As I put pen to paper, two weeks have gone by since the infamous ” Ohtani is on the plane, he is coming to Toronto ” saga…yes that’s right – 336 hours – and still not a word from Mark Shapiro, Ross Atkins or the Toronto Blue Jays regarding the events of that day.
Zero appearances on Toronto area sports talk shows, no press conferences or media statements. That is a lot of hours of complete silence.
The only activity on Mark Shapiro’s “X” account since Friday Dec 8th is a re post of a Joe Calico post. The official Toronto Blue Jays “X” account has had 17 different posts and 6 re posts since Dec 9th. Curiously, there was absolute silence on Friday Dec 8th. That’s right…”CRICKETS!!!”.
This is a total lack of consideration and respect for Blue Jays Nation.
Blue Jays fans were whipped into a frenzy with reports that Ohtani was on a private jet heading to Pearson International Airport. Why would he be coming to Toronto? Of course, it was to sign a contract with the Blue Jays. At least that is what everyone assumed based on what was thought to be mostly credible information.
It turned out to be classic case of adding fuel to a fire. However, in this case, there wasn’t a fire as the spark was just a figment of our imagination. Why was there such a frenzy? Well, let’s remind ourselves of the events.
Thursday night it was reported on social media from a self proclaimed flight tracker enthusiast that a private plane was scheduled to depart an airport in Anaheim on Friday morning with Toronto’s “Pearson International ” as the destination.
That was all that was needed. The so-called spark. Complete speculation and chaos followed. Below is a chronological list of events on Friday Dec 8th starting at 8:39 a.m.
8:39 a.m. Jon Morosi of the MLB Network reports that an Ohtani decision is “imminent” and “possibly as early as today”.
9:31 a.m. Jim Bowden of the ” Athletic ” and “SiriusXM” posted to a huge audience the private plane info.
9:42 a.m. Canadian opera singer, Clarence Frazer cited an unnamed source who told him that Blue Jays pitcher Yusei Kikuchi had bought out an entire Sushi restaurant near Rogers Centre for a dinner that evening. Frazer said the reservation was allegedly for over 50 people.
12:54 p.m. Jeff Veilette posts the following: The “Ohtani flight” from Anaheim to Toronto is the #1 tracked plane in the world right now, with ~4000 people watching it on FlightAware It’s going to be so funny if this is just some dude.
1:53 p.m. J.P. Hoornstra reports that “Ohtani to the Blue Jays is a done deal “. This was reported on DodgersNation.com
2:09 p.m. ESPN’s Alden González, says that the deal is not done.
4:01 p.m. Jon Morosi says that Ohtani is indeed headed to Toronto, although without a signed deal.
5:00 p.m. Rogers pre- empts ” Real Kyper and Bourne ” a hockey talk show to allow Jeff Blair and Kevin Barker from Blair & Barker (a baseball talk show) to take over Rogers Sportsnet TV channels and their radio station the “Fan 590 ” to be ready to report the Ohtani signing by the Toronto Blue Jays.
5:11 p.m. Bob Nightengale reports that Ohtani is not in Toronto.
5:54 p.m. A photographer from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation was dispatched to the airport to take a picture of Ohtani — except it wasn’t Shohei. The person on the plane was actually Shark Tank judge and Canadian entrepreneur Robert Herjavec.
8:06 p.m. Shi Davidi, a Sportsnet journalist…yes that is right … an employee of the same company that owns the Blue Jays, posts an article on Sportsnet.ca trying to deflect the blame on the embarrassing day on the fans themselves and national MLB insiders and reporters. He never suggested that the Blue Jays could have put a stop to all of the frenzy at any time between 8:40am and 5:54pm with a post to social media. This would have taken about 15 seconds….maybe at the most.
I was shocked when I read his article. Two of the many sentences that caught my attention were:
” That it’s reflective of manias that emerge around matters of much higher consequence is a major societal problem, and what’s fortunate is that in this instance the only damage is to the emotions of people taken for a ride”
” In an information vacuum, when people are so susceptible to being lured into believing whatever they want to believe, it’s so easy to end up with the fevered, fact-free frenzy that surrounded Shohei Ohtani and the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday.”
Both of these are at best, concerning if not condescending.
3 days later…….
On Monday Dec 11th during the third hour of TSN’s popular radio show “Overdrive” Herjavec explained he found out he was part of the biggest scam job in Blue Jay’s history when a Canadian customs agent came on the plane and asked where Ohtani was?
He said he had no idea about what was going on as he had turned off his cell phone because his young kids were with him and causing a ruckus on the plane. Really?? For 5 hours?? Come on man!!
Do you believe this? If true, this means that Mark Shapiro , Ross Atkins and the Toronto Blue Jays stayed silent and caused the spoof to play out all the way up the chain at Pearson International to the level of Canadian Customs. All the more shameful for the two stooges.
Fun fact: Herjavec is represented by the same firm of agents as Ohtani. That’s right. Both are represented by CAA.
Mark Shapiro and / or Ross Atkins could have put a stop to all of this false hope at any point on Dec 8th. I mentioned earlier that there has been complete silence about this topic since Dec 8th. Curiously, Shapiro, Atkins and the Blue Jays were completely silent on Dec 8th as well.
I have reached out to numerous Toronto sports media personalities who cover the Jays to ask their opinion as to why Shapiro or Atkins did not put an end to this rumor. At the time of the writing not one person has responded.
So why were the Blue Jays completely silent? Well…. in my opinion it was to take advantage of the false hope which created a very limited time of euphoria to sell more tickets.
As you read this article, the 2nd and final stage of renovations at Rogers Centre is taking place. Ticket prices in the lower bowl are increasing dramatically. Rogers Communications, the owner of the Blue Jays want to make sure the renovation project is paid for as quickly as possible to be deemed a good investment for their shareholders.
The idea to go after Ohtani to sign him to the largest MLB player contract in history was purely based on a Rogers business scenario and not a baseball decision. Rogers saw Ohtani as a global corporate ambassador and not a baseball player. They were seduced by the increased revenue they believed he represented for the corporation.
Not surprisingly, Rogers’ Canadian national NHL TV rights package ends at the end of 2025/26 season. They paid 5.2 Billion in total for the 12 season deal. It is widely accepted that they have lost their shirt on the deal and will not acquire the national rights at an over inflated price tag again.
So, basically Rogers would have been on the hook for a substantial increase in expenses for their sports properties for only the first 3 years of the Ohtani deal. Although, Rogers lost their shirt with the NHL deal, they were confident it would not be the same with this deal.
Signing Shohei goes against every single belief that Atkins has about building a World Series contender. He still believes that a baseball game can be won 0-0. Hence his heavy investment in an elite pitching staff and perceived great defense.
Remember, the Blue Jays already have an elite pitching staff and Ohtani will not be pitching in 2024 and is not guaranteed to pitch again. As well, his body is already breaking down.
Although pitching and defence is needed, it is common knowledge that baseball championships are won with power and timely hitting.
The silence of the Blue Jays over the last 2 weeks, further lends proof to the fact this was not a baseball decision. If it was, they would have had a plan B. They obviously do not. Silence in this case really does speak volumes.
I believe in Karma and you know the saying!! Well, I truly believe it is going to happen to Shapiro and Atkins sooner rather than later. I predict a less than sell out home opener. That will be a first in many many seasons.
Ony time will tell…..
What are your thoughts? Let us know on “X” @JeffStanzel1 or @WeLikeSportzPC
Jeff Stanzel
*Photo courtesy of MLB.com
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