Shohei Ohtani: The pros and cons of potentially trading the two-way superstar

The Los Angeles Angels have lost nine of their last 10 games entering the MLB All-Star break and Mike Trout will likely be sidelined for at least another month. As the Angels continue to slip out of playoff contention, all eyes turn toward whether they will trade Shohei Ohtani — which could bring about the best return for a midseason rental in MLB history.

But despite their recent slide — the Angels are now five games out of the third American League wild-card spot with three teams ahead of them — FOX Sports MLB insider Ken Rosenthal said Monday that the team is still resisting exploring a seismic trade of their two-way superstar for now, as owner Arte Moreno does not want to be remembered for trading arguably the best baseball player in recent memory.

“Even though you have little chance of resigning him, you’ve got advantages in keeping him,” Rosenthal said. “Whatever slim chances you have of making the playoffs, they are better with Ohtani. You make more money with Ohtani. You don’t have to be the guy that traded him if you keep Ohtani. 

“So for all those reasons right now, Arte Moreno is signaling, as he has for quite some time, that he does not want to trade Shohei Ohtani.”

Rosenthal did say that if the Angels continue to spiral, other teams will ramp up their efforts to at least start giving the team some trade offers.

“We will see then if Arte Moreno is tempted,” Rosenthal said.

As calls to trade Ohtani continue to grow, the MLB on FOX crew was split on the dilemma, with Derek Jeter against, David Ortiz in favor, and Alex Rodriguez guaranteeing an Angels World Series win in the near future if the team trades both Ohtani and Trout.

“This is a serious situation, and needs a bold move,” Rodriguez said. “I think the Angels maybe win a world championship in five years if they do this. First, you trade Ohtani. Then you trade Trout and you try to get five or six players, load up with first-rounders.” 

Rodriguez then advocated for the Angels to bring in current MLB consultant Theo Epstein as part of their ownership group and let him oversee the team’s rebuild process that would be jump-started by the trades of Ohtani and Trout. Before joining the league office in 2021, Epstein had a legendary career building the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs teams that broke massive World Series championship droughts in 2004 and 2016, respectively.

“[Ohtani and Trout] are two of the best assets in the game,” Rodriguez said. “Ohtani is one of the greatest assets in all of sports. Unless you trust your front office today to move forward, you have to have self-awareness. You haven’t been good in the past 10 years, and you have an asset where you can go out and reload, and then you have a guy like Theo Epstein come in and rebuild it.”

Derek Jeter and the ‘MLB on FOX’ crew discuss trading Shohei Ohtani.

However, Jeter disagreed, saying that while he understood a trade of Ohtani would make sense, he also sees the logic in keeping him in Anaheim for the remainder of the season.

“I understand why you would do it, but It’s pretty hard to pull that trigger,” Jeter said. “This guy is the best talent the sport has seen in a long time. If you do move Ohtani, what’s that telling Mike Trout? Who are you going to go out and get? … If you’re gonna do it, you can’t get it wrong.”

Ortiz, meanwhile, marveled at how far the Angels have fallen from their days as a perennial playoff contender, challenging the Yankees and his Red Sox in the 2000s, and referencing those past Angels teams as a reason why the current squad should trade Ohtani.

“During my time with the Red Sox, I always knew I was going to face the Angels at some point during the playoffs because that was the type of team they were,” Ortiz said. “But that team didn’t come with only two [good] players, it came with more. They need to rebuild, and they have the biggest opportunity to go and get three, four or five players that can get that team to the promised land in the next couple of years.  

John Smoltz on whether Shohei Ohtani should be traded at the deadline.

“They are not going to sign Ohtani, we all know that. That guy is gonna be worth around a $500-700 million dollar contract after this season. They can’t afford that. So prepare for the future, that’s what the game is all about.”

When Jeter pointed out that only those inside the Angels organization truly know for certain what their chances are of re-signing Ohtani, Ortiz pointed out that the amount of time and money left on Trout’s 12-year, $426.5 million contract extension that he signed before the 2019 season may already have sealed the team’s fate.

“If you [re-sign Ohtani], you’re gonna be talking about a billion dollars between two players, at least,” Ortiz said. “I don’t see any team doing that.”

Ohtani and the rest of this year’s MLB All-Stars can be seen in the 2023 MLB All-Star Game at 8 p.m. ET Tuesday on FOX and the FOX Sports App.

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