It’s pretty well understood that Shohei Ohtani is the best player in Major League Baseball and arguably one of the most impressive athletes in pro sports today. It’s also pretty well understood that the Los Angeles Angels have a pretty massive decision to make regarding Ohtani’s future in just over two weeks.
It’s unclear whether the Angels will attempt to trade the Japanese two-way star, as they are still relatively in the postseason mix as far as the Wild Card is concerned. The Halos entered the break just five games out of a wild card spot. But a more concerning trend is that they stumbled into the Midsummer Classic with a 1-9 record in their last 10 games, having lost five straight. If that trend continues over the next two weeks, then it could make a decision on Ohtani that much easier.
Either way, the Angels will have a decision to make on Ohtani by the time the Aug. 1 trade deadline rolls around, as the team seems unlikely to keep the two-way superstar beyond next season.
There are few people more qualified to answer a question about a potential Ohtani trade than Angeles play-by-play voice Wayne Randazzo.
He recently appeared on the Awful Announcing Podcast with Brandon Contes and tackled that question by providing a relatively unique look at the situation.
“It’s not an easy question because there’s so much to it,” Randazzo told Contes. “If you’re around the Angels and around Angels stadium, the influx of Asian fans is palpable. You see Asian fans all over the ballpark when the Angels are home, especially; even on the road wearing Angels gear, being part of the organization, being part of that fanbase, that I’m sure weren’t there before. Maybe some of them will stay, but I think most of them are there because of Shohei Ohtani.”
Having grown up around the ‘90s Chicago Bulls, Randazzo surprisingly said that there is a “real Michael Jordan aspect” to Ohtani to the way he’s seen by the people in Japan, and that’s carried over to the way he’s felt about in the United States.
“He is everything to them, and they will follow him,” Randazzo continued. “So, you’re going to lose a lot of fans if you trade Shohei Ohtani.
“Now, if you don’t re-sign him, that’s just the way it goes. He’s free to do what he wants to do. But to physically put Shohei in a different uniform, I think, is not a great business move. It might be the better baseball move. Maybe on the field, it makes sense because you don’t think you’re gonna keep him, so you want to get younger prospects that can help you win later—I get it. But I think overall, physically putting Shohei in a different uniform just to me is a bad move, and I hope they don’t do it. We’ll see how it turns out.”
Randazzo mentioned a recent point made The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal on MLB on Fox. Rosenthal said that Angels owner Arte Moreno doesn’t want to be the guy responsible for trading Ohtani.
“I wouldn’t want to be that guy either,” Randazzo said. “I think losing him in free agency is a different pill to swallow than trading him.”
Randazzo made an interesting comparison by weighing up a potential Ohtani trade to Juan Soto being traded to the San Diego Padres during last season’s MLB Trade Deadline. He also compared it to the Washington Nationals-Los Angeles Dodgers trade that sent Max Scherzer and Trea Turner to the City of Angels in 2021.
“It just doesn’t move the needle the way that Shohei does,” Randazzo said about the package of prospects the Nationals received for Soto.
“Maybe they have a sense that they can resign him or not. If they believe they have a chance, then they 100% should not trade him,” he added.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.