Ohtani

Katherine Siew, a Pasadena attorney, has never much followed baseball — until Shohei Ohtani grabbed her attention by signing with the Dodgers in a record-smashing 10-year, $700-million deal. She felt a surge of pride that the superstar athlete was Asian, representing her heritage at the highest level of excellence in a path relatively few Asian Americans tread. “You don’t really see many Asian faces on TV across any field, let alone sports,” said Siew, 34, who is Chinese American. “I think if growing up, we had seen…

The Dodgers unveiled yet another Tokyo giant on Wednesday, officially adding highly touted Japanese right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto to a $1.025-billion Pacific Rim portfolio that is anchored by two-way star Shohei Ohtani.Yamamoto’s introductory news conference in Dodger Stadium resembled the one announcing Ohtani’s 10-year, $700-million deal two weeks ago with about 100 media members in attendance — Ohtani had 300 — and fans watching Yamamoto don his blue-and-white No.18 Dodgers jersey on live television in the U.S. and…

New Dodger phenomenon Shohei Ohtani played Santa for a fellow player’s family Friday, gifting a new sports car to Ashley Kelly for her tongue-in-cheek campaign to lure him to the Dodgers by offering Ohtani her husband’s jersey number.Kelly is married to relief pitcher Joe Kelly, who wore No. 17 — the same number Ohtani wore in all six years of his Major League Baseball career with the Angels, where he earned two American League MVP awards and became a two-way phenomenon as a pitcher and a slugger.As Ohtani mulled his…

Shohei Ohtani made this happen.Shohei Ohtani is why the Dodgers have agreed to terms with Yoshinobu Yamamoto.This wasn’t about Ohtani’s recruiting pitch to Yamamoto, who already was said to have an affinity for the Dodgers.This was about the $680-million loan Ohtani made to the Dodgers.With Ohtani practically printing money for them, the once-cautious Dodgers made a previously unthinkable move by committing $325 million over 12 years to the undersized Yamamoto.The Dodgers refused to spend that much on Gerrit Cole when…

There is an old saying in business that you need to have money to make money. The Dodgers are one of baseball’s richest teams, and thanks to the highly unusual structure of their contract with Shohei Ohtani, they are about to have, and potentially make, a whole lot more than they already do.In the week since Ohtani inked his heavily-deferred, 10-year, $700-million deal with the Dodgers, the unprecedented pact has been viewed around Major League Baseball in a number of ways.As a record-breaking contract with the biggest…

The name of Shohei Ohtani’s dog is a Japanese name, Dekopin. But his American name is Decoy, the two-way star revealed at his introductory news conference with the Dodgers on Thursday at Dodger Stadium.“He’s named Dekopin. For people here, I think the pronunciation is difficult,” Ohtani said in Japanese. “His original name was Decoy. So when I explain it to people here, I introduce him as Decoy because it’s easier.”In Japanese, “dekopin” is the term used to describe a light or playful flick of the finger on someone’s…

Before Shohei Ohtani made his decision last week to sign with the Dodgers, he and his agent, Nez Balelo of CAA Sports, approached the Angels near the end of his free-agent process, giving Ohtani’s old team a chance to convince him to stay in Anaheim.However, Angels owner Arte Moreno wouldn’t budge. According to multiple people with knowledge of the situation not authorized to speak publicly, Moreno wouldn’t match the 10-year, $700 million deal that Ohtani eventually signed with the Dodgers.Not even the late effort from…

There were more than 300 media members there in person, and countless more fans watching on television from home.For the first time since undergoing Tommy John surgery in September, since becoming a free agent at the start of the offseason, and since signing with the Dodgers on a heavily-deferred 10-year, $700-million contract this week, Shohei Ohtani spoke publicly during an introductory news conference at Dodger Stadium on Thursday.His first words donning blue and white?“I would like to thank the Los Angeles Dodgers…

Under his contract with the Dodgers, Shohei Ohtani will have $68 million of his $70 million salary deferred each season, according to a person with knowledge of the deal unauthorized to speak publicly.That means, for the duration of his 10-year, $700 million deal, Ohtani will receive just $2 million per year, then get the rest of the money in payments to be made from 2034 to 2043.Also, because of the unique structure of the contract, Ohtani will count for about only $46 million annually against the Dodgers’ payroll for…

The massive poster of Shohei Ohtani was long gone by the time Raymond Diaz, a 33-year-old Angels fan, walked up to Angel Stadium shortly after 5 p.m. Saturday. It had been about five hours since the two-way star announced he would join the Dodgers on a 10-year, $700 million deal.“ just to see Ohtani’s poster one last time,” Diaz told The Times under the gaze of the glossy window panes left behind by the poster’s absence. “It’s official, now that he’s gone.”Diaz wasn’t the only fan who stopped by.“I just wanted to go look…