still in on Ohtani and also still in the running for Giancarlo Stanton. If somehow they can add both in the same off-season, the Giants have a good chance of going from worst to first in the NL West next year. And next season is an even year for the Giants, which tends to mean good things for them.

The Mariners appear to be the favorite while the rebuilding Padres are also in. The Dodgers are also considered a finalist, but that report lacks confirmation. The Cubs will meet with Ohtani and are still alive in the sweepstakes. The Cubs getting the opportunity to meet with Ohtani should concern Brewers fans.

The Rangers have the most amount of money available to give to Ohtani and they are reportedly are in the mix as a finalist. The Reds publicly stated they are interested and a report hasn’t come out on them. However, it’s tough for them to break through given their location and lack of a contending status. The Cubs and Rangers are the only two non-West coast teams still alive.

What’s up next?

Now that most of MLB has a clear idea whether Ohtani will fit into their off-season plans, perhaps teams can look to actually make some moves and heat up this cold stove that has been the baseball off-season. The Winter Meetings begin on December 10th and things are shaping up to be absolutely wild if this current trend of inactivity continues.

Next: Could the Brewers reunite with Mike Fiers?

While it is sad that baseball’s next Babe Ruth will not play in a Brewers uniform, there is still plenty of reasons to be optimistic for next season. Stearns has plenty of other options to find on the market. Now that a few of those teams are distracted for the next few weeks on Ohtani, Stearns can pounce on some deals for players. The off-season saga continues.