By Marc Lawrence, PlaybookSports.com — Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno is making — at minimum — a $500 million bet that he can retain one of baseball’s most transcendent talents and transform his lagging franchise, per Front Office Sports.
After weeks of back-and-forth speculation, the Angels have pulled two-way phenom Shohei Ohtani off the trade market, believing the team can both better compete this year and improve its chance to retain the Japanese star when he hits free agency this winter. The decision will have massive implications across the franchise.
“We’re going to roll the dice and see what happens,” said Angels GM Perry Minasian. “Whether it works or it doesn’t, I can go to bed at night and say, ‘You know what, we did this for the right reasons.’”
After tossing a one-hit shutout in the first game of a doubleheader on Wednesday, and then hitting TWO home runs in the second game, there is only one word to describe his extraordinary talents – “Nitoryu” – which is Japanese for a “samurai fighting with two swords”
