Angels News: Perry Minasian Reveals Details of One-on-One Conversation With Shohei Ohtani
Angels GM Perry Minasian took the podium in a Tuesday morning press conference after the team announced his job was secure for 2024.
The Halos front office exec spoke on many topics including a conversation he had with impending free agent superstar Shohei Ohtani. Here's everything he had to say about that very important conversation:
“I talked to him the second-to-last day of the season, we had a one-on-one conversation. I believe this is a place that he’s enjoyed playing and this is a place that he loves and it’s got a group of players, teammates that he enjoyed his time with,” Minasian said. “Is he disappointed we didn’t win? Absolutely. Everybody is. I’ve had conversations with numerous players throughout the year, going through April, going through May, going through June, going into July, right around the trade deadline. There was a lot of confidence in this club, both from a front-office perspective and a player perspective. And having those conversations with guys like Shohei and Mike (Trout) and Anthony (Rendon) and some of the other players too. You get the feeling that this is a place that (Ohtani) really, really appreciates, respects. And we’ll just have to see what happens over the course of the offseason.”
All eyes will be on Ohtani's free agency decision but Angels fans could potentially welcome back the face of their franchise for 2024 if what Minasian said rings true.
Despite six full seasons without a single playoff game, Ohtani caught a glimpse of what a healthy trio of him, Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon could do in early June.
Anaheim fought for a playoff spot up until the trade deadline when Minasian decided to buy rather than sell to begin August.
An unprecedented slide of both poor health and poor play ravaged throughout the team and Ohtani wound up hurt worst of all with an elbow injury.
Few in the industry give the Angels any chance of bringing Ohtani back next year.
But if Minasian turns out to be right, the Big A would welcome back the two-way superstar with open arms for however long he'd like.
