Fact or fiction: Could Shohei Ohtani be traded to Pittsburgh Pirates?

Fact or fiction?  Or maybe fable?

  Let's begin with the facts: Shohei Ohtani is the most valuable player in baseball.  Nobody can do what he does.  He's an elite power hitter and one of the five best pitchers in the game.  He is a Gold mine in cleats.

  He currently is working for the Angels on a one-year $30 million contract  That contract -- and the Angels control -- expires at the end of the season, making Ohtani the most-coveted free agent in history.

  Another fact: Ohtani has expressed his desire to play for a winning organization, which the Angels sadly are not.

So, do they trade him by mid-summer for a handful (boatful) of prospects or wait until he flees in the fall?

  Now, few teams can afford the kind of money Ohtani and his agents will require, somewhere around $500 million or more for likely 10 years (he's 28 this year).  Only baseball's behemoths like the Yankees, Mets and Dodgers can write a check that big --  although the Mariners, Padres and Cubs would like to be dealt a hand in that bidding war.

  However, ALL teams can afford $15 million, the cost to rent Ohtani for the rest of the summer, should the Angels move him and restock their roster with prospects.

  The talk has long been that the Dodgers will try to sign him as a free agent or trade for him in July.  Forget the trade talk, Angel owner Arte Moreno will not ship him up the Freeway.

  What about a team that is having a good, and surprising season?  Why not go there for three months and push that team into the playoffs and re-energize the entire franchise and city?  How about the Pittsburgh Pirates?

  The once-proud Pirates have been dismal recently with two 100-loss seasons in 2021 and 2022.  Attendance is embarrassing for the franchise of the great Roberto Clemente, Honus Wagner, Ralph Kiner and the Willie Stargell "We Are Family" teams.  They average 15,000 fans per game -- they would sell out every game Ohtani pitches and maybe some more when he is just clobbering home runs and stealing bases. The Pirates have four prospects listed in the Top 54 of all of baseball. Couldn't they, shouldn't they, wouldn't they ship two or three of them to the West Coast for a shot at the championship for the first time since 1979, a mere 44 years ago.

Hey, the Pirates were 20-8 after the weekend, the second-best record in baseball, but attendance continued to lag, placing them in last place among National League teams.  What a shot at the turnstile Ohtani would be!

Fact or Fiction?  Or Fable?  Pittsburgh Pirates, 2023 World Champions.

Pete Donovan is a Palm Desert resident and former Los Angeles Times sports reporter. He can be reached at pwdonovan22@yahoo.com

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Could Shohei Ohtani be traded by Los Angeles Angels to Pittsburgh Pirates?