Rockies owner Dick Monfort emailed a fan about acquiring Shohei Ohtani
Jul 14, 2023, 12:32 PM
Imagine two-way baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani on the Colorado Rockies, that would be fun for baseball fans in Denver right?
Well the owner of the Rockies, Dick Monfort, agrees that it would be fun.
In Monfort’s latest email ‘sent from his iPad,’ he emailed a fan back who sent this:
I wanted to reach out to you about a player on the trade market that I think would be a tremendous fit in purple pinstripes. Rumor has it that his team is listening in on offers and, if you can make it happen, I think it would turn around this franchise. See the image I created of this player wearing Rockies purple. This would be amazing and worth whatever we need to give up. Please make it happen, Dick!
Seven minutes later Monfort rushed his response via iPad to say:
He is a free agent at end of the year. But would be fun for a couple months.
BREAKING: The Rockies would consider acquiring Ohtani “fun for a couple months” and are not officially OUT on trade talks.
This tells me that Ohtani to the Rockies is a real possibility and they are IN on trading for the greatest player of our generation. You heard it here first https://t.co/23mAYmewBS pic.twitter.com/6qfUKBpzye
— Kevin (Nuggets fan? Who knows) (@_Kevlar23_) July 14, 2023
The longtime owner of the Rockies, Monfort, is known for emailing fans. Nearly a decade ago he got into hot water for telling a fan, “If product and experience that bad don’t come!” These emails are among some his best, and most absurd quotes.
Monfort thinking Shohei would “be fun” is not crazy or among the funniest things he’s said. But now we know even just the thought of having this generational baseball player wear purple.
Ohtani is once again in trade rumors on Friday, ahead of baseball’s acquisition deadline at month’s end. The former MVP could be on the move because his contract is up at season’s end. And because he’s both one of the game’s best pitchers and hitters, his contract could become the first worth over a billion in American sports or at the very least get close.
The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are having their first halfway decent year of Ohtani’s several year career but fellow superstar and former MVP Mike Trout just went down with an injury, prompting the rumors to ramp up with a sell-off that may be coming.
So would the 100-loss pacing Rockies trade for Ohtani? No, probably not.
So could Colorado afford to pay Ohtani, who Monfort notes is a free agent this offseason? No, probably not.
But as Dick said, it would “be fun.”
***
