Angels’ GM Billy Eppler has been working with the Commissioner’s office on finding a solution to handling injured list stints for Shohei Ohtani, whom Eppler catalogues nicely as a player with a “dual distinction.”
With Ohtani in mind, the Commissioner’s office has passed a new rule that would allow Ohtani to pitch on a rehab assignment and return to the club as soon as the next day to perform as a hitter, said Eppler on the MLB Network Radio’s Power Alley (audio link). Essentially, the Angels can now treat Ohtani separately as a pitcher and hitter, sending him on a rehab assignment while keeping him on the roster.
Of course, that’s the hitch in the plan as well, that Ohtani would remain on the ML roster while pitching elsewhere, leaving the Angels roster down a man for a day. Eppler also reminds us that when he was healthy as a two-way star, the Angels preferred to give Ohtani a full day of rest the day before and after pitching assignments that took him past 65 pitches or so.
Still, the Angels now have the option to send Ohtani to the Pacific Coast League or the California league nearby without totally removing him from the roster. Whether that amount of travel behooves team or player in this case will be up to the Angels to decide.
Stupid
It’s definitely not stupid. It means they can keep the bat in the lineup even if he needs to go rehab the arm. And with the new 26 man roster, it won’t be a huge deal to lose one spot
They don’t need his bat, they need his arm! They have zero pitching!!!!
That’s why they’re going to rehab his arm….
The Angels have zero pitching? Wow, you’re a great poster. Zero?
Your baseball acumen is tremendous.
So what is your point? If he has a pitching injury he will not be pitching but he could still hit. But you cry they need pitching so they should take his bat out of the lineup if hurt pitching because … why?
They actually need both, the dude is a stud
They actually need both, the dude is a stud
They actually need both, the dude is a stud
they actually need both, the dude is a stud
What do they need, a stud??
Both
He also gets rave reviews for his hitting and pitching
Oh boy, can’t wait to follow today’s battle of semantics between doom and mac
Zilch, nada, scratch. Comprende?
Ha
Semantics. Horrible is not semantics.
The Angels pitching is suspect, not because of talent but because of health.
But the A’s pitching is not suspect? I just don’t understand that.
Okay, they have a bunch of 4-5 ERA starters, one who just came off TJ and will have his limited innings, another who is NEVER healthy, a youngster who got rocked, then injured, and another who is there to eat innings…. Yup, sounds promising.
Funny it sounds promising to me.
They have the #1 pitching prospect in baseball coming back from TJ. A number 25 prospect, who struck out over 11 batters per inning last year who is coming back from TJ surgery. They have a number 56 prospect last year who made his major league debut and did nothing to indicate he wont be a quality major league pitcher.
The added a pitcher with one elite pitch and one very good pitch. I’m hopeful Callaway can work with that. If they reintroduce his cutter, as being discussed, he still has great promise.
They added a pitcher coming off a 3.94 ERA, with a lifetime 3.67 ERA, who has never had a 4.5 ERA. And even if he’s 4.5, that’s should be worth 15 wins on this team.
And you should read what fangraphs says about Sandoval.
“Sandoval has a solid four-pitch mix, highlighted by his changeup, a pair of swing-and-miss breaking balls, and three different velocity levels. I love when a young pitcher has a changeup locked and loaded right off the bat.”
Here is a prediction. If these six can match the innings total of Puk, Manaea, Bassit, Fiers, Luzardo and Montas, they’ll finish ahead of the A’s in the standings. If they can’t stay healthy, they wont.
@Dr Doom Ohtani is not a 4-5 starter. He has ace potential. No one is going to say the Angel’s rotation is great, but compared to what they have had recently, they are much improved. Last year, Cahill led the team in innings with 102. It is almost impossible to lead the team with 102 innings pitched over 162 game season. By adding, Ohtani,Bundy, and Teheran, they have shaved about 130 runs from last years team. This is a significant improvement.
They are not completely devoid of pitching. Ohtani has the stuff to be elite, though he will be limited this year. Angels also have Teheran. He had an ERA+ of 119, which is higher than anyone that started for the Yankees last year. They do need to add an top of the rotation arm, but that may come during the season.
Fangraphs also found that Bundy had the unluckiest 4 seam fastball in all of mlb in 2019
blogs.fangraphs.com/the-best-expected-fastballs-of…
Something tells me they might need both..Idk, but I’ve heard the dude is a stud.
We need his bat. Ohtani hit .286/.343/.505/.848 with a 123 OPS+ and 18 HR in 425 PA last season. Taking that level of offensive performance out of the lineup would hurt any team.
We also need his arm. He is coming back from Tommy John surgery, so what we need most is to give him the time to rehab from that injury in outings that don’t matter to the MLB win/loss record so that when he starts pitching in the majors he is effective. 20-24 effective starts from Ohtani is better than having him come back to the majors too soon and pitching poorly or even getting hurt again.
We have Heaney, Canning, Teheran, Bundy, and Sandoval to handle the pitching load until Ohtani is ready to join the rotation. .
I don’t want Bundy throwing a four seam fastball anywhere near the strike zone. There are lots of pitchers that get by without a great four seem fastball.
@wordonthestreet
Ummmm….because hitters can get injuries too? And there are plenty of ways for him to injure the injured shoulder while doing something athletic. I would be very tempted to switch him to a full-time pitcher. They need an ace….he’s your part-time DH.
It is stupid! When injured is always best to be fully clear of said injury, or you injury another part of you
So throwing a baseball puts stress on the same muscles as hitting or running? Don’t be a doctor. This isn’t a leg or core injury.
Laswagn- before you make a comment, you might want to know what you are talking about so you don’t look so stupid. People who say this is stupid is beyond dumb. This is a great thing for the angels they can keep his plus bat in the lineup and then send him on a rehab assignment so they can get him back on the mound ASAP.. this is a win win situation
Idk, better to be safe than sorry..I mean, God forbid you “injury another part of you.” Lol
MLBTR comments section never fails for a good laugh..(:
It’s always better to keep your mouth shut and allow people to think you’re an idiot than open it and prove them right.
@macstruts
Couldn’t tell if this was a serious question. When a pitcher throws a ball he uses his legs and his core to create the torque which equals velocity. Stand on a mound and throw a pitch. Then think about what body parts are in use,. Otherwise, a guy like CC would still be pitching. Never had an arm related injury throwing over 3,000 inning but did miss significant time because of bad knees which hampered his velocity and fielding,
Shouldnt it require the Angels to use one spot on the 26 man roster and the 40 man roster for Ohtani the hitter and Ohtani the pitcher?
Do they need dudes or studs I’m getting kinda lost
They need Ohtanis bat and arm genius
No
@Dvall1979 No, Why should it? He is still one person. One person takes one spot on the roster. Any position player is allowed to pitch and any pitcher is allowed to pinch run or pinch hit.
That’s actually a pretty good point. If they’re going to treat him separately as a hitter and a pitcher, then shouldn’t he count twice towards the roster counts??
I guess the ML Office sees this as a trend that could ultimately benefit a few teams, but as of now, this rule is only benefitting Ohtani and the Angels. I’m surprised no other AL West team hasn’t already brought this up..
Technically though, it isn’t like Ohtani can be in two places at once, so the Angels are just going to be a man short whenever Ohtani goes down on a pitching assignment..
However, really the only thing this changes is it takes out the minimum length requirements for players that are put on the IL and rehab assignments..So, instead of having to go on a rehab assignment and stay down however many days, Ohtani can now be brought back up the day after he pitches.
Personally, for it to even truly be advantageous it would depend on the distance between the ML team, and its AAA affiliate. If it is only a few hours away, then it could certainly help, especially since the Angels like to sit Ohtani the day before and the day after he pitches anyways..
This is ridiculous. There should be no special rules for certain players. Pat Venditte all over again. Manfred up to his shenanigans again.
@Todd76…This is opening the door for more teams to utilize 2 way players….this is good for the game not bad
Not much to complain about today huh?
In special circumstances, there certainly should be special rules. Should we start allowing midgets to hit again, as well? (Technically, that rule change affected contract confirmation, but it was still put in place especially to prevent another Gaedel stunt.)
Besides, it applies to all two-way players, so guys like Lorenzen can also take advantage.
you must be!
i cant believe the two way player becomes a thing and almost immediately the legaue squashes its chances of getting off the ground. this really could have been the next big thing, but now they’ve gone and done this. these new rules are ridiculous. lets change the rules. instead of all these new rules we say 1. 26 man active roster and 2. you can have only 13 players on your active roster that thew more games than they hit in last year, and elminate the ban on players not designated as pitchers to pitch, so long as they do not pitch in more games then they hit during the year. (with punishments for such behavior being doled out when numbers are finalized at the end of the year)
So they add a roster spot and allow a two-way player to pitch in rehab games while hitting for the ML team, but you see this as the league squashing its chances of getting off the ground?
Yea I’d say this combo of rules is perfectly designed for having a 2-way player on the roster.
this rule isnt prohibitive, but the rest are. the fact that a rule like this would even have to be created shows the other ones would be otherwise restricting it.
It helps two way players. I just hope it works both ways. Why shouldn’t Brendon McKay be able to get in some hitting reps if his pitching is ahead of his hitting?
Boy Darkside you really are not comprehending what is going on
its not about this rule in specific, its about all these new moves overall. designating players as hitters or pitchers really limits advances in this area.
Very true I have to agree
Darkside, So we should go back to the ten day DL for pitchers? We saw how that worked out.
This is actually a better workaround for Ohtani. Allows him to rehab his pitching relatively stress free without having to option him (where he would lose money) or have him come in super early to do simulated games. And there’s good reason to suspect him doing real games is probably better than sim games anyway. This is s pretty sensible solution.
Maybe I’m a bit confused by the rule, but I believe one of the conditions of being considered a 2-way player is you had to meet certain pitching and hitting requirements last year. Since he only batted last year while recovering from TJ, he didn’t meet the pitching requirements. I guess an in-season rehab assignment would be a way for him to meet the requirements and be counted as a 2-way player when the assignment is completed.
Since Ohtani didn’t pitch in 2019 the Commissioner’s Office ruled that they would count the 50 innings that Ohtani threw in ‘18.
The new agreement states to be a two-way player you have to pitch at least 20 innings and have at least 50 AB to qualify. This eliminates position players from pitching in blowouts. The 26 man roster was the sweetener for the MLBPA.
I assume the same would apply for Micheal Lorenzen if needed in Cincinnati
It would apply for any player I would assume who wants to hit on the major league squad and pitch in a minor league rehab game. I don’t see how they could let Ohtani do it and nobody else.
What about pitchers who can hit. What about Brendan McKay whose pitching maybe ready but needs some hitting reps at AAA.
These are two different players. The hitter who is not ready, and the pitcher who is. I would hope it would work both ways.
Anything that paves the way for more two way players is a good thing. I really hope it’s not just one sided.
It seems like this is a rule made for one player, and advantages one team. Until more two way players appear in the majors, this seems very premature. The Angels should use the DL like every other team. When Herb Washington was the only designated runner, the leagues knew better than to change rules for one team. Oakland had to play by the same rules, even though they were the first to try something new.
I don’t really have any problem with this. But I’d have to wrap my head around the idea that he’s on the DL as a pitcher but able to play as a hitter. Rule wise at least
He’s really not on the disabled list, he’s just able to pitch in rehab games. He has to stay on the 26 man roster regardless if he’s pitching in the minors or hitting for the ML team.
That’s exactly why this situation did not need a rule. Nothing changes, really.
Nothing changes? It means he can still DH even though he may have to go on a rehab assignment for pitching.
Pitches do need rehab starts from time to time.
It allows him to pitch in the minors while on the major league roster. Normally to pitch in the minors he would either need to be optioned or on the IL and on a rehab assignment. In either of those, he wouldn’t be available to hit for the major league team in between minor league pitching appearances. This way he can pitch Monday for Salt Lake (AAA) or Inland Empire (A+), DH in Anaheim Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, then pitch again in a minor league game on Saturday.
Alot changes actually. Now, when Ohtani needs a rehab start, he won’t have to sit down on assignment for 10-15 days or however long it is..He can start at DH one day, then go pitch at AAA the next, and then he can come back up and start at DH the following day.
Before, he would have to go down, stay for 10-15 days, and then come back up..Now, he can get shuttled back and forth without any restrictions..HUGE DIFFERENCE!!
It is just on the days that Ohtani goes down to pitch, the Angels will be a man short. However, that’s the price they’re going to have to pay, and it is a small one for being able to keep his bat in the lineup the vast majority of the time..
Fire Eppler! Meh, he’ll lose his job at the end of the year after another mediocre year.
Insightful. You must have million of twitter followers.
I’m not on Twitter, and what else would you like me to say? Eppler is a horrible GM, this organization is run by a complete moron when it comes to a winning baseball team, so…
Why… Because he didn’t overpay for Ryu, Cole, and Keuchel?
Because he brought in Cahill on a one year contract and he stunk. Well Beane brought in Cahill on a one year contract and he was very good for them.
Because he didn’t commit a multi-year deals to Happ or Eovaldi or Yusei Kikuchi last year? Or Robertson or Miller and screw up the team for three years?
Adding one year deals to Harvey, Cahill and Allen was a very smart move. Am I happy with our rotation right now? Not really. But there is a HUGE difference between horrible and not really.
Even though things have to break right, this team hasn’t thrown away three future years.
Macstruts: yes, yes, maybe, no, and possibly.
Dr. Doom has a very legitimate point, however. Teams that overpay for pitching (or any position) do so because of their potential value for winning WS. They know it’s too much, but they would rather get a ring and overpay.
If the Angels would rather keep the money, or spend elsewhere (by your standard they overpaid for Rendon) then that’s fine; it just won’t result in a WS win, more than likely.
It’s the organizational goals that drive the contract. Frankly, neither is wrong, but one must set expectations in accordance with FO performance.
Wow, take your Angels blinders off!
Eppley chased Cole as hard as he could and he lost out probably because Cole wanted A) the highest salary he could get, and B) he wanted to a chance to win it all each and every year….did the Yankees overpay…..time will tell but that passing time may pay off with a WS or two or three titles the celebration of which you can watch on TV as they pass down the Canyon of Heros in NY!
Angels pitching is very, very ordinary at best….Trout will be in the old age home before you hoist a WS title in Anaheim!
It’s not just this year, man. Eppler has done nothing to help this rotation in the last four years.
He dumpster dives and crosses his finger that a high spin rate will equal wins. How’s that working out?
Arte thinks purchasing aging bats and sidestepping SP will equal more wins. It’s a joke. This whole franchise is becoming a joke.
I like you Mick, but I don’t like people who constantly use hyperbole. Horrible is hyperbole. Back things up with different ideas, such as what you would have done. Hindsight is not a skill, it’s a mental condition.
Now that I have that out of the way, The Angels went hard after Corbin, they went hard after Cole. The pivoted and Rendon was a great pivot. I like Ryu, but he’s thrown 150 innings once since 2014. Kuechel is pretty ordinary. Both are not where I’d spend my 100 million. Wheeler, I would have tried harder, but I said that last November. People who only throw mud typically have mud for brains. They need to do more than just criticize.
you are right. he hadn’t done well till 2018. but he assebled very good infielders that will provide great defense and het on bases for the big guys to drive them in.
he also managed to assemble very good pen without spending much.
upcoming season’s rotation is light years better than the one last season. offense and defense is whole lot better. and we can trade for a front li e starting pitcher in trade deadline.
future is much brighter than the past!
And what did you want him to do?
The Angels rotation was fantastically set up in 2015. The team was coming off the best record in baseball. The staff was young, talented and good. Skaggs had TJ and died and never really recovered. Heaney had TJ and is still recovering. Richards got hurt, wasted a year, had TJ and is now somewhere else. Shoemaker can’t stay healthy. They had no farm.
If Puk takes three years to come back from TJ, Montas dies of a PED overdose, Luzardo and Manaea have TJ and are not good for three years, I don’t think the A’s are going to all of a sudden wake up with good pitching.
When you have no farm, it takes a while to recover.
@macstruts “Skaggs had TJ and died and never really recovered”
Yeah, death is hard to recover from.
Wow, actually an insightful, legitimate, and intelligent cohesive series of thoughts…Congrats good sir, you’re one of the VERY FEW users here that actually makes sense, and can express such reasoning in a rational manner.
I thank you, it is nice to read a comment that doesn’t consist of mindless dribble, coupled together with sentence fragments and a lack of punctuation. For a second, I had to double check and make sure I was still on the same site…lol
And this is for @TheMick7, wouldn’t want the rest of you thinking you’re doing anything remotely near right..lol haha
That’s funny, I was typing too fast. Not everyone recovers from TJ surgery in 18 months.
So…if Greinke or Bumgarner (or other decent hitting pitchers) were to need a rehab assignment would they be eligible to pinch hit on the days in between?
I doubt the Astros would want to use a roster spot for one of those guys as a pinch hitter, but yeah, it would seem they now have that option.
Well, the Astros could probably use them for hitting since they know what pitch is coming.
Not real likely for Greinke in the AL but Bumgarner in the NL with all the switching around might be a possibility. I realize it’s all highly unlikely but when you start messing with the rules strange situations may come up.
Neither of them are better hitters than the bench bats on their teams, so I don’t feel that either team would entertain this idea to begin with.
I agree….But it might save using a position player in a bunt situation.
They actually need both, the dude is a studsimple answer yes
It’s a great rule. These are really two separate players in the same body, the pitcher and the hitter. One is ready, the other is not.
Maybe this will allow Brendan McKay a chance to pitch while getting some hitting reps at AAA. or Jered Walsh or any two way player.
Good for baseball. Good for thinking of ways to help two way players.
It’s a dumb rule. Who cares if he plays minor league ball on his ‘off’ days? He still costs you a roster spot and he still accrues service time. This situation did not need addressed.
So if he needed to make a minor league rehab start, it means he had to go on the fifteen day DL and be unavailable to his team for 15 days.
So bottom line, without the rule, one minor league rehab start would cost him 15 days of service.
How is that a dumb rule?
If he counts as two different players when he is only hitting for the team then he should have to count as two different players when he is pitching and hitting. If he is doing both for the major league club he should take up two rosters spots, otherwise this rule is unbalanced and only made to benefit the club without any downside.
Why should he take up two roster spots? That would mean he can pinch hit on the day he’s pitching. And if he’s in the NL, he would be able to pitch, hit, and then pitch hit. He can pitch hit for the number 8 hitter, and if he gets on base, you can pitch run for him, then he can hit again?
Anything that helps a two way player to develop is a good thing. I just hope it goes both ways.
One player one roster spot.
Any active player can be used for any position to help his team win each day each game.
Except position players who can pitch a little. They are now only allowed to pitch under certain circumstances.
This is the Angels starting 5 on their web page depth chart:
Ohtani
Heaney
Teheran
Bundy
Canning
Ohtani is going to be on an innings limit after TJS and 2 or 3 of the others are relatively inexperienced. They need at least one maybe 2 more established/quality starters if they have any hopes/chance of competing with the Astros & A’s in their division.
Don’t pay too much attention to their web pay. They’ll likely have a six man rotation. Right now Sandoval is the 6th man.
And Puk, Manaea and Luzardo will likely be on a limit. Montas pitched about 100 MLB innings last year after getting tested for PEDs? Then you have Fiers and Bassit. Yet no one worries about the A’s staff?
Maybe that’s because the A’s have won 97 games in each of the last 2 seasons while the Angels are 80 & 72 respectively in their last 2 seasons. Yes, they got Rendon (3B) and Maddon (Mgr) but they still have to prove they can win between the lines. It remains to be seen if they can do it with a mediocre starting rotation.
That’s exactly why, and the A’s lost 87, 93, and 94 the previous three years.
The A’s have a completely different staff than they had last year. Great potential, great question marks.
As far as the Angels staff.. Completely different as well. The Angels are not the team they were last year, neither are the A’s.
But all people can look at are records, because that’s all they really know about teams.
Like I said and you seemed to have missed in my comment. The A’s proved they can win, the Angels have to show they can win especially with a mediocre starting staff. Until they do there will always be questions.
Mcstruts all I know about the Angels is they have a nice homer as a fan. One that sees the bright side of every move they make or don’t make. The Angels got Rendon and that’s great but there are well rounded rosters and their are not well rounded rosters and the Angels certainly are not. I’ve heard you and a few others say that a run earned is the same as a run saved and that’s not entirely true. Good pitching beats good hitting. If a guy is throwing his best stuff out there against the Angels there are no pitching duals they’re cooked. Beating up on a guy who’s just out there trying to eat another inning during a 15-5 game is meaningless. I agree long term signing a couple of those free agent starters could end up being hard on the back end but wasn’t it you who said(forgive me if I’m wrong)that if your thinking about 22,23 instead of 20 you’ll likely end up losing in all of those years? The Yanks knew what they needed and got their man. The Angels couldn’t take a chance on Ryu? Or even Wood(which I know we both agree on)? If your argument is you never know a couple of these guys could just have break out years and all these dominos could fall just right then fine. But you can’t tell me on paper that the Angels look like a playoff contender. On Donaldson as long as it was just money teams should just spend it but the Angels shouldn’t have on pitching? They have to trade for pitching now. Even if you throw away 2020 the starter market next offseason is razor thin
Seth, paragraphs are you friend.
Their starting pitching is talented, but mainly because of health, suspect. So Eppler added two innings eaters to go with the uncertainty. .
Ryu has thrown 150 innings once since 2014. Since then.. zero innings, 4.2 innings, 126 innings, 82 innings, then 182. You wanted to add more uncertainty for 80 million dollars?
Four years 80 million for RYU is drawing to an inside straight
I would have love to add Wood and have criticized Eppler for it. But I was saying that a month ago. I would have loved to add Wheeler, I was saying that last November.
But he’s horrible? No. I like the Angels move this off-season. I would have loved a couple different moves.
The A’s have also proved they can lose. I got your comment, you missed mine.
Just a thought but I think the Angels woll outscore alot of teams in the regular season, perhaps enough to be a wldcard team. The pitching will doom them however in a 5 or 7 game series
Just a thought but I think the Angels woll outscore alot of teams in the regular season, perhaps enough to be a wldcard team. The pitching will doom them however in a 5 or 7 game series
Probably because somehow the A’s consistently pull ML caliber starting pitchers out of nowhere. The same cannot be said for the Angels, so I guess the A’s just get the benefit of the doubt..
Well, that’s my line of thinking, but I could be wrong. I don’t really follow either team all that closely, and I’m not entirely sure what either team has waiting at AAA for rotation depth..
My best guess would be either the A’s get the benefit of the doubt, because of their reputation for developing starters, or, compared to the Angels, the A’s possibly just have more depth waiting at AAA..
Either way, the Angels are trending the in the right direction. Their offseasons could have looked ten times better if they added Wheeler, but alot of teams could say the samething..
Actually, the A’s don’t. As I said earlier, 87, 93, 94 losses the prior to their two year winning streak.
Had it been five years in a row, I would have thought differently. The Angels have lost 90 games once this millennium. The A’s have lost 86 or more games seven times in the last 13 years. The Angels have lost 86 or more games. twice since 2002..
Recency bias is very strong. I just look at these two teams differently. If the A’s are relatively healthy, they should be very good. But I feel the same way about the Angels.
It’s a fair way to treat a relatively rare situation
I’ve always thought they should allow a 29 man roster, but only a 25 man active game day roster. So essentially your 4 SP that dont play aren’t active, so you could then carry a 3rd catcher, baserunning specialist, etc.
As a fan and a person who sides with players over ownership, I love this idea. But good luck getting owners to agree to adding 3 MLB roster spots. That’s at minimum like $1.7M more in player salary every year.
That makes a lot of sense to me
Inland Empire 66ers will be loving this for “Sho”!
Interesting… I think most fans like the idea of two-way players, so it makes sense that the league should be accommodating to this.
Baseball has been drunk for like a week now
How very 2020, make rules for the vast minority of situations
Setting a bad precedent.
Ohtani is two separate players. Yahoo had it right all along.
A polyp on his duodenum
“Whiling” is not the word you’re looking for. Don’t try to get too fancy.
Is this the gist?:
Pitching, or hitting, can go on the DL subject to those rules. The player can only provide the “healthy” abilities to the MLB club on a day he doesn’t play in minor league games to rehab the “listed” skill-set.
Seems simple if it is.
Teams know what they can, and can’t, do so now all they have to do is figure out how to take advantage of it. Ohtani makes it easy. How many other teams would even consider using players like this?
They don’t go on the DL. They remain on the active roster.
Basically players that are two way players can be active on a AAA and major league roster at the same time.
I’m not sure how you can manipulate that. It’s a great way to help two way players. I’m all for it.
The problem currently is that only one team has a two way player. Would the league have even considered this if it was a player on the Marlins, or KC?
@stymeedone Angels also have Jared Walsh. He hit and pitched last year. He didn’t much at the major league level, but he did hit 36 homers in triple A last year.. He also relieved about 5 games for the Angels last year. Walsh’s hitting is far superior to his pitching. He is not like Ohtani.
The Angels also have Bo Way in the minors that is a two way player.
Most likely not, but I’m guessing with McKay coming up, and a handful of other two-way guys coming up through college and in HS the ML Office is going ahead and trying to change the rule to make it easier to accommodate teams carrying a two-way player on their 26-man roster..
@kodlon DL means disabled list, meaning cannot play. If Ohtani is on the DL, he is not going to be pitching or hitting. If he sustains a major injury like a Tommy John surgery, he is not going to be able to pitch or hit and will go on the DL. If he has a minor injury that allows him to hit but not pitch, he can be a DH. If they want him to make a rehab after a few weeks of not pitching, they can send him down to make a rehab start without making a roster move. This is nothing game changing but can be beneficial under certain circumstances.
I hope Ohtani can stay healthy
I wonder if this would have been acceptable or will be for Pat Venette(sp?)
He was put on the IL(DL) w/ shoulder inflammation
Could he have still been a RHP while resting his left shoulder?
This is so stupid. It should be part of the risk you take with having a 2-way player. How come a position player can’t DH in the MLB and play field in minors then? This doesn’t seem right
I’m with you. Stupid. Not significant enough to warrant a rule change at the least. If he costs you a roster spot, who cares if he’s throwing at AAA to rehab his arm? You can’t stash him on the IL and let him DH for the big team, so why would anyone care? This did not need addressed.
Whether you are a Yanks or a Halo fan, a baseball fan should embrace any rule that puts a star on the baseball field more for fans to enjoy.
And if you can make your stars better by stealing signs, more power to you!
Eddie that’s an electrifying point.
Babe Ruth and Smokey Joe never needed the rules changed for them.
@stymeedone Babe Ruth and Smokey Joe were never really two way players. They were pitchers that later became position players. They never tried to do both at the same time.
Mike Trout should pitch.
The only player this rule really benefits is the ordinary, 2-way, pre-arb guy, so they can’t rob him of service time shuttling him back and forth. If he contributes to the big team, he costs you that roster spot and accrues time. Simple enough. Why is this a thing?
You’re wrong. Let’s say Ohtani tweaks his elbow, they shut him down for a month, he DHs. Prior to inserting him in the rotation again, they want to give him a rehab start. Now they can without having to put him on the 15 day DL and losing him for 15 days.
This is just as valuable in year two as it is in year six.
For the life of me, I don’t see how anyone doesn’t understand this is a great rule change. .
Then Mike Lorenzen can go down and Bat at AAA if he pitches and needs a day off???
I wouldn’t use him as an example, I’d use Brendan McKay. His arm might be major league ready, his bat is not.
What if they gave him 200 ABs in the minor leagues while still on a major league roster pitching every 5th day. I’m not sure that’s allowable under these new rules, but it sounds like a great idea to me.
This is my only question/concern about the rule, and you bring up a very valid point mac.
Hopefully, during the next chat session someone will actually ask this question, instead of one of the other countless stupid questions that get regurgitated each and every chat..
You can bet, the legitimate question won’t be answered, but there will be a handful of questions about Lindor, Bryant’s service time issue, the Dodgers neverending pursuit of a star, the Reds acquiring Lux or Story, and countless stupid and unrealistic trade proposals from Braves’ fans…lol
Make Baseball Great Again!
Ban the shift, have soft contact and ground balls mean something again.
Another dumb rule. MLB commissioner is trying to micromanage the league.
It’s only a dumb rule because you can’t comprehend it.
So Ohtani and others, have to be removed from the major league roster for 15 days because they may need a rehab start is a dumb rule to you.
It’s only dumb rule to people who have issues with logic.
Stupid. This should never be a thing. If you’re on a rehab assignment then you’re on a rehab assignment. No ands ifs or buts
Man you people are clueless.
Genius idea. Allows us to use Ohtani’s bat while he finishes his TJ rehab in the minors. Best of both worlds for Ohtani and the club. We need his arm long term. Let’s make sure it’s healthy before putting the stress of MLB pitching on it…and the club still gets that valuable bat in the lineup. Very creative solution by Eppler.
Angels are so desperate to have Ohtani on the field but not worried about his health. They did the same thing last year and it hurt them. Let the guy build himself back and then maybe he helps the Angels into the playoffs. Angels are going to ruin this guy career like Texas did with Yu Davrish
The Angel’s have been handling Ohtani with kids gloves. They’ve taking alot of precautions. You sound like a jilted Mariners fan that lost out on his services. The fact is the Angels have stated Ohtani might not pitch to open the season.
Hey eph, don’t go into medicine. You don’t know how the body works. Throwing is an unnatural motion. Many injuries that will affect your throwing don’t affect other areas. These are not core body issues we are talking about.
Don’t worry Mac. I won’t practice medicine. Not sure what that has to do with my comment above.