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Ken Rosenthal Reveals NL Team That Nearly Traded Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Eduardo Razo | Last updated May 19, 2025 4:00 PM ET

Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani could’ve ended up on an NL West rival in 2022, and who knows whether the Japan native would’ve reached free agency that led to him heading to Chavez Ravine in 2023.

When it became evident that the Los Angeles Angels would struggle to put a winning team around Ohtani and Mike Trout, other MLB teams began circling. Moreover, the San Diego Padres were willing to offer a top prospect for the two-way standout.

MLB insider Ken Rosenthal recently revealed on Foul Territory what the Padres were willing to give up to land Ohtani in 2022.

Could the Dodgers have won the World Series last year? Or perhaps the Padres trade Ohtani if he wasn’t willing to sign an extension leading to up to his free agency. There’s also the thought of whether Merrill would develop into the All-Star that he is now with the Angels.

“[The Angels] had every opportunity to trade Ohtani, and they didn’t do that,” Rosenthal said. “Jackson Merrill was at one point part of the talks between the Padres and Angels when they were discussing Ohtani. This was in ’22. [The] Padres at that time couldn’t get Ohtani, so they pivoted to [Juan] Soto.

“Two and a half years of control for Soto, one and a half for Ohtani, but the packages likely would have been similar. This was Shohei Ohtani. Merrill was part of it. Whether he would have been part of the final deal, hard to say. We don’t know. The mere fact that they could have made that deal for Ohtani, well, it just shows that [the Angels] missed on an opportunity.”

The Angels fumbled the Ohtani era at every turn.@Ken_Rosenthal reveals how they passed on a potential Padres trade involving Jackson Merrill. pic.twitter.com/Uvnu4m1bcf
— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) May 17, 2025

Rosenthal’s report raises an interesting what-if: if the Padres had convinced the Angels to trade Ohtani, would he be in San Diego right now instead of with the Dodgers?

Would the Dodgers have still won the World Series last year? Maybe the Padres would’ve flipped Ohtani again if he wasn’t open to signing an extension before hitting free agency. And there’s also the question of whether Merrill would’ve developed into the All-Star he is today if he had landed with the Angels.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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