Shohei Ohtani rumors: Yankees made an offer, but Angels balk

The New York Yankees were one of many teams targeting Shohei Ohtani, but the Los Angeles Angels don’t plan on giving him up.

The New York Yankees reportedly made a serious trade offer to the Los Angeles Angels for Shohei Ohtani, but the Angels turned it down with intention of keeping Ohtani, according to Jon Heyman with the New York Post.

The Yankees are reportedly targeting Frankie Montas as well, but nobody compares to Ohtani. This season, Ohtani has produced an ERA of 2.81, batting average against of .210 and WHIP of 1.02. He’s especially unique because he’s also often used as a designated hitter.

Ohtani hits extremely well. This season, he’s hitting .255/.352/.495 for an OPS of .847. He’s a well-rounded player with an incredible amount of talent, so it’s no surprise the Angels want to hold onto him. He’s the key to Los Angeles’ success with Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon out with injuries.

Shohei Ohtani is key to the Los Angeles Angels success this season

The Angels, overall, need as much help as they can get. They currently have FanGraphs playoff odds of 0.6 percent and are one of the worst teams in MLB this season.

Among all of MLB, the Angels currently have the fifth-worst batting average (.229), fourth-worst on-base percentage (.300), eighth-worst slugging percentage (.379) and fifth-worst OPS (.679). For pitching, they rank around average. Without Ohtani, they’d likely be much worse.

Overall, the Angels aren’t nearly as developed as the Yankees are. The Yankees have 100 percent FanGraphs playoff odds and are among the top three teams in both batting and pitching. They have the best slugging percentage (.444) in the league, so it would obviously take a star to make an impact on their already talented and well-rounded team.

Unfortunately, they’ll have to try for someone else because Ohtani likely isn’t going anywhere new.