3 moves the Angels must make after losing Shohei Ohtani to the Dodgers

The Los Angeles Angels received the heartbreaking news that Shohei Ohtani had signed a mega-deal to join the Los Angeles Dodgers. This was a crushing blow for an Angels team that desperately needed Ohtani on the team.

The Angels won 73 games this past season with Ohtani winning the MVP award. They never finished a single season that Ohtani was with them with a winning record, and never sniffed a postseason appearance. Competing without him will only be that much more difficult.

Perry Minasian will be given an almost impossible task of building a contending team without the best player in the game. These three moves should at least get them closer.

1) Sign Yoshinobu Yamamoto

Winning in 2024 will be virtually impossible with Ohtani gone. I mean, how does it make sense for this team to improve without Shohei? With that in mind, the Angels should look to add a player to try and help them win not only now, but also in the future. Yoshinobu Yamamoto fits that bill to a tee.

Yamamoto comes to the US after winning three straight Sawamura Awards (Japanese Cy Young) and would be the ace of this staff that the Angels desperately need. Even if Ohtani had returned, the Angels would've needed an ace considering the fact that Shohei can't pitch in 2024.

Yamamoto fills that ace role that this team needs, and should also be good for a very long time. While most free agents are around or even over the age of 30, Yamamoto is just 25 years old. The Angels can sign him now and expect him to still be an ace when they're actually able to compete. Yamamoto can grow alongside the young rotation and position player core that the Angels should look to continue to develop.

Ohtani is obviously the biggest and most-expensive free agent that was on the market, but Yamamoto is likely going to earn the second-largest contract. The Angels saved money by not signing Shohei, and now can spend it on Yamamoto.