Alex Cobb’s most significant contribution at the All-Star Game wasn’t his scoreless inning.
After the game, Cobb made a staggering prediction about his former teammate with the Angels, Shohei Ohtani.
“He’s not coming to Seattle,” Cobb told reporters after the All-Star Game via Evan Webeck of the San Jose Mercury News. “Ichiro’s already got his stamp on here. He needs a new place.
“He’s coming to San Francisco.”
File that one in the “big if true” category. Ohtani is scheduled to become a free agent this offseason, but could be traded before then if the Angels don’t think they can get him to re-sign.
After being teammates during the 2021 season, Cobb is clearly a huge fan of Ohtani both on and off the field.
“Whatever you thought [Aaron] Judge would’ve been as the face of the Giants, he would eclipse that with the whole country,” Cobb told reporters. “You look for people to be the face of your franchise, not only as skilled, but off the field who they are. …
“I’ve never been around somebody who wants to win more than Shohei. I would love to say I want to win as much as anybody. But he will do anything to win. … Just watching in awe of everything he did and how good of a person he is and how humble of a person he is, it makes it really special.”
Cobb doesn’t have any insight into how the Giants would get the deal done, whether trading for him at the deadline and then signing him, or waiting until the offseason. That contract will be a record breaker, with some projections having it as high as $700 million.
Either way, Cobb is confident the Japan native will be moving to the Bay Area.
“I’d be thrilled if there was some avenue for us to get him at the deadline and sign him long-term,” Cobb told reporters. “But if not at the deadline, then during this offseason.”