For several months, the Shohei Ohtani file has caused a lot of talk among the Angels. Considering he only has a year left before reaching free agency, MLB’s best player could be traded in the coming months if the Angels aren’t going anywhere.
And clearly, no team would spit on the idea of acquiring Ohtani, which means that the return could be titanic.
That said, in the last few days, Arte Moreno confirmed that he would stay in the saddle as owner of the Angels. And for Angels fans hoping to see Ohtani stick around long term, that’s a bad thing.
Moreno was the one who brought Ohtani to town and he was the one who got his management team to keep the Japanese at the latest trade deadline. On the other hand, Moreno is also an owner who has never been able to create a winning club, despite the presence of the two best players of the last decade.
And he is not recognized as the owner who likes to spend the most, but it should be noted that he has done so in the past for big names (Mike Trout, Anthony Rendon, Albert Pujols, etc.).
On the other hand, in the case of Ohtani, it will not be the lucrative offers that will be lacking. We can imagine that the Dodgers and the Mets, among others, count their small change and that they will offer colossal sums to attract Ohtani in town.
At equal salary, I dare to believe that a guy like Ohtani would be more tempted to go to a team like the Dodgers or the Mets. And that’s if Moreno is willing to match the other teams’ offer, which could be as high as $500 million.
Could a guy like Joe Lacob, who kept his stars with the Golden State Warriors and isn’t afraid to pay big bucks to do so, have helped the Angels keep Ohtani in town? Remember that Lacob was in the race to buy Moreno’s club before the latter retracted.
Clearly, then, the odds of Ohtani leaving in a year seem pretty high. Arte Moreno will have to work hard to entice him back: if he succeeds, he will win back the hearts of several supporters, but if he can’t, he could be hated even more (especially if Ohtani signs with a local rival like the Dodgers)…
