Joe Kelly CLAPS BACK at Dodgers’ haters, drops Shohei Ohtani’s name as reference amidst team’s spending backlash

Joe Kelly calls out haters saying players like Shohei Ohtani would still sign with Dodgers even if salary cap wasn’t an issue.

Joe Kelly CLAPS BACK at Dodgers’ haters, drops Shohei Ohtani’s name as reference amidst team’s spending backlash

Shohei Ohatni and Joe Kelly [Image Credit: Imago/Press Enterprise]

Joe Kelly went off on haters who criticized the Los Angeles Dodgers’ spending spree. Recently the team has signed some big names from both the free agency and the international market receiving harsh criticism in the process.

The latest big names to join the World Series champions were – Roki Sasaki and Tanner Scott. Despite having interest from other MLB teams both players chose LA as their 2025 destination.

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Soon after signing Sasaki, questions arose about how there might have been a pre-agreement between the Dodgers and the ace pitcher. However, the MLB investigation proved the speculations wrong, thus putting an end to the controversies.

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Scott came into the spotlight as fans and pundits started questioning the Dodgers‘ spending spree in free markets. They questioned the salary cap and some even suggested there should be limitations set so the Dodgers do not have the opportunity to sign top players from the market.

However, these claims were blasted by the team’s current free agent Joe Kelly during a discussion on the ‘Baseball Isn’t Boring’ podcast. Kelly called out the haters saying even if players like Shohei Ohtani were ready to sign a deal for $10 million, he would still have done it with the Dodgers.

He is coming from Japan. Growing up, watching movies — and if you just do a quick Google search, ‘best places to visit when you’re going to America’ – Minnesota is not popping up, Pittsburgh is not popping up, Milwaukee is not popping up. Why the f— would he be like, ‘Oh, I’m going to make $10 in Milwaukee.’

Joe Kelly on Baseball Isn’t Boring on X.

He further argued that any player would love to sign with the winning team and in this case, it’s the Dodgers. While the LA team remains at the top list, the second team in contention should prove why they are better than the Dodgers if they want to sign a top player.

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Kelly’s claim of the Dodgers being the best was further solidified by the team’s 2024 win. During the offseason, the team penned Blake Snell, Michael Conforto, Roki Sasaki, Hyeseong Kim, and Tanner Scott, and even renewed Teoscar Hernandez’s contract. They’ll be a team to watch out for in the 2025 season race.

Joe Kelly drops hint of retirement with the Dodgers

Pitcher Joe Kelly still remains in the market as a free agent with the offseason signings almost getting closed up. Kelly was mostly sidelined last season due to consistent shoulder injuries, participating in only 35 games.

Joe Kelly [Image Credit: True Blue LA]
Joe Kelly [Image Credit: True Blue LA]

He remained out of the lineup for 60 days due to a right shoulder strain in May and missed 61 games in the process. Later he suffered from shoulder inflammation and missed another 16 appearances. 

His misfortune carried on during the NLDS games when he tweaked his shoulder and missed out on the playoffs completely. In a recent interview, Joe Kelly talked about how he wanted to retire as a Dodger if he was bound to do so in the future.

I am content all around. We have a good relationship. Like I said, once I am healthy, it’s kinda like Clayton (Kershaw’s) deal — there is only one spot we will come back to. It’s either that or, you know, if my body doesn’t heal as well as it wants to, then you never know. So we’ll see.

Joe Kelly as per Maren Angus of Dodgers Nation.com.

He is not looking to sign elsewhere than LA and would blame his injuries if he were forced to do so. In 2024, Kelly gave up his jersey number to the team’s two-way star Shohei Ohtani to welcome him to the organization.

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His lingering shoulder issue has been a problem for the pitcher’s return from free agency to the team. Whether he’ll end up joining another organization or retiring is yet to be seen.