The Los Angeles Angels have made a decision regarding the future of Shohei Ohtani ahead of the trade deadline.
The Angels will not be trading their best player prior to the August 1 deadline, SI’s Tom Verducci reported on Wednesday.
EXCLUSIVE: Shohei Ohtani is off the trade market, a source familiar to the Angels' decision told SI’s Tom Verducci.
Los Angeles, four games off a wild-card spot, will instead make a push for the postseason https://t.co/5Rq6s4ImUW
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) July 27, 2023
Not only will the Angels not be trading Ohtani, but Verducci says the AL West team plans to be buyers in an effort to improve their roster. Verducci reports that the Angels want to add a starting pitcher and relief pitcher.
The Angels entered play on Wednesday 52-49, which had them 6.5 games behind the Texas Rangers for first in the AL West and four games back in the wild card race.
So long as the Angels didn’t completely bottom out and lose something like 10 games in a row ahead of the deadline, a trade of Ohtani was always extremely unlikely.
Angels owner Arte Moreno couldn’t even bring himself to sell the team despite exploring the possibility. There was no way he was going to part ways with Ohtani, especially with 60 more games to sell tickets for.
The Angels are hoping that between getting players like Mike Trout back from injury and any other additions they make, they will be able to earn a playoff spot. The consequence of the decision is that they will be risking losing Ohtani, the likely AL MVP, in free agency for nothing more than a compensatory draft pick.
