Is it because he was heartbroken over the transfer of Shohei Ohtani (LA Dodgers)? The LA Angels were selected as a ‘team that did nothing’ in the offseason. They received harsh criticism for not being able to find a way to make up for the loss of their most outstanding player.
The media said, “There were a few enjoyable weeks in December, but the MLB Stove League is progressing slowly overall. There are few teams that can be seen to have improved significantly. Instead, there are more options to pick the roster of the least improved team.” wrote. 지울프-토토
He added, “We did not take into account the ‘potential loss’ for free agents whose transfers have not yet been decided. Instead, we only took into account cases where power loss actually occurred due to reasons such as a trade being decided or a new team being decided.” Since Ohtani transferred to the Dodgers with an unprecedented 10-year contract worth $700 million, this clearly constitutes a drain on the Angels’ power.
Bleacher Report mentioned the Angels’ record of 73 wins and 89 losses last year, which ranked 4th in the American League West Division, and considered the departure of Ohtani, catcher Max Stash (transferred to the Chicago White Sox), and infielder David Fletcher (traded to the Atlanta Braves) as a big loss. Sorted. The new players are Luis Garcia, Adam Cimber, and Jack Flesack, and the WAR (contribution to wins compared to replacement players) of the players who came in and left out is minus 7.9.
Ohtani’s transfer left a huge void that cannot be replaced by anything. The media pointed out, “With Ohtani’s absence, 19% of the home runs the Angels recorded last year suddenly disappeared. The same goes for the 12% strikeouts of the pitching staff. Even for a team that won 100 games, this level of loss would be fatal, but it would be even worse for a team with 89 losses.” all.
Last year, the Angels had 231 team home runs, and Ohtani was responsible for 44, the most on the team. The number of strikeouts was 1,445, and Ohtani’s share of 167 was the second highest after Reed Detmers’ 168.
Bleacher Report said, “The Angels are not able to strengthen their squad as planned even in this situation where their strength is shrinking before everyone’s eyes. There is a $61 million difference in spending between 2023 and 2024, so they may spend a large amount of money again. However, large-scale “If the contract doesn’t become a reality, most of the Angels’ risk lies with Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon. If both of them get hurt, the Angels’ situation gets really bad,” he wrote.
Trout’s fall baseball challenge has become more difficult. Trout has not played in a postseason game since three games in the 2014 Division Series. Even then, he went just 1-for-12 with three walks and three hits in three games against the Kansas City Royals, and he had no chance to make up for his fall baseball slump for nine years. There is a high possibility that that gap will be 10 years this year.