Stephen A. Smith Says Shohei Ohtani Isn’t Worth Huge Contract Because He Doesn’t Sell Tickets -- Except He Does
Stephen A. Smith has some more opinions on Shohei Ohtani, and they're not particularly good.
Smith was discussing Tuesday's announcement that Ohtani underwent elbow surgery, effectively ending his 2024 season as a pitcher.
READ: SHOHEI OHTANI OFFICIALLY OUT AS PITCHER FOR 2024 AFTER SURGERY
According to him, that should end the possibility of the Angels, or anyone else, giving Ohtani a massive deal in free agency.
"I would hope that it would make the Angels and everybody else come to their damn senses," Smith said. "I don't want to hear any discussions anymore about him getting a half a billion dollars."
He continued, saying that with news that Ohtani can't pitch until 2025, it severely diminishes his value. That's a legitimate opinion, but Smith wasn't done there.
"Damn it, the Angels don't win, when you look at the Dodgers, the Braves, when you look at various other teams, they ain't got nobody on there making half a billion dollars," he said. Not only is that not Ohtani's fault, but Smith's other reasons for not giving him a huge deal made even less sense.
"There's a bunch of empty seats that I see when Shohei Ohtani's pitching, let alone hitting, the Angels come to town," he claimed. "You're not filling anything, you're not winning. I'm not giving up that kind of money to him."
There's just one, well, two, problems...one of those points is irrelevant, and the other is wrong.
OAKLAND, CA - SEPTEMBER 2: Shohei Ohtani #17 of the Los Angeles Angels bats during the game against the Oakland Athletics at RingCentral Coliseum on September 2, 2023 in Oakland, California. The Athletics defeated the Angels 2-1. (Photo by Michael Zagaris/Oakland Athletics/Getty Images)
Stephen A. Smith Gets Ohtani Criticism Wrong
Smith makes the case that the Angels' struggles, even with Ohtani, shows that he's not worth the money.
But that's, of course, not how baseball works.
Having one exceptional player isn't enough to outweigh a poorly constructed 25 or 26 man roster. And the Angels have had a lot of poorly constructed rosters.
It's also an unfortunate bit of unlucky timing that Ohtani's arrival almost perfectly coincided with Mike Trout's injury problems. Trout hasn't played more than 140 games since 2016, when Shohei didn't join the majors until 2018.
But all of that pales in comparison to the complete mismanagement of the Angels' franchise. Despite playing in the country's second largest media market and having two of the game's biggest stars, the Angels have never gone over the luxury tax threshold.
When they have made big, high dollar signings, they've failed in spectacular fashion. Anthony Rendon, for example, is making $35 million per year and has contributed all of 1.1 WAR. In the past three years. And that's when he's not throwing his team under the bus about his injury recovery.
None of that is Ohtani's fault, so blaming him for missing the playoffs is overly simplistic. The only thing Ohtani can control is his own performance, which has ranged from exceptional to awe inspiring. Even though he's played on below average teams going nowhere.
Attendance Figures Are Wrong Too
Smith also justified his skepticism because of attendance figures. Specifically, he said Ohtani doesn't draw fans on the road.
But even if that were true, it's entirely irrelevant since the team signing him doesn't take in money from road games. And then there's the inconvenient fact that it isn't actually true.
Despite falling out of playoff contention months ago, the Angels rank fourth in MLB in road attendance, behind only the Yankees, Dodgers and Cubs. Those are three of the four biggest names in MLB, and puts the Angels ahead of even the Boston Red Sox. And it ignores that the Angels play in the same division as the Oakland A's, meaning they play multiple road games per year in front of a mostly deserted stadium.
That's a pretty clear indication that Ohtani sells tickets. Even on the road. Which doesn't even matter anyway.
You can make a case that signing one player to a ~$500 million contract isn't the best use of resources. But Ohtani's value is more than just being a designated hitter. Yes, he may not ever be the pitcher he was. But even a diminished two-way player is still worth a premium. Not to mention his marketing appeal and international relevance, something virtually no one else in MLB can match.
And of course, his performance at the plate this year is worth of a huge contract in and of itself. Aaron Judge, while adding some defensive value that Ohtani doesn't have, got $360 million from the Yankees despite being two years older. Given the Padres were interested, he may have been able to get even more.
Ohtani's 179 wRC+ is first in the majors this year, and he won't turn 30 until the middle of 2024. There's a lot of value in having one of the best hitters in baseball while still in his prime.
So yes, Stephen A., Shohei is going to get a massive contract this offseason. And he's worth it too.