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Call it a zag, but Alex Rodriguez has a wild idea to help rebuild the Los Angeles Angels.
With the MLB trade deadline just around the corner and superstar Shohei Ohtani set to hit free agency this offseason, Rodriguez proposed that the organization trade not only the 2021 AL MVP, but fellow star Mike Trout as well.
Rodriguez brought up the idea while on FS1’s broadcast ahead of Monday’s Home Run Derby in Seattle for the All-Star game.
“I think this needs a serious, serious situation and a bold move,” Rodriguez said (2:05 in video below). “I think the Angeles win a world championship in five years if they do this, first, you trade Ohtani, then you trade Trout. And you try to get five or six players, load up with first rounders and the next thing that you have to do is bring in a guy like Theo Epstein, give him ownership and let him run the shop.”
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While trading Ohtani has always been a distant possibility, as the Angels are far from a lock to bring the back the potentially $600 million man, trading away both of the franchise’s biggest assets in one fell swoop would be an earth-shattering move.
If they aren’t going to be able to re-sign Ohtani, it’d be in the Angels’ best interest to enter a full rebuild, get some elite prospects and work towards the future after a decade of obscurity.
However, trading first-round picks is not allowed in MLB, despite Rodriguez’s idea.
But that doesn’t seem to be in the cards as team owner Arte Moreno “still has every intention” of keeping Ohtani through the end of the season with hopes that the organization will bring back the two-way superstar, according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale.
However, considering that the Angels already committed $426 million to Trout back in 2019, keeping Ohtani would likely mean that they would have nearly $1 billion on the books tied up in two players.
Two of the best talents the sport has ever seen, but two players nonetheless.
And thus far, Los Angeles hasn’t managed to build a contender around the two all-time talents over the past few seasons and it doesn’t look like they’ll be able to anytime soon. It currently sits fourth in the AL West at 45-46, seven games back of the Texas Rangers.
None of those struggles are attributed to Ohtani or Trout, though. They’ve been excellent.
Ohtani leads the majors in homers with 32 and is batting .302/.387/.663 while pitching to the tune of a 7-4 record and 3.32 ERA. Meanwhile, Trout has 18 home runs of his own and is batting .263/.369/.493.
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