Will he be traded? It is the single biggest story as we begin in earnest the run-up to the Aug. 1 trade deadline in Major League Baseball, and it will remain the biggest story until that question is answered. Perhaps some specifics are in order. "He" would be two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels. Ohtani is eligible for free agency this coming offseason, and thus far he's shown little interest in signing an extension with the team that first inked him out of Japan prior to the 2018 season. 

All of that in tandem with the Angels' tenuous playoff hopes has given rise to speculation that a true deadline blockbuster involving the most famous baseball player in the world may be in the offing. 

Suffice it to say, Angels owner Arte Moreno and general Perry Minasian have a career- and legacy-altering decision before them – to trade or not to trade. Such a dilemma calls for an appraisal of the arguments for and against shipping off Ohtani to, say, the Bronx or just up the road to Dodger Stadium or somewhere else. As you're about to see, it's a complicated decision, and the Angels have a mere two weeks to land on their answer. 

Now let's examine both sides. 

The case against trading Ohtani 

The most fundamental risk is that the Angels could squander a postseason berth by parting with Ohtani for the final two months of the regular season. As we've seen time and again in MLB, even the heaviest of playoff underdogs can make a deep run – such is the nature of postseason baseball and the randomness it invites – so the point is to get there and see what happens. The Angels right now are not in playoff position or especially close to it, but they're not completely buried.