A reliever? A top of the rotation starter? Ohtani?
Why not?
Therein lies the beauty of the Major League Baseball offseason and all the trade conversations that come with it. And when it comes to pie in the sky trade proposals, there will be no better subject than Shohei Ohtani.
Thanks to the latest Bradfo Sho 'Who Says No Wednesday' - brought to you by Jeff Runnals (@bigsoxguy) - we have an idea on how to get Ohtani to Boston:
Red Sox get: Shohei Ohtani
Angels get: SS Marcelo Mayer, OF Miguel Bleis, P Bryan Mata, INF Nick Yorke, OF Roman Anthony, and INF Jeter Downs.
Regarding why it might work, Runnals writes: The Angels have the worst farm system in baseball, per MLB.com. They have also missed the playoffs every year since 2014, and since Ohtani debuted in 2018, they have never had a winning record. With only one year of team control left on Ohtani’s contract, the Angels will have to seriously consider moving the generational superstar in order to capitalize on his value rather than almost certainly watching him walk for free.
For the Red Sox, this would certainly be a blow to a farm system that Chaim Bloom has worked hard to improve over the last few years. But not every prospect will have a home on the big league club. Some prospects are meant to be traded, and others (like Mayer & Bleis) need to be traded to acquire such a big talent in return. Ohtani is a generational player whose talent is obvious and would immediately transform the Red Sox lineup and rotation.
So, who says no?
(For more trade talk, with proposals how to pry away the likes of Pirates reliever David Bednar and Royals starter Brady Singer, listen to the podcast.)