ANAHEIM, Calif. — The biggest question being asked around Major League baseball right now is, will the Los Angeles Angels trade Shohei Ohtani? And if they do, who will be the team capable of convincing Angels owner Arte Moreno to pull the trigger on a deal for the best player in baseball?
The main issue for every team is that Ohtani is a free agent this offseason, and it’s not guaranteed that he will re-sign with the team who acquires him, so it’s a significant risk. On the other hand, it’s Shohei Ohtani and even two months of Ohtani in your lineup and rotation is better than not having Ohtani on your team.
On a special crossover edition of Locked On Angels, hosts Jon and Mike Frisch were joined by Lindsay Crosby of Locked On MLB Prospects to talk about a possible Ohtani trade and tell you which teams have the best chance of landing Ohtani for the stretch run.
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“You’re getting the home run leader in baseball as well as a pretty good pitcher, and so because of that, it’s going to be a larger package than you typically see for a rental at the trade deadline,” Crosby said. “The common consensus around the prospect apparatus is two Top 100 prospects and/or recently graduated Top 100 prospects is the base of the package no matter what. That’s at least in there.” Additionally, Crosby mentioned, “A guy that’s in your organization’s Top 10 and then at least one that’s in your Top 20 to Top 30 and a wild card lottery ticket of a random prospect.”
The bottom line is a team would need to give the Angels a lot to get Ohtani or, more to the point, to entice Moreno into handing over the best player in baseball.
So who are the contenders? Crosby has a list of 10 teams, with five of them being the top tier and the rest having a chance but perhaps better than those top five teams.
1) The Los Angeles Dodgers have six Top 100 prospects, giving them a really good shot at landing Ohtani: three pitchers and three position players. As Crosby laid out, they have some prospects who graduated who could be included in a package. Ohtani wouldn’t have to go far, either. He could drive up to L.A.
2) Baltimore Orioles - The main reason they’re so high is that they’re almost overflowing with prospects at this point, and some of them may not even get playing time, so with a surplus of position players, the Orioles are in an excellent position to land Ohtani. And given they just overtook first place from the Rays in the AL East, it would give them an ever bigger boost down the stretch.
3) Texas Rangers - Crosby said he knows that would be tricky to accept simply because they’re a division rival, but he said, “They have a ton of position player talent as well.” He mentioned how they’re locked up in the infield on the Major League level, so the Rangers have a surplus like the Orioles and could trade a few position players for Ohtani. But on the flip side, if Ohtani goes to Texas and doesn’t sign with them in the offseason, Crosby joked that the team could spend the next decade being beaten by their former prospects in the division.
4) Philadelphia Phillies - Crosby called them the dark horse candidate because they’ve got “a bunch of young hard-throwing pitchers.” The Phillies have a bunch of outfielders as well, but the Phillies outfielders have a higher ceiling than the Angels’ outfield prospects. There’s also a history between the two teams which might make it easier for them to work on a deal.
5) Tampa Bay Rays - As Crosby said, “The Tampa Bay Rays need starting pitching really badly.” He added, “They’re always the team that has excess Triple-A position player prospects.” But while the Rays have many players in Triple-A and even Double-A that they could move, they’ve never been a team to make a big splashy trade at the deadline. Of course, there’s always a first time for everything. And right now, the Rays are faltering a bit and need some help now that Baltimore has passed them in the AL East standings.
So five teams could be contending for Ohtani at the deadline, but as we’ve seen in the past, this could all be moot, and he could stay put in Anaheim and finish the season with the Angels. Still, it’s fun to imagine someone making a blockbuster trade at the deadline, and maybe one of these teams will do it.
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