San Francisco Giants: A hypothetical response to Ohtani’s questionnaire

What are relevant market place characteristics?

As we’ve already mentioned, the San Francisco/Bay Area has a top five media market according to Nielsen rankings in 2017. Throw in the large Asian-American demographic, and active demographic, based on its proportion to the rest of the cultural demographics of the region, the viewership and interest in Giants games because of Shohei Ohtani will significantly rise.

They were down last year thanks to a significant drop in the team’s success on the field, but could easily rise back to the top with a better product on the field, and an attractive star thanks to Ohtani.

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One thing that has been stressed by team front offices, and those within the know on him, is that he wants to be the Japanese guy in his market. If he goes to Seattle, he’s likely going to be drawn in comparison to Ichiro for most of his time there. Going where Darvish goes might complicate the market, and the Dodgers also have Hyun-Gyn Ryu.

The Yankees have Tanaka, and nobody is going to want to go to Minnesota or Philadelphia. The San Francisco Giants have a massive market, ready to embrace Ohtani with open arms. He’d be the first significant Asian-American player in the market with one of the most saturated markets in terms of Asian-American people to others in the market.

Not only does the San Francisco Giants market include the Bay Area, it includes the central coast, the central valley, Sacramento, Lake Tahoe, and into Southern Oregon. It’s one of the largest markets in the country, which means a whole lot of eyeballs on Ohtani.

Next: How the Giants can afford Giancarlo Stanton

Final Thoughts

The San Francisco Giants should be able to put together one of the best bids possible with what they have behind them. They have a significant Asian American population, as well as a market that’s been starved of a star that plays to that demographic. They offer the most recent success over any franchise, and can offer world class facilities to do it in. They can also offer a climate and cuisine culture relatively close to his from Sapporo, they can also offer one of the best catchers in baseball to work with for pitchers.

Pitchers want to come to San Francisco so they can work with Buster. That’s a big thing, and should be a big selling point for the Giants brass. Money doesn’t seem to matter to Ohtani, and if the Giants can convince him that this place can fill all his other non-money desires, then the Giants just might end up with the most coveted international free agent in years.