The Los Angeles Angels and general manager Perry Minasian have a tidal wave constantly around them with the future of Shohei Ohtani and his expiring contract, but ahead of the offseason, rumors surrounding his availability via trade have been halted.
After another season of production that included a run at a second consecutive Most Valuable Player Award, Ohtani cemented his presence in Major League Baseball. On the mound, he tossed 166 innings while posting a 2.33 ERA and led MLB with 11.9 strikeouts per nine innings. Minasian avoided a unique arbitration process by inking him to a one-year $30 million deal ahead of the bulk of the offseason.
But Minasian has remained entrenched in his stance that the Angels aren’t going to move their superstar two-way player and aside from outside chatter, the organization doesn’t plan to make that trade, a direction GM’s around the league don’t buy into, via Jeff Passan of ESPN:
“None of this is easy, of course. Between his pending free agency and the Angels potentially being sold, the complications surrounding Ohtani’s future in Anaheim, whether it’s a record contract extension or trade, are manifold. Minasian saying the Angels aren’t moving Ohtani theoretically brings some semblance of calm to a situation that could spiral chaotically, but other GMs are not convinced, with one saying: “It was the same thing with Rizz. He wasn’t going to trade him until he did.”
No scenario should be off the table, but Ohtani is a particular case where it should be. He’s too valuable to a team in his tenacity, talent, and desire to win. Much of that is flashed in his play and fire on the diamond, despite playing for a club that struggles to find a rhythm with one of the more top-end duos in MLB.
Shohei Ohtani named MVP finalist
The finalists for the four major end-of-season MLB awards were revealed on Monday. And next week, the winners of Rookie of the Year, Manager of the Year, Cy Young, and Most Valuable Player in each league will be named. For the Los Angeles Angels, they have just one — highly expected — finalist in Ohtani.
Ohtani was named one of the three finalists for the American League MVP award, alongside Houston Astros slugger and World Series champion Yordan Alvarez and frontrunner Aaron Judge from the New York Yankees.
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