Warfarin

It has always seemed a little odd to me that a lot feel that Ohtani's decision will come down to whether or not we make the playoffs.  
Why?  What if we barley make the playoffs and get blown out - does that change the calculus?
I think "Angels make the playoffs in 2023" isn't as important to Ohtani as "how well positioned is this team to keep competing year in and year out, so that I can have as many chances to win as possible," and "who can help me develop my talent the most to create the most impressive legacy as possible?"
So I think if the Angels show they will do whatever it takes to win, and the FO shows to Ohtani it has a strong strategy for developing talent and cobbling together a winner, he will stay.  
One other point to note - when Ohtani first came here, and he played really poorly in spring training, the club could have easily optioned him for a few weeks to figure things out and service-manipulated him.  They didn't, and so he will be a free agent this year instead of next year.  Maybe that will mean something to him, maybe it won't, but I am sure he does remember that.

It has always seemed a little odd to me that a lot feel that Ohtani's decision will come down to whether or not we make the playoffs.  
Why?  What if we barley make the playoffs and get blown out - does that change the calculus?
I think "Angels make the playoffs in 2023" isn't as important to Ohtani as "how well positioned is this team to keep competing year in and year out, so that I can have as many chances to win as possible," and "who can help me develop my talent the most to create the most impressive legacy as possible?"
So I think if the Angels show they will do whatever it takes to win, and the FO shows to Ohtani it has a strong strategy for developing talent and cobbling together a winner, he will stay.  
One other point to note - when Ohtani first came here, and he played really poorly in spring training, the club could have easily optioned him for a few weeks to figure things out and service-manipulated him.  They didn't, and so he will be a free agent this year instead of next year.  Maybe that will mean something to him, maybe it won't, but I am sure he does remember that.

It has always seemed a little odd to me that a lot feel that Ohtani's decision will come down to whether or not we make the playoffs.  
Why?  What if we barley make the playoffs and get blown out - does that change the calculus?
I think "Angels make the playoffs in 2023" isn't as important to Ohtani as "how well positioned is this team to keep competing year in and year out, so that I can have as many chances to win as possible," and "who can help me develop my talent the most to create the most impressive legacy as possible?"
So I think if the Angels show they will do whatever it takes to win, and the FO shows to Ohtani it has a strong strategy for developing talent and cobbling together a winner, he will stay.  
One other point to note - when Ohtani first came here, and he played really poorly in spring training, the club could have easily optioned him for a few weeks to figure things out and service-manipulated him.  They didn't, and so he will be a free agent this year instead of next year.  Maybe that will mean something to him, maybe it won't, but I am sure he does remember that.

How about a forth scenario? I know many here think that if the Angels fail to make the playoffs, we lose Ohtani to free agency. I don’t think that is a foregone conclusion. Hear me out. While that might be a logical and correct conclusion for most any shining star, I don’t think Ohtani is just any shining star. He is probably not motivated by top dollar like many we have seen. More than top dollar he wants to play out his career with a team that will partner with him to achieve his true motivation - to be known as the greatest player to ever play the game. The Angels have bent over backwards to be that partner to the point he calls almost all of his own shots on how he is used. I suspect he appreciates that. He knows that some teams will not be so accommodating. Sure the objective of the display of all-in moves made in the last week are for the objective of making the playoffs now, but I suspect that possibly even more than that it is to retain Ohtani in any case, and also demonstrate to Trout that the Angels are dead serious about getting him deep into the postseason as Arte has promised Trout he would try his best to do. So I believe (perhaps a minority opinion) that Ohtani will possibly extend even if the Angels miss the playoffs, as long as Ohtani is impressed by the management’s effort and believes next year will be better (player health being better). I think the Angels should offer Ohtani a high annual salary deal with an opt-out option for him each and every year. In other words, we went all-in balls to the wall in 2023, and we commit to it again in 2024, etc. and if we don’t keep our promise, we won’t hold you here if you would rather leave.  The Angels must say “if we go down, we are going down fighting for all our worth.” Whether they succeed or fail at making playoffs, in this scenario with Ohtani and Trout, the Angels cannot afford to approach it in reserved fashion. And they are not thus far.

Yeah.  Perry's drafting track record will play out over time, but he's definitely made some promising picks/trades - Neto has been a revelation with his quick ascent and becoming essential so quickly, O'Hoppe looks like a strong acquisition, Moniak has been far more than we could have ever hoped, etc.
If Perry proves to be a good drafter, and Schanuel becomes entrenched as our 1B next year, then that's a promising sign in terms of building the roster over the long-term.

Catchers are valuable prospects.  Just because you have a good one doesn't make a catching prospect any less valuable.  If you have a valuable commodity, you don't just give it away for a minimal return.  

I do think Minasian is really good when it comes to player development and the minor leagues.  While I have questioned trading Quero, I am going to put some faith in Perry in terms of knowing which prospects to trade and which to hold.
In many ways, that is what makes or breaks most GMs/PBOs.  There are some who are rather good at trading quality but holding onto what turns out to be their best prospects, and there are some who are not and end up trading future stars.
Over the upcoming years, we'll be able to assess how good Perry was at making that determination.

Perry is likely not calling the direction of the moves we are seeing.  Maybe in other organizations, where the owner takes more of a backseat role, the GM/PBO would be permitted to make these kinds of decisions.  I do not think that is the case here, and likely Perry was told to acquire whoever he can to help fuel a playoff run.
I think losing Quero will hurt significantly.  The others - maybe not quite as much.

Right.  Good teams look at improving on the margins, and while these are very mediocre hitters, they are a step above the guys we were going to have to use (Padlo, Cabbage).
We need every win we can get, which means that we need guys to help us win over the next 1-2 weeks while players are (hopefully?) gradually returning.  

Well, no, but they need him to agree to re-sign with the team.  They are clearly going "all in" in Ohtani's walk year, despite rather poor odds, likely to show him they will do what it takes to win.  The team has not really been in a winning position ever since he's been here.  
This team badly needs Ohtani to stay.  They could have traded him and gotten a fairly good (but likely not commensurate) prospect return for him, but they did not, and they are going "all in" to the degree possible.  Even if it is a failed playoff run that ensues, if this is what convinces Ohtani to stay, then it is obviously worth whatever prospects they just gave up.

Well, no, but they need him to agree to re-sign with the team.  They are clearly going "all in" in Ohtani's walk year, despite rather poor odds, likely to show him they will do what it takes to win.  The team has not really been in a winning position ever since he's been here.  
This team badly needs Ohtani to stay.  They could have traded him and gotten a fairly good (but likely not commensurate) prospect return for him, but they did not, and they are going "all in" to the degree possible.  Even if it is a failed playoff run that ensues, if this is what convinces Ohtani to stay, then it is obviously worth whatever prospects they just gave up.

Yep.  Basically, if we are in competition for the wild card and it was coming down to tiebreakers, likely both teams (Angels, Blue Jays) would have won a good chunk of their remaining games, which means we'd likely gain the tiebreaker edge.
So basically - we have to take 2 of 3 this weekend.  A sweep would be great, but 2 of 3 would basically almost essentially guarantee that we'd win the tiebreaker.

I am not sure what he would cost, but I agree that Hader would be a prime target.  He'd probably be my #1 option at this point.
So, let's say target a trade for Hader and Candelario.  
Backend of the BP becomes Estevez, Hader, Lopez, Moore.  Soriano, Webb, and Loup would essentially occupy the middle innings.   Barria serves in the long relief role.
With Candelario, they'd roll with him at 3B and Moose at 1B vs RHP.  Moose sits vs LHP and some combination of Drury and Rengifo can play 1B/2B.
I'd like Bellinger, but with Moniak raking and Trout hopefully coming back in the upcoming weeks, his services may be less needed than the above options.

I'm not terribly concerned about farm rankings.  The Braves have seemingly been near the bottom for the last few years, but that hasn't stopped them from pumping out amazing young talent.
Rankings don't mean much.  Moniak came over with little fanfare and was considered a flamed out prospect, and he's suddenly our second best hitter (albeit SSS).  As long as the FO and player devo department can continue to find ways to generate MLB players as they have so far, that should be good enough.

Well, that's certainly a way for a relatively new GM to overhaul the organization quickly, eh?  lol.

I'm not terribly concerned about farm rankings.  The Braves have seemingly been near the bottom for the last few years, but that hasn't stopped them from pumping out amazing young talent.
Rankings don't mean much.  Moniak came over with little fanfare and was considered a flamed out prospect, and he's suddenly our second best hitter (albeit SSS).  As long as the FO and player devo department can continue to find ways to generate MLB players as they have so far, that should be good enough.

I'm not terribly concerned about farm rankings.  The Braves have seemingly been near the bottom for the last few years, but that hasn't stopped them from pumping out amazing young talent.
Rankings don't mean much.  Moniak came over with little fanfare and was considered a flamed out prospect, and he's suddenly our second best hitter (albeit SSS).  As long as the FO and player devo department can continue to find ways to generate MLB players as they have so far, that should be good enough.

I'm not terribly concerned about farm rankings.  The Braves have seemingly been near the bottom for the last few years, but that hasn't stopped them from pumping out amazing young talent.
Rankings don't mean much.  Moniak came over with little fanfare and was considered a flamed out prospect, and he's suddenly our second best hitter (albeit SSS).  As long as the FO and player devo department can continue to find ways to generate MLB players as they have so far, that should be good enough.

I'm not terribly concerned about farm rankings.  The Braves have seemingly been near the bottom for the last few years, but that hasn't stopped them from pumping out amazing young talent.
Rankings don't mean much.  Moniak came over with little fanfare and was considered a flamed out prospect, and he's suddenly our second best hitter (albeit SSS).  As long as the FO and player devo department can continue to find ways to generate MLB players as they have so far, that should be good enough.

LOL, nice connection, but I don't think anything is linking us to Goldschmidt.  Given we just drafted one of the best hitters in the draft, who plays 1B, with our top pick, I highly doubt we pursue one who is signed to a long-term deal via trade, much in the same way I seriously doubted we'd pursue a SS after we had just drafted Neto with our top pick.

We'll have to see.  But we could, alternatively, have the closing duties rotate with the portion of the lineup that is due up (i.e. LHH or RHH), given we have two dominant relievers to close out games.
I would opt to err on the side of acquiring shutdown talent and let things get figured out thereafter.  

I'd keep Silseth.  His last start was promising - he made some adjustments to his pitches and he had a fantastic start.  Time will tell if he can continue to build upon that, but that's a promising development.
As for the next move - another LHH bat, whether Candelario or Bollinger, sounds good to me.  I have no idea if Rendon will be out for the year or not, but given he has been thoroughly mediocre for years now, I would say it would make sense to target 3B as a place to upgrade.  Moose is more of a 1B than a 3B now, and while Rengifo has been hot of late, he's still much more effective as a RHH than a LHH, so I think someone like Canedlario would be a solid get.
And FWIW, I'd look to get another reliever, too.  I think we can safely move on from Davidson at this point, and instead keep Barria as the designated long-reliever.

Probably wishful thinking.  If he wanted to sell the team for max value, probably should have sold while Ohtani is still on the team.  If Ohtani does leave as a FA, that does negatively impact the team value, I would imagine.

The Angels are seven games out of the Division and four games out of the Wild Card, so I don't overly fault them for pushing in some chips. However, in my opinion, they need to go a step further and really commit to this, because in order to win the Division they will need more firepower and moving two top prospects for rentals is a bit of a dangerous gamble to angle on just a Wild Card spot only, too much can happen in a Wild Card playoff spot.
This is why Arte Moreno needs to sell this team, he is writing ego-based checks that the Angels organization cannot cash. I have always appreciated Moreno's commitment to maintaining consistently high payrolls, but his interference in what should be purely baseball-based decisions has damaged this franchise over the last 13 years or so.
If this move or moves do not pay off, the fan base is going to be even more unhappy, potentially watching Ohtani, Giolito, and Lopez walk off into the sunset, with a greatly reduced farm system and a probably unhappy Mike Trout heading further into his post-30 years with no hardware to show for what is a truly Hall of Fame career (and he wouldn't be the first, sadly).
I hope the Angels make the playoffs and I hope they go all the way, I love this organization. I fully expect that the Angels will continue to try and add before the Trade Deadline because if you are going to commit like this, you'd better improve so much that you can actually have a shot at bridging the gap to win the Division, too.

He could give Ohtani 700 million, sell the franchise for 3 billion, and live comfortably. That would totally redeem his legacy.