The Los Angeles Angels entered Wednesday tied with the New York Yankees for the American League's second wild-card spot. Even so, general manager Perry Minasian continues to field questions about whether or not he intends to trade two-way phenom (and impending free agent) Shohei Ohtani at the deadline.
"I think anybody who has watched us play or looked where we're at in the standings, I've said it before and I'll say it again, we like him and we hope he's here a long time," Minasian told reporters, including MLB.com, ahead of the Angels' game on Tuesday. "It's pretty self-explanatory with where we're at."
The Angels, 41-34 on the season, have a plus-23 run differential. They're 11-7 so far this month, and just last week they took three of four from the Texas Rangers, who continue to lead the AL West by five games. The Angels haven't reached the postseason since 2014, and they haven't won a playoff game since 2009. The various forecasting systems are mixed on their chances of changing the former this fall: SportsLine gives them a 20.8% chance, while FanGraphs says 42% and Baseball Prospectus says 45.9%. It's within reason, then, to think the Angels have less than a coin flip's chance of making it to October.
Ohtani, 28, is expected to be pursued by all of the usual big-spenders this winter: the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets, and San Diego Padres among them. He entered Wednesday having hit .295/.379/.623 (170 OPS+) with 24 home runs and 58 runs batted in. Additionally, he's posted a 3.29 ERA (132 ERA+) and a 3.00 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 14 starts. Ohtani's contributions have been worth an estimated 4.8 Wins Above Replacement.
Major League Baseball's 2023 trade deadline falls on Aug. 1, suggesting there's plenty of time for fortunes to change. If the Angels slide, they may have to reconsider their options -- especially if other teams come calling with packages that exceed the Angels' valuation of the draft-pick compensation they would receive if Ohtani were to sign with another club this winter.
