As the days are crossed off the baseball schedule, the impact on Shohei Ohtani could be significant. Although it’s all subject to negotiation, if the current Major League Baseball lockout lasts just a couple of weeks into the season, it could give the Angels an extra year of control of Ohtani before he reaches free agency.
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The Angels’ two-way star, and the reigning American League MVP, currently have exactly four years of service time, because he came upon Opening Day 2018 and has been in the majors ever since. After two more seasons, he will have the six years that qualify a player for free agency.
For purposes of service time, a player is credited with a full year if he is on a big-league roster (or injured list) for 172 of the 186 days of the season. If players lose at least 15 days of service time this season, they could miss out on adding a full season. So far, the first two series of the season have been canceled, which wipes away seven days of the Angels’ schedule.
"There's still a lot of room to grow both physically and skill-set-wise, I just need to keep my body strong and healthy to be able to play out my career without missing as many games as I can."
Shohei Ohtani Concluded