Several Angels people suggested they believe that superstar Shohei Ohtani would have stayed an Angel had the team agreed to the $700 million, 97 percent deferred offer he suggested to the four final finalists. The Dodgers, plus the Giants and Blue Jays, are the ones known to have acceded to the winning offer while the Angels did not.
“That’s the word,” Angels All-Star Tyler Anderson said. “He obviously did so well [in Anaheim], and I feel like if he obviously wants to have a Hall of Fame career, if you stay with one team, that’s the way to do it. He was clearly comfortable there to put up the numbers he had and everything he did. I’m sure there’s something to that.”
Many other Angels people agree, saying Ohtani is a “loyal guy” and a “creature of habit.”
The bigger regret among some Angels people is in not trading Ohtani at last year’s deadline, because though it was unknown at the time, there was always little in-house expectation ownership would agree to baseball’s biggest contract when it was already paying two $35M-plus salaries (Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon).
We will never know if Ohtani might have stayed. As it turns out, he’s doing equally spectacularly 45 miles north with the Dodgers, who give him a better chance to win now.
When Juan Soto named Ohtani as the player he’d like to team up with, was that a hint the Dodgers will be a consideration?
Soto by all accounts is loving his time in pinstripes, and there’s some belief he’d prefer the East Coast, but The Post reported he was in serious talks with the Padres last summer, then discussions were halted when late Padres owner Peter Seidler became ill.
Let’s not kid ourselves: Of course it will largely come down to the deal.