LA Angels Rumors: Arte Moreno wildly underestimated Shohei Ohtani's contract

One has to wonder how Arte Moreno came up with his prediction for Ohtani's contract.

Eric Cole

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Introduce Shohei Ohtani / Josh Lefkowitz/GettyImages

While the sting of the Los Angeles Angels losing Shohei Ohtani has begun to fade, there are plenty of lingering questions (and hurt) about how it all went down. Those questions only intensified when it was revealed that the Angels had an opportunity to match the deal Ohtani signed with the Dodgers, but that LA decided to not throw their hat in the ring.

What is particularly puzzling is that the Angels and owner Arte Moreno were very familiar with how much of a cash cow that Ohtani was/is to have on the roster, in addition to his impact on the field. That they were completely unwilling to stay in the bidding for one of the best and most unique players of this generation is, in a lot of way, tough to understand.

However, the picture is starting to come together as we learn more. Apparently, according to a report from SI's Tom Verducci, Moreno was out on bringing back Ohtani very early on in the process and just assumed that Ohtani's contract would start with a 4 (narrator: it did not start with a 4).

LA Angels owner Arte Moreno missed the boat on Ohtani's value

If it is true that Moreno thought that fair value for Ohtani's services was some version of a $400ish million deal, then it definitely makes sense as to why he would balk at the $700 million Ohtani ended up getting, even if much of it was deferred. As to why Moreno thought that Ohtani's deal would end up being that when basically everyone thought that he was a lock to get at least $500 million or more, there is no telling.

In a lot of ways, it is ironic that Moreno would actually undervalue Ohtani and be well short on his prediction considering some of the deals he has given out. Between Josh Hamilton, Albert Pujols, Anthony Rendon, and Justin Upton, Moreno has a lot of big contracts that were total whiffs on his resume. Perhaps that was why he was a little shy on Ohtani, especially given the superstar's injury...or maybe he just shouldn't be the guy that needs to be the final say on baseball decisions (we lean the latter).

No matter the reasoning, the end result is that Ohtani is gone and the Angels have their regrets and little else to show for his time in LA.

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Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.