looking to sell are complaining that uncertainty over Ohtani is holding up the market, even for lesser players.“We’ve been talking to some of these teams that are interested in Ohtani,” said a high-ranking executive of one team in sell mode, who was granted anonymity so he could talk freely about the state of the market. “And they’re saying they’re not ready to give up prospects yet because they need to save them, in case they have to include them in an Ohtani deal.
One front-office executive, whose club has starting pitching to trade, described a conversation with a contender this way: Contending team asks about an available starter. … Selling team suggests multiple prospects it would want in return. … Contending team says those names represent a “fair” asking price. … But then the talks don’t progress because the contender says it has to hold onto those players while it pursues “a bigger deal.
The Angels’ wild extra-inning win in Detroit on Tuesday was their sixth victory in their last eight games. And that streak moved them to 3 1/2 games back in the wild-card race, as they train their eyes on’s return from a broken hamate bone, which could possibly be as soon as three weeks away. Next up, the Angels have a doubleheader Thursday in Detroit, followed by three games in Toronto over the weekend against the team that currently holds the third and final American League wild-card spot. Those games will go a long way toward determining whether the Angels are ready to open or close the Ohtani auction house — if they were ever ready to open it at all.But in the meantime, all 29 other teams await that decision — whether they’re in the Ohtani market or not.