Losing Shohei Ohtani in free agency is and was always the worst possible outcome for this Los Angeles Angels franchise. Let me make that abundantly clear. Losing the best player in the world right now and maybe in the history of this sport for nothing more than a compensatory pick after the second round is an utter disaster.
The Angels had many chances to trade him and refused to do so every time. Imagine what the Dodgers, a team that just gave him $700 million, would’ve traded to get their hands on him before free agency. That’s something the Angels will regret for a very long time.
Ohtani leaving is a disaster, but there are still some positives that open up from it. Is this just me coping? Sure. But these are
1) The LA Angels will not need a six-man rotation anymore
Outside of the 2022 season, the Angels failed consistently to build a starting rotation capable of winning. The biggest reason for that is because they needed a six-man rotation to accomodate Shohei Ohtani. The Angels would have three or four solid starters most years but the rotation would just fall apart at the back end.
Player development has been a huge issue for the longest time in this franchise, and coupling that with Arte Moreno’s refusal to go into the luxury tax gives you a subpar starting rotation. Sure, Ohtani was mostly always excellent, but the Angels would have to go cheap the rest of the way to stay under the tax. The cheap pitchers they developed have not developed as nicely as they had hoped.
This past season it looked like the Angels finally had built a solid six-man rotation, but then everyone regressed. Even Shohei took a step back in 2023. The Tyler Anderson signing was a disaster, and the young arms failed to replicate their success from 2022.
Building a five-man rotation is hard enough. Having six quality starters is even harder, and something the Angels could never seem to figure out. Thankfully, they won’t have to do that with Ohtani gone (barring a Yoshinbobu Yamamoto signing).
2) The LA Angels can free up the DH spot
Injuries marred the prime Ohtani years without a doubt. Everyone loves to point out the fact that the Angels failed to win despite having arguably the two best players, Ohtani and Mike Trout, on the team at the same time. You can even throw Anthony Rendon’s name in there too. What everyone fails to include is the fact that these players were never healthy at the same time for a full season. It’s hard to win that way.
Trout and Rendon especially in recent years have had a rough go of it when it comes to staying on the field. Trout has appeared in 237 of the 486 possible games since 2021. That’s 48.8%. Rendon has appeared in 148 of the 486 possible games since 2021. That’s an even worse 30.4%. With these two individuals only getting older and more injury prone, you have to wonder if the open DH spot can help a bit.
Ohtani, while he obviously deserved it, occupied the DH spot every day. That forced the likes of Rendon and Trout into the field every day when healthy. These two will still be in the field a lot, but with the DH spot vacant, the Angels can rotate these players more often. They can give Trout a breather while still keeping his bat in the lineup.
The Angels could really use healthy seasons out of Trout and Rendon especially with Shohei gone. It’s no guarantee that this is the solution, but giving them regular DH days certainly couldn’t hurt.
3) Arte Moreno is now forced to build a team focused on winning
This is not Shohei Ohtani’s fault. The Dodgers are going to be competitive each and every year even with Ohtani’s absurd contract because their ownership group doesn’t care about the luxury tax. They’re willing to do whatever it takes to win, unlike the Angels owner. Ohtani is a winning player that makes any franchise better. It’s the Angels’ fault that they never won with him.
Arte Moreno likes to toe the tax line but not cross it. He did that to perfection this past season, thanks to the Angels moves after the trade deadline. Moreno likes to sign as many star players as possible that will get the Angels close to the tax line but then never cross it.
If the Angels had re-signed Ohtani, how likely is it that Moreno would suddenly have a change of heart and spend like he should? Probably not likely at all. The Angels can now add more talent around the good players that they currently have instead of just Ohtani and a bunch of Quadruple-A players.
WIth Ohtani around, Moreno didn’t have to field a winner to fill his pockets. Without Ohtani around, the Angels will have to find a way to win baseball games to help Moreno make some money. Who knows, maybe with Ohtani gone Moreno will finally sell the team. That’d be the real best-case scenario that most of this Angels fanbase would take in a heartbeat.
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