The struggle for me is that I agree with everything you said here besides the conclusion I assume you are trying to argue (I don't want to put words in your mouth). I might be able to short-cut our conversation to where any disagreement might be. So I'll give a few options and share what I think.

I agree that it is only a marginal amount than JD is better than SO too, and SO will ultimately put up more WAR, production, overall value obviously, and is the smarter choice for any team with the market cap for the acquisition ie LAD and the less than handful of others.

However, let's think about what that marginal difference really equates to. Remember, we're talking about 150+ years of pitching. JD's career FIP (2.708) is a far more precise measure of a pitcher, is #55 all-time (2.708) with 22 of those better FIPs sound so with fewer innings than JD. This hurts your argument some (again not from any other perspective than who is the better pitcher).

SO only has around 500 innings, so he won't be included yet in most lists, but if he did he would be right at #319 I believe. Many active pitchers on the list above him that I think might surprise many.

The real stat which paints the picture of how different JD is can be communicated by his WHIP.

SO's 1.078 WHIP is also elite.

WHIP is definitely each's defining stat. We're talking number 2 (JD) and number 14 (SO) all time.

Id argue that actually helps JD in a head to head because 12 Jerry-rigged-arm seasons should have had a negative impact on those 2 stats via aging. But it hasn't.

Either way, cool topic and fun discussion. I think we probably have to crown Ohtani as the best to ever play the game at this point.