Mike Trout shares pitch to keep Shohei Ohtani with Angels

Los Angeles Angels slugger Mike Trout once again opened up about how he will attempt to convince two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani to stay with the club beyond this season. 

"What’s the pitch? We’ve got to win, brother, we got to get to the playoffs," Trout said about Ohtani while speaking with Foul Territory TV, as shared by Arthur Weinstein of The Comeback. "Obviously, the biggest thing to keeping him here is to get to the playoffs. We’ve been winning, we’ve been having some good stretches, we’ve got a great group, and he’s enjoying it." 

Trout offered similar comments this past winter about the Angels essentially recruiting Ohtani by doing everything possible to end a postseason drought that began after the 2014 campaign. Los Angeles enters Friday's action a game-and-a-half back in the race for a wild-card spot. The Angels also trail the first-place Texas Rangers by six games in the American League West standings at the time of this posting. Barring a significant collapse before the end of July, the Angels aren't expected to make Ohtani available this summer – even though they could lose him as a free agent for nothing shortly after the World Series. 

As recently as Thursday, MLB insider Jon Heyman of the New York Post linked Ohtani with the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants, two big-spending clubs that could pay up to $600M total to land the Japanese phenom (who is likely a handful of months away from earning AL Most Valuable Player honors for the second time in three years). Heyman noted that "there’s a belief (Ohtani) isn’t all about money" and Trout echoed that sentiment, explaining that "people are throwing out these huge numbers, but I don’t think it’s about the money" when it comes to the 28-year-old superstar. 

"I think ultimately it comes down to he just wants to win and have some fun," Trout added. "He wants to make a run. I think if we can do that, that would be the best pitch you could do, to make that run and have him enjoy it." 

Earlier this month, Angels beat writer Sam Blum of The Athletic suggested that team owner Arte Moreno won't exceed the luxury tax threshold to win a winter bidding war for Ohtani that could include the Dodgers, Giants, New York Mets and San Diego Padres, among other clubs with deep pockets. However, ESPN's Jeff Passan said this week that Ohtani "has a lot of comfort" with the Angels: