ANAHEIM, Calif. — Shohei Ohtani is the talk of Major League Baseball, and not just because he’s the best two-way player perhaps ever to don a baseball uniform, or even because he’s already hit 36 home runs and it’s only July 25. It’s because he’s on the wishlist of every single team in baseball who wants to contend for the title.
It’s not guaranteed that the Los Angeles Angels will trade Shohei Ohtani before or at the deadline in just under a week. But there is a strong possibility that when the evening of August 1 rolls around, he could be playing for a different team.
On Tuesday’s episode of the Locked On MLB podcast, host Paul Francis Sullivan conducted a roundtable discussion with Brett Chancey of Locked On Astros, Ethan Smith of Locked On Pirates, and Brandon Warne of Locked On Twins. They talked about the fate of Shohei Ohtani and where they think he’ll end up.
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Which team will it be? Baseball pundits are bandying about a few names, but there’s one above all others, and all the Locked On hosts participating in the roundtable agreed. It’s the Baltimore Orioles.
“Ohtani would turn the Baltimore Orioles into immediate World Series contenders," Smith said. "And I’m not saying they aren’t right now, but a lot would have to fall their way pitching-wise.” Adding Ohtani to that starting rotation is a no-brainer.
That’s the consensus among the hosts, with Sullivan saying, “Jackson Hollidays grow on trees. Shohei Ohtanis do not.” Holliday is Baltimore’s top prospect and the son of Matt Holliday. He’s currently in Double-A Bowie. Sullivan then joked that the last time the Orioles won the World Series (1983), there was only one Indiana Jones movie, and it was called Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Chancey, the host of Locked On Astros, said, “With the Orioles having eight or nine of the Top 100 prospects in all of baseball, you can pick and choose (who to trade).”
The Angels could reload and rebuild with a ton of talent if they choose Baltimore as a trade partner. But, as Sullivan pointed out, the Angels were looking dead in the water before a sweep of the New York Yankees last week, and they’re not that far out of a Wild Card spot. So it is possible they hold onto Ohtani, try to fight for one of those three spots, and make the playoffs for the first since Ohtani signed with them.
Warne of Locked On Twins discussed the likelihood of the Angels re-signing Ohtani. “Here’s what I come back to if you’re the Angels and if you’re Perry Minasian, the GM. You’re no more likely to re-sign him if you keep him.” He added, “You’ve had all this time to sign him, and it hasn’t happened.”
Warne thinks the Angels should go for it regarding trading with the Orioles and getting a bunch of prospects in return for Ohtani. “What better way to woo him than to have a young Jackson Holliday coming up? With him and Zach Neto up the middle. Then you have Trout in center. You’ll convince him you’ll build around him. But you’re no more likely to sign him whether he’s an Angel or not.”
The Angels haven’t made the playoffs since 2014. Mike Trout has only had 12 at-bats in the playoffs. Ohtani has zero. He knows this going in. He has all the leverage when it comes to any deal made with the Angels, and as Warne said, it might be better for the Angels to let Ohtani go for a few months and then lure him back with a rebuilt and reloaded Angels system that has a chance at competing in the near future.
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