TEMPE, Ariz. — For at least one hour Monday, during the Angels’ first full-squad workout of 2023, their general manager Perry Minasian spoke one-on-one with Nez Balelo, Shohei Ohtani’s agent. When it was over, Balelo spoke to reporters, offering about as much insight on the superstar’s plans as Ohtani did when he spoke about his impending free agency last week: little.
Balelo declined to say if he had negotiated at all with Minasian about an Ohtani extension. He declined to say if he believed the Angels were in the financial position to make Ohtani the sort of offer he sought. He declined to say if he would be willing to negotiate an extension during the season. Nor did he definitively say if he would be willing to discuss it during spring training.
“I’ve always been open to it, but in this situation, there’s several layers,” Balelo said. “Shohei’s earned the right to play through the year and explore free agency. We’ll see where it shakes out.”
Hearing Balelo field questions on his superstar client, or mostly deflect them, didn’t engender any confidence in Ohtani remaining in Anaheim long term. The super agent spoke most definitively about Angels matters that don’t directly involve Ohtani.
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Minasian, Balelo argued, had significantly improved the club over the offseason. He went so far as to note that even the dozen-plus reporters present surely agreed with him. Owner Arte Moreno’s decision not to sell the Angels after exploring doing so, Balelo said, meant that the club’s situation remained “business as usual.”
“Let’s hope it was the right decision,” Balelo said, “and we can enjoy something at the end of the year.”
For such a careful speaker, that represented an interesting choice of words. Citing a successful 2023 season as a vindicating force for Moreno creates a binary set of outcomes. If the Angels don’t make the playoffs this season, does that mean he made the wrong decision to hold onto the team?
Maybe so. Moreno wrote of “unfinished business” in his statement announcing he would continue to own the Angels. The club statement said he would remain the owner for “2023 and beyond,” while Moreno’s included quote did not specify a timeframe. His statement did emphasize the Angels’ “franchise record player payroll” for the 2023 season. Some members of the organization saw his decision as a bid to increase the club’s value some more before soon selling it.
If the Angels don’t win in 2023, and don’t retain Ohtani, as is widely expected, it’d be difficult to envision better offers coming in right away.
After all, the Angels finally have Albert Pujols off their books this year, but Anthony Rendon’s $245 million contract has emerged as its own potential albatross. Because his deal was back-loaded, Rendon is due more than $154 million over the next four years alone. That figure is more than twice what he would have earned as a free agent last offseason considering his two most recent seasons of production.
He performed well during the shortened 2020 season, but he has been a below-average hitter since, and hurt more often than healthy. He played 105 games across 2021 and 2022, notched only 11 home runs, and registered a .709 OPS.
Rendon’s goal for 2023, he said Monday, was to avoid succumbing to the surgeries that have cut his seasons short. He is healthy now. He made clear that his health goals are in place for larger reasons than fulfilling his contract.
“I know right now it only looks like we’re playing for these next four years of baseball,” Rendon said. “But I’m trying to hang out with my kids for the rest of their lives, and you guys aren’t gonna see that. But when I’m trying to get out of bed when I’m 50 and I can’t because I’m trying to impress you guys from having surgeries, now I’ve got to deal with that with my kids. And now my kids get the short end of the stick.”
Everybody stands to benefit from a healthy Rendon season: Ohtani, because he wants so badly to win; the Angels, to increase their odds of finishing business and, maybe, re-signing Ohtani; and Rendon, because he has been bothered by criticism of his play since signing with the team.
Reactions to rule changes varying
Baseball is transitioning to several new rules that will notably shift the way the sport has been played. It seems everyone in the industry has a rule change about which they’re most curious.
Padres third baseman Manny Machado said he had discussed with the Phillies’ Bryce Harper the potential difficulties, for hitters, of the pitch clock. It’s assumed pitchers will bear the brunt of the assimilation, but slow-paced hitters like Machado and Harper have learned to take their time between pitches.
Machado said it’s not that he can’t change. It’s just that he’s been doing it this way for a long time now.
“It’s not really who we are,” he said. “It’s more of a mindset thing. You’re trying to get locked in to the game. It’s a long season, so you wanna be locked into that pitcher as much as you can. We’re all gonna have to make adjustments overall, as players, so that’s definitely gonna be one of the toughest ones for me, for sure — I think for everyone.”
Fellow Padre Fernando Tatis Jr. said he’s most excited about the shift ban, for how it’ll make elite defense easier to see.
“I feel like athletes are gonna come out on the infield,” he said.
But he voiced some apprehension about the increased size of the bases. More than anything, he said, it was “weird”. But Angels manager Phil Nevin said most players he had asked had not noticed the base-size change.
“It’ll make more of a difference for the first baseman,” he said, who’ll have an easier time avoiding contact with incoming baserunners.
Giants manager Gabe Kapler took a broader perspective. Not all potential pitfalls are foreseeable now. Unexpected issues will arise, whether with the bases or the clocks or the shift restrictions. He’s only worried about ensuring that his players are ready to react to enforcement.
“I just think the entire industry is going to be learning on the fly,” Kapler said. “So one of our initiatives is: How many questions can we ask? Let’s not get tired of asking umpires questions, of relaying that information, of asking MLB officials and relaying that information.”
Pedro Moura is the national baseball writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the Dodgers for The Athletic, the Angels and Dodgers for the Orange County Register and L.A. Times, and his alma mater, USC, for ESPN Los Angeles. He is the author of “How to Beat a Broken Game.” Follow him on Twitter at @pedromoura.
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