The Angels Won’t Trade Shohei Ohtani To The Dodgers

The Angels Won’t Trade Shohei Ohtani To The Dodgers

A Shohei Ohtani trade is still viewed as unlikely. However, if a trade were to go down, we can already rule out one potential suitor. Reports are surfacing that if Ohtani is dealt, it won’t be to the Dodgers. The Angels will not deal Ohtani to their crosstown rivals.

VIA Jon Heyman on MLB Network:

“Would they trade him to the (Los Angeles) Dodgers? No,” MLB Network’s Jon Heyman said Monday. “I spoke to somebody with the Dodgers, they realize he’s not getting traded to the Dodgers. Even if you think that he can sign long term with the Dodgers, (Angels owner) Arte Moreno is not going to do that.”

.@JonHeyman says he would put it around a 25% chance that Shohei Ohtani gets traded before the deadline ? pic.twitter.com/3Ohbir9sVU

— B/R Walk-Off (@BRWalkoff) July 17, 2023

Now, we have to take Heyman rumors with a grain of salt. Never forget Arson Judge!

Shohei Ohtani ready to play for a winning team

With that said, this story seems 100% believable and it should be viewed as a total joke. I’m sorry but this is so embarrassing for so many reasons. I have many things to say right now and none of them have anything to do with the obvious fact that Ohtani should have been traded years ago.

Your job is to get the best return for the player. Not to leak that you won’t trade someone to a team because your feelings got in the way and reduce the competition in the market. It screams stupid. What happens if you don’t trade him and Ohtani just walks to the Dodgers anyway? Is that somehow a better result than getting something in return? If this is going to be Arte Moreno’s attitude, maybe he should just sell the team. His attitude should be viewed as ignorant and nothing more.

Haven’t Angels’ fans suffered enough? Zero playoff wins with Ohtani and Mike Trout on the roster. Zero. If you’re going to screw up the roster building part, at least get something in return. Instead, it will be an era of wasted talent.

Outside of the Dodgers, Heyman lists the Padres and Giants as possible landing spots. The only thing that’s certain is it does seem like Ohtani would prefer to stay on the west coast.