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Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno revealed Tuesday that he's prepared to listen to offers to sell the franchise. This was a major bombshell, and many naturally then wondered what this could mean for Shohei Ohtani's future.
There were some trade rumblings surrounding the Angels superstar ahead of the deadline, but nothing came to fruition. Perhaps the main reason why is Moreno didn't want any part of it. The New York Post's Jon Heyman reported Moreno shut down talks before they even began. ESPN's Buster Olney went as far as saying the Angels' baseball operations department had determined it was an ideal time to explore an Ohtani trade, but Moreno wouldn't sign off on a trade so nothing was truly explored.
So, once Moreno is out of the picture, will a Shohei Ohtani trade become more likely?
It's impossible to say definitively given we don't know who the next Angels owner will be. Perhaps the new owner will come in and determine it's okay to give Ohtani a massive $500 million contract and try to forge ahead with the superstar pairing with Mike Trout. The front office would have to do a much better job building around two megastars with megadeals, but it's understandable to want to keep those guys around given their talent level.
But there's also a decent chance a new Angels owner comes and determines it's time to blow things up a bit and go in a different direction. It's true that Los Angeles wouldn't get as much in an Ohtani trade in the winter as it would have before the deadline, but the haul should still be massive even with his free agency coming in 2023.
As the Angels continue to flounder on the field, it's going to be interesting to see how everything shakes out in the coming months.
