Shohei Ohtani's Agent Confirmed Angels Had Opportunity to Sign Him in Free Agency

This is an awful look on the Angels' part.

Could Shohei Ohtani have re-signed with the Angels this offseason? 

Well, it sure seems like it.

Ohtani's agent, Nez Balelo of CAA, revealed that they went back to the Angels right at the end of the process to give them an opportunity to try to retain Ohtani. But in the end, the Angels declined to do so, leading to Ohtani going to the Dodgers.

Nez Balelo said they went back to the Angels at the end of the process, and wanted to give them an opportunity at the end. He declined to say if money was the difference.

— Sam Blum (@SamBlum3) December 14, 2023

It remains unknown if Ohtani would have gone back to the Halos, even if the money had been the same. But owner Arte Moreno decided not to match the record-setting deal that he ended up signing with the Dodgers.

"However, Angels owner Arte Moreno wouldn’t budge. According to multiple people with knowledge of the situation not authorized to speak publicly, Moreno wouldn’t match the 10-year, $700 million deal that Ohtani eventually signed with the Dodgers."

Per Jack Harris of The LA Times

This is an awful look for Moreno, but he likely didn't want to commit that much money to one player. But once the contract came out, it showed that Ohtani agreed to defer all but $2 million of his annual salary to help the Dodgers spend more. 

It has also been reported that this wasn't Dodgers-exclusive, and Ohtani offered this to all the teams that he was negotiating with.

Balelo wouldn't go into specifics of the talks with the Angels, but they seemed to have a real shot at bringing him back. Ohtani had given everything to the organization, and to hear this is very disheartening. 

“I won’t go there,” Balela said. “But just know that we had really healthy discussions. The Angels had every opportunity.”

Per Nez Balelo via The LA Times