The Los Angeles Angels have two of the best players in baseball on their roster, and yet again they have absolutely nothing to show for it.
Might it be time to cut their losses and move one of their stars?
The Angels have yet again underachieved, and with the trade deadline two weeks away they are all but certainly going to sell. What level of selling isn’t entirely clear, though. We know that they’re not going to compete this year, but if they think they’re just a couple tweaks away from fixing things, then that would impact their deadline plans.
Time will tell, but they have some assets that could bring back major returns, and one of them, unfathomable as it might seem, could be Shohei Ohtani.
The two-way star has cemented himself as one of the best players in the game. And if the Angels wanted to just start a rebuild and get a ton of quality assets that would help accelerate it, trading Ohtani might be the way to go. MLB.com insider Mark Feinsand floated the idea on "The Tony Kornheiser Show."
"The other guy I would keep an eye on, I don’t think he gets traded but he probably should, is Ohtani," Feinsand said. "Because the Angels aren’t going anywhere, he’s going to be a free agent at the end of the 2023 season, I can’t imagine he re-signs there. And sort of for the same concept (as Soto) of if you’re a contending team, you’d rather have Ohtani for two postseasons than one. The Angels would get a haul for him, but I’m not sure if they would do it."
One indirectly related situation that could impact or be impacted by the Angels moving Ohtani is the Washington Nationals-Juan Soto debacle. The Nats are expected to listen to offers on the star after he rejected their latest extension, and without any other major stars on the trade market right now, he represents the lone bona fide star available. If Ohtani suddenly becomes available, that could impact the market for Soto.
Either way, an Ohtani trade would bring an unprecedented haul back for the Angels. And while the Nats could wait to move Soto because he won’t be a free agent until after the 2025 season, there is less runway for Ohtani, who will hit the market after next season. Without an extension in place, an offseason trade of Ohtani might ultimately net the Angels less that moving him in the next two weeks.
Whether the Angels actually have the stomach to trade a once-in-a-generation talent is a whole other question though and, frankly, the only one that matters at this point.
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