3 Angels silver linings that come from Shohei Ohtani's heartbreaking decision

2) The LA Angels can free up the DH spot

Injuries marred the prime Ohtani years without a doubt. Everyone loves to point out the fact that the Angels failed to win despite having arguably the two best players, Ohtani and Mike Trout, on the team at the same time. You can even throw Anthony Rendon's name in there too. What everyone fails to include is the fact that these players were never healthy at the same time for a full season. It's hard to win that way.

Trout and Rendon especially in recent years have had a rough go of it when it comes to staying on the field. Trout has appeared in 237 of the 486 possible games since 2021. That's 48.8%. Rendon has appeared in 148 of the 486 possible games since 2021. That's an even worse 30.4%. With these two individuals only getting older and more injury prone, you have to wonder if the open DH spot can help a bit.

Ohtani, while he obviously deserved it, occupied the DH spot every day. That forced the likes of Rendon and Trout into the field every day when healthy. These two will still be in the field a lot, but with the DH spot vacant, the Angels can rotate these players more often. They can give Trout a breather while still keeping his bat in the lineup.

The Angels could really use healthy seasons out of Trout and Rendon especially with Shohei gone. It's no guarantee that this is the solution, but giving them regular DH days certainly couldn't hurt.