Angels News: Expert Predicts Shohei Ohtani Gets Traded to Dodgers This Year

There are going to be a lot of these rumors all year long.

It's going to be a long year of rumors regarding Angels two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani — and rightfully so. Ohtani is entering his final year of team control in 2023, and will be an unrestricted free agent at season's end.

There's no way of estimating how much Ohtani is going to get, but agents around the game of baseball predicted it would be high — like $500 million high. The Angels will certainly be in play to bring him back, but if they struggle again next year, it may be a lot harder to make it happen. That's why Zachary Rymer at Bleacher Report predicted he would get traded next season — but fortunately for Ohtani, he doesn't think it'll be very far.

"Presumably every contender would grab a spot in line if the Angels put Ohtani out there, but it should surprise nobody if the Dodgers push their way to the front of it. Though Ohtani isn't even available yet, they sure are acting like he is.

"Ah, but would Angels owner Arte Moreno allow such a prized asset to go to a team that he doesn't seem to like? Probably not. It would be a good thing for the Dodgers, then, if he follows through on his desire to sell the team sooner rather than later.

"Hence why we didn't make the easy call on Ohtani as the favorite for the 2023 AL MVP Award. He's going to end the season as a Dodger, folks. Book it."

Angel fans aren't going to be very happy with this prediction, but if the Angels aren't contending come late July — at the MLB's trade deadline — the Angels would be foolish to hold onto him unless they have a strong bout of confidence that he wants to remain with the team.

Fortunately, the Angels don't have to think about that yet, but it does feel like the trade deadline is going to come up sooner than they'd like. The best thing they can do this season is win baseball games. But until we see them do that, there's going to be a lot more predictions like this one.