Despite being arguably the best all-around player in baseball for five years now, Los Angeles Angels superstar Shohei Ohtani has yet to appear in the postseason. With his value now as high as it may ever be, are the Angels contemplating trading him in the offseason?
The answer is a resounding NO. Speaking to the media on Monday, Angels general manager Perry Minasian announced that Ohtani will not be traded this offseason.
The reigning AL MVP had yet another season for the ages in 2022. He recorded a career-high 160 hits and 30 doubles to go along with 34 home runs, 90 runs, 95 RBIs and a .273 batting average.
As a pitcher, it was Ohtani’s best season by far with a 2.33 ERA to complement his 15-9 record with 219 strikeouts. Suffice to say, they weren’t giving up the 27-year-old phenom for anything.
But now that they’ve decided to keep him, the real trick for the Angels is going to be figuring out how to extend him. Ohtani is in a position to command perhaps the biggest contract in baseball history once his current deal expires after the 2023 season.
The dual-threat baseball star is set to make $30 million this year, but he’ll likely have his agent monitoring how much Aaron Judge gets in free agency extremely closely.
Whatever Judge gets this year, Ohtani will likely want next year.