Here are the latest rumors and buzz surrounding the Mets and Yankees target Shohei Ohtani…
July 14, 12:55 p.m.
The consensus in the baseball world is that the owner of the Los Angeles Angles Art Moreno don’t want to trade superstar Shohei Ohtani before the August 1 MLB trade deadline.
MLB Network’s Jon Morosi reported on Friday that sources told him “the Angels front office will review incoming trade requests” for the two-way player.
“The club do not rule out the possibility of a delay agreement, even though the standard for moving Ohtani is extraordinarily high,” he wrote on Threads.
Morosi added that the Angels’ performance in their next homestand — a three-game set against Houston, three games against the Yankees and a three-game set against Pittsburgh — will be “a big consideration” in their decision making. .
However, Morosi noted, many baseball players consider a trade unlikely.
April 25, 9:15 p.m.
Former Los Angeles Angels coach Joe Maddon said he had never seen Shoei Ohtani as lively as it was when it hit Mike Trout to win the World Baseball Classic and hinted that it might play a role in free will.
“I watch him a lot and talk to him a lot and he’s a really good guy, but I’ve never seen that kind of reaction from him,” Maddon said on the “Starkville” podcast with Jayson Stark and Doug Glanville.
And it looks like Ohtani’s former manager sees playing in a WBC-like atmosphere and having the chance to win will be a big factor for the superstar when deciding whether to hit free agency after this season.
“I think more than anything, Shohei wants to go somewhere where he feels assured that he’s going to have a chance to win, to win a championship, to be on a championship team every year. That’s going to be important to him. “, said Maddon.
Ohtani’s former manager went on to say that the Japanese superstar may have been more willing to leave the West Coast than he was when he first joined MLB.
“And part of that, I believe – and I don’t have any inside information on that – is that when he first got here he said, pretty much that, he wanted staying on the west coast because Japan was new to him, everything was new,” Maddon added. “I think the guy was Americanized, he kind of won the hearts of almost everyone in this country. I think right now you can go anywhere to play baseball and feel good, me. He’s adaptable anywhere right now. opens up everything. Including Canada, I mean, he’ll go anywhere I think now to play baseball. There’s going to be a lot of suitors.
And, obviously, it will take a lot of money to get a deal done.
“Shohei has to go to free agency. He has to,” Maddon said. “And once it gets there, no one will outbid. There are several teams that won’t outbid this one. So if you’re willing to spend an exorbitant amount of money that exceeds – with all the other people [and] the contracts you have in place – really to do that, you might have a chance.”
If the Angels have a chance to re-sign, Maddon said, they’ll have to go further into the playoffs. But he rated the Angels’ chances of re-signing Ohtani as “not very good” before adding that if Los Angeles is no longer in contention, the club from the AL West must make a trade before the deadline.
April 20, 11:02 a.m.
Ohtani is set to become a free agent after the season, but he could be a former angel sooner than that.
speaking on Get upESPN’s Jeff Passan detailed the situation:
“There is a number that we have to look at when it comes to Shohei Ohtani“, and that’s the Los Angeles Angels record,” Passan explained. deadline this year.
“But if the Angels are out of contention, and if it’s more or less the same as the last five years he’s been there, he could be traded and he’ll definitely leave.”
The Angels are 9-9, 3.0 games behind the Texas Rangers in the AL West and 1.5 games shy of third place Wild Card.
The Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers are the two teams most often linked with Ohtani when it comes to potential suitors should he reach free agency.
March 24, 10:55 p.m.
After earning World Baseball Classic MVP honors and eliminating teammate Mike Trout to crown the victory of Japan, potential target of the Mets by Shohei Ohtani the appetite for big games and big moments has only grown.
“I really felt that win-or-go-home experience,” Ohtani said Friday, via MLB.com, when asked about WBC highlights and playing in the World Series one day.
“I really wanted to experience that here too. It was the first time I started pitching and playing in a playoff atmosphere like that since my days in Japan, so it was a bit different. I felt like this is what baseball should I never knew the World Series, and it’s hard to tell you [what that would be like]but I guess it would be something similar.
The Los Angeles Angels did not make the playoffs in his five seasons with the club. However, they are expected to finish above .500 in the latest PECOTA projections, giving them a 53.1% chance of making their first playoff trip since 2015.
But Ohtani, who will be a free agent this offseason, added that his big time performance this spring and his impending free agency won’t change his contract situation with the Angles.
“I don’t think it really changes anything as far as free agency goes, but I definitely want to win a ring with the Angels,” Ohtani said. “I have a week to prepare. So I will rest, prepare and be ready.”
February 27, 6:10 p.m.
by Shohei Ohtani the future with the Los Angeles Angles rolls on which team makes the playoffs this season, Mike Trout says Jon Heyman of the New York Post.
In an interview with Heyman on Monday, Trout said “this is the year for sure” to break their playoff drought, before adding that “this has to be the year…it has to be.”
“Especially if we want to keep Shohei,” Trout said. “We win and get to the playoffs, he would think about it a bit more.”
The Angels have a 57.6 percent chance of making the playoffs according to Monday’s PECOTA projections from Baseball Prospectus, but they only have a 37.4 percent chance according to FanGraphs.
Of course, even though they beat the odds, many baseball players believe Ohtani is heading to free agency this offseason.
The Angels haven’t had a winning season since 2015, and aside from Trout, there isn’t much talent on the big league roster. On top of that, they have one of the worst farming systems in baseball.
If the season starts badly, they could be faced with a decision: Deal with their two-way star before the trade deadline or risk losing him for nothing but a draft pick if he leaves in free agency.. And no one expects the owner of Angles Artie Moreno to reach an agreement with Ohtani on an extension during the season, as San Diego just did with Manny Machado.
If the 28-year-old phenom finds himself on the open market, the Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers should be two of the most obvious landing spots.
February 21, 12:30 p.m.
As many assume, the Los Angeles Angles superstar Shohei Ohtani appears to be heading to free agency this offseason.
Ohtani’s agent, Nez Balelo of CAA Sports, hinted to reporters Monday afternoon that his client would likely test the open market this offseason, according to ESPN.
“Shohei has earned the right to play all year, to explore free will, and we’ll see where that goes,” Balelo said.
He added that Ohtani has “always been open” to negotiating a contract extension with the organization. He would not comment on the status of the talks, but Ohtani recently said they had not been “deep”.
Ohtani also danced around questions about whether or not he wanted to come backsaying “from now on, I’m an angel, and that’s all I want to focus on.”
Balelo kept that stance, saying that for now, Ohtani is taking things day by day.
“Shohei has been here for five years, now it’s his last year. Now we have free agency, so of course there will be a lot of questions, what does he want to do, where is he going to go, all that stuff. And I’ve said it so many times and Shohei has said it too – we’re really taking it day by day, one day at a time.
February 16, 11:58 a.m.
Free agent pending and possible Mets target Shohei Ohtani had a news availability at the Los Angeles Angels camp in front of dozens of local and national reporters to discuss his future.
While the 28-year-old danced around whether or not he wanted to come backsaying “from now on I’m an angel and that’s all I want to focus on”, he shed some light on the state of the negotiations with Los Angeles.
Ohtani noted that he had no “deep” conversations with the team about his future there.
February 15, 12:46 p.m.
Los Angeles Angels star Mike Trout told reporters on Wednesday he intended to keep the free agent on hold and a possible Mets target Shohei Ohtani with the Angels.
“I’m going to do everything I can to keep Shohei (Ohtani) here,” Trout said.
Owner of Angels Art Morenowho abandoned plans to sell the team, recently reiterated his desire to keep Ohtani.
“I would love to keep Ohtani,” Moreno told Jon Heyman of the New York Post. “He’s one of a kind, he’s a great person. He’s obviously one of the most popular baseball players in the world and he’s an international star. He’s a great teammate. he’s a funny guy and he has a really good rapport with the fans.”
Moreno added on signing Ohtani: “I would like to say that we have as many chances as anyone.”