Ohtani out until 2020?

Sucks for baseball and its fans. Was totally amazed at how he went from getting lit up spring training to lighting it up when the regular season started.

 

Angels could not have been any more cautious with him, that really sucks.

 

Certainly terrible news for baseball. Even though he may have been a possible obstacle for us, he is the most interesting player in years.

I know Tommy John is basically a 2 calendar year injury before pitchers are actually able to return to form. But for hitters, the recovery is much quicker. Theoretically he could be ready to DH in early 2019. Would that somehow curtail his pitching recovery?

 

Sucks for the Angels if he has to have Tommy John.

 

He's far more valuable to them as a pitcher than he is a DH.

If he was an Astro, I'd be 100% focused on doing whatever it took to get him healthy from a pitching standpoint. The DH aspect was always more of a luxury (and, depending how you look at it, downright "gimmicky"). Reminded me somewhat of Rick Ankiel's debut season with the Cardinals, where he was a relative formidable presence in the lineup on days he was pitching (not Ohtani good, but not plain ol NL pitcher bad).... but in the end, once he was no longer effective as a pitcher, he really wasn't as good of a hitter to be a regular.

 

He posted a .907 OPS this season. Can he sustain that, I don't know. His raw power is very much legit, his approach at the plate was pretty solid, with plus speed to boot. There's nothing gimmicky about what I've seen. If you removed his pitching entirely he was a very viable top hitting prospect. I don't see why a team would entirely ignore the potential to possibly have an elite outfielder.

Obviously if he can do what he does pitching a full workload it is certainly more valuable, but they were giving him an extremely soft workload for a starter. How valuable is a pitcher you have to handle with kid gloves at all times.

 

Normally I look at this from the perspective of an Astros fan...... however this is different, he is an extremely unique player and situation and it is too bad. It reminds me of Bo Jackson.... there are a few players that go beyond who you do or don't root for that are special for the game and Ohtani is one for sure.

 

Bad luck for sure. Have to wonder if this moves the needle for them (Angels) at all as it pertains to them being all in (trying to win) or selling (rebuild).

At a glance, they look to be a fringe wildcard team. The Astros, Yankees and Boston are clearly better. Are they better than Seattle or Cleveland?

 

I just think its more plausible to figure out a hitters weakness/tendencies with more exposure.. vs. an elite pitcher, whereby as long as his god-given arm is attached/healthy, there's always a potential there.

I also don't think the Angels would risk having him play the field and succumb to more injury. I also meant "gimmicky" from a standpoint that he was only going to bat certain days depending on where his pitching start was going to be, and depending on the matchup.

There's plenty of time to just let him be a hitter/DH if that's all he ends up being able to do. For the time being, if he was on my team, I'd try to preserve the pitching factor any way possible.

 

Cleveland doesn't matter as Cleveland likely wins their division. Angels main competition for the second wild card is Seattle. I think they are better than Seattle though Seattle has a decent lead. I would say it was a toss up before Ohtani's injury. Angels still have a decent shot even without Ohtani as Seattle just doesn't have much depth or the prospects to acquire replacements in case of injury.

 

At this point, they don't have much to lose waiting a month or two, I don't think - either way, he'd be ready well before 2020 Spring Training. They might as well keep trying PRP and rest and whatever other magic solutions they might have and hope it all works out (like Tanaka). If it doesn't, do the surgery in August or September.

 

Matsuzaka? Darvish? Others I don't care to think of right now? It just seems like it's inevitable with these guys.

 

Tough break for MLB and the Angels.

 

Are you saying Japanese players are prone to TJS?

 

I'm saying that it seems like the big$ guys that come over end up having arm/shoulder surgery within a couple of years.

I don't know how common it is before they come over here, or how common it is vs. American/Latin players of the same age and same usage. I do know they treat pitchers differently over there when they're in the development stage.

eta: add Tanaka to that list. Maeda has had elbow problems but no surgery yet that I know of. Nomo was healthy until much later in his career.

 

Now all that's left is the inevitable July collapse of the Seattle Mariners.

 

4 of the 5 NPB pitchers in MLB right now are on the DL.

 

Japanese pitchers are notoriously overworked in high school.

 

Like I said, they have a different development track than we do.