Angels Hurting Future By Keeping Superstar

by Julian Spivey

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​The Major League Baseball trade deadline is today (August 1) at 5 p.m. (CST) and some big names have already been dealt like three-time Cy Young winner Max Scherzer from the disappointing New York Mets to the American League West Division leading Texas Rangers.

But the biggest name, not just thought to have been a potential deal at the trade deadline, but in the sport right now in general – Shohei Ohtani, baseball’s unicorn who is both an All-Star pitcher and hitter for the Los Angeles Angels, is not going to be dealt. The Angels made that known a week or more ago.
The Angels, currently five games out of the A.L. West Division lead and four games out of the final A.L. Wild Card spot, have opted to hold onto the player who will be the most coveted free agent in the history of baseball once the season ends in order to attempt a playoff or even championship run.

Ohtani, who is currently leading Major League Baseball with 39 home runs as a hitter and has the lowest batting average against him in the majors as a pitcher, is projected to make between $500-600 million in free agency this offseason.

The Angels currently have a 4.9% chance to win the A.L. West, a 19.4% chance to make the playoffs as one of the three A.L. Wild Cards and a 1.2% chance at winning the World Series, according to FanGraphs. This means the Angels are 80.6% likely to miss the postseason altogether.

The Angels front office has opted to risk losing Ohtani – and he’s more than likely not going to re-sign with the franchise, which hasn’t shown the ability to even come close to winning in his six seasons with the team despite having arguably the two best hitters in the entire league (Ohtani and Mike Trout) – for a minuscule chance at postseason glory.

Some fans might appreciate the Angels ballclub for not packing it in by the end of July and going for broke, but others might be disappointed in a franchise that has managed to put together losing season after losing season while having two of the most talented players to ever set foot on a baseball diamond.

Sure, the Angels have made some acquisitions prior to the trade deadline in hopes of bettering themselves for a run toward the postseason – but it’s unlikely Lucas Giolito, from the Chicago White Sox, and Randal Grichuk and C.J. Cron, from the Colorado Rockies, are going to move the needle in such a manner that the team gets to where it hopes to go.

Ohtani is currently having one of the greatest, if not the greatest, single seasons of any player in the history of baseball and some fans might want to see him stick around in an Angels jersey until the end of the season to have a shot at the American League single-season home run record of 62 set last season by New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge. Ohtani is currently on pace to hit 60 homers.

But the sheer truth of the Angels refusing to even take offers on Ohtani before the trade deadline is that it’s just setting the franchise up for many more seasons of failure. Ohtani is likely walking this offseason to a team that can both break the bank for him and compete annually for a title. Trout is getting older by the minute and has shown himself to be more and more injury prone as he ages. The team is essentially going nowhere.

Now, it’s true that teams don’t really want to give up the farm for a two-month (potentially three if they go all the way to the World Series) rental and the package the Angels would have gotten in a deal for Ohtani would’ve been less than he was worth, but by-God King Midas’ touch would be less than this one-of-a-kind ballplayer is worth.

The Mets got the 44th-ranked prospect in the game in Luisangel Acuna, a middle infielder with a great pedigree (his brother is Atlanta Braves likely National League M.V.P. Ronald Acuna Jr.), from the Texas Rangers for a 39-year old pitcher in Scherzer, who’s having his worst season arguably of his career, but at least in the last dozen years.  

The Tampa Bay Rays just gave up the 37th-ranked prospect in the game first baseman Kyle Manzardo yesterday for pitcher Aaron Civale from the Cleveland Guardians. Civale is having a good season with a 2.34 ERA in 13 starts, but it might also be an anomaly as his career ERA through his first few seasons is closer to 4 than 2.

So, there were potential gains for the Angels to make for the right to have Ohtani in the box and on the mound for the last few months of the season. Now the Angels just get to watch their unicorn leave for a better franchise in the offseason for nothing in return. That’s no way for a franchise, with the longest active playoff drought in the sport, to engender faith from its fanbase for the future.