MLB podcaster Jolly Olive believes Halos should trade $600,000,000 Shohei Ohtani
Los Angeles Angels superstar Shohei Ohtani remains the talk of this year’s MLB trade deadline. With August 1 fast approaching, Angels owner Arte Moreno will be an extremely busy man as more teams enter the race for the two-way phenom. Ohtani is expected to earn a contract in the region of $600,000,000 when he inks his next deal.
MLB insider Jon Morosi recently revealed the Baltimore Orioles and the Arizona Diamondbacks are among teams enquiring about Shohei Ohtani’s availability. Both sides find themselves in promising positions - Baltimore lead AL East while Arizona are second in NL West.
Sources: Orioles, DBacks among teams inquiring with the Angels about Shohei Ohtani’s trade availability.
Both clubs’ interest has been described as due diligence; both teams have the young talent base conducive to making a trade.
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The two upcoming series against the Tigers and the Blue Jays will be absolutely crucial for the Angels to determine their stance on the matter. They will need to choose between retaining a player who will enter free agency in November or cashing in for future prospects.
D-backs and Orioles among the main teams looking at Ohtani... have the Angels made up their mind yet on what they're doing with him?
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MLB podcaster Jolly Olive believes that the Angels are better off trading Shohei Ohtani for top position player prospects.
However, he feels that the club has too much pride to let go of their crown jewel. Speaking on the Baseball Today podcast, he said,
"I think if the Angels can just win a series and then win another series after that going into the deadline, give themselves some breathing room from .500, there's no reason for them to trade Shohei Otani and the current mindset of what they're trying to accomplish.
"Obviously, if you take a step backwards and look at the larger picture for the Angels future, I think a lot of fans would probably suggest trading Shohei to a team like the Orioles or Diamondbacks, who are stocked up with position player prospects and pitching prospects that can really help their future but at the same time"
Can the Angels convince Shohei Ohtani to stay?
The Angels have improved since last year, but still trail by 4.5 games in the AL Wild Card race. This season represents their last chance to convince Shohei Ohtani that they are capable of being a World Series contender, because that is something he will factor into his decision when signing his next long-term deal.
The Angels haven’t made the playoffs since 2014, and haven’t won a postseason game since 2009. They are currently at 9.6% in the latest Baseball Reference playoff odds projection. They believe they can re-sign Ohtani at year's end, but that certainly won’t be the case should they miss out on a postseason berth.
That scenario would be Arte Moreno’s worst nightmare, a catastrophe of epic proportions. But should that happen, the Angels risk losing possibly the greatest baseball player of all time - for nothing.