In 2012, the A’s shocked all of baseball by coming out of nowhere to scoop up that winter’s most intriguing international player, Yoenis Cespedes.
Could Oakland pull off a similar feat this offseason? This week, the A’s made a formal pitch for Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani, The Chronicle has learned. Ohtani, 23, has yet to be posted by his Japanese team, the Nippon-Ham Fighters, but in advance of his move to the major leagues, Ohtani’s agency, CAA, sent questionnaires to all 30 teams to help the two-way player decide his future home.
According to a source, the A’s pitch centers around the core of players the team is developing with an eye toward going into a new stadium with a winning club.