The MLB offseason is nearly upon us, with the World Series wrapping up this week. The rumor mill is already churning, however, with the biggest prizes of this year’s free agency at the top. Aaron Judge, Trea Turner and Jacob DeGrom have all garnered a ton of attention, but so has Angels two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani. Despite agreeing to the record-breaking one year, $30 million deal to avoid arbitration, baseball analysts still think the Angels could trade him this offseason.
SNY’s Andy Martino reported on Tuesday that people around the league don’t expect Ohtani to be traded this offseason. But other analysts feel differently.
Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report wrote some bold predictions for the upcoming offseason. Among them, was a Shohei Ohtani trade from the Angels to the crosstown rival Dodgers.
“If the Dodgers think Ohtani is likely to sign elsewhere next offseason, they’re not going to sell the farm to get him for just one year. And the Angels aren’t going to give away the most marketable player in the sport for anything less than a stockpile of young talent and top prospects.
The Dodgers do have plenty of both of those commodities, though.
They have seven of MLB.com’s top 80 prospects in their farm system and could part with the likes of Gavin Lux, Dustin May, Michael Grove, James Outman or Brusdar Graterol if it means maybe getting a decade of Ohtani. They wouldn’t give up all seven of those prospects nor all five of those young MLB players, but there might be a five-piece or six-piece platter that’s agreeable to both sides for what would be a blockbuster deal.”
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There aren’t a lot of positives that come out of trading a two-way superstar who just had one of the greatest single seasons in MLB history. But if the Angels fear Ohtani will walk at the end of the 2023 season, this could be their way of getting something in return.
However, it seems more likely the Angels will hold off on a trade in the offseason, and try to build a winning team that convinces Ohtani to sign long-term. And if by mid-July of 2023, they see that they aren’t going to win and Ohtani is likely to leave, they can trade him at the deadline.
When you have a talent as special as Ohtani, you need to hold onto him for as long as you possibly can — even if that means taking a risk on him potentially leaving for nothing.
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