Though the Angels elected not to use Shohei Ohtani as a pinch-hitter late in Saturday night’s game due to the fact that he was slated to start on Sunday, manager Mike Scioscia suggested yesterday that the team could eventually work to get Ohtani’s bat into the game more often (via Jeff Miller of the L.A. Times). Scioscia called the team’s template for using Ohtani “conservative” but added that the Angels could eventually loosen some constraints on the two-way star’s usage. Scioscia also acknowledged that the team has even considered forgoing the designated hitter on days when Ohtani pitches in American League stadiums, though as Miller notes, that could present problems for a team with a thin bench. “It would take an extreme, you know, something you might consider in September, if it was something that was really critical and you needed his bat in the lineup,” said the manager.
More from the game’s Western divisions…
- While the loss of Robinson Cano due to a broken hand is a significant blow, the bullpen may be the Mariners’ primary focus when searching for upgrades, writes Bob Dutton for KLAY 1180 AM. Cano figures to be back this summer, and while the rotation has hardly been effective, it’s more difficult to add high-end starting pitching upgrades around the deadline than it is to add relief arms, Dutton notes. Seattle would be hard-pressed to outbid other teams for a top-of-the-rotation arm, and club officials have acknowledged to Dutton that targeting relief help is a likelier course of action. Juan Nicasio has completely melted down over his past couple appearances after a dominant start to the season, while Nick Vincent hasn’t been as effective as he has in recent seasons, either.
- Ian Desmond’s struggles have become a glaring problem for the Rockies, writes Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post. However, manager Bud Black and the Colorado front office still believe the veteran will turn things around despite his .170/.213/.355 slash this season and his unsightly .244/.294/.369 line since coming to the Rockies in the 2016-17 offseason. Desmond’s problems are all the more concerning given the struggles of Ryan McMahon earlier this season, leaving the Rox with little in the way of in-house options. Saunders notes that talks between the Rockies and Mark Reynolds never really took off, though he suggests that if Reynolds loses his roster spot in Washington once Ryan Zimmerman returns, the two sides could again explore a fit. However, Saunders also hears from those within the organization that the team wouldn’t relegate Desmond to the bench in favor of Reynolds, which could make a return to Denver a tough sell.
- Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic spoke to Dave Roberts, Kenley Jansen, Chris Taylor and others about the Dodgers’ early struggles (subscription link). While the losses of Corey Seager, Justin Turner, Clayton Kershaw and Hyun-Jun Ryu have hurt the club immensely, Rosenthal also contends that the Dodgers’ approach this offseason didn’t do the team any favors. The Dodgers were known to be avoiding the luxury tax threshold — an important factor as they prepare for next offseason’s impressive free-agent class — and thus sought bargain options to replace quality contributors such as Brandon Morrow and Tony Watson (namely, signing Tom Koehler and acquiring Scott Alexander). Of course, it’s worth pointing out that Morrow and Watson were low-cost acquisitions themselves, and Rosenthal notes that the current front office has had success in building bullpens on the fly in the past. With Turner nearing a return and Kershaw expected to be out for weeks, rather than months (per Rosenthal), there’s help on the horizon, however, at a time when the division-leading D-backs are struggling with some of their own injury losses.
Did anyone really think the Ian Desmond deal wasn’t going to work out terribly?
Plenty.
Coming to Colorado he had posted seasons north of 3.5 fWAR in 4 of the past 5 years (w/ a 3.7 fWAR platform season). Better than a league average hitter while posting very positive defensive reviews while playing SS. He wasn’t too old, signing during his age 29 season. I think it’s safe to say that NOBODY saw his complete demise in Colorado.
The one thing people did question was the positional move. Most were of the opinion that he would slide back to the OF after his first year or even back to the middle infield if Story didn’t work out. Who knew that such a gifted defender would absolutely fail at 1B?
In the end, there certainly were question marks about the “fit” with Colorado but there were very few that predicted his absolute collapse.
Regardless of the collapse, I think the concencous at the time was that he wasn’t worth the combination of $70mm contract and forefeghting the 11th overall pick in the draft
The only reason McMahon didn’t get off to a better start is because he wasn’t playing regularly. Coming from the minors to the bigs, and being used only as a pinch hitter, isn’t gonna give you a chance to get into much of a groove. He still needs to be the future of the 1B position and Desmond needs to be a veteran bat off the bench.
BINGO!!!! Ctichota you have it right. Why put the kid on the roster and then use him like his is a 10 year journeyman. He needed the bats. The Rockies big mistake was to re-up with Carlos Gonzalez. They should have saved the money and let Desmond play the OF and 1B against tough lefties. Let McMahon get plenty of ABs.
I don’t get it with Desmond. Here is a good guy who is hard working and with plenty of ability. Yet he is chasing bad pitches and just not hitting. We need his productive bat along with CarGo and Parra. Otherwise. it could be “see ya” for all 3 of ’em. Then we can give the talented youngsters (McMahon, Dahl, Cuevas, and that real fast guy in AAA) a full time shot in the bigs.
The fast guy is Raimel Tapia who is a .283 hitter when playing for the Rox. No guarantees with the young guys, but they look very ready.
The young guys have been ready. What is this tapia’s 3rd go around in AAA? McMahon is ML ready and Dahl obviously is too. Signing cargo looked stupid then and it reall does now.
Why can’t ohtani hit for himself when he pitches? Is there any more risk then than any other day? He’s the DH anyway right? Why not let him hit for himself?
If they pull him they’d have to let the relievers hit
Or they could just pinch hit for the relievers like…*gasp* the National League!
Thanks Donny baseball for your brilliant insight!
Teams don’t carry enough bench players anymore to do that, especially in the AL when a lot of teams only carry 4-man benches.
they lose the DH for the entire game if he would hit on the days he pitches
If he can continue to give 6-7 innings most starts (like he has done 4 of 6 times) I can see them ditching the DH that day (they must let the umps and other team know prior to game starting) and taking their chances.
Only thing that sticks in my mind is I thought I read somewhere that Ohtani said he prefers not to hit on days he pitches. What is confusing about that is I am pretty sure he hit on the days he pitched in Japan.
Bud Black must be smoking some bad stuff that he got in Colorado. If he isn’t….he should stop talking……..he’s sounding like a complete idiot lately.
Getting Turner back may help the Dodgers, but as long as they continue to get on 5 innings from their starters, use Baez in crucial situations or solely count on Jansen to close and combine this with the anemic offense, the Dodgers are still a long way from righting the ship.
This part time DH thing is not going to work out for Ohtani, in the long term. Sure, it looks good when he’s hot, but eventually he will cool off. He’s not a 1,000 OPS hitter, in the long run. I don’t even think Trout would be a 1,000 OPS hitter, if he could only DH, and on top of it had to take three days off each week to pitch. And Ohtani’s no Trout, with the bat.
Might be a useful bat, sure, but at let’s say .800 OPS, you’re sacrificing a lot of focus on pitching, just to be able to get that out of him as a part time DH. Hardly seems worth it, he’d be more valuable just as the ace, taking the mound every five games.
So you either do that (focus on pitching, full time), or you go all out on the two way thing, like they did in Japan: use him as an outfielder when he’s not pitching. It’s not like he’s a bat first outfielder you try and hide in right field, either. He’s a five tool position player.
So what? If he’s a .800 Ops DH that’ll be good enough. Who’s his competition in Anaheim? Pujols or Valbuena? You’re taking that much energy out of pitching by getting in the cage a couple times a week? Really? I don’t think so. He wouldn’t be throwing the days he is hitting so what does it hurt. If he really struggles and hurts you as a hitter then you make that call but you certainly don’t do that if he’s a .800+ OPS guy. You can’t go all out on the two way thing and stick him in right field. That will tear his arm up and you’ll have a two way nothing.
He barely played the outfield at all the last two seasons he was in Japan; they have the DH there too. Pitching in MLB is different (for one thing, the ball is larger). I think it will take more out of him to pitch here simply because of the different ball and the much better level of competition.