For the Christmas holidays, luxury cars worth 100 million won and 200 million won have arrived for Joe Kelly’s wife Ashley Kelly. This is a gift from Shohei Ohtani in exchange for giving up his number 17.
Ohtani’s annual salary for next year is 2 million U.S. dollars, which is equivalent to a month’s salary if the value of No. 17 is divided into twelve.
Ashley released the car that she received from Ohtani on Instagram on Monday afternoon (Korea time). The video shows how a car that appeared to be an electric sports car from Porsche, a sports car brand that Ohtani uses as an ambassador, arrived at Ashley. Joe Kelly is the former owner of Ohtani’s number 17. He sent a huge gift to his wife, Ashley, in exchange for his number 17.
Ohtani kept a veil over the negotiation process until the FA destination was decided. His comment that could be a hint came from the Dodgers. During the winter meeting, manager Dave Roberts said, “I met Ohtani for two to three hours a few days ago,” revealing the negotiations.
Media reports also reported that the Dodgers contacted Joe Kelly, who was wearing No. 17, and asked him if he could yield his number to Ohtani. Kelly said he was willing to yield and was honored to give Ohtani his number.
As rumors spread that Ohtani could be transferred to the Dodgers, she became more active than her husband, the owner of the uniform number. She displayed all of her No. 17 uniforms and T-shirts on social media, saying, “Let’s start the #OHTAKE17 Challenge (to Ohtani).” Baseball fans were excited by Ashley’s cheerful appearance.
Their efforts paid off. Ohtani decided to join the Dodgers soon after. The Dodgers started selling the “17 OHTANI” uniform through its official store even before Ohtani’s joining ceremony was held. Kelly chose the number 99, which Ryu Hyun-jin used. The fact that Kelly will wear the number 99 was also disclosed on his wife Ashley’s SNS.
“If Otani continues to play like this, he will be inducted into the Hall of Fame. The number I used will also be permanently absent. That is the closest way (for me) to the Hall of Fame,” Kelly joked. When asked what he would receive in return for his 17th try, he said, “I have a list, but it’s not a comment.”
“This scene demonstrates Ohtani’s personality. He wanted to acknowledge the Kelly family’s efforts to get him to the Dodgers and express his gratitude,” the Dodger Nation wrote. However, it seems that Kelly did not ask Ohtani for a car himself. “I never asked him for anything,” he said after Ashley’s video was uploaded.
Meanwhile, Ohtani confirmed his move to the Dodgers on the 10th with the largest 10-year, $700 million contract in the world’s sports history. On top of that, a whopping $680 million has become a hot topic of conversation as a rare team-friendly contract to be paid later after the end of the contract period.
There are also opt-out conditions that allow them to become FA again during the contract period, and the unique condition that opt-out is possible if owner Mark Walter and president Andrew Friedman leave the team was another hot topic.
The Dodgers, which secured funding liquidity through Ohtani’s subsequent payments, signed a five-year, $135 million extension with pitcher Tyler Glasnow, who was brought in in the trade, to reinforce their starting rotation.
In addition, Yamamoto Yoshinobu, who was considered the FA’s biggest fish, was awarded the highest contract ever for a Major League pitcher with 12 years and 325 million dollars. Gerrit Cole set a new record of more than 1 million dollars in total with his nine-year, 324 million dollars that he received when he moved to the Yankees.
The Dodgers has invested 1.06 billion U.S. dollars to Ohtani, Glasnow, and Yamamoto. In Korean, the sum is 1.5 trillion won. 파워볼실시간
