Nearly every team in baseball made some kind of pitch to Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani over the last few weeks after he was posted by the Nippon Professional Baseball League. Shrouded in secrecy, it was never quite clear what the 23-year-old outfielder and pitcher really wanted.
He didn't want to play in New York, despite the Yankees' ties to Japanese players past and present and the Mets' multimedia pitch presentation. Money was not the issue since he can only receive a modest signing bonus and a modest wage for signing as an international free agent under the age of 25.