The biggest prize of MLB free agency will wear number 17 this season for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
We think.
Our impression, as of 4:07 PM Texas Time on this lovely December Friday (the leaves that sometimes change are all changing this year), is that Shohei Ohtani is going to sign with the Toronto Blue Jays, leaving Joe Kelly wearing number 17 on the Dodgers. Were Shohei Ohtani to have signed with the Dodgers, Joe Kelly would not have worn number 17, and Joe Kelly’s wife would have offered Ohtani’s family a whole lot of number 17 Dodgers merch. Instead, it’s looking like Ohtani will be a Blue Jay, and Joe Kelly will remain number 17 on the Dodgers.
I’m a little disappointed that Joe Kelly’s ready to give his number up that easily. No skateboarding competition? No javelina wrestling contest out in the desert? No mural tour? But hey, Joe Kelly likes to win, and much like Michael Jordan needed Pippen, Joe Kelly has only won World Series titles with Mookie Betts as his wingman. Can’t blame him for wanting Ohtani to be his personal Dennis Rodman.
I’m more disappointed that the Dodgers haven’t announced Joe Kelly’s signing yet. Call me spookable, but I get a little spooked when a guy who’s made half a dozen trips to the IL these last couple years still has his physical pending. We’re not far enough out from the signing leak to where we should be concerned, but I would personally feel better if the signing was set in stone.
I hope the delay has some link to Ohtani. Maybe even the number thing. Remember when Michael Barrett gave up number 5 in Chicago so Nomar could wear it? No? Well, it happened. No delay because of it, but that came to mind. What if Joe Kelly’s signing hasn’t been announced because he wants Michael Barrett to get his number back?
Update!
As of 4:22 PM Texas Time on this lovely December Friday (it was cloudy earlier but it stopped being cloudy and I don’t know when), our new impression is that Shohei Ohtani isn’t in Toronto. He’s not even in the nation of Canada! Not that I know where else in Canada he’d be. It would really be news if he was in Whitehorse. I can’t find a single baseball team that plays there, and this is *not* tourist season in the Yukon. All of this is alleged, of course. Maybe Shohei Ohtani’s in Toronto and I was wrong. Maybe there are two Shohei Ohtanis, one that hits and one that pitches. Maybe one of them flew to Toronto! Wouldn’t that be something? What a ruse that would be. I would have quite a laugh if we found out Shohei Ohtani was a pair of twins this whole time. It would be even funnier if they were fraternal twins and this was a big racially themed joke Japan was playing on The Whites.
One of the fun things about waiting for news in the internet era is that if an absence of facts creates a vacuum, raw speculation fills it.
+1 for Javelina reference