Morning Rundown: Ohtani to the NL Central? Plus, mailbag!

Could Ohtani find his way to the NL Central?

Not much is happening when it comes to the Pirates, but there's some news that could potentially shake up the NL Central for the foreseeable future.

According to Bob Nightengale, the Chicago Cubs could be among the ‘most aggressive team’ for his services.

Of course, there will be plenty of teams throwing bids at the two-way star, with many of the usual names in the mix currently. Chicago is no stranger to making big splashes in free agency, but it is certainly something that they are being described as the ‘most aggressive’ out of the bunch by several GMs.

Ohtani is a finalist for the MVP again this year and could command the largest contract in baseball history, even though he won’t be able to pitch next year after undergoing the second Tommy John surgery of his career.

The Cubs made a big splash in free agency last year, signing shortstop Dansby Swanson to a seven-year deal. They also signed Cody Bellinger to a one-year deal, hoping he’d bounce back to form.

Just as a hitter, Ohtani was arguably the best player in the AL, with a slash of .304/.412/.654 with 44 home runs, 95 RBI, and 102 runs while stealing another 20 bases.

Then you can add his 10 wins, 3.14 ERA, with 167 strikeouts in 132 innings into the mix.

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The Angels, Ohtani’s former team, hired Ron Washington as their new manager, and it looks like a familiar face will be part of his staff.

Former Pirates manager Clint Hurdle will be a bench coach for the Angels after being a special assistant to the GM of the Colorado Rockies since 2021.

Hurdle was the Pirates’ manager from 2012 to 2019 and oversaw the only four winning seasons the franchise has seen since the Barry Bonds era.

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I mentioned it yesterday, but we will introduce a new weekly mailbag article and are taking questions for the first edition. You can email us at bucsondeckqa@gmail.com to ask away!