By: Justin Gincauskas
It was a rollercoaster ride for the Blue Jays organization, fan base, and Canada as a whole during the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes. Many Blue Jays fans around the country had high hopes that Ohtani was coming to Toronto, which made for a heartbreaking ending when he ultimately chose to sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers. It may help ease the pain for the organization and its fans to know that Ohtani’s agent sympathizes with what they had to go through.
Nez Balelo, Ohtani’s agent, recently spoke with Bob Nightengale of USA Today and discussed how he felt regarding the rumors that Ohtani was heading to Toronto via a private jet from Anaheim on Dec. 8.
“I felt really, really bad for the country of Canada,” Balelo said. “And I felt really, really bad for the Toronto Blue Jays organization. They are really good people. What they had to endure, and the pain, wasn’t right.”
“I felt so bad for all of them that they had to go through that because it was the extreme roller coaster of thinking that they had him and then finding out they didn’t.”
The reports turned out to be false, as instead of Ohtani on the private jet, it was Canadian businessman Robert Herjavec. A day after all the madness, Ohtani announced on his Instagram that he was signing with the Dodgers.
Ohtani mentioned on SportsNet Los Angeles that he was aware of the spreading rumors and reports about him being on a plane to Toronto and possibly signing with the Blue Jays.
“I didn’t see the news itself, but people kept asking me ‘Are you flying to Toronto right now?’” Ohtani said through an interpreter. “But I was on my couch with the dog at the time.”
It will take a while for Blue Jays fans to eventually get over the heartbreak of losing out on one of the greatest baseball players to ever live. However, after hearing the comments from Ohtani’s agent regarding the situation, they may be able to move on a little bit faster.
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