LOS ANGELES – Freddie Freeman got an early look at the Dodgers’ offseason wish list. Then watched all their wishes come true.
“I talked to Andrew (Friedman) a week after our unfortunate ending (in the playoffs) and he told me Plan A, B and C and what we were going to try and do,” Freeman said Saturday at the DodgerFest event. “Obviously Plan A was Plan A that succeeded. I said, ‘Oh we’re really going to try and get all that. That’d be awesome to be a part of.’
“I was told they wanted all those guys. When Shohei (Ohtani) happened, I was like, ‘Okay, that’s a lot.’ Then all of a sudden (Yoshinobu) Yamamoto comes and (Tyler) Glasnow and the other guys I was ‘Geez.’ It’s pretty incredible. You just don’t know how far they’re going to go. I know the plan but to see it succeed and to know they wanted it to succeed, it’s just so exciting for everyone here and in LA.”
The centerpiece of that billion-dollar binge, Ohtani, drew cheers and screams when he took the stage at Saturday’s event which the Dodgers said drew a sellout crowd of approximately 25,000.
“It’s my first time standing in front of all the Dodger fans with my Dodgers jersey on,” Ohtani said through his interpreter. “It’s a great feeling and I can’t wait.
“Dodgers fans are very patient and excited about the team. I feel the same.”
Ohtani has been working out at Dodger Stadium already and will report with pitchers and catchers to spring training next week – though he will not pitch until 2025.
Ohtani underwent elbow surgery in September, his second reconstruction surgery on the elbow. After the first surgery in November 2018, he did not play his first game until the following May. But Ohtani said Saturday he is “very confident” he will be in the Dodgers’ lineup as the DH on March 20 when they open the season in Korea against the San Diego Padres.
Ohtani said he has been hitting “flips” and off a tee and hopes to start hitting off a…
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