Disagree with this. I don't think Kenta is effective into the 7th inning. Might as well go with the relievers. Floro, Winder, Headrick and Funderburk are all available.
The hilarious part of this is the Angels couldn't get under the luxury tax threshold because Grichuk went unclaimed. They're still getting a 4th rounder for compensation for Ohtani.
They don't have to put Martin on the 40 man roster by 8/31 to use him in the playoffs. All they have to do is cut someone else from the 40 man when they add him.
I'd say it's hard to get fair value. There aren't many Arraez for Lopez deals out there. Would Seattle deal one of their young starters? Would the White Sox deal Cease to a division rival? Could they get Misiorowski from the Brewers?
The Angels needed to trade Ohtani at the deadline to have any hope in the near future. They desperately need a rebuild and their best veteran trade asset according to MLB trade values is Jose Quijada. Their roster looks like an expansion team - old vets past their prime and young players brought up too soon out of desperation.
I don't think it's risky at all. I think it's risky to keep him. He's stretched defensively at 2B (which is Julien's real weakness). Multiple people here don't trust that he could transition to 1B. As a DH he's pretty mediocre and the Twins aren't hurting for DH options.
Second base is not that hard to fill. They can keep Polanco and Farmer one more season (which only costs money) and transition to Lee.
One fun consequence for the Angels is they lost 5 players the day before rosters expanded which means they need to fill seven spots on the 28 man roster for tonight's game.
The easiest fix is to allow the team losing players to negotiate with every team that claimed them. If six teams claim someone then they can bid against each other. Bring back the waiver trade deadline.
The Reds almost certainly had claims on all 3 as well. The Twins were 4th in line on the relievers. Time to move Varland into the bullpen for September.
All of those are possible. The team can keep or outright the player to the minors. The player can refuse the outright assignment if they have enough service time (these guys all have enough service time).
Minnesota offers almost nothing for endorsements and Ohtani is the most marketable player in MLB. If he comes to MN he will be leaving at least $200M in endorsement money on the table.
BTW - why isn't Gallo on this list? Worst case he passes through and they keep him on the roster. Best case they dump him on a different playoff team and he hurts their offense as much as he hurts the Twins.