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It’s safe to say that acquiring Shohei Ohtani would be really cool, would help the club in many different ways, and it would make a big splash at the trade deadline. It would be the shiny new toy that Dodgers fans were looking for when left disappointed by an off season that seemed a touch flat. It would also create a tremendous amount of excitement for a club that some thinks has been too boring at times in the past, even in 111 win seasons.
So, there would be a lot to gain by gaining possibly the best, and certainly the most unique player of this generation.
But, despite all of that, it’s also not as simple as it seems.
According to Jon Heyman, an MLB Network insider, the Angels would not be willing to trade Ohtani to the Dodgers. If you choose to believe that, that’s your prerogative, but I find it be more posturing for added leverage than anything else.
Everything in business has a price point, and the Dodgers have one of the best farm systems in the game, which gives them the ability to provide the best return in a trade. So, while Moreno may not want to do business with the Dodgers, at some point, business would have to be business.
The Dodgers have the prospect capital to make an offer that would improve the Angels system significantly enough to make moving him, in the least, a realistic consideration.
Especially considering that they may lose him in the off-season anyways when the Free Agent sweepstakes hit full stride for his long term services.
The Angels are 47-48, which puts them behind 3 teams in the AL for the 3rd Wild Card spot, so, they likely are not going to make the playoffs. And, imagine if they don’t make the playoffs, then aren’t able to re-sign Ohtani, lose him to the Dodgers in Free Agency, and end up with no return in terms of the top prospects Ohtani would bring.
For all of those factors, at some point, again, business has to be business, and, in my opinion, there will be a price point that is available, and one that the Dodgers, above anyone else, can meet.
for every baseball fan that says Shohei Ohtani cant play defense in the outfield: he can. in 2013-2014, he had 64 appearances between left and right field for the Fighters in Japan. prior to the ohtani rule, the angels kept him in RF after he pitched to keep his bat in the lineup pic.twitter.com/HuQqVR7YKO
— 🌸🧋 VforVera¹⁷🧋🌸 (@VforVintageVera) September 5, 2022
Ohtani is 1st in the MLB in HRs, SLG and OPS, is 3rd in RBIs, and is top ten in hits, average and OBP, so he would need to be in the lineup everyday, that much shouldn’t be in question. But, there are much better, and more difficult questions that would arise with his signing.
Like, how would the Dodgers put both he and JD Martinez in the lineup everyday?
Or, how would they do that while still making it a net positive considering the prospect capital it would take to get Ohtani?
And, does it make sense to sign him to the long term and massive contract it will take to keep him when he becomes a free agent in the off-season?
The Dodgers already have Mookie Betts signed well into the latter years of his career, and Freddie Freeman has a contract that doesn’t expire until he is 38. So it certainly could be questioned whether or not it makes sense to tie up another contract that will likely last into the latter years of a players 30’s, even if it is for a player as elite as Ohtani.
Long term contracts, while necessary to acquire the services of super stars, also remove the roster flexibility that has allowed this front office to put the club in position to win a World Series each and every year.
The Dodgers have an extraordinary amount of resources, that’s not a secret. But, they also have a Front Office that has an elite track record when it comes to roster construction. So, the only plausible way the Dodgers won’t contend on a yearly basis is if they have too many contracts that take guys well past their prime. In taking that route, it would leave the club with no other options other than to absorb the lack of production that aging brings for almost every player.
And, if you have too many of those situations, it doesn’t matter how many resources you have, because it limits your options. And options and flexibility is something the Front Office has used to build Championship caliber teams year in a year out.
for every baseball fan that says Shohei Ohtani cant play defense in the outfield: he can. in 2013-2014, he had 64 appearances between left and right field for the Fighters in Japan. prior to the ohtani rule, the angels kept him in RF after he pitched to keep his bat in the lineup pic.twitter.com/HuQqVR7YKO
— 🌸🧋 VforVera¹⁷🧋🌸 (@VforVintageVera) September 5, 2022
Ohtani has played just 6 games in Right field, which all came in 2021, and 1 game in LF, and that is it as far as the extent of defensive positions he’s played at the MLB level. He did play the outfield some while playing in Japan, which is a very high level of baseball, so take that for what you consider it to be worth. Whatever worth you give it, however, there is no way around the fact that it is still a very limited track record, so putting him in the outfield on a team that is always World Series or bust doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense. Especially considering, again, the prospect capital it would take to acquire him in a trade.
All-Star starter JD Martinez goes deep again! pic.twitter.com/lrd7G0dbkq
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) July 15, 2023
The Dodgers already have JD Martinez as their DH, and he is having a great year, so, they need his bat in the lineup everyday too.
Martinez is 5th in the MLB in SLG, is Top 10 in the MLB in HRs & RBIs & is 11th in OPS, so removing him as DH isn’t an option, even if it is for a player as elite as Ohtani. So, if Ohtani was acquired this year, he would need to be in addition to and not in replacement of JD Martinez.
But, how do you do that?
That’s why it’s not as simple as it sounds.
JD is far from a speedster at this point in his career, and putting him in the outfield would seem to make less sense than Ohtani, even with his limited experience. So, although having the services of Ohtani would be awesome, to get him risks having some subtraction with the addition.
And that’s just to the everyday lineup.
The subtraction to the talent pool in the Farm System would be reduced fairly substantially, and that has to be taken into consideration as well.
The Dodgers pitching has been anywhere from inconsistent to bad, so the last thing they need to be doing is eliminating one of their most potent offensive weapons from the middle of their lineup that has become ultra comfortable in his role. But, on the other hand, plugging Ohtani in at the top of the rotation might also eliminate most, if not all of the inconsistency from the rotation.
So it’s a very interesting situation and one that will be interesting to follow.
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