Shohei Ohtani trade market: Angels reportedly avoiding Dodgers

There are two questions dominating the sports radio talk show airwaves, nationally and in the Bay Area:

Should the Angels trade Shohei Ohtani before he hits free agency this offseason? And what kind of haul should teams like the Giants give up to get him?

Major League Baseball’s trade deadline is coming up on Aug. 1, giving the Angels two weeks to make a decision with their free-agent-to-be superstar.

It’s easy to see why everyone wants Ohtani. He’s fourth in all of baseball in strikeouts as a pitcher (139) while going 7-5 with a 3.50 ERA in 18 starts, and he’s the major league leader in home runs (35).

Even with that MVP-level performance, the Angels enter Tuesday with a 47-48 record, 5.5 games out of the final American League wild card spot with four teams ahead of them.

MLB Network insider Jon Heyman spoke to Bleacher Report Monday and handicapped the chances of Ohtani getting traded before the deadline at percent 25%. But if Ohtani is traded, Heyman said that Angels owner Arte Moreno would not dare send him to one team: the Giants’ archrival and the only team ahead of them in the NL West.

.@JonHeyman says he would put it around a 25% chance that Shohei Ohtani gets traded before the deadline pic.twitter.com/3Ohbir9sVU

— B/R Walk-Off (@BRWalkoff) July 17, 2023

“Would they trade him to the Dodgers? No,” Heyman said. “I spoke to somebody with the Dodgers, they realize he’s not getting traded to the Dodgers. Even if you think that he could sign long-term with the Dodgers, Arte Moreno’s not going to do that.”

“[Moreno] may ultimately trade him … I do not see him being traded to the Dodgers.”

Heyman added that he sees the Dodgers, Giants and Mariners as top contenders to sign Ohtani in free agency this offseason, given the industry’s belief that Ohtani prefers the West Coast and wants to play for a winner.

The Giants look like a team that could check all of Ohtani’s boxes. Beyond geography, San Francisco is currently on a five-game winning streak and has surged to 52-41, leaving the Giants as the top NL wild card team entering Tuesday and only two back of the Dodgers. They also have a stable of prospects who could entice the Angels, though The Athletic’s Jim Bowden reported Monday that they appear more likely to target Ohtani in free agency than via trade.

A trade would likely not allow the Giants or another team to negotiate a long-term extension with Ohtani immediately, but it would buy them an exclusive negotiating window after the season, in addition to Ohtani’s services for the 2023 stretch run.

If the Giants do swing big for Ohtani, they could finally land a player they nearly added when Ohtani decided to come to the U.S. ahead of the 2018 season. In an interview with 95.7 The Game, former Giants general manager Bobby Evans said the lack of a designated hitter in the NL ended up costing the Giants.

“We knew that we had an uphill battle because we’re in the National League,” Evans said. “Had the DH been removed nationally at that point, I think that could have been a game changer.”