Major League Baseball

Not trading Shohei Ohtani would be a massive mistake for the Angels

Updated Jul. 14, 2023 5:33 p.m. ET

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Ben Verlander

FOX Sports MLB Analyst

Shohei Ohtani's days with the Los Angeles Angels appear to be numbered, yet the Angels continue to indicate that they won't trade him ahead of the Aug. 1 trade deadline.

That would be a massive mistake, and one made using a misguided approach. 

My MLB on FOX colleague Ken Rosenthal recently reported that it's unlikely the Angels will trade Ohtani even though he's set to become a free agent at year's end — and that with the Angels' playoff hopes dwindling by the day, it'd be a tough sell to get him to stay. In his report, Rosenthal said that Angels owner Arte Moreno doesn't want to be the owner who traded "the best player of all time."

'If you're going to do it, you can't get it wrong' - Derek Jeter and the 'MLB on FOX' crew discuss the repercussions for trading Shohei Ohtani

Do you know what would be even worse? Losing the best player of all time for nothing. As much as it might hurt trading Ohtani, it would hurt even more to know you had a once-in-a-lifetime talent — maybe even more than that — and there's a realistic possibility that he walks away in free agency this offseason, and as it stands, the Angels will gain nothing besides financial flexibility for Moreno and a compensation pick.

The Angels will resume play on Friday sitting five games back of the final wild-card spot in the American League with a 45-46 record and three teams standing in their way. 

They also will be without Mike Trout for at least the first couple of weeks following the All-Star break as he heals from a hamate fracture he suffered on July 3. On top of that, they are 4-16 in their last 16 games, with their struggles predating Trout's injury. They've got the fifth-toughest schedule (based on opposing winning percentage) remaining in MLB when they return to play, which doesn't bode well for them as they're 21-32 on teams with a record above .500.

Not good. 

Will not trading Shohei Ohtani HURT the Angels for the next decade?

Yet, the Angels seem like they'll cling onto Ohtani even though a miracle might not even guarantee them a playoff spot at this point. They want to continue marketing him for everything they can, whether through Ohtani-themed giveaways or just extra fans in the seats, and ride that out until the very end of the regular season. Then, they either will not offer him the money he's worth or if they do, he will probably go somewhere else in free agency because as he said himself at the All-Star game, it sucks to lose.

But I don't think Arte Moreno will even submit a competitive bid to keep Ohtani. Instead, Moreno seems content to milk the superstar's marketability for all it is worth until the end of the regular season, and then let him go. It would be a really frustrating conclusion to Ohtani's time in Anaheim, and Angels fans have every right to be upset with how this has played out.

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