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When Shohei Ohtani's name first emerged as a potential trade target, the New York Yankees rose to the top of the list. After all, the Yankees consistently lead in pursuing MLB trade deadlines and major free agent signings, a stigma that's been with them since their resurgence in the late 1990s and extended well into the 21st century.
Having the best player in baseball, Ohtani, playing for the most decorated team in baseball, the Yankees, seems fitting. The New York media would undoubtedly devour the story, igniting countless Babe Ruth comparisons, perhaps even more than before.
We've never seen a phenomenon like Ohtani before. For a single player, he makes everyone see double. His duality as a thriving pitcher and slugging hitter make you think about him completely separately from all other players, past or present. With Ohtani, you get double the output, double the excitement — and eventually double the price for his services. Because with such an unprecedented player comes unprecedented circumstances, that will have unprecedented stakes from unprecedented demands.
If some team like the Yankees are wanting to lure Ohtani away from the Los Angeles Angels, they'll have to make an extremely attractive offer. And why wouldn't it be? You're essentially signing a top of the rotation pitcher with a top of the lineup hitter. But what exactly does an attractive offer look like?
Who actually knows what to offer Ohtani? That's perhaps a question no one is truly considering, even though many mock trades have tried. What do you offer for a player the caliber of the Angels superstar? For both the Angels and potential suitor teams like the Yankees, there's no precedent to go by for either party. What's an acceptable offer? What's an acceptable demand? These are uncharted waters, leaving the risk and reward for both impeccably high.
The Yankees should avoid a trade for Shohei Ohtani
If the Yankees are the serious contenders for Ohtani, there should be a fear that a trade would actually hurt them more than help them.
For one, the Yankees need to get younger. The team's diminishing youth and abundance of older players are becoming a cause for concern. The Yankees are the second oldest team in the league behind the New York Mets, with an average age of 30.12, according to Statista. With increasing age comes lack of production and added injuries, and the Yankees have had both.
At least five of what would be in the Yankees everyday lineup who are over 30 have missed significant time due to injuries this season, including their captain, Aaron Judge, who just signed a nine-year, $360 million contract in the offseason.
Ohtani, turning 30 next July, likely has many productive years ahead, but his rumored 12-year, $600 million contract might not be justified in its latter years. The Yankees often pay premium prices for players past their prime, seen currently with players like Josh Donaldson and Giancarlo Stanton, and potentially with Judge in the future. Ohtani, looking for long-term, lucrative deal shouldn't be next.
Trading for Ohtani entails an unfathomable cost for both the Angels and the buying team like the Yankees. The Angels must consider parting ways with arguably the greatest player the game has ever seen. The buying team, on the other hand, especially the Yankees, faces an even greater cost, given their aging roster.
A trade for Ohtani doesn't make Yankees AL World Series favorite
Hall of Fame pitcher John Smoltz made an appearance on Ben Verlander's Flipping Bats podcast last week, promoting that the Yankees should do everything they could to make a trade for Ohtani.
“It's worth getting him even if they don't re-sign him for a chance to win the World Series,” Smoltz told Verlander. “If he were to be traded to some of the top-tier teams — let's just say New York — it makes them clear favorites, in my opinion, to get to the World Series and win the American League. That's how big of a difference this guy makes.
“Even if they don't re-sign him, I think it's worth it. The Yankees have a lot of pressure on them to get back to the World Series and win one. … I know people are saying, ‘There’s no way he's going to get traded,' [but] I would force the hand of [Angels owner Arte Moreno] and make the deal so sweet, he can't pass it up.”
Smoltz isn't wrong that the Yankees have a lot of pressure on them to win another World Series. It wouldn't be New York sports if there wasn't unreal expectations every year. However, what the Yankees would have to give — and again, no one quite knows what that is besides the fact that it is more than likely astronomical — would be a damaging amount to their future.
With Ohtani, everything is great about him, but more than anything is his price, which is doubly-faceted.
