Shohei Ohtani Breaks 50-Year-Old Nolan Ryan Record, Shuts Down Nationals In 2-0 Win
On Tuesday night, Shohei Ohtani took the mound for the third time this season and tossed seven shutout innings to lead the Los Angeles Angels to a 2-0 win against the Washington Nationals.
The Japanese two-way superstar struck out six and held the Nats to just one hit in another dominant outing. The right-hander has improved to 0.47 ERA and 24 Ks in 19 innings, only giving up a single allowed run in his three starts. He’s struck out 32% of batters faced, while he’s been a bit wild in the early going with a 16 BB%. The advanced stats are also impressive, holding hitters to just .150 xBA and .196 xSLG.
This was Ohtani’s tenth consecutive start with two or fewer runs given up, setting a new franchise record and surpassing Nolan Ryan’s nine-game streak set back in 1972-1973.
Sho-Time has another impressive streak going. According to ESPN Stats and Info, this is Ohtani’s 7th straight start dating back to last season with 3 or fewer hits allowed in at least 5 innings pitched. The 7-game streak is tied for the second-highest all-time behind Jacob DeGrom’s 8-game record set in 2021. Ohtani will get the chance to tie DeGrom’s record in his next outing.
Ohtani still sees room for improvement despite his impressive start to the season. “If you just look at the results on paper it looks great, but I haven’t really had too many 1-2-3 innings,” said Ohtani, through his interpreter Ippei Mizuhara.
It was a surprisingly efficient outing for the 2021 AL MVP, who is still overcoming his early season control struggles. He finished the game at 92 pitches despite giving up a combined six walks and HBP. He seemed to struggle with the umpire’s strike zone, and the usually calm-demeanored right-hander was more expressive and would turn his head in confusion when he did not get calls on borderline pitches.
Although he struggled with his control, Ohtani was able to keep hitters off-balance by changing speeds and shapes on his pitches. According to Baseball Savant’s pitcher report, Nats hitters made contact with 28 of Ohtani’s pitches, but only three were hit hard into fair territory.
Angels manager Phil Nevin said that Ohtani’s in-game adjustments have been impressive. “He’s added some shapes to his pitches. The adjustments he’s making in-game and between starts are what great pitchers do,” said the Halos skipper. “He got some pitches tonight that we haven’t seen and [Ohtani was] very effective.”
Fans usually think of overpowering 100mph fastballs when Ohtani’s on the mound, but it was another game where Ohtani leaned heavily on his sweeper. He threw his sweeper 51 times in this game, 55% of his total pitches, and got five whiffs. It’s a small sample size, but Ohtani’s sweeper usage has dramatically from 37.4% last season to up to 49% and the pitch has the run value of -6.
The game plan and approach isn’t the only part of Ohtani’s game that is evolving. The average horizontal movement of Ohtani’s sweeper has increased from 14 inches in 2022 to 17.6 inches this year. The movement of his sweeper caught the attention of fans on Twitter after The Pitching Ninja posted a clip of an Ohtani sweeper with 20 inches of break.
Ohtani will get his first day off tonight, as the Angels try to effectively manage his heavy workload. His next projected start is against the Boston Red Sox next Monday, April 17th, at 11:10 EST.
MLBTR Seeking A Shohei Ohtani-Focused Writer
I feel that Shohei Ohtani’s upcoming free agency deserves special treatment here at MLBTR. Ohtani does unprecedented things all the time, and he’s on track for free agency in about seven months. We’ll certainly be covering the topic from many angles here at MLBTR, but I’m also planning to have extra Ohtani articles concerning topics not normally covered at MLBTR, and we’re seeking a new paid part-time writer for the job. These additional articles will be housed at Ohtani’s player page, so that those looking for enhanced coverage of the man outside of hot stove news can get it.
For example, the Ohtani player page may include articles about his endorsements, regular updates from his game performances, and coverage of his MVP and/or Cy Young chances.
Just to repeat, for extra clarity: the additional Ohtani articles will be on a separate page and not on MLB Trade Rumors itself. It should be a great place for those who want more and easily avoided for those who do not.
As a late addition to this post – I would love for this role to serve as a springboard into supplementing MLBTR’s NPB coverage across the board, beyond just Ohtani.
MLBTR’s writing team will continue to cover all aspects of Ohtani’s free agency on MLBTR, but we’re looking to add a paid writer to cover additional topics. These are the qualifications:
- You must be fluent in both English and Japanese. The articles will be written in English, but in addition to monitoring U.S.-based Ohtani non-hot stove news, you will be tasked with monitoring coverage of Ohtani in the Japanese media and translating it into English-language posts.
- Availability to live blog all of Ohtani’s remaining starts as a pitcher this season.
- Though you may be a fan of Ohtani, you will need to write objectively about him.
- A high school degree is required, and further education is preferred. Please include your highest completed level of education in your application.
- Writing experience is necessary, and online writing experience is preferred.
- Attention to detail and ability to follow the MLBTR style and tone.
- Strong knowledge of Ohtani’s history, including prior to his coming to the United States.
- Ability to craft intelligent, well-written posts analyzing and contextualizing Ohtani news quickly and concisely.
- Ability to use Twitter, Tweetdeck, Facebook, and WordPress. Experience with these is strongly preferred.
- Ability to incorporate feedback to improve performance.
- If you’re interested, email shoheiohtanirumors@gmail.com and explain how you stand out and qualify in a couple of short paragraphs. Please attach your resume to the email.
- Please also include a writing sample that you feel would fit on the site, keeping in mind that this role involves covering all aspects of Ohtani other than his free agency or a potential trade. Feel free to write an article about this Forbes report from last October concerning Ohtani’s endorsements, and/or about his performance in the Angels’ April 5th game. Bonus points if you want to try writing a sample post in English where the source material is in Japanese.
The MLB Trade Rumors Podcast Is Back!
The MLB Trade Rumors Podcast, last heard in 2016 hosted by the esteemed Jeff Todd, has relaunched! Simon Hampton is now your host, and we’re very excited to bring the new show to you every week.
Episode 1 is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well; use this link to find the show on Spotify and this one for Apple. You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.
This week, host Simon Hampton is joined by Anthony Franco to discuss a wide range of topics around the baseball world:
- An early look at the trade deadline possibilities, particularly focusing on Shohei Ohtani and what it make take for the Angels to listen to offers on the two-way star (3:19)
- Jake Cronenworth signed a seven-year, $80MM extension with the Padres, so what does that mean for San Diego’s chances at extending other players such as Juan Soto, Josh Hader and Blake Snell? (7:31)
- It’s easy to over-react to results in the first week of the season, so at what point is it reasonable to become concerned with a team’s performance? And what about the players? (12:30)
Plus, we answer your questions, including:
- Could the Marlins match up with the Yankees on a trade involving Oswald Peraza? And which of Miami’s pitchers could be in play at the deadline? (16:56)
- Will the Cardinals make a move to bolster their rotation at some stage this season? And if so, which players could be in play? (21:24)
- The Dodgers took a step back this winter, so how aggressive will they be at the deadline this year? And are they clearing payroll space for a crack at Shohei Ohtani? (26:09)
The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!
Arte Moreno Discusses Ohtani, Luxury Tax, Angels Stadium, Ownership
In the wake of Arte Moreno’s decision to abandon plans to sell the Angels, the owner has been somewhat uncharacteristically willing to discuss team matters with the media. Moreno has already spoken with the New York Post’s Jon Heyman in February and Sports Illustrated’s Tom Verducci over the last month, and today the Halos owner engaged in his first open Q-and-A with Angels beat writers (including Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register and The Athletic’s Sam Blum) in over three years.
Today’s media session covered some of the same ground as the Heyman and Verducci interviews, though Moreno did confirm that the team is willing to exceed the luxury tax in order to keep Shohei Ohtani in the fold. The two-way superstar is scheduled to be a free agent after the 2023 season, and with speculation swirling that Ohtani could command as much as $500MM in his next contract, going beyond the tax threshold would seem like almost a necessity for any team serious about retaining his services.
Since Moreno bought the team almost exactly 20 years ago, the Angels have only once (in 2004) surpassed the Competitive Balance Tax limit. That said, Anaheim has also spent big to extend or sign the likes of Mike Trout, Albert Pujols, Vladimir Guerrero, Anthony Rendon, and several other marquee names, so Moreno is no stranger to paying for premium talent.
The Angels are projected for roughly a $226.7MM tax figure in 2023, under the $233MM CBT threshold. Moreno was non-committal about the idea of exceeding the tax this season, but said that “if we’re in it at the [All-Star] break, I want to be able to have enough cash to pick up somebody.” In terms of future CBT commitments, Moreno felt “we really positioned ourselves well” to potentially retain Ohtani, and Moreno noted that “after four [remaining] years for Rendon, we really have no long-term contracts. So we have to position ourselves and work to put ourselves in a position to have that financial flexibility.”
Having Trout, Rendon, and Ohtani all on the books through the 2026 season (when Rendon’s deal is up) would mean that those three players in all likelihood take up at least half of the Angels’ room under the tax threshold. That seems to be a bridge Moreno is willing to cross, though quite a bit of work seemingly has to be done before an Ohtani extension becomes a reality. Moreno said the team hasn’t yet spoken with Ohtani and his camp about future plans, and the owner noted that “Ohtani has to want to be here, too. It’s a two-way street.”
“When we started talking to Mike [Trout], I spent a lot of time with Mike. I just said, ‘You have to make a decision. This is where you want to be.’ This is where you want your family to be. We started sitting down with the agent. And Ohtani, he has to figure out if this is where he wants to be.”
Moreno said that the Angels were likely to spend over 60 percent of their revenues on payroll this season, and the team’s current approximate payroll of $212.1MM is a new club record. Beyond these expenditures, Moreno said that GM Perry Minasian has “basically an unlimited budget to try and build our minor-league system. So those guys get cut, and we try to sign minor-league deals with them. Continue to build the depth.”
Anaheim’s busy offseason was seen as a little bit of a surprise, given how teams seemingly on the verge of being sold are sometimes in a bit of roster limbo until the ownership question is settled. That said, Moreno took the opposite route, saying that “we never stopped doing anything” despite the talks with potential buyers. “I was communicating with [Minasian] almost every day….I told him, no matter what happens, I want this team prepared to play and win. We invested a lot of money. I wanted to make sure that if I changed my mind that we were, ‘OK, go.’ ”
This stance speaks to Moreno’s customary aggressiveness in trying to field a winning team, though obviously those efforts have been in vain through seven consecutive losing seasons. Moreno denied the common perception that he is too hands-on with his front office’s moves, saying that “every player that we’ve ever signed has been with a discussion of the general manager all the way through….If there’s a decision that Perry wants to sign someone, if we’re going to negotiate and we want to get a deal done, I need to be there because I need to make the call or [else] he’s running back and forth. He and I talk about the money before we make any decision.”
The fact that Moreno approached the offseason thinking he might eventually opt to keep the Angels likely speaks to his reticence about a sale, and his ultimate decision to take the team off the market. Moreno left the door open to possibly sell a minority share in the club at some point, but “I do not have a successor” in mind as the Halos’ next owner.
The club’s future at Angel Stadium (and perhaps in Anaheim altogether) was also a topic of discussion, given how back in May, the Anaheim city council voted against an agreement that would’ve seen the city sell the 150 acres of land surrounding the ballpark to a Moreno-owned management company. Moreno said he will soon be meeting with newly-elected Anaheim mayor Ashleigh Aitken “and we’re going to work with that administration” in regards to whatever next steps might come with the ballpark and development situation.
The Angels’ lease at the stadium runs through the 2029 season, and the team can also exercise an option to extend that least through 2038. Moreno didn’t offer any comment on the idea of a potential move, saying “We’ve been there a long time, and we’ll see what happens.”
Arte Moreno Discusses Spending, Offseason Moves, Ohtani, Decision To Keep Angels
Angels owner Arte Moreno surprised the baseball world in January when he announced that his family was ending its exploratory steps towards selling the franchise. Five months earlier, Moreno announced that he was looking into the possibility of selling the Angels, and it seemed as though the sale process was going rather smoothly before Moreno somewhat suddenly reversed course.
“When you got right down to it, I didn’t want to go,” Moreno told Sports Illustrated’s Tom Verducci as part of a wide-ranging interview. “I just had the whole personal talk with myself. You know, you have a lot of time to think about it. I’m walking these [bidders] around the stadium. We’re on the field, looking around the stadium and I’m thinking, ‘How many guys ever get a chance to do this?’ “
Moreno said he received three bids from MLB-vetted potential buyers, and all of those bids were at least $2.62 billion in price. This would have been a new record high for a Major League franchise, topping the $2.42 billion that Steve Cohen spent to buy the Mets in 2020. However, Moreno said the finances didn’t outweigh his desire to keep the team, and he related an anecdote about how even one of the potential buyers said “I see in your eyes that you don’t look like you’re ready to sell” when Moreno and this unnamed buyer were touring Angel Stadium. If a sale had gone through, Moreno said he was planning to retain a minority share of the Angels, “five to ten percent is what I was thinking.”
As to his initial decision to consider a sale, Moreno didn’t specifically state a reason, other than “it was more circumstantial than it was a change of heart” about his love for baseball. In May 2022, the Anaheim City Council voted against a proposal to sell 150 acres of land around Angel Stadium to Moreno’s management company, and the deal became shrouded in scandal when the FBI launched an investigation into former Anaheim mayor Harry Sidhu on allegations of corruption and insider information related to the sale.
With the assumption of a sale hanging over the Angels as the offseason began, the club still had a very active winter, spending over $78MM in free agent signings. $37MM of that money went onto the 2023 books, the Angels are on pace for a notable payroll increase — after finishing the 2022 season with roughly $180MM in spending, Los Angeles is projected to spend roughly $212.2MM on player salaries in 2023.
While the team’s winter may have been lacking in true headline signings, Moreno said that he had interest in trying to land another superstar free agent in Trea Turner. However, with GM Perry Minasian noting the Angels’ several needs beyond just the shortstop position, Moreno said the offseason became “about the distribution of money. Is it one player who makes a splash? Or is it, ‘Hey, we can spend this money on two or three players.’ ”
To this end, Moreno disagrees with criticism that the Angels aren’t willing to invest in their payroll, noting that the club is regularly among the top 10 payrolls in the league. “I can’t tell you we’ve always spent the money right, but we spent money,” Moreno said. “So, if anybody that criticizes me that I’m not committed to winning, well, I am committed to winning.”
As Moreno himself noted, the allocation of that money has often backfired on the Angels, contributing to the club’s run of five consecutive losing seasons and only one postseason appearance in the last 13 seasons. But, while spending isn’t itself an issue, Anaheim fans have often argued that Moreno hasn’t spent enough, since the team has only once exceeded the luxury tax threshold since the owner bought the team in 2003. Roster Resource estimates that the Angels’ current Competitive Balance Tax number is roughly $226.75MM, which is under the $233MM threshold.
The CBT appears to be a matter of principle for Moreno, to the point that he was one of four owners who voted against raising the tax thresholds in the most recent set of collective bargaining agreement negotiations. Moreno doesn’t begrudge teams like the Mets or Dodgers for their big spending, saying “I like the fact that people want to win. But I just would like everybody to have a chance. Like if somebody came to my house [for a card game] and everybody is putting a thousand dollars in and one guy puts in a hundred, I mean, how many hands can he play? It’s just no fun. So, if you want to spend four hundred [million], then you should be taxed. It is taxed, but to me it’s just not enough. Clearly, it’s not enough.”
Such financial matters loom large given that Shohei Ohtani will be a free agent following the 2023 season, and there is an expectation that the two-way star will command a record-setting contract (perhaps even surpassing $500MM). Moreno told Jon Heyman of the New York Post last month that he hoped to keep Ohtani in an Angels uniform, but money aside, Moreno said to both Heyman and Verducci that Anaheim’s chances of keeping Ohtani could hinge on whether or not the team can be competitive.
Moreno personally vetoed the idea of trading Ohtani at last year’s trade deadline, and he told Verducci that “we had five real offers for” the superstar. But, beyond the team’s desire to retain Ohtani beyond 2023, Moreno felt there was more of a bigger-picture aspect to hanging onto such a unique player. “People ask me, ‘Shouldn’t you get something?’ But we get to see him every day. That’s not nothing. These people get to come and watch the best players. They’re going to tell their grandkids, ‘I saw Ohtani play.’ ”
The owner’s trade veto seems to still be in effect for now, as Moreno stated that “I will say it on the record, we will not trade Ohtani while we are contending for a playoff spot.” As to whether or not the Angels would entertain offers if they were out of contention, Moreno didn’t consider the possibility, saying “we expect to be a playoff contender. Everything in our plans putting this team together is about getting to the playoffs. So, I’m not going to sit here and wonder what happens in an outcome we’re not planning for. That would be like a fighter going into the ring and thinking, ‘What if I lose?’ If he does that, he will lose.”
Padres Notes: Bench, Musgrove, Payroll, Machado
Following San Diego’s addition of second baseman Rougned Odor on a minor league deal yesterday, the competition to be part of the Padres Opening Day bench gained a new entrant. As MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell notes, the absence of Fernando Tatis Jr. while he completes his PED suspension and the possibility that outfielder Adam Engel isn’t ready for Opening Day as he works his way back from a calf strain open up new possibilities for players hoping to break camp as a member of the bench in San Diego.
One of the four spots on the Padres Opening Day bench is certain to be reserved for backup catcher Luis Campusano. As for the last three spots, Odor seems likely to compete with outfielders David Dahl and Jose Azocar, and utility player Brandon Dixon. Odor provides the least versatility of those options, as all but 259 of his career innings in the field have come at second base. By contrast, Dahl and Azocar both have experience at all three outfield spots, while Dixon has played all four corners and second base during his career. Still, Cassavell notes that Odor’s status as a lefty bat could give him, (and, presumably, Dahl) a leg up on earning a spot on the bench entering the season.
Assuming no additional injuries complicate matters, Matt Carpenter will shift to the bench once Tatis is eligible to return after the first 20 games of the season, while Engel will join the bench as soon as he is healthy. At that point, there will only be one spot still available on the bench in San Diego for the aforementioned quartet. Azocar, Dahl, and Dixon all have options remaining, though Odor does not.
More from San Diego…
- Joe Musgrove, who is currently out of action with a fractured toe, is expected to miss at the least the first two starts of the regular season, according to Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Acee notes that it’s possible that without Musgrove’s contributions, the Padres may opt to go with a five man rotation to open the season, preferring to add depth to a bullpen that could be taxed more than usual without the durable right-hander pitching deep into games. Ryan Weathers, Adrian Morejon, Brent Honeywell Jr., and Cole Hamels are among the pitchers who could take Musgrove’s spot on the roster, though whether that spot will earn them a role in the bullpen or the rotation is currently unclear.
- Even after signing Manny Machado to his second $300MM+ contract, the Padres appear to have no interest in slowing down, according to Dennis Lin of The Athletic. Given Padres owner Peter Seidler’s already unprecedented investment in the big league club for an organization of their market size, it’s difficult to predict where the limits on spending could be. Lin notes that the backloaded nature of Machado’s new 11-year, $350MM deal with San Diego could help the club pursue an extension with fellow superstar, Juan Soto. It could also assist in a planned pursuit of two-way phenom Shohei Ohtani should he hit free agency following the 2023 season as expected, even in spite of the fact that a deal with either player could cost even more than it did to extend Machado. Discussing his recent extension, Machado explains that a candid conversation with Seidler led to the contract eventually being hammered out. Seidler, for his part, says the Padres are “willing and excited about continuing to sign great players.”
Angels Notes: Ohtani, Rendon, Barria
Agent Nez Balelo of CAA, who represents Shohei Ohtani, told reporters this week that while an extension is “always” something to which they’ve been open, Ohtani has also “earned the right to play through the year, explore free agency” (link via ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez) As one would expect, Balelo spoke rather vaguely with regard to his star client’s future, stating that Ohtani is taking things “day by day” and downplaying the idea that the Angels’ lack of postseason berths during his time with the team would push the two-way sensation to a new team. “He’s so competitive, like all great players are, so of course they want to experience postseason, of course they’d love to be in the World Series,” said Balelo. “But is that the deciding factor? I don’t know. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
At 28 years old, Ohtani has become one of the game’s brightest stars. He secured an All-Star berth in each of the past two seasons, winning American League MVP honors in 2021 and finishing runner-up in 2022 — while also grabbing a fourth-place finish in Cy Young voting. Since Opening Day 2021, he’s batted .265/.364/.554 with 80 homers and 37 steals in 1305 plate appearances, while at the same time pitching 296 1/3 innings of 2.70 ERA ball with a 31.4% strikeout rate and 7.4% walk rate. There’s been plenty of talk about the bidding war he could spark heading into his age-29 season, with speculation that Ohtani could sign the largest contract ever — perhaps even pushing $500MM in total value.
More on the Halos…
- Anthony Rendon is in Angels camp and feeling optimistic about the 2023 season despite requiring a second surgery in as many years last summer, writes Sarah Valenzuela of the Los Angeles Times. Rendon noted that returning even for a couple games late in the 2022 season brought him some peace of mind heading into the winter, and while his surgically repaired wrist wasn’t 100% throughout the winter, it’s feeling stronger now. He acknowledged that the Angels will likely be cautious with his workload and offered high praise for new teammate Gio Urshela — the trade acquisition who’ll play no small part in helping to spell Rendon when needed. Halos skipper Phil Nevin pointed out that Rendon already has one Comeback Player of the Year Award under his belt and expressed confidence that the former All-Star can return to form. Rendon, who signed a seven-year, $245MM deal with Anaheim following the 2019 season, has played in just 157 games since putting pen to paper. Fifty-two of those games came in the shortened 2020 season, when he turned in an outstanding .286/.418/.497 slash with solid defense at the hot corner. Since then, he’s played in just 105 of 324 possible games.
- Right-hander Jaime Barria is in the mix for the sixth spot in the Angels’ rotation, writes Sam Blum of The Athletic. He’ll join a group including Griffin Canning, Chase Silseth, Tucker Davidson and Chris Rodriguez in vying for that spot. As Blum outlines, that sixth-starter role could perhaps be best occupied by someone with Barria’s swingman experience, given that off-days will necessitate the sixth spot being skipped from time to time. Barria, who’s out of minor league options, figures to make the club one way or another this year, particularly given last season’s strong showing in a long relief role. In 79 1/3 frames, the 26-year-old posted a 2.61 ERA with a well below-average 17.1% strikeout rate but a strong 6% walk rate and a 40.9% grounder rate. Barria has never missed many bats but has typically displayed strong command en route to a career 4.09 ERA in 380 1/3 innings split fairly evenly as a starter (4.03 ERA, 56 appearances) and and a reliever (4.25 ERA, 44 appearances). He and the Angels avoided arbitration with a one-year, $1.05MM deal earlier this winter.
Angels Looking To Increase Workload For Top Starters
Angels manager Phil Nevin spoke with reporters (including The Athletic’s Sam Blum) about the club’s pitching plans this afternoon. The Halos have run with a six-man rotation for the past few seasons, and while they could adopt that as a loose framework in 2023, Nevin indicated the team wants to put an emphasis on allowing the pitchers at the top of the rotation- including two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani – to get more action on the mound. Rather than adhere to a rigid six-man staff every turn through, Nevin suggested the club would be flexible in deploying their nominal sixth starter as more of a swing option.
Headed into the 2022 season, the club had few surefire starting pitchers beyond Ohtani, as Patrick Sandoval had started just fourteen games in 2021 while the big pitching acquisition for the Halos that offseason was Noah Syndergaard, who was returning to the mound after pitching just two innings since the end of the 2019 season.
Fortunately, the 2022 season saw multiple impressive performances from Angels starters: in addition to Ohtani improving as a pitcher on his 2021 MVP campaign and placing fourth in Cy Young award voting, Sandoval impressed with a 2.91 ERA and 3.09 FIP in a career-high 148 2/3 innings while Reid Detmers showed flashes of the talent that made him the 10th overall pick in the 2020 draft. Jose Suarez proved to be a capable back-of-the-rotation starter over twenty starts. The Halos also improved their rotation externally with the addition of Tyler Anderson, a durable starter who broke out with the crosstown Dodgers in 2023 to the tune of a 2.57 ERA and 3.31 FIP across 178 2/3 innings.
With Sandoval having proved himself, Anderson under contract, and both Detmers and Suarez looking ready for a bigger challenge, it makes sense for the Angels to try and lean more on their top five in the rotation, especially if it means getting Ohtani on the mound more often. After years of carefully managing Ohtani’s workload in an attempt to keep him healthy, the Angels have allowed him to play more and more, with less firm restrictions in recent years. Considering a more traditional rotation appears to be the next logical step in that process.
Each of those five starting options appears likely to be a substantial improvement over the starts Anaheim’s internal options for a sixth starter can provide. Following his trade to the Angels last summer as part of the deal that sent closer Raisel Iglesias to the Braves, lefty Tucker Davidson struggled mightily in eight starts (36 2/3 innings): a ghastly 6.87 ERA and nearly matching 6.30 FIP was good for an ERA+ of just 60, or 40% worse than the league average pitcher.
Blum notes that right-hander Griffin Canning is fully healthy and partook in a normal offseason after missing the entire 2022 season with a back injury, so he could certainly factor into the sixth starter mix as well. That said, despite roughly league average results in his major league career to this point (an ERA+ of 96 in 209 1/3 innings spanning from 2019 to 2021), Canning has never reached 100 innings pitched in the majors and is coming off a long layoff, so it would be no surprise if the Angels planned on managing his workload carefully during his age-27 season.
Overall, given the relative strength of their starting five, the emphasis on letting Ohtani play without restriction in recent years, and the dearth of quality, reliable options for the sixth starter slot, Nevin’s plan to consider a more traditional rotation in 2023 makes sense. A reliable sixth starter would likely have to come externally, and those options are slim following Michael Wacha‘s signing with the Padres earlier today.
Each MLB Team’s Players On WBC Rosters
The World Baseball Classic is returning this year, the first time since 2017. The quadrennial event was supposed to take place in 2021 but was scuttled by the pandemic, now returning after a six-year absence. Rosters for the tournament were announced today and those can be found at this link. Here is a breakdown of which players from each MLB team are set to take participate. Quick caveat that this list is fluid and might be changed as more information becomes available.
Without further ado…
Angels
- Glenn Albanese Jr.
- Jaime Barria
- Gustavo Campero
- Alan Carter
- Jhonathan Diaz
- Carlos Estevez
- David Fletcher
- Jake Kalish
- D’Shawn Knowles
- Shohei Ohtani
- Jose Quijada
- Luis Rengifo
- Gerardo Reyes
- Patrick Sandoval
- Mike Trout
- Gio Urshela
- Cesar Valdez
- Zack Weiss
- Aaron Whitefield
Astros
- Bryan Abreu
- Jose Altuve
- Ronel Blanco
- Luis Garcia
- Colton Gordon
- Cristian Javier
- Martin Maldonado
- Rafael Montero
- Hector Neris
- Jeremy Pena
- Ryan Pressly
- Andre Scrubb
- Kyle Tucker
- Jose Urquidy
- Derek West
Athletics
Blue Jays
- Jose Berrios
- Jiorgeny Casimiri
- Yimi Garcia
- Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
- Spencer Horwitz
- Alejandro Kirk
- Otto Lopez
- Damiano Palmegiani
Braves
Brewers
- Willy Adames
- Sal Frelick
- Alex Hall
- Matt Hardy
- Joel Payamps
- Rowdy Tellez
- Abraham Toro
- Luis Urias
- Michele Vassalotti
- Devin Williams
Cardinals
- Nolan Arenado
- Genesis Cabrera
- Tommy Edman
- Giovanny Gallegos
- Paul Goldschmidt
- Ivan Herrera
- Matt Koperniak
- Noah Mendlinger
- Oscar Mercado
- Miles Mikolas
- Lars Nootbaar
- Tyler O’Neill
- JoJo Romero
- Adam Wainwright
- Guillermo Zuniga
Cubs
- Javier Assad
- Owen Caissie
- Danis Correa
- Ben DeLuzio
- Roenis Elias
- Miles Mastrobuoni
- Matt Mervis
- B.J. Murray Jr.
- Vinny Nittoli
- Fabian Pertuz
- Liam Spence
- Seiya Suzuki
- Marcus Stroman
- Pedro Strop
- Nelson Velazquez
- Jared Young
Diamondbacks
- Dominic Fletcher
- Jakob Goldfarb
- Gunnar Groen
- Merrill Kelly
- Ketel Marte
- Eric Mendez
- Dominic Miroglio
- Emmanuel Rivera
- Jacob Steinmetz
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Yankees
Arte Moreno Reiterates Angels’ Desire To Keep Shohei Ohtani Past 2023 Season
Shohei Ohtani’s long-term future has been a marquee storyline in the game for the past couple years. He’s now a season away from the open market, where he presently seems on track for a record-setting contract. There’s already been plenty of speculation among rival fanbases and presumably within other front offices about the possibility of Ohtani signing elsewhere after six seasons with the Angels.
Halos’ brass has unsurprisingly maintained on numerous occasions they’re hopeful of retaining the two-way superstar for the long haul. Owner Arte Moreno reiterated that goal in a recent interview with Jon Heyman of the New York Post. “I’d like to keep Ohtani. He’s one of a kind. He’s a great person,” the Angels owner told Heyman. “He’s obviously one of the most popular baseball players in the world, and he’s an international star. He’s a great teammate. He works hard. He’s a funny guy, and he has a really good rapport with fans.”
None of that registers as any kind of surprise, of course. Anaheim general manager Perry Minasian made similar comments last week, telling reporters the “whole organization would like nothing more than to see him here for a long, long time” and calling the 2021 AL MVP “somebody that we can envision here for a long, long time” (link via Associated Press).
Neither Moreno nor Minasian handicapped their odds of getting a deal done, nor did they specify whether there any plans for extension talks with Ohtani’s representatives at CAA this spring. Both expressed general optimism about the Angels’ chances of retaining him, with Moreno telling Heyman “we have as good a chance as anybody” at signing Ohtani to a long-term deal.
As recently as last month, it didn’t appear Moreno would be concerned about Ohtani’s long-term future in Anaheim. He’d been exploring a sale of the franchise dating back at least to last summer before pulling the team off the market in the middle of January. Sam Blum of the Athletic was among those to report in the aftermath of the decision that bids on the franchise were expected to top $2.5 billion but Moreno had a change of heart about relinquishing the franchise.
That led to some questions amongst the fanbase about whether the Angels’ chances of re-signing Ohtani took a hit with Moreno retaining control. The Angels have had seven straight below-average records and haven’t made the playoffs in eight years. Moreno admitted to Heyman “we have to win, we have to do a better job on the field,” though both he and Minasian have pointed out the Halos anually rank among the league’s top ten in spending.
Cot’s Baseball Contracts estimates the Angels will open the 2023 campaign with the league’s 7th-highest payroll. They’re behind the Mets, Yankees, Padres, Phillies, Dodgers and Blue Jays by that estimate, and a handful of those big-market behemoths would surely relish the opportunity to make a run at Ohtani in free agency.
Cot’s projects the Angels for around $119MM in guaranteed commitments for 2024, headlined by the megadeals for Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon. Trout is under contract through 2030, while Rendon is signed through 2026. Tyler Anderson and David Fletcher are the only other players with deals past the ’24 campaign, with the guaranteed portion of both contracts wrapping up in 2025.