Last week, we responded to a whopper of a Shohei Ohtani trade rumor with an initial look at five potential suitors and what they could offer. Alas, it already feels dated.
Word is the Los Angeles Dodgers won't get him. Ditto for the San Diego Padres. And while nobody has officially taken the New York Yankees out of the running, their stumble into last place in the American League East would seem to diminish their standing.
We thus can't help but speculate if conditions are favorable for a dark horse to win the sweepstakes for the Los Angeles Angels' two-way superstar. It helps that, courtesy of Jon Morosi of MLB.com, we know what kind of price such a team would have to pay:
"There is no way to really discern what a fair offer [for Ohtani] would be," Morosi said, "other than to say if they get multiple players offered among the top 100 prospects in the game, they have to at least start thinking about it."
Even if Ohtani is due for free agency at season's end, this sounds about right. The slugger/ace is far and away the most valuable and most clutch player in MLB right now, and his 35 home runs even give him a shot at the league's second 60-homer season in as many years.
With all this in mind, we booted up Baseball Trade Values' trade simulator and tried to match the 29-year-old Ohtani with eight contenders who hypothetically have the motivation and/or means to land him. We've also ranked them according to their plausibility as destinations.
8. Toronto Blue Jays
Starting Pitcher WAR: 4.0 (23rd)
Designated Hitter WAR: 1.3 (8th)
The Blue Jays are only in third place in the AL East, but they've recently taken a leap from 11.5 games back on June 19 to a more manageable 5.5 games off the pace today.
Not bad for a team that's struggled to get consistency out of its starting rotation, not to mention power from the left side of the plate. Indeed, Ohtani has more home runs on his own than the 29 the Blue Jays have gotten from all of their lefty hitters.
He would be quite the fix, in other words, and him pairing with the likes of Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette in the lineup and Kevin Gausman in the rotation just plain screams "fun!"
Proposed Trade: Blue Jays get DH/RHP Shohei Ohtani, Angels get LHP Ricky Tiedemann, OF Daulton Varsho and LHP Brandon Barriera
In theory, the Angels arguably couldn't ask for a better left-handed prospect than Tiedemann. The 20-year-old posted a 2.17 ERA in his professional debut last year and can now be found at No. 20 in Joel Reuter's latest top 100 prospect rankings.
In reality, however, Tiedemann hasn't pitched since May 4 due to biceps inflammation. And since Varsho is currently Toronto's everyday left fielder, even we must admit this is a Franken-offer that's unlikely to be made, much less accepted.
