Why an Ohtani deal never came close

THE SHOHEI Ohtani trade never had a chance. Word is Angels owner Arte Moreno didn’t even want to hear offers, so talks barely got off the ground.

The Padres (of course) are among a dozen or so teams that checked in, offering different scenarios they’d consider. The Yankees did, too. But the Angels never seriously considered any of it.

Moreno told folks in his front office he simply could not trade Ohtani while Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon were out with injuries. The Angels probably need a reset, however, and the belief is Trout, with a full no-trade clause, would be hard to deal. And Rendon, with injury after injury, would be near impossible to trade.

Ohtani would bring back a haul, probably similar to the one for Juan Soto. It’s a tough call if he’s yours, but rival execs seem to think they should have considered it more strongly.

“In 14 months, he’s out the door,” one rival exec predicted of Ohtani. “And once he’s out the door, he’s never coming back.”

Ohtani’s comments on that issue were decidedly noncommittal, but folks think he wants to win. The combination of the Trout contract, the bloated Rendon deal and Ohtani’s own historic pending pay raise (from $5 million to perhaps $35 million), combined with Moreno’s reluctance to exceed the luxury-tax threshold, make it very difficult to win there anytime soon.