Ohtani lands in Los Angeles

The wait for the next Ichiro and Matsui is over. Shohei Ohtani is going out West like he wanted. Ohtani is going to the Los Angeles Angles to team up with Mike Trout.

The swish army knife of a ball player is landing in the lesser L.A. team. Where Ohtani will get his at-bats raises a big metaphorical eyebrow. With the Angeles resigning Justin Upton earlier in the offseason to a 5-year $106 Million extension, Kole Calhoun under contract and currently the everyday right fielder, along with Albert Pujols still under contract—where does Ohtani fit? Will the Angeles just use him as a long reliver to make the bridge to Blake Parker that much easier? Will they try to move Calhoun or Upton to first and trade C.J. Cron? The Angeles now have an embarrassment of riches on a cheap budget and an interesting dilemma on their hands.

How Mike Scioscia will manage Ohtani and decide when he wants to give him at-bats and innings. This seems like a move that will propel them into a busy Winter Meetings this week. C.J. Cron and Kole Calhoun will be two of the players that Los Angeles could be shopping around.

The A.L. West will be an interesting division this year with the defending World Series Champ, an interesting Texas Rangers team, and two teams trying to steal the stoplight in the Angeles and Mariners.

The Dee Gordon trade that the Mariners made yesterday with the Marlins would actually make more sense for Angeles and this Ohtani deal would make more sense for Seattle. Gordon is a second baseman/shortstop by trade and will be playing for the first time in centerfield full-time this year. With Gordon’s speed it’ll make the transition easier but his arm will be a big question mark like it was with Kipnis in Cleveland last year. If Ohtani was coming to Seattle to build up the outfield it and Gordon would help with the Angeles infield and add to the speed at the top of the order.


The A.L. West may not be the best division in all of baseball in 2018, but it will be the most interesting. With the Winter Meetings coming up this week—it means Spring Training is just a few days closer, which means we are getting closer to baseball coming back.  

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