Even amid a torn UCL and the potential of a second career Tommy John surgery on the horizon, it doesn't seem like anything will get in the way of Los Angeles Angels superstar Shohei Ohtani and his big payday.
While speaking with executives around MLB, The Athletic's Jim Bowden found that most believe the two-way star is still likely to get a contract worth $500 million this winter in free agency, making him the highest-paid player in the history of the sport.
"Several execs thought his contract would start north of Aaron Judge's $360 million deal with the Yankees, then include escalators and incentives to get him into the $500 million-to-$600 million range—where most teams valued Ohtani before the injury—as long as it's thought he can return to pitching with the same workload and level of success he had with the Angels," Bowden reported.