3 questions we'd ask Angels GM Perry Minasian if he was given truth serum

3) If ownership stayed out of it, would you have traded Shohei Ohtani at some point?

The biggest failure of the Ohtani regime is not the franchise's inability to re-sign him. In fact, it can be argued that their money is better spent on multiple players instead of just Shohei. The biggest failure was the team not trading him.

The Angels had many chances to trade Ohtani when the team was not in a position to win. They could've moved him at the 2022 trade deadline for a historic haul. Yes, they would've gotten more than Washington got for Juan Soto even with one less year of control. They could've dealt him in the 2022 offseason with a full year of control. They could've dealt him at the 2023 trade deadline. Sure, the team was five games over .500, but were nowhere near a lock for the postseason and could've gotten a ton back even for a rental.

Trading Ohtani is something that was floated around a bit, but never seemed completely realistic unless the Angels were practically eliminated from contention at the 2023 trade deadline. The reason why is Arte Moreno. We know Moreno had no interest in parting from the cash cow that is Shohei Ohtani. Trading him meant there was no chance to re-sign him. That was a non-starter for Arte unless he absolutely had to.

If Perry didn't have to deal with a meddling owner, would he have traded Ohtani at any point? We know how poorly Minasian did at the trade deadline with the deals he made, but there's a good chance he would've gone in the other direction if Moreno hadn't given him a directive to win right now. Minasian has never been allowed to rebuild, but would he have wanted to if he had the chance?