Suitors stay coy on Shohei situation as Yanks battle Mets for Yamamoto

Dave Roberts started to dodge the big question about Shohei Ohtani, rocking back and forth in his seat and staying silent for three seconds before his big admission: "Yeah, we met with him," the Los Angeles Dodgers manager said on Tuesday at the winter meetings.

The Dodgers became the first MLB club to publicly admit a sitdown with the unique two-way player, who is expected to break baseball's salary record.

Officials on other teams danced meticulously around the question. Toronto general manager Ross Atkins, who sparked speculation of a possible meeting by holding his Monday media availability on Zoom rather than at the winter meetings hotel, had this to say: "Some meetings that occur, that don't occur, I'm not going to get into the specifics of."