Perhaps I am too much of a believer in motherhood and apple pie, but I'd like to think that the Angels had a man to man discussion with Ohtani in June and came to a gentleman's agreement about what his long term contract would be for 2024 and beyond. If Ohtani plays for two months and then leaves for another team, it would be such a tremendous loss of face for the Angels, and I just don't think Ohtani's camp would want that for the team that gave him his start in the MLB.
I also suspect that Ohtani has figured out that Tom Brady is a god in New England, Ichiro's money is no good at any bar in Seattle, and the whole world outside of Saudi Arabia thinks that Messi is awesome and Ronaldo is...less awesome.
Not that I would know, but I'd like to think that for athletes like Ohtani, legacy is the asset that they want to maximize.
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