Let’s roundup some totally plausible Shohei Ohtani-Phillies rumors

It’s my favorite time of year. The trade season is upon us, which means that the peddling of wares around the league has begun in earnest. No name that is supposedly available is bigger than that of Shohei Ohtani, presuming he is even available at all. That means that all teams that are even considering making a run at the postseason have likely dialed into Anaheim to gauge the necessary price to acquire the modern day Babe Ruth (side note: can we stop calling him the “modern Babe Ruth” and start just calling him Shohei Ohtani?).

That also means that people are going to try and figure out how to get Ohtani to their team, or to any team for that matter. It’s a time honored exercise that usually goes for naught whenever a player isn’t moved at all.

Still, it makes for fun content!

Now, I know that people write columns under the auspices of trying to sound smart about how they can place a player on a team, but when we start writing columns creating what we feel are trade packages of equivalent value, we kind of show our....backsides. Without being able to scout the entirety of a team’s minor league system, without knowing what kind of attributes a team is keen on in young players, without knowing the budgets a team has in place for the coming years, we are unable to accurately put together what would be an acceptable trade package for any player, much less for perhaps the best player to ever play this game.

And no, that trade value website isn’t good enough.

However, that isn’t going to stop people from trying their best to create the best trade package the Phillies could use to entice the Angels to pull the trigger. So, let’s take a stroll around the interwebs to see what concoctions people have created to bring Ohtani to the City of Brotherly Love. Yes, yes, I am aware that most of these are written just for the clicks, but it’s still fun to see what people think is fair value, right?

How to solve the left field defense problem: trade Kyle Schwarber away!

Phillies get: Ohtani
Angels get: Kyle Schwarber, Taijuan Walker, Johan Rojas, Andrew Painter, Griff McGarry

Boy howdy, I can tell you this one was a doozy to find.

A lot of these packages involve the question “Why would the Angels do this?” as the first reaction, but this one takes the cake.

Anyone who has watched the Angels for any length of time the past few years knows of their inability to either develop their own starting pitching or attract free agent pitchers to the team. Involving Painter and McGarry would be the, at minimum, starting point for any conversation the Phillies might want to have about Ohtani, but where it really goes off the rails is including two high priced veterans that the Angels really would not want in the least. I can at least get the idea here, that acquiring Schwarber and Walker would keep the Angels competitive through the Trout years, but even still, that’s a lot of money for not a huge bump in talent.

How to get the Angels to not even pick up the phone

Phillies get: Ohtani
Angels get: Bryson Stott, Mick Abel, Gabriel Rincones, Alex MacFarlane, Rickardo Perez

Youth is a wonderful thing to have on your team. There needs to be a solid mix of veterans and younger players that can help the team both on the field and on the bottom line.

However.

This crop of young players probably isn’t even getting you to the table. Stott is a really good player, but what is his actual ceiling? Is he more of a 2-3 WAR player, or is there more in there? Do we really think he can be a 4, 5, even 6 WAR player? If not, he’s a secondary piece to the puzzle, not your lead horse.

The rest of this package is a hodge podge of names from a top ten ranking. Note to anyone making up trade packages for Ohtani consisting mostly of prospects: not all top ten lists are the same. The Phillies top ten prospects are not equivalent to what deeper teams like the Orioles, Rays and Dodgers have in their stable.

How to help the Angels get the short end of the stick

Phillies get: Ohtani
Angels get: Andrew Painter, Griff McGarry, Gabriel Rincones, Carlos de la Cruz

I mean...

Imagine texting this offer to the Angels general manager and expecting a response. I can almost guarantee that that response begins with a four letter word.

Then there’s this guy....

Phillies get: Ohtani
Angels get: Andrew Painter, Mick Abel, Justin Crawford, Ranger Suarez, Alec Bohm

Gotta love “insiders” from Twitter.

If we’re being completely honest with ourselves, this is probably a package that the Angels would at least counter. It’s the team’s top three prospects, a young-ish starting pitcher that still has team control at a reasonable cost and another solid young infielder that would plug a hole the team has. It’s not the worst idea, but again, it’s probably just a start.

It would also be probably a bit too rich for the Phillies at the moment. Had they someone to come up and take Bohm’s place, maybe not a star prospect but someone who is at least competent, I’d have to think the team would at least consider this deal. Painter is about to miss a second year of development, Abel has either plateaued a bit this year or taken a step back depending on your scout of choice, Crawford might be a while before he’s making an impact on the team, Suarez would sting to lose and Bohm...well.

Put it this way. It’s a deal that I would make if Ohtani were to agree to an extension with the team. It’s a bit rich for rental, but if Ohtani were to stick around a bit, then that changes the equation.

Let this be a lesson to you all. Whatever you think the trade offer should be for Shohei Ohtani, add more....and it’s still probably not enough.