The Angels, were they to take a glass half-full approach to Shohei Ohtani’s injury, may see that there’s a silver lining to his torn UCL.

In life, there’s always a benefit to the glass half-full approach. But in the Los Angeles Angels’ case, such a thought may be hard to stomach, especially in the aftermath of Shohei Ohtani’s torn UCL. But given the Angels’ failed push for the postseason, silver linings may be all they have to cling onto, especially with the Japanese international set to enter free agency in a few months’ time.

According to a few executives who talked to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, Ohtani’s injury may now make the Angels’ task of keeping the 29-year old dual threat in town that much easier since he won’t physically be able to perform on the mound until at least 2025 at the earliest. And even then, there are tons of uncertainty as to whether Ohtani will even return to top-of-the-rotation form.

“Teams were looking at him as a No. 1 starter, and the hitting was secondary. The value of Ohtani was 1-1, the No. 1 starter and the greatest DH in game. No one was paying Ohtani to be a No. 3 starter. The teams that are needing a No. 1 starter now won’t go after him. I really think this dramatically helps the Angels,” one veteran executive told Nightengale.

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This is certainly an interesting viewpoint, and one that will give us an insight as to how teams truly value Shohei Ohtani. Clearly, a ton of his value lies on his ability to be an elite player both as a hitter and a pitcher, so teams will be losing a ton of value while Ohtani recovers from his UCL tear.

But as Ohtani showed in 2023, he remains plenty valuable as a hitter alone, so he’ll surely command a ton of money regardless — perhaps from the Angels themselves given how much his value to the franchise extends far beyond the diamond.

Only time will tell where Ohtani ends up in free agency. Will he decide to seek out greener pastures, given the Angels’ inability to build a winning team around him and Mike Trout? Or will he stay with the Angels against most fans’ expectations? Just don’t end up too surprised if he chooses the latter option.