The Angels should trade Shohei Ohtani, but they won't. So here's a blueprint for 2023 success.

Ryan Fagan

The Angels should trade Shohei Ohtani, but they won't. So here's a blueprint for 2023 success. image

The Angels absolutely should trade Shohei Ohtani. 

The superstar starter/slugger is set to become a free agent after the 2023 season, and has made it pretty clear that he does not plan to stay in Anaheim long-term. From a baseball standpoint, for a franchise that has many shortcomings and needs the type of long-term, low-cost talent influx trading Ohtani could bring, it’s without a doubt the smart thing to do.

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But, at this point, the Angels — specifically GM Perry Minasian — have made it pretty clear that they are not going to trade Ohtani. They have him for one more season, and it makes zero sense to stay with the status quo in a final year with the best baseball player on the planet, right? So, the club might as well make one common-sense-be-damned playoff push for 2023. 

But as the Los Angeles Times notes, owner Arte Moreno is selling the team anyway, so why not spend the absurd amounts of money it will take to make an irrational run at a playoff spot that’s eluded the franchise for so long? Luxury tax, schmulxury tax. 

In the immortal words of Jake Taylor …

Ricky Vaughn and Willie Mays Hayes have long-since retired, so the Angels can’t bring them in. Thankfully, there are plenty of options on the real-world offseason market, which is good because the Angels have plenty of needs if they’re going to go from 73 wins in 2022 to the 95-plus it’s going to take to qualify for the postseason in the AL in 2023. 

Minasian has already made a few key moves this offseason. He traded for Mike Trout’s doppelgänger, Hunter Renfroe, to occupy a spot in the outfield. Renfroe hit 29 homers for the Brewers last year, after 31 for Boston in 2021, and should give the lineup a much-needed jolt of power. Minasian also signed Gio Urshella, who can play all over the infield, and gave starting pitcher Tyler Anderson a three-year deal. 

Solid start, but just the beginning. Here’s what else they need to do.

Sign a first baseman. Josh Bell?

Jared Walsh was really good in 2021 — 29 homers, 127 OPS+ in 144 games — and he looked like a long-term solution for the franchise at first base, but he was awful in 2022. There’s no other way to put it. In 118 games, he produced a .269 on-base percentage, 81 OPS+ and minus-0.7 bWAR. 

And the Angels have one more year of Ohtani, so they can’t guarantee that many PAs to a player who was that bad at a position where you have to get offense. Keep Walsh and hope he proves that 2022 was the aberration, not 2021, and give him an opportunity earn his at-bats. He can also play corner outfield spots, so there will be opportunities for playing time. Having a potential All-Star pushing players at multiple positions is a good thing, folks. 

Having an impact bat at first base is a must. 

If the Angels believe Matt Carpenter’s reclamation season in New York was no fluke, and the swing adjustments he spent last offseason implementing are legit, he represents the type of power they might not be able to otherwise find. In 47 games, he hit 15 home runs, to go with a 217 OPS+. And it wasn’t just a short-porch-in-Yankee-Stadium thing; Carpenter hit six of those home runs in 25 road games, with an .840 OPS. At 37 years old, a short-term deal — as much money as he wants for 2023 — would be perfect for the Angels.

Josh Bell is another option. He struggled in San Diego, no doubt, but he was really good in his year-plus with the Nationals: 247 games, 41 homers, .363 on-base percentage, 136 OPS+, 6.5 bWAR. He wouldn’t be the first player to struggle after a midseason trade, then find his form after picking a new home as an offseason free agent. Bell is a switch-hitter who isn’t significantly more dominant from one side of the plate, which is a plus. At 30, he’d require a longer contract than Carpenter, but that’s not Moreno’s problem. 

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Sign an impact shortstop. Dansby?

Sorry, but David Fletcher cannot be the starting shortstop if you’re going to compete for a playoff spot in 2023. Same goes for Andrew Velazquez. Acceptance of shortcomings is how the Angels continually struggle. Since 2019, the Angels’ shortstops have an OPS of .661, which ranks 29th of the 30 teams. Nobody’s saying they have to have Bogaerts/Correa/Turner/Swanson-type production at the position, but 29th of 30 teams isn’t good enough.

But maybe they should have Bogaerts/Correa/Turner/Swanson-type production at the position. All four of those shortstops are available, for only money. A lot of money, but only money. The Angels don’t have the type of farm quality and depth to trade for players like those guys, so money is the only option. And, as we’ve said a few times, Moreno is basically spending the next owner’s money at this point. 

And before you say “But those guys are only going to sign with World Series contenders,” let me remind you what the Rangers — an AL West rival of the Angels — have done lately. Last offseason, they used money to bring in both Corey Seager and Marcus Semien. This offseason, they’ve already lured Jacob deGrom away with money. 

All four of the elite FA shortstops are exceptional defensively, and all four would represent a massive offensive upgrade for the Angels. Imagine throwing any one of those guys — Trea Turner would have looked especially good in the leadoff spot, but he's with the Phillies now — in a lineup with Trout, Ohtani, Renfroe, a healthy Anthony Rendon and Carpenter/Bell. 

Sign relief pitchers, plural

The Angels screwed up when they traded Raisel Iglesias to the Braves at last year’s trade deadline. There’s no other way to look at it. If they had any intention of keeping Ohtani for one last season and actually trying to compete for a playoff spot in 2023, dealing away a reliable, established closer who wanted to be on the team — remember, he was a free-agent who chose to re-sign with the Angels last offseason — is absolutely mind-boggling. And the fact that they got basically nothing in return just makes the move more head-scratching. They released Jesse Chavez a short time after the deal, and Tucker Davidson will enter this season as a 27-year-old lefty with a 5.99 ERA in 73 2/3 major-league innings. Oh, and Iglesias had a 0.34 ERA in 26 1/3 innings for the Braves after the trade. Blech.

Truth is, that deal is why I figured — and I’m not alone — that the Angels were preparing for life after Ohtani to begin sooner than later. Otherwise, it makes zero sense. Complete speculation, of course, but you have to wonder if maybe that was at one point the plan, then that plan got nixed when the reality of what it would mean to trade Ohtani set in. 

If they’re going to compete for a playoff spot, they need to sign a few established relievers, and that won’t be cheap, if the deals signed by Edwin Diaz, Robert Suarez and Rafael Montero are indication. Taylor Rogers and Craig Kimbrel are available, but both struggled last year. Hell, take a chance on Aroldis Chapman. Andrew Chafin would be an excellent lefty addition, and David Robertson bring the type of experience that would be a huge plus. There are always relievers available looking for a chance to increase value: Tommy Kahnle, Michael Fulmer, Zack Britton, etc. 

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Add starting pitching depth, like Michael Wacha

The Angels actually have a really solid starting five, with Ohtani as the ace, followed by free-agent signee Tyler Anderson (2.57 ERA last year), Patrick Sandoval (2.91 ERA in 27 starts), Reid Detmers (3.77 ERA) and Jesus Suarez (3.96 ERA). Detmers, especially, could be an All-Star. As a rookie, he threw a no-hitter in May, struggled and was sent down in June, then came back and posted a 3.05 ERA/2.51 FIP in his final 13 starts.

But that’s not good enough. Injuries happen. Bring in another established second-tier starter, a guy like Michael Wacha, Taijuan Walker or Ross Stripling. Or go really big and land Chris Bassitt. Create competition. Consider a six-man rotation. Make Suarez a swing starter/reliever. Build depth for the inevitable valleys that happen during a six-month season. 

Win the whole thing

So there’s the blueprint. It’s a lot, but not impossible. It requires only money. 

Will the Angels actually push all their chips in? Probably not. Will they try to work the margins of player availability and waste their final season with Ohtani, mired in trying-out-best-but-not-really mediocrity? Probably so. 

Sigh.

Ryan Fagan

Ryan Fagan Photo

Ryan Fagan, the national MLB writer for The Sporting News, has been a Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2016. He also dabbles in college hoops and other sports. And, yeah, he has way too many junk wax baseball cards.