Subscribe
Follow Us
Before Shohei Ohtani became an international superstar who looked like a steal on a $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, their cross-county rivals, the Los Angeles Angels, had a major decision to make regarding the two-way MVP.
Originally lucking out by landing the Japanese slugger after a run with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, the Angels had six years to figure out what to do with their star player, but in the end, they allowed him to walk in free agency for nothing, swapping out the future Hall of Famer for Willie Calhoun before losing a franchise record 99 games in 2024.
And the worst part? The Angels likely could have at least gotten something for Ohtani after failing to optimize his time with the team financially, as Ken Rosenthal explained on Foul Territory.
“The Angels had Shohei Ohtani. They had him for six years, and yet they never capitalized in the way that the Dodgers have. One, their failure to capitalize economically, and that means bringing in sponsorships. It means bringing in fans. They had every opportunity. Didn't take advantage of that,” Rosenthal explained.
“Then, they had every opportunity to trade Ohtani, and they didn't do that. Jackson Merrill was at one point part of the talks between the Padres and Angels when they were discussing Otani. This was in ‘22. Padres at that time couldn't get Ohtani, so they pivoted to Soto. Two and a half years of control for Soto, one and a half for Ohtani, but the packages likely would have been similar. This was Shohei Ohtani. Merrill was part of it. Whether he would have been part of the final deal, hard to say. We don't know.”
Now, for fans of the Angels, the revelation that Merrill could have been in the deal has to make a stomach turn, as the star 22-year-old was named an All-Star, a Silver Slugger, and Second-Team All-MLB during his first season of MLB action. He's already signed a new nine-year extension with $135 million guaranteed with the Padres and looks to be one of their signature players moving forward, right up there with Fernando Tatís Jr. and Manny Machado.
So why didn't the Angels trade Ohtani if they knew they were going to lose him? Well, that's the thing, even Rosenthal didn't get it, as the Angels didn't seem to put much effort into re-signing the MVP either.
“The mere fact that they could have made that kind of deal for Ohtani, well, it just shows that they missed on an opportunity. Now, if you were going to sign Ohtani, you had that in your head, okay, then maybe you don't trade him, and maybe you think we'll just keep him and do that, but they didn't sign Ohtani either. So in every step, every stage here, they fell short, and they missed an opportunity, and it's everything,” Rosenthal noted.
“It's the failure to capitalize financially. It's the failure to trade him, and then the failure to sign him when you could have had Ohtani for the same deal that he took from the Dodgers. Now, I don't know that Ohtani would have taken the Angels over the Dodgers, but the Angels didn't value him properly, didn't see his place in the sport properly, and it all led to all this.”
Did the Angels botch the Ohtani negotiations? Yes. Would they have been better off to re-sign him or at least trade him for an absolute package? Yes, as well, but in the end, the Angels and Padres' losses are the Dodgers' gains, as they came away with the best player and didn't have to give up an asset to make it happen.
