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For some reason I thought that the trade deadline in Major League Baseball was tomorrow, but apparently, it’s August 2nd, so we have a few more days for teams to try and make deals for the stretch run.

For the last few weeks, the biggest question would be how much the Washington Nationals would get in return for Juan Soto, but just this week another interesting name came up that took some of the spotlight off of a possible Soto trade.

Now I don’t believe there was anything behind this and it was just a suggestion, but the name Shohei Ohtani came up as a possible trade piece.

Do you think that the Los Angeles Angels would actually consider trading Ohtani? I honestly don’t believe they’d deal him, but if a team came to you with a top farm system and offered you the right number of high-level prospects and a couple of major league players you’d at least have to listen, wouldn’t you?

Believe it or not Ohtani is only making $5.5 million dollars this season and he’ll be eligible for arbitration this coming off season, so he’d be a deal for any team that might be able to acquire him, but it would cost them. If the price for Soto is high just imagine what the price for Ohtani would be.

Now even with two of the best players in baseball the Angels just haven’t been able to get it right. The last time the Angels went to the playoffs was 2014 and they were swept out of those playoffs by the Kansas City Royals. To date that is the only time in his 12-year major league career that Mike Trout has been to the playoffs.

Now it’s not like the Angels haven’t spent money on big time free agents. They brought Anthony Rendon in on a 7-year $245 million dollar deal and in three seasons with the Angels he’s played in just 155 games and is currently on the 60-day IL with a wrist injury that needed surgery. Rendon will miss the remainder of the 2022 season with that injury.

The Angels also took a chance this off season and signed Noah Syndergaard to a one-year deal. Syndergaard was coming off a 2021 season where he only pitched in two games due to injury. Syndergaard has made 15 starts for the Angels covering 80 innings. He is 5-8 with an ERA of 3.83 but could be a trade candidate since he is just signed for the remainder of this season.

Now the Angels have said that they’re not actively shopping Ohtani, but they would listen to offers. It was reported that the New York Mets checked in with the Angels about a possible Ohtani trade, but you’d have to think that ever contender would be interested in acquiring him if the Angels would be willing to move him.

There might be one thing that could facilitate Ohtani being traded and that’s the injury status of Mike Trout. Now Trout is currently out with a spinal contusion but has said he’s planning on returning this season. Now there are reports that this injury might affect Trout for the rest of his career. This injury might mean Trout would need to spend more time as the Angels DH which of course is all Ohtani does when he’s not pitching.

Trout is signed until 2030, so the Angels might have to choose between him and Ohtani or they’re going to have to figure out how to work around Trout’s injury and keep both of them in their lineup.

Now we have had some minor trades leading up to the trade deadline, but will we see any big pieces like a Soto or Ohtani dealt? Let me know what you think in the comment section.

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