A year later, Shohei Ohtani's Blue Jays betrayal just got even more painful

The Toronto Blue Jays have been trying their best to land some of the top free agents in recent offseasons. Yet, they were unable to land any of them. This offseason, they missed out on Juan Soto, who signed a 15-year, $765 million contract with the New York Mets. The prior winter, the Blue Jays fanbase was riding a roller coaster of emotions over Shohei Ohtani.

in 2023, the Blue Jays were viewed as one of the top landing spots for Ohani. Ultimately, he signed a 10-year, $700 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Now, there are new details on the meeting Ohtani had with the Blue Jays last winter.

The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal and Andy McCullough recently wrote an article detailing the Blue Jays' pursuit of Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki, and mentioned the Blue Jays' meeting with Ohtani. The two said that following Ohtani's visit with the Blue Jays at their spring training facility in Dunedin, Fla., the two-way superstar left with Blue Jys gear and wearing a hat.

"The team memorably pursued Shohei Ohtani last offseason, hosting him during the Winter Meetings at their spring-training complex in Dunedin, Fla.," writes Rosenthal and McCullough. "Ohtani left the complex with bags of Jays gear and wearing a Jays cap, and with his dog, Dekopin, outfitted in a Canada jacket. But days later, he signed his heavily deferred 10-year, $700 million contract with the Dodgers."

New details of Blue Jays' meeting with Shohei Ohtani are painful for fanbase

Ohtani carrying bags filled with Blue Jays gear and wearing a team cap. Not to mention his dog, Dekopin, wearing a Canada jacket. That might as well serve as a gut punch for the Blue Jays fanbase. Based on those details alone, Ohtani really was the one that got away.

While the Blue Jays were interested in Ohtani, the expected favorites to sign him were the Dodgers. So, it wasn't a shock that he signed a $700 million contract. What was a surprise was the fact that it was a heavily deferred deal, in which Ohtani will be paid $680 million from 2034 until 2043.

The first year of Ohtani with the Dodgers was an immediate success, and made it much more painful for those teams that missed out on the designated hitter and starting pitcher. Ohtani became the first player ever to record 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in MLB history, leading to him becoming the unanimous NL MVP. Ohtani recorded a .310 batting average, a .390 on-base percentage, a .646 slugging percentage, 54 home runs, 59 stolen bases, and 130 RBI. Of course, Ohtani won his first World Series title in Year 1 of his 10-year deal.

Toronto's peformance in free agency hasn't been the best as of late, considering the swings and misses they've had at the top of the market. With Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette expected to hit the open market next year, maybe the Blue Jays will be able to retain one of them next winter?