Report: Arte Moreno's Distaste For Deferrals Cost Angels Shohei Ohtani

Ohtani and his agent gave Moreno every opportunity to keep him an Angel.

The Los Angeles Angels had a shot at keeping Shohei Ohtani.

According to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, Angels owner Arte Moreno’s personal disinterest in deferred payments cost the team a shot at re-signing Shohei Ohtani:

The Los Angeles Angels think that if they had been willing to match the Dodgers' offer of 10 years, $700 million for Shohei Ohtani, he'd still be with the team. But while the Dodgers were thrilled with the record deferrals, Angels owner Arte Moreno had no interest in the delayed payments.

Bob Nightengale, via USA Today

After Ohtani received his offer from the Dodgers, his agent, Nez Balelo of CAA Sports, approached the Angels to give them a chance to match the offer.

However, Moreno wouldn't budge.

In December, Jack Harris of the L.A. Times wrote that Balelo declined to disclose any specifics about Ohtani’s talks with the Angels, including whether money was the difference in his decision to leave Anaheim.

The hold-up between the Angels and Ohtani was always Moreno. Now, we know that it was because he reportedly had no interest in deferring the record amount of $680 million.

The Angels had every opportunity to bring back the greatest baseball player in the world, but in the end, the ownership prevented it from happening.