Oh, the places Shohei may go

THE Yankees not getting a faceto-face meeting with Shohei Ohtani is akin to Duke being knocked out of the NCAA Tournament in 2012 in a 2-15 game against Lehigh.

It was credible Duke would not win the whole thing, but just about inconceivable it would not get out of the first round. Perhaps the Yankees should not have been viewed as such strong favorites — though many team executives were all but conceding Ohtani would end up in The Bronx going into the weekend — but it is a downright shock they will not be among the seven teams getting a sit-down with Ohtani in Los Angeles beginning this week.

The Yankees learned Sunday they were out of the derby to sign the two-way star, with GM Brian Cashman indicating he was led to believe that West Coast teams and smallmarket clubs were the priority. Indeed, four of the five California teams (the Angels, Dodgers, Giants and Padres) plus the Mariners are among the finalists.

But so are the Cubs and Rangers, who do not fit neatly into either criteria. The seven clubs all do train in Arizona, as did Ohtani the last two springs as part of the working agreement between the Padres and his Nippon-Ham Fighters that was not renewed this year. That Peoria, Ariz., facility is shared by the Padres and Mariners, so familiarity probably helps those two franchises. But Ohtani has mystery about him so it is hard to know exactly what he wants, as the Yankees’ early ouster reveals. For example, four of the final seven are NL teams and there had been a strong belief that AL clubs with a DH would have an advantage as a lure for Ohtani to more easily both start and hit. Ohtani has only been a DH the past three years in Japan, but did play the outfield before that and is scouted as an elite athlete with top-of-the-scale speed and — obviously — a powerful arm. Every team that was interested already has provided Ohtani and his agents from CAA answers to a questionnaire plus other allurements to try to land a highly skilled, highly marketable player who due to international-pool cap rules will cost a tiny fraction of his actual value.

The way this has played out so far, it is hard to pinpoint a favorite. So perhaps it is the Rangers, after all, who hold spring training in Surprise, Ariz. But I will take a try at ranking the final seven in order with what might be most attractive:

1. Mariners

In the contiguous United States only Sacramento has a larger Japanese community in a city by overall percentage of population than Seattle. This team has had a Japanese player on its roster every year since 1998, notably Ichiro Suzuki. GM Jerry Dipoto has said the club will play Nelson Cruz — who recently won the Edgar Martinez Award for the best DH of 2017 — in the outfield a few days a week to accommodate Ohtani. If he is looking to create a distinct legacy, the Mariners have never played in a World Series and currently have gone the longest without appearing in the postseason (since 2001).

2. Dodgers

No U.S. city has a larger Japanese population than Los Angeles. The Dodgers almost signed Ohtani out of high school, but Nippon-Ham convinced him to stay home, to some large extent, with a willingness to let him play both ways. This Dodgers front office is forward thinking and will certainly show how much the team uses multi-position players consistently and has over-stuffed on starters so it can go to a six-man rotation no problem. The Dodgers can only offer $300,000 in a bonus, but they are the Dodgers, so their brand will resonate for marketing possibilities back in Japan.

3. Rangers

One year after Yu Darvish left Japan to join the Rangers, Ohtani took his place as Nippon-Ham’s ace wearing the same No. 11. Darvish loved being a Ranger. Money does not seem to be a factor, but their $3.535 million is $2 million more than any other finalist can offer.

4. Cubs

President of baseball operations Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer have a history recruiting players from Japan from their time together in Boston, notably Daisuke Matsuzaka. Manager Joe Maddon has shown a willingness to be flexible in using players in a variety of roles to get atbats. The Cubs won the World Series two years ago and have a strong positional core, and if they land Ohtani it would be fascinating if that pushes them further to make a Kyle Schwarber or Ian Happ even more available to find additional rotation help.

5. Giants

San Francisco ranks behind Seattle for highest percentage of Japanese in a U.S. city. The Yankees did not hire Hensley Meulens as manager, leaving the Giants a bench coach who speaks Japanese. The Giants were terrible last year, but have won three titles since 2010 and AT&T Park, almost always filled, provides a hospitable atmosphere. San Francisco can use both a corner outfielder with power and a top-level starter.

6. Padres

Of all the final seven, Ohtani would walk in as by far the biggest star immediately on the mostly anonymous Padres. They also are the most obvious non-contenders, thus, can most comfortably experiment with him as a hitter-pitcher in 2018 without consequences — remember this was the franchise that kept three Rule 5 players last year. GM A.J. Preller was instrumental in Texas in helping to lure Darvish. He also has bulked up his San Diego front office with a Japanese/Ohtani touch, including former pitching stars Hideo Nomo and Takashi Saito, whose American agent was Nez Balelo, just like Ohtani’s; executives Logan White and Acey Kohrogi, who were key to the Dodgers nearly signing Ohtani out of high school; and sports science chief Seichiro Nakagaki, who used to be Nippon-Ham’s trainer. And manager Andy Green played for Nippon-Ham in 2007, teammates with Darvish.

7. Angels

There are large Japanese communities nearby, such as in Irvine. The best player in Japan would get to play with the best player in the world, Mike Trout. The Angels do not have a notable history with Japanese players outside of, perhaps, Shigetoshi Hasegawa, but their GM, Billy Eppler, was integral in helping to scout and recruit Masahiro Tanaka to the Yankees when he was their assistant GM.