Angels two-way player Shohei Ohtani has progressed in his rehab to throwing off of flat ground, Angels GM Billy Eppler tells reporters, including Fabian Ardaya of the Athletic (Twitter link). This seems to be in line with the timeline laid out last month, where he was expected to be able to rejoin the rotation by mid-May. Ardaya says that Ohtani could try throwing off a mound again in a couple weeks, which would be early April. And given that mid-May is the earliest the season could start, it’s seeming likely that Ohtani could be ready to go by Opening Day, regardless of when it is.
Griffin Canning, on the other hand, seems to be behind his rotation mate in terms of his rehab timeline. Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reports on Twitter that Eppler says Canning is still about a week away from throwing. Canning’s timeline after that is less clear. Unlike Ohtani, who is following a fairly well-understood rehab process to come back from Tommy John surgery, Canning is seemingly trying to avoid an extended absence. His initial diagnosis last month did involve “chronic changes” to his ulnar collateral ligament, but no tearing. Shortly after that, he received “biological injections” to treat his elbow. (Fletcher’s tweet refers to PRP, or a platelet-rich plasma injection.) Whether this path back to health will be effective remains to be seen, but next week’s throwing sessions will be the first step in ascertaining as much.
As recently laid out by Connor Byrne of MLBTR, the delayed start to the season could actually be a boon to the Angels precisely because it reduces the amount of time that the team would need to hobble along with a weakened rotation. It’s now possible that the rotation could consist of Ohtani and Canning, along with Andrew Heaney, Julio Teheran and Dylan Bundy. This would potentially bump Patrick Sandoval, Matt Andriese, Jaime Barria and Dillon Peters into the bullpen or depth positions in the minors.
nice to know Ohtani will be ready for opening day.
Really think they could go five-man with Ohtani pitching once a week (at best)?
“Chronic Changes” is the next mashup album from Danger Mouse combing Dr. Dre’s classic 1992 album The Chronic with 2016 album Changes from Charles Bradley. Following in the footsteps of the Grey Album mashing Beatles White Album and Jay-Z’s Black Album. “Biological injections” begs for Michael Scott to shout that’s what she said.
This boy done lost it
Lockdowncoronavirusitus
my worlds are colliding
I read about a lot of athletes getting “biological injections” – do they ever work?
Not permanently that I’ve ever known.
Bartolo Colon comes to mind
I don’t know if that is a stem call injection but if it is no it does not last, at least for me and others I’ve known who have had it in elbows and knees. I had it on my knee to avoid surgery and after a year of taken it easy and having no caffeine my knee blew out 2 years later anyways.
Tanaka from the Yankees is the most famous to get pfp injection and stay away from the knife. It didn’t work for Heaney or Garett Richards.
If we can start the season with Ohtani, that would be sweet.
Eppler went with quantity of innings in Bundy and Teheran instead of upside gambles like Wood or injury concerns like Ryu. Made sense at the time, we needed a ton of innings.
But now I wonder how many innings will really be pitched.
For what they paid Rendon they could have gotten Donaldson, Ryu, And Wood. Angels are banking a lot on Ohtani in both facets. I think he should be viewed as more of a luxury x-factor. But then again the season will probably be so short that he ends up not having a ton of restrictions other than pitch counts on a per-game basis. Definitely one of the more intriguing teams this season (if there is one)
i think not signing ryu for 4 years was very smart on eppler’s part.
The Josh Donaldson contract was one of the worst of the off-season
Braves made a smart deal last year at 1 year.
Don’t know if Minnesota can op out but you don’t sign a 34 year old to that long of a contract.
But would they get a 5.7 WAR out of the latter combination? Value is value whether it’s on the position player end or the pitching end.
That’s basically what they got during the time they were making the playoffs year after year from 2002 through 2009. If we look up those rotations, we won’t find much dominance. Just a list of mostly average/above average performances holding the fort while their offense, bullpen, and defense did the rest. I think the Angels have a much better bullpen than they’re given credit for. Because they were solid until they got tired from the lack of SP innings. I remember during the last Dodgers series in July, the announcers specifically stated that the Angels bullpen had the best ERA in MLB in innings 7-9 at the time. So imagine if they at least had an average rotation.
Has the PRP treatment ever actually worked for anyone?
kobe? and my knees! for most of us hgh shots are given with prp but that may not be an option for the players.
The science behind it is sound enough that’s it done pretty regularly now, but I still think ultimate success is hard to quantify as each person’s body responds differently.
PRP never works for Angels pitchers . Ask G Richards.
Get it over so he is able to pitch a full season next year
GRich actually had a UCL year. Griffin doesn’t.
Originally it was reported a partial tear, then rehab, follow by complete tear . I hope he rebounds but would not be shocked a few starts in he has to have surgery. Then the season kills us.
Hope i’m wrong and Canning throws 120 injury free innings.
It was actually
’16: Partial tear, Stem-Cell/PRP therapy, surgery avoided
’17: 1 start, nerve damage sidelines til September, 5 Sep. starts 27.2 IP 2.28 ERA
’18” 16 starts, recurrence of partial tear, TJ surgery.
Bottomline is that the whole scheme backfired and blew up in the angels face. All I see that they accomplished in this signing was a DH that is overpaid and they did this when they already have a overpaid big old fat cat Pujols that is a DH only player.
Ohtani has already outperformed his contract value since he didn’t come in as a FA. The years controlled + minimal salary is a steal. Whatever they get out of him as a pitcher is a bonus. This guy hopefully will be a stud.
And it’s a great story to see someone come in to pitch and hit at a major league level. This is something we haven’t seen in a really long time. Turns angels games into much watch tv with trout and rendon in the same lineup. Might be high scoring games, but those are the best in my opinion
Oh my goodness! He has been injured often. So sitting on the bench is earned money huh?
“So sitting on the bench is earned money huh?”
Paid the league minimum for his 10 impressive starts/Playing 100+ games as a 155 OPS+ DH with a torn UCL. Followed that season with another 100+ games as a 123 OPS+ DH while spending his off-time as a TJ-rehabbing pitcher (and got a $100K salary bump). Entering this season, when it starts, expected to not just play both ways but anchor the rotation….Not sure what your definition of “earned” is, but this certainly fits mine.
Iknowmorebaseball – I question your screen name. You are at least one of those guys who doesn’t watch or follow the Angels. Facts matter. Do some research.
Well stated prov356
There’s a bunch of goats here I see and theie lack of information. The guy has not reach 409 at bats yet because injury and earning your money is being able to be in the line up and if anyone has trouble understanding that then I can’t help you. Please stop saying that the man makes league minimum and remember that the angel spent 20 million dollars on the guy plus a 2.5 signing bonus.e need to look past the league minimum salary that he makes and remember that the Angels paid 20 million dollars to his prior team and also gave him a 2.5 million dollar bonus so you guys wake up
“The guy has not reach 409 at bats yet because injury”
792 PA, 710 AB
“remember that the Angels paid 20 million dollars to his prior team”
So $20m dollars Ohtani did not receive means Ohtani is overpaid?
“gave him a 2.5 million dollar bonus”
Roughly equivalent to the signing bonus the 27th pick in the ’18 draft received or an additional 416K a year from ’18-’23, when he would presumably hit free agency. Won’t even get into what the team has likely made so far in Japanese advertising/Ohtani jersey/merch sales.
You’re right, he’s been even more valuable for the price than I thought.
Another fun fact, of the 19 Angels who were paid more than Ohtani in 2019, a grand total of 3 played in more games than Ohtani.
Onta – Facts get in the way of a good anti-Angels agenda.
I don’t even think it’s that nefarious. Maybe the the name iknowbaseball is a clue. Maybe the baseball he “knows” is different than our baseball, where numbers mean different things and different stats are important. Maybe 409 ABs is one of the most impressive things you can do in the baseball he knows.
No stupid ass! Angels overpaid to have him clue f***
You initially said that Ohtani himself was overpaid. It’s right there in your original comment.
It truly is some kind of skill to to be wrong in so many different ways about a single subject, from the opinion itself, to your support for that opinion, to the scattered couple of stats you cite, to basic facts, to stuff you just typed. That signing bonus shoulda been for you there, slugger.
Yes he is over paid and it is right there. It is a matter of speech, give me a break, if I’m the owner of the Angels I’m overpaying him and that’s basically what I’m saying but if you want to be technical and okay go have it
Jealous?