What can the Los Angeles Angels get back for Shohei Ohtani? | Trade Value
If the Angels elect to trade Shohei Ohtani, they could bring back one of the greatest packages in MLB history.
Ohtani is one of the best hitters in the league — a career .265 hitter with 126 home runs and 333 runs batted in — and one of the best pitchers in the league — boasting a 24-13 record with an ERA of 3.13 and 403 strikeouts over a little more than 300 innings.
Coming off a year in which he was unanimously named the AL MVP, Ohtani may be having an even better 2022. He currently finds himself square in the MVP race with Yankees slugger Aaron Judge.
The Angels decided to hang onto the 28-year-old at this year's trade deadline, quieting the noise of an Ohtani move for now.
But with the end of his contract quickly approaching in 2023, the new ownership will have to quickly make a decision on what to do with their two-way superstar.
If they decide to move on from him, here's the kind of package they can expect:
One major contingency on a potential Ohtani return is his long-term commitment to that team. A franchise may not be as willing to unload the farm for Ohtani if there's no guarantee he'll stay past next season. But if a team can get that commitment, Ohtani's value will be historic.
A good way to gauge a potential return for Ohtani is to look at similar trades in the past. Lucky for us, the Padres and Nationals recently made a pretty substantial trade for another generational superstar.
The Padres gave up an absolute haul when they acquired 23-year-old superstar Juan Soto from the Nationals. They got the Padres #1, #3 and #14 prospects, on top of the Padres #1 and #4 prospects from the preseason. While that helps provide the framework of a potential Ohtani deal, the situations aren't exactly alike.
While the Nationals are in the early stages of a full-on rebuild, the Angels will be looking to contend next season, with or without Ohtani.
So we'll adjust accordingly.
The Angels will first look for a starter in both their rotation and their lineup. They're losing an All-Star level guy at both positions, so they may as well fill those gaps immediately.
Then they can move onto the prospects — and the Angels could be expecting a lot of them.
Two of a team's top five prospects could be a good start. Guys with the potential to be at the top of the Angels' lineup and rotation for years to come would surely help ease the pain of losing a generational two-way superstar like Ohtani.
They could then fill it out with a few middle to lower level prospects, and try to turn them into every day players.
This would be the best way for the Angels to combine the type of deal the Nationals got for Soto with a more win-now move, accumulating present and future assets to keep this team in contention for years to come.
It's never easy trading a superstar, but if the Angels decide to go that route, they should be able to bring back the type of haul that puts them right into contention as early as next season.
