Angels disrespectfully given no chance by anonymous agents to re-sign Shohei Ohtani

The Los Angeles Angels enter the Winter Meetings as one of many teams trying to convince Shohei Ohtani to sign with them. They did it once, but the team never won anything with him here. Despite that, they hope to do it again.

The lack of team success is the reason why the Angels are not considered the favorites to re-sign Ohtani by just about anyone. It makes sense. If Ohtani's top priority is truly winning, most of the league can create better arguments than the Angels can.

A group of 16 anonymous agents polled by The Athletic MLB Staff (subscription required) were asked point blank where they think Ohtani will sign. Five different teams were listed. Even one chose "somewhere on the West Coast". Not a single person chose the Angels.

LA Angels shouldn't be the favorites, but them getting no votes is insane

The Dodgers have been the favorites throughout this entire process and received eight of the 16 votes. The Cubs got 3 votes, the Giants got 2, Blue Jays 1, Rangers 1, and then "somewhere on the West Coast" 1. There you have it. Not a single Angels believer.

Jeff Passan of ESPN reported that five teams remained in on Ohtani. Four of those teams received votes. The Angels were the only one to not. The Rangers, a team Passan said have begun focusing their attention elsewhere, received a vote while the Angels received none.

Look, I get it. The Angels failed Shohei Ohtani. There's no disputing that. However, the facts are the facts. He's chosen them once before, never had a single complaint about the organization, and is seeming to at least consider choosing them once again. Still not a single vote?

Ohtani does care about winning, but there are other things the Angels can provide to him like comfort and the opportunity to play with just the one team that others just cannot offer. Ohtani knows he can succeed here, and knows how big of a legend he'll be if he stays here.

Will he? I have no idea. Should the Angels be the favorites to re-sign him? Absolutely not. Should they get more votes than a team that is reportedly out of the running? Definitely. The Angels being given no shot makes no sense. They don't have the highest odds, nor should they. But they're very much alive in the sweepstakes and should be treated as such.