Bowden: “[The Angels] are fielding phone calls and they are listening [on Ohtani]”

[ettin]

I am going to go out on a limb, here. @Lou will hold me to account.

The Angels would be idiots to trade Ohtani, unless he refuses to sign an extension. They have an opportunity to lock in an ace-level starting pitcher, who can also hit pretty damn well for essentially the remainder of his career. There have been no obvious red flags that Shohei does not like it here in Anaheim. The Angels will do everything in their power to lock him up this off-season and put this nonsense to rest.

Every big contract has risk built in and as long as Perry and his staff are doing their job and can reach an extension deal that pays Shohei and mitigates some of the risk, then this is a no-brainer of a move. Currently, Trout is running a 167 wRC+ in 2022, despite all of the bullshit of this season. Ohtani is running a pristine, ace-level ERA of 2.80 and a superb 131 wRC+ on the batting side. This is a pair of elite-level baseball stars and you already have one locked up, the Angels would be fools, in my humble opinion, to not lock the other one up, too, particularly because they NEED good pitchers.

I am a glass half-full kind of person and despite the train wreck this season has turned into, I am still a glass half-full person about the Angels 2023 season and beyond. They have a lot of interesting names, players, and prospects that could help fill out those squads. I've probably said this same thing a lot in the last handful of years, but I am doubling down again. This team is just not THAT bad talent-wise and if they extend Ohtani there is a bright future in front of them, I think. If Ohtani refuses to sign an extension, then so be it, trade him for the best package you can get, but I think he knows that Anaheim offers him a lot with teammates that want to win and my impression is that he would not mind staying.

All that being said the dysfunction of Arte Moreno in baseball business ("The Big Splash" guy) has been consistently troubling over his entire tenure and has resulted in cash outlays that have heavily burdened this franchise, despite whatever amount was offset by "putting butts in the seats", but I believe Ohtani is a positive exception to this approach. Keeping fan interest is certainly a key in his marketing strategy and let us not forget that Moreno has consistently funded a high payroll for this team since he took over, despite the positives and negatives of how that money was used and applied. His ability to churn through General Manager's has also not been a highlight for him as an owner and I can only hope that Perry Minasian can pull out some of that magic (our recent draft?) and start finding better diamonds in the rough out there that can add and supplement the core players of next year's squad. Our Minor League farm system investments feel like a joke overall, although I certainly have little insight into the expenditures there, but it feels like we have eliminated scouts in favor of technology (not necessarily a bad thing but you do lose insight into the "intangibles" of a player/prospect), we don't focus on creating the best "product" through programs that provide proper nutrition, diet, social acclimation skills (language, social skills), and all of the other "peripheral" skills that allow a prospect to focus primarily and best on baseball activities. This is an investment in a human being that you hope to have parading around your ballpark one day raising a championship banner and you can't make a modest investment in them to help pull out the best that they have to give on a baseball field? It has to be a fraction of the price you spend at the Major League level, so why is this such a difficulty?

I find myself digressing, but Ohtani needs to stay in an Angels uniform. From a marketing perspective, this is gold for Moreno, and finding an appropriate number for Shohei to sign should not be too big of an obstacle, unless something has soured him so bad that he doesn't want to stay or his demand is just so outrageously high that it busts all of the contract models.

[BTH]

Jim Bowden on CBS Sports today: ‪“Yes, I know the Angels said they have no intention of trading him. But they are fielding phone calls and they are listening.”‬

Somewhat newsworthy that they are fielding phone calls and listening to trade offers for Ohtani, as opposed to just hanging up or immediately saying no.
 

EDIT: More info from Bowden in an Athletic article:

They’ve made it clear they don’t intend to trade Ohtani, but that doesn’t mean they won’t if they receive an overwhelming proposal. 

[UndertheHalo]

Arte isn’t sending Ohtani to Cohen.  

[angelsnationtalk]

I'll take Francisco Alvarez, Brett Baty + others

[Taylor]

2 minutes ago, UndertheHalo said:

Arte isn’t sending Ohtani to Cohen.  

I bet Eppler could sign Ohtani again after next season. I miss Billy.

[mmc]

I too miss 5 losing seasons

[totdprods]

5 minutes ago, UndertheHalo said:

Arte isn’t sending Ohtani to Cohen.  

That’s the biggest obstacle to anything there. No way he’d want to see Cohen and Eppler get his star.

Otherwise the Mets actually match up pretty well. Alvarez, Baty, Peterson, a few different MLB-level players that could be in play, ability to eat Angels’ contracts…

[Taylor]

9 minutes ago, mmc said:

I too miss 5 losing seasons

Eppler has proven he can succeed with a good owner backing him.

[mmc]

3 minutes ago, Taylor said:

Eppler has proven he can succeed with a good owner backing him.

He hasn’t proven shit, it’s half of a season

[Taylor]

Just now, mmc said:

He hasn’t proven shit, it’s half of a season

More like 2/3rds now. And better than any 2/3rds of a season the Angels have had in a long time.

[mmc]

2 minutes ago, Taylor said:

More like 2/3rds now. And better than any 2/3rds of a season the Angels have had in a long time.

You can say the same about Dipoto.  Do you miss him too?

[Angel Oracle]

2 minutes ago, Taylor said:

More like 2/3rds now. And better than any 2/3rds of a season the Angels have had in a long time.

Remember that Dipoto oversaw a 98 win season in 2014.

Two years later,

[UndertheHalo]

I think the billy eppler bad bit is pretty funny. Not sure how it’s not obvious what the issue with the Angels is.  It’s A**e. 

[BTH]

15 minutes ago, Taylor said:

Eppler has proven he can succeed with a good owner backing him.

Any GM can succeed with an owner that’s willing to spend $280M in payroll.

[angelsnationtalk]

5 minutes ago, totdprods said:

That’s the biggest obstacle to anything there. No way he’d want to see Cohen and Eppler get his star.

Otherwise the Mets actually match up pretty well. Alvarez, Baty, Peterson, a few different MLB-level players that could be in play, ability to eat Angels’ contracts…

Although I hope a return for Ohtani would be 60FV pitchers, i'd be okay with this. Alvarez finally gives us a damn cathing prospect that we've never had and Baty would be great. 

Still hoping the Dodgers knock on the door. 

[T.G.]

2 minutes ago, angelsnationtalk said:

Still hoping the Dodgers knock on the door. 

I'm sure Arte would love that.

You must be young.

[beatlesrule]

28 minutes ago, Taylor said:

Eppler has proven he can succeed with a good owner backing him.

Well then why would you want him back here?

[case]

2 hours ago, ettin said:

I am going to go out on a limb, here. @Lou will hold me to account.

The Angels would be idiots to trade Ohtani, unless he refuses to sign an extension. They have an opportunity to lock in an ace-level starting pitcher, who can also hit pretty damn well for essentially the remainder of his career. There have been no obvious red flags that Shohei does not like it here in Anaheim. The Angels will do everything in their power to lock him up this off-season and put this nonsense to rest.

Every big contract has risk built in and as long as Perry and his staff are doing their job and can reach an extension deal that pays Shohei and mitigates some of the risk, then this is a no-brainer of a move. Currently, Trout is running a 167 wRC+ in 2022, despite all of the bullshit of this season. Ohtani is running a pristine, ace-level ERA of 2.80 and a superb 131 wRC+ on the batting side. This is a pair of elite-level baseball stars and you already have one locked up, the Angels would be fools, in my humble opinion, to not lock the other one up, too, particularly because they NEED good pitchers.

I am a glass half-full kind of person and despite the train wreck this season has turned into, I am still a glass half-full person about the Angels 2023 season and beyond. They have a lot of interesting names, players, and prospects that could help fill out those squads. I've probably said this same thing a lot in the last handful of years, but I am doubling down again. This team is just not THAT bad talent-wise and if they extend Ohtani there is a bright future in front of them, I think. If Ohtani refuses to sign an extension, then so be it, trade him for the best package you can get, but I think he knows that Anaheim offers him a lot with teammates that want to win and my impression is that he would not mind staying.

All that being said the dysfunction of Arte Moreno in baseball business ("The Big Splash" guy) has been consistently troubling over his entire tenure and has resulted in cash outlays that have heavily burdened this franchise, despite whatever amount was offset by "putting butts in the seats", but I believe Ohtani is a positive exception to this approach. Keeping fan interest is certainly a key in his marketing strategy and let us not forget that Moreno has consistently funded a high payroll for this team since he took over, despite the positives and negatives of how that money was used and applied. His ability to churn through General Manager's has also not been a highlight for him as an owner and I can only hope that Perry Minasian can pull out some of that magic (our recent draft?) and start finding better diamonds in the rough out there that can add and supplement the core players of next year's squad. Our Minor League farm system investments feel like a joke overall, although I certainly have little insight into the expenditures there, but it feels like we have eliminated scouts in favor of technology (not necessarily a bad thing but you do lose insight into the "intangibles" of a player/prospect), we don't focus on creating the best "product" through programs that provide proper nutrition, diet, social acclimation skills (language, social skills), and all of the other "peripheral" skills that allow a prospect to focus primarily and best on baseball activities. This is an investment in a human being that you hope to have parading around your ballpark one day raising a championship banner and you can't make a modest investment in them to help pull out the best that they have to give on a baseball field? It has to be a fraction of the price you spend at the Major League level, so why is this such a difficulty?

I find myself digressing, but Ohtani needs to stay in an Angels uniform. From a marketing perspective, this is gold for Moreno, and finding an appropriate number for Shohei to sign should not be too big of an obstacle, unless something has soured him so bad that he doesn't want to stay or his demand is just so outrageously high that it busts all of the contract models.

Ohtani is great. Nobody is saying he's not. He's just not going to be cheap. We've wasted all his cheap years by being terrible and now we're going to pay him 40 million a year and somehow become great? It's not going to happen.

We trade him and we can get multiple top tier prospects, possibly out from under rendon's contract (not a deal breaker if it can't be done)

Ohtani isn't supplanting any pitching spots from the roster, we still need to roster 5 other starting pitchers so it's not like he can pitch on 4 days rest like other pitchers and we'd only have to field 4 other starters which would make a way bigger boost.

With that 40 million a year that Ohtani is going to command we can do a lot more with that than give it to one player that has shown that he isn't impervious to injury. He's not helping us win. We're about to maybe lose more games in a season than we ever have in our history.

If we get 3-4 guys that can help us for 6 years and we pay them the minimum until arbitration years and we have the rest of the money to go after free agents i feel like thats an avenue that you need to take.

This isn't Edmonds being traded for Bottenfield/Kennedy We can get real value from Ohtani. He's the most hyped player in the major leagues.

[DMVol]

10 minutes ago, case said:

This isn't Edmonds being traded for Bottenfield/Kennedy We can get real value from Ohtani. He's the most hyped player in the major leagues.

Maybe you get “real value” but you could be the Marlins trading Miguel Cabrera too….that was a monster package on paper at the time….didn’t work out very well….that said, I’d trade him in the off-season if he won’t sign an extension….

[Stradling]

One thing that isn’t happening is getting out of Rendon’s contract AND getting top tier prospects for Ohtani.  It’s one of the other. 

[Chuck]

I have merged the below thread with this one. 

 

[Chuck]

 

[T.G.]

If Ohtani is traded....

 

[Vlad27Trout27]

Here's the thing, arte needs to considered what direction he wants to take and how he wants t9 take that direction

If he wants to keep Othani for a Long time, he needs to go all in for the next few years.

1 st way he gets that going is starting by getting that payroll above 230 Mil! and that's the lowest it should be!

Start improving the team this trade deadline, we could easy get some nice pieces.ex Anderson from Marlins or other player to help for the future.

[eligrba]

5 minutes ago, T.G. said:

If Ohtani is traded....

 

Seriously.