MLB Insider Reveals Angels Asking Price if They Shop Shohei Ohtani

The MLB's trade season is upon us with the deadline coming up in about a week. While there's plenty of attention on a potential Juan Soto trade, another one of baseball's megastars is reportedly being considered another potential trade candidate.

Shohei Ohtani Trade Rumors

Ken Rosenthal, of The Athletic, reported that the Los Angeles Angels could consider trading two-way star Shohei Ohtani for the right hefty price. He even went as far to say what the Angels would be seeking in return.

Ohtani is set to be a free agent following next season, and after yet another losing season thus far in 2022, the Angels could look to sell high on Ohtani instead of inking him to a massive contract that will in all likelihood equal or surpass teammate Mike Trout in average annual value, for a team that hasn't proven it can make the playoffs.

Rosenthal says that in any Ohtani, Los Angeles will be looking for "established major leaguers." This is different from the Nationals that are looking for both high-level prospects as well as some established MLB talent.

The Angels though, don't seem to be interested in a rebuild, more of a retooling. While this stance is fine to have, it could ultimately limit the number of teams willing to make a deal. Contenders won't want to gut their MLB roster, especially in the middle of a season, and Ohtani likely won't want to sign an extension for a team in rebuild mode.

For these reasons Rosenthal points out a deal during the winter might be more conceivable when contenting teams have more viable and controllable ways to rework their roster after a trade.

Conventional wisdom might suggest that the Angles would consider moving Ohtani at some point, but his box office value is so great that regardless of record, you could also see Los Angels doing whatever they can to keep him in town.

In what was already shaping up to be a potentially wild trade deadline, we now have arguably two of the game's top five players on the trade block, in moves that could both shift the landscape of the league. Get your popcorn ready.

David Kaestle is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, David also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username davekaestle. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.