Dave Roberts recently admitted the Los Angeles Dodgers and Shohei Ohtani met. It was something that the entire MLB world expected to happen in free agency, but Roberts' comments were still surprising since a previous report stated that Ohtani wanted to keep his free agency secretive. Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman addressed Roberts' public Ohtani comments, per Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times.

“Andrew Friedman said he and Dave Roberts had a ‘good conversation' yesterday following his comments about the Ohtani meeting,” Harris wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “Friedman acknowledged he was surprised by Roberts' comments, but it seems like whatever tension there was yesterday has been worked out.”

Dodgers GM Brandon Gomes also said he was surprised by Roberts' comments and opted not to discuss LA's pursuit of Ohtani.

Can the Dodgers still sign Shohei Ohtani?

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So did Roberts cost the Dodgers the chance of signing Ohtani? Well, a different report leaked about the Toronto Blue Jays also meeting with Ohtani. The Dodgers and Blue Jays, however, are still being mentioned among the finalists for the superstar.

It seems unlikely that Ohtani would completely write the Dodgers off because Roberts admitted something everyone already speculated. Los Angeles has been the favorite to sign him since the very beginning of the offseason, so the fact that the Dodgers and Ohtani had a meeting in free agency isn't exactly jaw-dropping news.

This will still be a situation worth following, however. The fact that Friedman had a conversation with Roberts about the situation suggests that perhaps the head coach and president of baseball operations were not on the same page in regards to handling the Ohtani discussion with the media.

Ohtani is expected to make his MLB free agency decision this week. We will continue to monitor and provide updates on his free agency as they are made available.