This is such a dumb decision…even if the glimmer of a Wild Card berth is still possible. Despite being 4 games behind the third and final Wild Card standing, the LA Angels decided to KEEP Shohei Ohtani and pretty much forfeit any trade package for him given his free agency status after the end of the year.
There’s a reason the Angels always shoot themselves in the foot, and this is a prime example of it.
With the Angels sitting in 4th place in the AL West and a full 4 games behind the third and final Wild Card spot in the AL, it would have made perfect sense for Los Angeles to capitalize on the MEGA trade haul a trade dealing out Shohei Ohtani would have brought. Yet, in classic Angels fashion, they couldn’t even trade their own players correctly as they decided to keep Ohtani for a lost-cause playoff push.
Now, I know LA fans might have been divided on this trade decision as on the one hand, Shohei Ohtani brings an unprecedented level of coverage, media attention, and excitement to a franchise that really has no right of being as “headliney” as they are right now.
I mean, the Angels are only 4th in the AL, have a record of 56-53 after 109 games, are barely above .500 with a winning percentage of .514, and are currently 4 games and three teams (Red Sox, Yankees, and Mariners all are above the Angels) the third and final Wild Card spot in the American League. It’s not an awful standing by any means (just look over to their cross-state rivals in the Oakland A’s if you want to see a truly awful team), but it’s also not the type of team that would bring this level of interest from the media and the fans around North America and the world.
Yet, when you have the best player in baseball having a clear frontrunner MVP-caliber season, a Silver Slugger award for both pitching (if it still existed) and being the designated hitter, and a potential Cy Young-caliber season with hitting stats of 123 hits (6th most in the MLB), 82 runs (5th in the MLB), 3 triples (joint-most in the MLB), 39 home runs (most in the MLB), 81 RBIs (3rd most in the MLB), and a .307 batting average (6th best in the MLB).
And, pitching stats of 9-5 record, 20 starts, 156 strikeouts (5th most in the MLB), an opposing batting average of .185 (best in the MLB), only 18 home runs allowed in 120.1 innings pitched, only 79 hits allowed in 120.1 innings pitched, only 18 earned runs allowed in 120.1 innings pitched, and an ERA of 3.43 (20th best in the MLB).
These are utterly insane stats that only Babe Ruth himself could have put up.
However, on the other more pragmatic hand, do you know how many teams would give their entire kitchen sinks, all their arms and legs, and even throw in their mothers-in-law for a chance of acquiring Shohei Ohtani. Ohtani’s sensational talent has the ability to mask and even completely cover even the most porous of holes within a roster, and teams like the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, LA Dodgers, Baltimore Oriels, Philadelphia Phillies, and many more would jump at a trade for Ohtani in a minute.
I saw rumored offers out there from most of these teams that they’d be willing to give up their entire farm systems, draft capital, and even key roster players just to get Ohtani for a World Series run and hopefully extend him to a long-term deal. That’s how great Ohtani is…and why the Angels needed to trade him at the deadline.
As you saw, the Angels have a very slim chance of making the playoffs with the Red Sox, Yankees, and Mariners all holding spots above them in the Wild Card race WHILE NOT ACTUALLY BEING WILD CARD TEAMS. And, when you see that the Tampa Bay Rays (66-45), Houston Astros (62-47), and the Toronto Blue Jays (60-49) are the teams actually IN THE WILD CARD SPOTS and they have at least 5+ games ahead of the Angels, it just makes any chance for an Angels playoff run extremely unlikely.
Now, maybe the Angels will be powered by Ohtani’s brilliance and make an unprecedented run in the final few months of the season to break their 8-year playoff drought (and soon to be 9), but I just don’t see it happening. All I see is the Angels losing Ohtani to the Dodgers for ABSOLUTELY NOTHING this offseason because they were too stupid and stubborn to trade him at the deadline.
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