NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Baseball is waiting for Shohei.

Big-name free agents appear in no hurry to strike deals at the winter meetings, biding time until Shohei Ohtani potentially breaks the record for richest contract set 4 1/2 years ago by Mike Trout.

And Japanese free agent Yoshinobu Yamamoto could be holding up the starting pitching market.

“It’s probably a little slower from a conversation standpoint at a winter meetings than it normally would,” New York Mets President of Baseball Operations David Stearns said Monday. “A possibility is that, yeah, the top of the free-agent market hasn’t moved yet, and often it takes the top of the free-agent market moving for the rest of the dominoes to fall.”

Ohtani, the two-way unicorn who has won two of the last three AL MVP awards for the Los Angeles Angels, is expected to get a deal topping $500 million – even though he won’t pitch again until 2025 following elbow surgery.

Trout’s contract was for $426.5 million over 12 years.

There was no sign at the winter meetings of Nez Balelo, Ohtani’s representative at the Creative Artists Agency, a contrast to the many other agents working the vast lobbies and suites of the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center for talks involving their clients.

Behind Ohtani in the hitters free-agent pecking order are Cody Bellinger and Matt Chapman, both represented by the sport’s biggest agent, Scott Boras. Among starting pitchers, the market includes Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery, also represented by Boras.

Farhan Zaidi, the San Francisco Giants’ president of baseball operations, would like a faster pace to offseason negotiations.

“Been talking to some people today about how there’s some conversation about having a deadline for multi-year deals in the last CBA,” he said. “Your business people who want to sell tickets and capitalize on fan excitement have less time to do that when those deals happen in January than November or December.”

In the first trade announced in Nashville, the Atlanta Braves acquired outfielder Jarred Kelenic, pitcher Marco Gonzales and infielder Evan White from the Seattle Mariners late Sunday for right-handed pitchers Cole Phillips and Jackson Kowar. Seattle is sending Atlanta $4.5 million on Aug. 1, offsetting part of the $29 million Gonzales and White are guaranteed.

Seattle dealt third baseman Eugenio Suárez to Arizona last month for reliever Carlos Vargas and catcher Seby Zavala.

“If you look at the trade and kind of where our team is at as we try to build it out going forward into 2024 and 2025, you needed some flexibility,” Mariners Manager Scott Servais said. “That’s probably what forced the trade as much as anything.”

Milwaukee finalized an $82 million, eight-year contract with 19-year-old outfield prospect Jackson Chourio, the most money guaranteed to a player with no big league experience – excluding Japanese professionals,

“There’s definitely a little bit of pressure on this, but I’m just going to work really hard,” Chourio said through a translator. “This money is not going to change me. If something changes, it definitely will be for the better.”

Milwaukee also agreed to an $8.5 million, one-year contract to retain left-hander Wade Miley, a deal that includes a 2025 mutual option and could be worth $24 million over two seasons.

“He means so much to a team. He’s incredible in the clubhouse. He’s a guy who makes others better,” new Brewers Manager Pat Murphy said. “He’s going to make other pitchers better.”

DODGERS: Gold Glove outfielder Mookie Betts is set to become the regular second baseman for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2024, Manager Dave Roberts told MLB Network.

A strong-armed outfielder, Betts played 107 games in right field for the reigning NL West champions this past season and 70 games at second. Roberts confirmed his plan in a text message to the AP.

“I think it’s pretty safe to say that No. 50, Mookie Betts, is going to be our everyday second baseman,” Roberts told MLB Network. “It’s one of those things where he’s a Gold Glover out in right field, but I think that when you’re talking about putting together a roster and someone who can be so offensive at second base, you can get more games out of him if he is playing second base.”

With the Dodgers bringing back Jason Heyward on a one-year deal, they have him as an option in right, the manager said.

PHILLIES: Philadelphia signed Manager Rob Thomson to a one-year contract extension through the 2025 season after he led the team to two straight trips to the NL Championship Series.

The 60-year-old Thomson has a 155-118 record since the veteran bench coach replaced Joe Girardi as Phillies manager on June 3, 2022. Thomson led the Phillies to the 2022 World Series, where they lost in six games to the Houston Astros. The Phillies returned to the NLCS this season but blew series leads of 2-0 and 3-2 with Games 6 and 7 at home against Arizona.

Thomson led the Phillies to a 90-72 record in 2023 and their first 90-win season since 2011. This past October he became only the third manager in MLB history to win 18 of his first 25 postseason games, joining Hall of Famers Joe McCarthy and Casey Stengel.

FREE AGENT: Outfielder Jung Hoo Lee, a South Korean MVP, will become a free agent Tuesday and major league teams can sign him through 5 p.m. on Jan. 3.

The 25-year-old Lee hit .318 with six homers and 48 RBI in 86 games this year for the Kiwoom Heroes, a season cut short when he broke his left ankle during a game against the Lotte Giants on July 22.

Lee batted .349 in 2022, when he set career bests of 23 homers and 113 RBI in 142 games. He was voted rookie of the year in 2017 and MVP in 2022.

METS: New York announced the hiring of former Toronto Blue Jays manager John Gibbons as bench coach under new manager Carlos Mendoza.

The Mets also hired Antoan Richardson as first base coach, Mike Sarbaugh as third base coach and José Rosado as bullpen coach.

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