The pipe dream of the New York Mets acquiring Los Angeles Angels superstar Shohei Ohtani is becoming increasingly that — if not completely unattainable.
Angels general manager Perry Minasian said on Tuesday that he would not trade the two-way phenomenon as long as the team remains in playoff contention. Los Angeles has not made the postseason since 2014 and currently sits in second place in the American League West, five games behind the Houston Astros as of Wednesday.
“It’s pretty self-explanatory with where we’re at [in the standings],” Minasian said (h/t AP).
Postseason play, at this point, is a mandate for the Angels as they try to optimize the back end of the prime of fellow generational talent Mike Trout, who has made the playoffs just once in his first 12 years in the majors.
Ohtani, whose contract expires at the end of the 2023 season, ramped up the trade rumors mill last season after voicing his frustration with the Angels’ lack of contending.
“I have to say that August and September, in particular, felt longer to me than last year,” Ohtani said back in October (h/t Koji Ueda, Associated Press). “We were not able to play as many good games as we would like, including 14 consecutive losses. So I have a rather negative impression of this season.”
If the Angels stumbled out of the gates this season, the likelihood of Ohtani being traded would have been much higher — and the haul that it would have taken for a team to acquire him would have been historic, too.
The 28-year-old Ohtani continues to change the game of baseball given his excellence at the plate and on the mound. This season, the 2021 AL MVP is batting .295 with a 1.002 OPS, 24 home runs, and 58 RBI. An ace on the mound, he also possesses a 6-2 record with a 3.29 ERA and 105 strikeouts.
Ohtani has been linked to the Mets for at least the last year. General manager Billy Eppler checked in with the Angels last season about a potential trade and has a history with the All-Star. He was the man to sign Ohtani from Japan in 2017 during his stint as Los Angeles general manager.
With the door all but closed to trade for Ohtani, the Mets are expected to make a major push for him this winter in free agency where we could see a record-breaking contract doled out for his services.
