As badly as the Texas Rangers wanted to land Shohei Ohtani, and as confident as they were after making their presentation to the Japanese star, they still had a backup plan in mind in case he decided to go elsewhere.
The $3.53 million they had in international money could go along way, either for a bevy of players who had yet to sign during the current period or for the best available player remaining.
It turns out there was such a player, and he was ready to get moving toward his MLB dream.