Shohei Ohtani is off the trade market. After fielding various trade offers for Ohtani and holding internal discussions the past two days, the Angels decided late Wednesday afternoon not only to hold Ohtani but also to be buyers in advance of the Aug. 1 trade deadline, according to a source familiar with the club’s decision.
Los Angeles entered play Wednesday 3.5 games out of a wild-card spot. It last reached the postseason in 2014. Its eight-year playoff drought is tied with that of Detroit for the longest current drought.
General manager Perry Minasian will focus on adding a starting pitcher and a reliever before the deadline. The Angels also expect outfielder Mike Trout to return in mid-August from a broken hamate bone, allowing for what could be one last run with Trout and Ohtani as teammates. Ohtani is a free agent after the season and is expected to command a record contract that will make it difficult for the Angels to win the bidding war for him.
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Trout and Ohtani have been teammates for six years. The Angels are 380–429 in those six seasons while never finishing higher than third place or less than 10 games from first place.
The decision by the Angels to keep Ohtani underscores the volatility of the small window before the deadline, when teams on the bubble must decide whether to chase a postseason berth as buyers or begin building their next team as sellers.
The Angels were teetering on being sellers as recently as July 16, when they blew a 7–5 ninth-inning lead in a 9–8 loss to Houston. The defeat dropped their record to 46–48. Teams began calling about Ohtani. A source familiar with those talks said teams were offering minor league players—and not their top prospects. Those talks did not produce any momentum.
Since the Houston loss, the Angels have won six of seven games to climb back into a crowded wild card race. They are 3 1/2 games behind Toronto for the third wild-card spot, with the Red Sox (two games) and Yankees (one game) also in front of them. The Angels’ front office decided the team is too close to a playoff spot—and Ohtani is having too historic of a two-way season—to tell their fans they are quitting on this season.
Ohtani leads the American League in home runs (36), triples (7), walks (62), slugging (.668), OPS (1.066) and total bases (250). He has 36 home runs in 101 games. Last year Aaron Judge had 41 homers in 101 games on his way to a league-record 62 home runs.
