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Insider updates if Angels could trade Shohei Ohtani this summer
Insider updates if Angels could trade Shohei Ohtani this summer,It seems two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani will only leave the Los Angeles Angels if he elects to test free agency, as expected, after the season.

Insider updates if Angels could trade Shohei Ohtani this summer

It seems two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani will only leave the Los Angeles Angels if he elects to test free agency, as expected, after the season. 

MLB insider Buster Olney of ESPN reported Thursday that “industry sources are as close to unequivocal as you can get about the Angels’ plans for Ohtani” and that it’s widely believed Los Angeles won’t trade the 2021 American League Most Valuable Player this summer. 

“What some rival evaluators believe is that Angels owner Arte Moreno, who went on the record during spring training saying that Ohtani won’t be dealt as long as his team is in contention, does not want to be remembered as the guy who pushed this generation’s Babe Ruth out of his organization,” Olney added. 

Moreno insisted this past February that he felt the Angels had “as good a chance as anybody” to lock Ohtani down via a long-term contract. Last month, a team source strongly refuted a report that suggested the Angels could shop Ohtani if they felt they were realistically out of playoff contention by or shortly after the All-Star break. 

“It’s hard to find anyone who believes that Ohtani will re-sign with the Angels after he hits the free agent market,” Olney continued. “But if he does leave Anaheim, Moreno will at least have an out: It would be Ohtani’s choice to depart, not because Moreno ushered him out of town.” 

Olney offered this update after one unnamed league insider said earlier this week that Ohtani “wants to and will go with” the Los Angeles Dodgers once he reaches free agency after the 2023 World Series. Even if that’s true, it makes sense Moreno wouldn’t consider trading Ohtani to a club possibly willing to sell the farm for his services such as the New York Yankees. 

The Angels began Thursday at 20-18 and just three games back of the first-place Texas Rangers in the AL West standings at the same time that Ohtani stood as a legitimate contender to win both MVP and Cy Young Award honors. Moreno listening to offers for Ohtani now could be enough to convince three-time MVP Mike Trout that he won’t win anything of note unless he leaves the Angels sooner rather than later. 

It’s unclear if Moreno is willing to pay the more than $600M Ohtani allegedly could make as a free agent to hold onto the sport’s most marketable star. For now, though, taking trade calls for Ohtani would be borderline malpractice for the Angels.