MLB rival, Angels differ on team’s chances to re-sign Shohei Ohtani before free agency

It appears like people round MLB consider the Los Angeles Angels will not signal two-way celebrity Shohei Ohtani earlier than he is eligible to hit free company after this season. 

Jon Heyman of the New York Submit reported late Wednesday afternoon that “one rival estimated the Angels have a ‘5 % probability’ to lock up Ohtani long-term” earlier than the tip of the 2023 marketing campaign. 

“One other known as a deal earlier than free company flat out ‘not possible,’” Heyman added. Heyman additionally identified that Angels proprietor Arte Moreno stays optimistic concerning Ohtani’s future. 

“I’d prefer to say we’ve got nearly as good an opportunity as anyone,” Moreno informed Heyman about signing the 28-year-old. 

Ohtani earned American League Most Precious Participant honors for the 2021 season after which finished second in MVP voting behind New York Yankees slugger Aaron Choose final fall. Together with posting a 15-9 pitching report with a 2.33 ERA and 219 strikeouts in 166 innings of labor, Ohtani slashed .273/.356/.519 with 34 house runs and 95 RBI in 2022. 

Choose, who turns 31 years previous in April, agreed to a nine-year, $360 million deal to return to the Yankees this previous December. It has been said that Ohtani may obtain a contract value $500 million complete if he hits the open market, however Heyman wrote on Wednesday that some estimates for that future settlement “have been even increased.” 

Ohtani has routinely been linked with the New York Mets and big-spending owner Steve Cohen since at the least final season. One rival informed Heyman that “if Steve Cohen writes the examine, it doesn’t matter” how a lot Moreno needs to maintain Ohtani.

Whereas the state of affairs may change if Ohtani’s camp informs the Angels he has no intentions of sticking round, Moreno indicated to Heyman he is not buying and selling his Most worthy asset anytime quickly. 

“How do you get [back] a serious league beginning pitcher and Cy Younger candidate, and clearly an MVP kind?” Moreno mentioned. “How do you commerce for that? You may’t.” 

Moreno is not mistaken, however that does not imply Angels followers would abdomen dropping Ohtani for nothing later this yr.