Angels willing to listen to offers for Shohei Ohtani
According to reports by MLB’s Jon Morosi, the Los Angeles Angels may be open to listening to offers for Shohei Ohtani before the trade deadline.
The deadline for trades in the 2023 Major League Baseball season is August 1, and one of the most coveted players is two-way star Shohei Ohtani, who belongs to Los Angeles Angels.
The SoCal franchise has been steadfastly unwilling to entertain the idea or even listen to offers for the Japanese MLB home runs leader, but it looks like everything may have changed. According to a report by Jon Morosi of MLB Network, the Angels are now willing to consider trade requests from other teams for Ohtani. The teams that have been most heavily linked to a possible move are the cross-town Dodgers and the New York Yankees.
According to Morosi, the Angels’ next nine games will heavily impact the organization’s decision to trade or keep Ohtani. The Halos are entering a home stand that sees them face a three-game series against the Houston Astros, New York Yankees, and Pittsburgh Pirates.
Ohtani’s performance with the bat has been spectacular on a team fighting for one of the last wild-card spots in the American League. In addition to leading the league in home runs with 32, he has the best OPS and the top slugging percentage at 1.050 and .633, respectively. The Angels’ DH has 103 hits, producing 71 runs in 341 at bats.
From the mound, the Oshu, Japan native has an ERA of 3.32 after allowing 37 runs in 100.1 innings pitched and striking out 132 of the 407 batters he has faced in 17 starts (7-4).
The Dodgers' possible offer for Shohei Ohtani
If Los Angeles’ other franchise, the Dodgers, wants Ohtani, they’ll have to give up two of their best young pitchers, Gavin Stone and Emmet Sheehan, and two of their most up-and-coming infielders, Michael Busch and Dalton Rushing.
The Yankees' possible offer for Shohei Ohtani
Recently, prospect Roderick Arias has been singled out as one of the Yankees’ minor leaguers available for the Ohtani trade. They should also include shortstop Anthony Volpe and outfielder Jason Dominguez.
If Morosi’s report is accurate, this would throw open the floodgates for a last minute of trade activity in MLB. While the Yankees and Dodgers are the teams who are most often in the conversation, they are by no means the only two teams interested.
And if Ohtani’s purpose in moving is to win the World Series, there are other teams who are in better position to take him there, at least in the short term. Houston, Tampa, San Diego, and Texas would all gladly dig deep into their pockets to sign Shohei, and all of those teams are closer to a title than either LA or New York.
However you cut it, this development, should it pan out, will shake up the league profoundly.