Los Angeles Angels

With Major League Baseball's Aug. 2 trade deadline now just a day away, it's doubtful that the best hitter in the sport today and the best two-way player in its history will both be on the move.

But since there's also a non-zero chance of this happening, we can't help but ask: Which one would be the more valuable addition for a contender?

Before we get to that, let's grant that there's a higher likelihood of the Washington Nationals trading wunderkind hitter Juan Soto than there is of the Los Angeles Angels dealing slugger/ace Shohei Ohtani.

As ESPN's Jeff Passan said on the Dan Patrick Show on Friday, there's maybe an "80-20" chance of the 23-year-old Soto getting dealt:

"If he [Mike Rizzo] continues to stick to the ask that he's put out to teams up until this point, I'm not sure Juan Soto is going anywhere. He's been asking for 125% of Juan Soto's value."

-@JeffPassan discusses the likelihood of Juan Soto getting movedhttps://t.co/A7PJZRSpqn pic.twitter.com/Iym4QKfjBD

— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) July 29, 2022

As for Ohtani, Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported Thursday that a trade is "seen as very unlikely." And yet the Angels aren't hanging up on teams that call about the 2021 American League MVP.

Editors Note: on Monday afternoon, Heyman reported that Angels owner Arte Moreno is "unwilling" to trade Ohtani.

What seems certain either way is that a single team can't possibly trade for both Soto and Ohtani. It's surely a one-or-the-other situation, so let's take a look at exactly what a trade for either of them would entail and try to determine who would be the better get.

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Acquisition Cost

There's been talk of the Nationals potentially packaging Soto with fallen ace Patrick Corbin as a means to rid themselves of the $59 million the latter is owed in 2023-24. However, general manager Mike Rizzo has shot that down.

Rather, what the Nationals want for Soto is what any rebuilding team tends to want for an established star: young, controllable talent.

As Passan told Patrick, Rizzo has been asking other teams for "five or six tippy-top prospects." Passan thinks that represents "125 percent" of Soto's value, which would put his 100-percent value within the range reported by Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic on July 23:

As I said on @FS1, multiple clubs saying Nats’ ask for Soto is 4 to 5 top youngsters, combo of prospects and major leaguers with low service time. Ten days from deadline, Nats aren’t negotiating, one exec says. A team either shows willingness to meet price, or Nats move on.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 23, 2022

The price for Ohtani, meanwhile, may be eminently similar.

Upon initially reporting on Ohtani's potential availability on July 24, Rosenthal suggested that the Angels would only move him for "established major leaguers." Yet Heyman and Sherman heard otherwise from an executive who put the club's ask for Ohtani at "something like your top four prospects.”

These asking prices are huge but not necessarily outrageous in context. The Cincinnati Reds turned a year-and-a-half of ace right-hander Luis Castillo into a four-player package that included three of the Seattle Mariners' five best prospects.

The Nationals and Angels are thus well within their rights to ask teams inquiring about Soto and Ohtani for at least their four best prospects. Even if one could perhaps be had for less than the other, there simply are no bargains in that price range.

Advantage: Push

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Age and Controllability

Soto doesn't turn 24 until Oct. 25, and his club control runs through 2024. Ohtani turned 28 on July 5, and he's slated to become a free agent after 2023.

Put another way: a trade for Ohtani would return a star who's likely near the end of his prime for one-and-a-half years, whereas one for Soto would return a star who's in the thick of his prime for two-and-a-half years.

Advantage: Soto

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Salary Requirements

After he began salary arbitration as a Super Two player in 2021, Soto settled with the Nationals on a $17.1 million salary for 2022 in March, doubling up on the $8.5 million he earned in the previous season.

Therefore, Sports Illustrated's Tom Verducci's "back-of-the-envelope" calculation that Soto will make $55 million between 2023 and 2024 sounds about right.

That is unless he signs a contract extension instead. The price to beat there is $440 million, which is what he would have earned over 15 years if he had accepted Washington's most recent offer.

As for Ohtani, he's earning $5.5 million in the second year of a two-year, $8.5 million contract that he and the Angels agreed to ahead of the '21 campaign. Whatever he makes in his final year of arbitration in 2023 will surely be well short of $55 million.

To boot, Ohtani's first big contract might not even sniff $440 million.

As Heyman reported in June, one rival executive set the market rate for Ohtani at $200 million over four years. The average annual salary of $50 million would blow away Max Scherzer's record of $43.3 million, but it's best to think of it not as $50 million for one player but rather as $25 million for two players.

Advantage: Ohtani

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On-Field Impact

With Soto, you're getting a great hitter and not much else. It's a good thing, then, that he's such a great hitter that the oft-heard comparisons to Ted Williams aren't hyperbolic.

Indeed, Soto and Williams are the only two hitters in history to have racked up more than 100 home runs and an on-base percentage north of .425 through their age-23 seasons.

Soto also stands alone among his contemporaries. He's the only hitter that has topped a .400 OBP in each of the last five seasons, notably leading the majors in both 2020 (.490) and 2021 (.465). He was cool to begin this season but busted his slump with a .315/.495/.616 slash line in July.

In terms of total value since the start of last season, though, even Soto is no Ohtani:

• Soto: 10.6 rWAR
• Ohtani: 14.3 rWAR

This doesn't speak to any kind of problem with Soto's bat, but rather to just how exceptional Ohtani is with both his bat and his arm.

Even setting aside his 68 home runs, the most telling thing about Ohtani's hitting over the last two seasons is that his 150 OPS+ is fifth-best among batters who've taken over 1,000 plate appearances. He hasn't been that much worse off as a pitcher, where his 141 ERA+ ranks 11th among hurlers who've made at least 40 starts.

From here, we can get into how Ohtani is capable of hitting the ball at 119 mph and throwing it at 101 mph. Oh, and also that his 37 stolen bases over the last two seasons match the total that Soto has for his five-year career.

Advantage: Ohtani

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Clutch Gene

Only one person in this two-person Battle Royale has any postseason experience, and what he did with that experience can be neither ignored nor downplayed.

Soto was only 20 years old when the Nationals began their run to the franchise's first World Series championship in 2019, but he looked like he had been there and done that many times over. Over 17 games, he put up a .927 OPS and hit five home runs.

Beyond merely being productive, Soto was also extraordinarily clutch. And he was a true dragon-slayer in the process, as his seven biggest hits were against Clayton Kershaw, Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole, Hyun Jin Ryu, Josh Hader and Roberto Osuna. Those six guys have five Cy Young Awards and 29 All-Star appearances between them.

Still, this was three years ago, and Soto is generally more of a capable clutch hitter than a dangerous one. For his career, he has a .996 OPS in low leverage compared to a .940 OPS in high leverage.

No matter which side of the ball you're looking at, Ohtani has been nothing short of the best in high leverage over the last two seasons:

• As a Hitter: 1.137 OPS (1st in MLB)
• As a Pitcher: .426 OPS (1st in MLB)

Even as impressive as Ohtani's knack for big hits may be, it's really his knack for stifling big hits that stands out. Aided in part by a fastball that he dials up to 97.4 mph with runners in scoring position, Ohtani has been a premier jam-escaper to the tune of the fourth-best strand rate of any qualified starter over the last two seasons.

Arguably none of this is a substitute for actual postseason experience, but it's a good sign that Ohtani could be just as impactful as Soto was in 2019 if he finally gets his shot at October.

Advantage: Push

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Injury Risk

There is a catch to Ohtani's two-way brilliance—or, perhaps more accurately, an ever-lingering question: How much longer will his body allow him to do this?

He's already had several injury scares, including ankle surgery in 2017 and Tommy John surgery in 2018. His return to the mound after the latter was short-lived, as he made just two starts in 2020 before the Angels shut him down from pitching because of a flexor pronator mass in his arm.

There's also the sheer frequency at which Ohtani is exposed to the injuries. Between his plate appearances as a hitter and the batters he's faced as a pitcher, he's been involved in 1,996 batter-pitcher matchups over the last two seasons.

The next-closest player in this regard is Miami Marlins right-hander Sandy Alcantara, who's been a part of just 1,475 batter-pitcher matchups: 1,411 as a pitcher and 64 as a hitter.

Soto, meanwhile, has played in 564 of 607 possible games since he debuted with the Nationals on May 20, 2018. Not counting the time he missed after a positive COVID test in 2020, the only injuries he's had were minor back and shoulder ailments in 2019 and 2021, respectively.

Advantage: Soto

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Our Verdict

This section would look a lot different if the question was whether Soto or Ohtani would be the best player to build a franchise around. The focus there would be on the long-term, which would make it hard not to lean toward the modern-day Ted Williams.

But since the debate here is more about who would be most helpful to a contender right now, we'll cast our vote for Ohtani.

Despite his downsides, his dual appeal as a relatively affordable and utterly peerless player is simply too great. He's arguably one of the 10 best hitters and 10 best pitchers today. To have a guy like that would be a huge leg up for even one postseason run, much less two.

Of course, the flip side is that we wouldn't dare trade Ohtani if he was already in our possession.

This seems to be Moreno's thinking as well. Even before Monday's report from Heyman, it seemed nobody reporting on the Ohtani trade sweepstakes actually expected the Angels owner to green-light a deal, with R.J. Anderson of CBS Sports hearing from one talent evaluator that Angels GM Perry Minasian "might be signing his own pink slip" if he so much as presented trade concepts to his boss.

As such, any choice between Ohtani and Soto only exists in theory. In reality, it's Soto or bust.

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Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference, FanGraphs and Baseball Savant.

It turns out Mike Trout might be back in the Los Angeles Angels lineup much sooner than once feared.

The future Hall of Famer visited a back specialist Thursday and will start rotational exercises Wednesday, per the Associated Press (h/t ESPN). It was a positive development after Angels head athletic trainer Mike Frostad previously said Trout may have to deal with the back injury for the rest of his career, per Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register.

"It went from my career is over to now hopefully I'm going to play here soon," Trout said. "Coming out of the workouts, it's been great every day. It's getting better. It's very promising to start rotational stuff. I'll do that for a couple days in the weight room and if that goes well, I'll start swinging."

While Trout previously conceded, "I've got to stay on top of the routine I do on a daily basis to prevent it from coming back," he also told Fletcher concerns about a career-long setback were "an exaggeration."

He echoed that sentiment in his latest comments, saying: "I think that's what Frosty was initially getting at—keeping a routine so that it doesn't come back. Once you let it settle down, get the inflammation out of there and build the muscles up around, it'll be good."

Trout has not played since July 12, and there is frankly no reason for him to hurry back considering the Angels are 43-58 and nowhere near playoff contention.

There is probably even more reason for caution for the 30-year-old since injuries are starting to be a concern. He last played more than 140 games during the 2016 campaign and appeared in just 36 games last year.

Having Trout healthy in 2023 and beyond is far more important than playing out the rest of this string.

The three-time American League MVP, 10-time All-Star and eight-time Silver Slugger remains one of Los Angeles' best chances to compete next season, which made the initial concern that the back injury would linger for the rest of his career all the more notable.

It appears as if that is no longer as much of a worry and Trout may even be back in the lineup for the Angels for the stretch run.

The New York Mets, who have inquired about Los Angeles Angels designated hitter/pitcher Shohei Ohtani's availability ahead of Tuesday's 6 p.m. ET trade deadline, do not believe the Halos are serious about dealing the superstar this season.

SNY's Andy Martino provided the scoop:

"The Mets are naturally curious about Shohei Ohtani’s availability, as any well-heeled and ambitious team should be, but have concluded after inquiring that the Los Angeles Angels are not serious about trading the two-way superstar before Tuesday’s deadline, according to league sources.

"Even Angels executives are privately saying that they are extremely unlikely to move Ohtani in-season, according to a third source in touch with that front office. If that were to change, the Mets would of course be interested. This feels like a space to watch this winter."

Ohtani, who is set to become a free agent after the 2023 season, is starring for an otherwise largely moribund Angels team that is playing out the string at 42-58.

Still, the 2021 American League MVP is lighting up baseball again with 21 home runs, 59 RBI and an .826 OPS. On the mound, Ohtani has gone 9-6 with a 2.81 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and 145 strikeouts in 99.1 innings.

Despite sporting two of baseball's brightest and best stars in Ohtani and Mike Trout, the Angels are very likely to miss the playoffs for the eighth straight year. The Halos have the third-worst OPS in the American League and a middle-of-the-road pitching staff (eighth in AL ERA). This is all despite owning the eighth-highest payroll in baseball.

Ohtani is undoubtedly the most valuable player in baseball given his two-way ability, but the question now is whether the Angels should trade him to help rebuild the franchise. The team sorely needs more depth throughout their roster, and dealing Ohtani could help alleviate that problem.

Still, Ohtani is one of the best talents baseball has ever seen, and there hasn't been a two-way player like him since Babe Ruth. It's a tough position for the Angels to find themselves in, but another losing season has landed Ohtani into trade rumors and speculation.

At the very least, it appears the Angels are listening to teams even though a deal right now appears to be a remote possibility.

"Teams have been calling regarding potential deals for the two-way phenom, and while a trade involving the unique superstar is seen as very unlikely, the Angels are not hanging up the phone," Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported on July 28.

For now, the Angels appear likely to hold onto Ohtani, but things could heat up next offseason.

Los Angeles Angels two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani addressed his future Thursday night amid rumors he could be moved before Tuesday's 2022 MLB trade deadline.

"Regardless of where I'm playing, I'm going to give it my all and try to win that ballgame in front of me," Ohtani told reporters. "I'm with the Angels right now, and I'm very thankful for what they've done. I love my team and my teammates. Right now I'm an Angel, and that's all I can focus on."

The 28-year-old Japanese sensation has compiled an .835 OPS with 21 home runs and 11 stolen bases as a hitter and a 2.81 ERA with 145 strikeouts in 99.1 innings as a pitcher in 2022.

Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported Thursday the Angels are listening to offers for Ohtani, but an agreement before the deadline is "very unlikely."

"They want something like your top four prospects," a source told the Post about L.A.'s asking price.

It's hard to know exactly what Ohtani should command on the trade market because there are no comparables in the modern game. He's providing ace-level numbers as a starter while averaging 37 homers per 162 games at the plate.

He's also making a team-friendly $5.5 million this season, meaning a contender wouldn't need a ton of financial flexibility to bring him in, and he remains under club control for 2023 via arbitration.

So, while a team's top four prospects may be a bit too rich for rival executives, the Angels aren't out of line for expecting a king's ransom. Their leverage could lessen over time if it becomes clear Ohtani is planning to test the free-agent market after next season.

As a whole, the situation is another sign of Los Angeles' failure to build a consistent winner around the tandem of Ohtani and Mike Trout.

The Angels have reached the playoffs just once since Trout arrived on the scene in 2011, and they were swept by the Kansas City Royals in the 2014 Division Series. They haven't cracked .500 since Ohtani made his debut in 2018.

Barring a massive turnaround, the underwhelming stretch is on pace to continue this year with a 42-57 record, which is 11 games behind the AL's final wild-card spot.

Trout will likely remain with the Angels for the long haul as he's under contract through 2030 as part of a 12-year, $426.5 million deal that includes a full no-trade clause.

The same might not be true for Ohtani, who figures to once again face plenty of trade rumors over the offseason if he's not dealt before next week's deadline.

The Los Angeles Angels are reportedly listening to trade offers for two-way star Shohei Ohtani. However, the team won't let go of the reigning AL MVP for cheap.

Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported Thursday that an MLB executive has heard the Angels "want something like your top four prospects" in exchange for Ohtani.

While trading Ohtani seems unlikely, the Angels are still willing to listen to offers as they are in the midst of another lost season that will likely see them miss the playoffs for the eighth straight year. Teams will have until the trade deadline of 6 p.m. ET on Aug. 2 to get a deal done.

While it isn't clear which teams are inquiring about a trade for Ohtani, Heyman and Sherman noted that "the teams currently trying for [Washington] Nationals superstar outfielder Juan Soto are the most logical ones to make calls" to Los Angeles. The San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Dodgers, St. Louis Cardinals, Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners are reportedly in pursuit of Soto.

Ohtani won't be a free agent until after the 2023 season. He is in the midst of another spectacular season that has him in the middle of the MVP race once again.

Through 95 games, Ohtani is slashing .257/.352/.492 with 21 home runs and 59 RBI, but he's been even better on the mound. In 16 starts this year, Ohtani is 9-5 with a 2.80 ERA, 1.00 WHIP and 134 strikeouts in 93.1 innings. It would be a massive surprise to see the Angels deal him away prior to the deadline.

Heyman and Sherman noted that the "most likely" players to be traded by Los Angeles are starting pitcher Noah Syndergaard, closer Raisel Iglesias and relievers Ryan Tepera and Aaron Loup.

Juan Soto isn't the only megastar who may be on the market ahead of Tuesday's trade deadline.

While Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman of the New York Post explained the Los Angeles Angels trading two-way sensation Shohei Ohtani "is seen as very unlikely," they reported the American League West team is at least "engaging when rival executives mention" him in discussions.

Heyman and Sherman suggested teams that are interested in Soto, such as the San Diego Padres, Texas Rangers, Los Angeles Dodgers, St. Louis Cardinals and Seattle Mariners, "are the most logical ones to make a call on Ohtani," but it would require an "absolutely eye-popping" offer for Los Angeles to move him.

Frankly, that comes as no surprise.

The 28-year-old is under team control through next season, so the 42-56 Angels could retool ahead of the 2023 campaign and compete behind the star power of Ohtani and Mike Trout. Teams may not be willing to sacrifice what it would likely take in farm-system capital to land him either.

Ohtani won the American League MVP last season while slashing .257/.372/.592 with 46 home runs, 100 RBI and 26 stolen bases as a hitter and posting a 3.18 ERA, 1.09 WHIP and 156 strikeouts in 130.1 innings as a pitcher.

It was a dazzling display of two-way talent and something that hasn't been seen at the major league level in generations.

He is slashing .257/.352/.492 with 21 home runs and 59 RBI this season but has been even better as a pitcher with a 2.80 ERA, 0.996 WHIP and 134 strikeouts in 93.1 innings.

Ohtani would be a major boost for any playoff contender because of his ability to serve as an ace every five days while also anchoring the lineup as an elite hitter. Yet it doesn't seem like that will happen, even if the Angels are listening to some offers.

Rather, Heyman and Sherman noted the American League West team is more likely to move starting pitcher Noah Syndergaard, closer Raisel Iglesias and relief pitchers Ryan Tepera and Aaron Loup.

Los Angeles Angels star Mike Trout insisted his back injury is not as serious as some may fear.

Angels head athletic trainer Mike Frostad called it "a pretty rare condition that he has right now in his back" and said he hoped it wouldn't hold the future Hall of Famer out for the rest of the season, per Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register.

Most notably, Frostad said, "long-term, we do have to look at this as something that he has to manage not just through the rest of this season, but also through the rest of his career, probably."

Yet Trout told Fletcher that was an "exaggeration" and that he will be back in the Angels' lineup again at some point this season and is not concerned with any long-term risks to his career.

"I got to stay on top of the routine I do on a daily basis to prevent it from coming back," Trout said. "I feel good where it's at right now. Every day it's improving. I felt really good today."

He has not played since a July 12 loss to the Houston Astros and missed the All-Star Game because of his back. There is also no reason for Los Angeles to rush him back this year considering it is well out of contention at 42-56 and in fourth place in the American League West.

Unfortunately for Trout, injuries have been something of a theme.

The last time he played more than 140 games was the 2016 season, and he appeared in just 36 games last year because of a calf injury. The idea of back concerns lingering for the rest of his career is notable, especially since he turns 31 years old next month.

When healthy, he is a generational talent. He has three American League MVPs, 10 All-Star selections and eight Silver Slugger awards on his resume.

Trout is slashing .270/.368/.599 with 24 home runs and 51 RBI this season.

At this point, having him available at the start of the 2023 campaign and beyond is far more important for the Angels than whether he can return as the team plays out the string. While he said his goal is to be back at some point this year, just the fact he called career-long concerns an exaggeration is probably a welcome sign for the team and its fans.

Los Angeles Angels star Mike Trout will miss at least another week before starting more activity, head athletic trainer Mike Frostad told reporters Wednesday.

Trout had been dealing with rib cage inflammation and received a cortisone injection in his back last Thursday to help deal with the ailment.

Frostad said that it takes two weeks for the full effect of the shot.

"The injection was done into the joint where the rib meets up with the spine," Frostad said Saturday. "So it's kind of a difficult area to get to and he just has to let that cortisone take effect. He's doing some stuff right now that doesn't involve rotation."

"This is a pretty rare condition that he has right now in his back," Frostad added Wednesday. "The doctor [Robert Watkins III], who is one of the most well-known spine surgeons in the country -- if not the world, doesn't see a lot of these."

D.J. Short of NBC Sports said he hopes Trout isn't headed for an injury-plagued career finish like David Wright or Don Mattingly.

Trout last played on July 12.

The 30-year-old is in the middle of another impressive season, hitting .270 with a .368 on-base percentage and 24 home runs in 79 games.

However, while Trout is one of the best players in Major League Baseball, he has struggled with injuries over the last couple of seasons.

The 10-time All-Star was limited to 114 games in 2017 because of a thumb injury and tore his calf muscle last season, which limited him to just 36 games.

When healthy, he is nearly unstoppable, but with the Angels fourth place in the AL West with a 41-56 record, it's no surprise they have been cautious with injuries to their star outfielder this season.

The Angels rely on Shohei Ohtani, Jared Walsh and Taylor Ward more heavily when Trout is sidelined, but that won't be enough to put them over the edge in a difficult AL West.

Despite the fact that the Los Angeles Angels will soon have to make a decision regarding starting pitcher and designated hitter Shohei Ohtani's future with the organization, there is no inkling that he will be traded any time soon.

According to ESPN's Jeff Passan, "Nobody expects the best player in baseball to move in the next week."

At 41-56, the Angels seem ticketed for another year out of the playoffs. However, Passan reported that several factors would make trading Ohtani before the Aug. 2 trade deadline a "near impossibility."

The 28-year-old Ohtani is coming off a banner season in 2021 that saw him hit .257 with 46 home runs and 100 RBI, in addition to going 9-2 with a 3.18 ERA and 156 strikeouts over 130.1 innings as a pitcher.

Those numbers netted the Japanese superstar his first All-Star selection, a Silver Slugger Award and the American League MVP Award.

By some measures, Ohtani has been even better this season, especially when it comes to his pitching performances.

Ohtani remains a dangerous hitter with a .256 average, 21 homers and 58 RBI, and he has pitched like a true ace with a 9-5 record, career-low 2.80 ERA and 134 strikeouts in 93.1 innings.

There isn't another player in baseball who can even come close to doing the things Ohtani does, and given that plus his star power, he would undoubtedly command a huge return in a potential trade.

While that trade isn't imminent, Passan theorized that it could happen as soon as the offseason.

Ohtani is an incredible bargain this season at just $5.5 million, and he is arbitration eligible next season, meaning he should receive a sizable bump. After that, Ohtani is eligible to become a free agent in 2024.

Passan noted that while the Angels could re-sign Ohtani, he stands to command a contract that would pay him more than $60 million per year, which may be too much of a commitment for an Angels organization that already pays Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon over $70 million combined per season.

The Angels haven't reached the playoffs since 2014, and trading Ohtani would perhaps be an admission that they aren't ready to make a playoff run any time soon.

It would also possibly call into question Trout's future with the organization since they would likely be entering a rebuilding phase.

Trading away a superstar like Ohtani would almost certainly lead to a significant dip in fan interest, but given how much the Angels would likely receive in return, it is an option worth considering during the offseason.

The New York Mets are looking to make a splash at this year's trade deadline, and that has led the club to making a call on one player that is viewed by many as being untouchable.

Mets general manager Billy Eppler has been in contact with the Los Angeles Angels about phenom Shohei Ohtani, according to Jim Bowden of CBS Sports. And while the Halos have maintained that they have no interest in moving him, they are still fielding calls.

The Mets have never been shy about pursuing star players. For example, the club signed star shortstop Francisco Lindor in April 2021 and also landed three-time Cy Young winner Max Scherzer ahead of the 2022 campaign.

Eppler's interest, in particular, is not surprising as he served as general manager of the Angels from 2015 to 2020, signing Ohtani in 2017.

In addition, Eppler has a good relationship with Ohtani, per Bowden, and he would be interested in bringing the two-way star to New York at any point, whether it's before the Aug. 2 trade deadline or when he becomes a free agent after the 2023 season.

Reports about Ohtani's future in L.A. have grown in recent weeks as the Angels continue to struggle, dropping to fourth in the AL West with a 40-56 record, 23.5 games behind the first-place Houston Astros.

Bowden also mentioned Ohtani has a desire to win now and would be hesitant to re-sign with the Angels in 2023 unless they become legitimate World Series contenders. If he becomes a free agent, he'll likely be one of the most sought-after players in baseball history.

Ohtani is having another solid season despite the Angels' struggles, hitting .256/.346/.486 with 20 home runs, 57 RBI and 10 stolen bases in 93 games. He is also 9-5 on the mound with a 2.80 ERA, 0.99 WHIP and 134 strikeouts in 93.1 innings across 16 starts.

If the Mets added Ohtani, they'd be among the World Series favorites this year as they already lead the NL East with a 59-37 record, two games ahead of the defending champion Atlanta Braves.

He'd join a star-studded rotation that includes Scherzer, Chris Bassitt, Carlos Carrasco, Taijuan Walker and eventually Jacob deGrom, and would also give the team an added boost on offense at DH.

However, the Mets will face some tough competition for the Japanese superstar, who has already won an MVP, Silver Slugger award and is a two-time All-Star. Simply put, he won't come cheap.