The Los Angeles Angels are broken.
From their fanbase screaming for owner Arte Moreno to sell the team every night while they’re getting blown out to the fact that Mike Trout might end his legendary career without a single postseason victory, it might be sunny in Anaheim, but it’s bleak once you step foot inside Angel Stadium.
And when you thought it couldn’t get worse for the 17-33 Angels, it did on Thursday, with the news from Ken Rostenthal that threw more salt on the many open wounds of a flailing franchise.
Rosenthal shed light on the fact that three years ago, the Angels and Tampa Bay Rays were in active discussions to flip Shohei Ohtani to Florida for a package centered around Junior Caminero and Carson Williams.
Ohtani was months away from reaching free agency, but the Rays were prepared to let go of two of their best young talents for the hope that the Japanese superstar could help them down the stretch.
Moreno declined the deal, holding onto Ohtani, believing that he’d help the Angels make a push for the playoffs. That hope would last only a week or two, as Los Angeles plummeted out of the postseason race shortly following the trade deadline.
Ohtani would leave Anaheim for Hollywood, sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and win back-to-back championships in his first two seasons with the franchise. The Angels, on the other hand, are left lifeless, with videos of Ohtani in the team’s red colors now looking like they were made with AI rather than what actually happened.
If the Angels had bet on their future instead of the present, Caminero, one of the league’s best young hitters, might have given new life to an organization that has one of the weakest farm systems in all of baseball.
The extra few months of watching Ohtani in an Angels uniform might have sabotaged the franchise for the next decade.
And if Moreno doesn’t already know that, the agitated fans in the outfield, screaming for his removal from the team, most definitely will let him know.