On the heels of last night’s disappointing news for baseball fans everywhere, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Will Ohtani require surgery?
As previously alluded to, Angels GM Perry Minasian indicated to reporters yesterday that two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani will not pitch again this season after suffering a tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. Ohtani, of course, is in the midst of his third-straight sensational two-way campaign and appears to be the front-runner for the 2023 AL MVP award even in spite of his injury. Ohtani and the Angels are, as noted by Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register, looking for second opinions before any decision on surgery is made. Tommy John surgery would wipe out Ohtani’s chances of pitching in 2024, though an internal brace procedure could leave the door open for him to pitch next year. Any such decisions will depend on the severity of the tear and its placement on the ligament, and all of baseball will be awaiting updates from the Angels as they gather more information.
2. What’s next for Suarez?
Padres right-hander Robert Suarez was thrown out of yesterday’s game against the Marlins before throwing a pitch following a foreign substance check. First base umpire Todd Tichenor explained after the game that the righty’s left wrist was the area at issue, though Suarez countered that he had simply applied sunscreen for protection during the day game in San Diego. Given players who are ejected after a foreign substance check are automatically subjected to a 10-game suspension, it’s all but certain Suarez will receive one from the league today. The 32-year-old has the right to appeal the suspension, a course of action he told reporters he’s considering. Should the suspension go through, it would be a major blow for the Padres, who will not only lose a solid reliever for ten days but will be unable to replace him on the active roster.
3. Dodgers, Guardians to complete suspended game:
Yesterday’s Dodgers-Guardians game was suspended in the top of the third inning due to rain, and will resume at 11:10am CT this morning. Once the suspended game is completed, the clubs will square off in a today’s regularly scheduled game later in the afternoon. The makeshift doubleheader opens the door for Dodgers right-hander Ryan Pepiot, who made his season debut with the big league club over the weekend, to take the ball in today’s second game opposite Guardians righty Gavin Williams as the club’s 27th man. Since a club’s 27th man is not subject to minimum stays in the minors when optioned, the Dodgers will have the opportunity to start Pepiot today and then option him back to the minor leagues without losing the ability to use him in the next turn through the rotation. Fans with tickets to yesterday’s game can find information about ticket exchange options here.
Ohtani‘’s injury does not affect me on a personal or professional level.
Hard to say with full certainty. There’s so many “degree of separation” factors to consider that we cannot possibly be aware of all potential ramifications of his injury.
notting – I think one ramification is there’s several front offices around the league breathing a sigh of relief that this injury news didn’t happen after they offered him a $600M+ contract.
I’ve pointed this out so many times, giving mega-contracts especially to pitchers is like playing Russian Roulette. If Ohtani’s remaining career is often impacted by health issues, any contract given to him could set the organization back for a decade. It’s always wise to measure risk/reward.
I think Ohtani is a guy where you write a 600m check without blinking an eye. Good player, good teammate and good citizen… and you’ll get a lot of that money back in added interest in your franchise and other deals.
Appalachian: A good citizen? Does that factor in your opinion of how good a player someone is? Good player, good teammate, bad citizen. Sorry, Shohei. You didn’t help that little old lady across the street. We’re cancelling your contract.
Avenger, how talented they are, no. If I’m going to give them a giant bag of money, absolutely it factors in if they’re a good citizen or not. Take Bauer, just as one example. You don’t think the Dodgers had some regrets?
Ohtani is one the very few players teams would take a chance on if he were a douchebag. I don’t think it is a matter of being a Boy Scout helping little old ladies, but instead is the guy a PR problem? Miguel Cabrera has a second family with his ex-mistress, but the Tigers put up with it because he produced at an elite level. But almost everyone is replaceable so why take on a headache unless you get a sizeable discount? Character should matter, but probably not for a generational talent like Ohtani.
Does anyone still believe his contract stays anywhere near $600 million haha? I have to believe this cost him $200ish million. He is no longer a 2 way player,he probably has to go get some reps in the outfield so teams don’t say he is just a amazing DH in the offseason.
The $600 million was basically a 50/50 hitter/pitcher split. Losing the ability to do one or the other drops that number significantly. Ohtani likely never fully recovered from the first TJS because he was swinging the bat, even without throwing. A second surgery and he may actually have to miss significant time.
It’s not about you.
Slider_withcheese: Really? Because I called in sick today so I can monitor the situation. I have TVs set to ESPN, MLB network, Access Hollywood (I just like that show), radios set to ESPN, the Score and CBS News, which has cancelled it’s regularly scheduled programming, sending reporters to Southern California to monitor the situation. I’ve also alerted friends of mine who live in the area to send me on-line newspaper reports as they happen. I doubt I’ll get any sleep tonight.
The Score – heh- who Parkin or Bernstein?
Ohtani flew too close to the sun.
Maybe being a DH and a Closer is a more realistic workload?
Maybe being a Right Fielder is more realistic.
There’s been like 10 pitchers go down with elbow injuries so far this year that don’t have any ABs, are they flying too close to the sun?
Dusty: Well, he is from the land of the rising sun.
Didnt realize he was from a place in New Orleans
And how does this affect the MVP voting??
Injury has nothing to do with Ohtani the batter. Workload is not the issue. Lots of hard throwing pitchers get injured these days.
Jon Heyman is absolutely inconsolable re Ohtani. He’ll have to actually work now instead of posting Ohtani articles.
I’d rather read the thoughts of Paul Heyman on virtually any topic over the banal meanderings of the hack known as Jon.
It’s amazing how all the longtime baseball writers and insiders are horrible
But Jon Heyman makes up better rumors than most of them.
All kinds of pitchers are getting injured. Get the TJ and DH for 24, then try again on the mound in 25 as a starter. I wonder how much he’ll lose as a FA, if anything
Someone somewhere is already coming up with 1 year 50 mil and try again next year scenarios. Alternatively, creative opt outs and opt ins for both sides.
In the end he will still end up with 500 mil so long as this isn’t a “never pitch again” situation.
I like the closer / DH option that someone suggested.
Win and MVP as a starter and then again as a closer? That is still unicorn material. Smoltz was hall of fame material for each category during his years but never had the offense to add on to get MVP.
Hopefully FOs will have learned from the Rodon situation. SF did it right with all kinds of goals he had to meet to earn more money. The Yankees didn’t do that and now they’re paying for it, both literally and figuratively. Anyone who signs Ohtani should put a lot of goals like IP, etc. to protect themselves.
The people who say the Angels could have “at best” obtained a pair of mid-level prospects for Ohtani because he was “a rental” are a constant source of entertainment. If a team in the hunt felt they could have brought on Ohtani, who is having far and away the best offensive season of any player in baseball, they would have done it and done so with a smile on their face.
Hoarding prospects is a peculiar fascination.
Oh please. Everyone knew Quero for Giolito was delusional from the start. If they traded him for a guy with team control it would’ve been fine. But their longshot playoff chances have fallen off a cliff, Giolito has been awful and will be a free agent, and now no top 100 catching prospect
“far and away the best offensive season of any player in baseball.” Maybe you should check out Acuna and Olson’s numbers.
In what way are Acuña or Olson better than Ohtani? It’s not even close.
If you did then you would see that you are wrong.
Angels FO is absolutely terrible ! They should be following sox fo to unemployment line.
I agree with you the Angels need to clean house, but they were not going to trade Ohtani at the deadline.
I’m hoping he can finish out the season as a hitter. I guess it all depends.
He won’t do that. It’ll delay his return. TJS as soon as second opinion is finalized
Such a damn shame either way.
$20 mil/yr for his bat, because that’s about market value (maybe; plus or minus $10 mil; anyway)
Then have pitching incentives, such as $100,000 for each inning pitched, and however much incentive for strikeouts and CYA votes. That would add up to about $20 mil in his best years
He gets paid to hit, and gets paid IF he pitches
$20M plus/minus $10M meaning you think there’s a chance the best offer he will receive as a hitter, the best hitter in baseball mind you, is $10M?
Tipping a few back already this morning?
Fair point on $10 mil being an insulting offer. I meant “$20-$30 mil range for hitting alone” and should have said that. I’ll keep the Miller Lite to before noon. My bad, y’all
As a hitter only, he would get $25ish mil. I doubt anyone wants to say “Well market value says $25 mil as a hitter and $35 mil as a pitcher so $60 mil/year”
I could be wrong, but I don’t think anyone wants to give him that amount of money
Aaron Hicks got $7M year. Sooooo…Ohtani ain’t taking $10M. Unless of course he’s out for 2024.
@Viveleempireevil
Even then he would just accept the near $20 million dollar Qualifying Offer the Angels are likely to extend
BD that’s a great idea from a team perspective but Ohtani has all the leverage.
He won’t (and won’t have to) sign a deal like that…..
I agree. If he bet on himself, $300K per inning pitched would work in his favor and $100K be in the team’s favor, but I think that you and everyone else who’s said that he’ll just get a flat amount regardless of injury is correct
Someone will give him 30-40 mill without incentives.
Been plenty of pitchers who have been given two year guaranteed deals with teams knowing 1st year was TJS recovery. Any deal ohtani signs probably reduces the 1st year salary sincee he likely wont pitch. But that money will get added elsewhere in the deal.
Doubt ohtani signs an incentive based agreement.
Make it $350,000 per inning pitched
He runs away with an MVP like 2021, he banks north of $80 mil. He doesn’t pitch like in 2019, he isn’t making more than the Oakland A’s entire payroll to just DH
I don’t think so, either, but if he did, it would be more flexible for him to both get paid when he performs and for the team to have a greater chance at winning if he gets hurt
He’ll top 350 even if he needs another tj
$900 Billion for 10 years.
Paid in Bitcoin
get the surgery Sho. it’s a matter of time.
Sunscreen. Rotflmao. Just have a shred of dignity and say no comment
I forgot to mention Suarez…. I know the umpires need to clean house of the egos/bad/old/Angel Hernandez guys, but I’m with the ump on this one
“Tee hee oops too much sunscreen”
I’ve played baseball. Suarez has a darker complexion. Zero medical reason for him to ever wear sunscreen after spring training. I call bulls*** on sunscreen. Gtfo
Yesterday in Cleveland was one of the dumbest rain delays ever. They rolled out the tarps and suspended the game a half hour before a drop of rain fell on the field. Another inning could have been played, easily. Maybe two. Who makes these decisions?
people who saw CK rolling and didn’t want an official game
Ah yes, because there’s a conspiracy against Kershaw…
Can’t be any worse than canceling mondays Reds/Angels game due to a hurricane that wasn’t even there…
Well, since no hurricane was ever forecasted no surprise it wasn’t even there.
Oh no, the media hyped Hurricane Hilary to the point where people in the Inland Empire (some 30+ miles from the nearest ocean) were panic buying supplies
No hurricane was ever forecasted to hit California. Hilary was downgraded to a tropical storm shortly after making landfall in Baja. Oceans also have nothing to do with the storm track. The greatest flooding and damage occurred in the deserts, a hundred or more miles from the ocean.
pretty lame i agree. LA school system stayed home as well. got to keep the citizens panicked. anything for the agenda.
An argument made by arranging refrigerator magnets.
yeah its all a big conspiracy theory. obey and get your booster. don’t mind the maggots uh huh.
And that agenda would be…what, exactly?
(This, I CANNOT WAIT to read.)
If you get tired of waiting, give this a try:
generatorfun.com/conspiracy-theory-generator
No Ohtani, Trout, Rendon, = no attendance in September. Does Ohtani finish the year or after the 2nd opinion go right to surgery to accelerate the rehab and return to DH on whatever team commits?
Serious question, who are some pitchers that have returned to quality production after 2nd TJS? Not up and down but consistently good.
Eovaldi and DeGrom have been quality after the second time
Jose Rijo, Mark Wohlers, Randy Wolf, Darren Dreifort, Edinson Volquez, Jason Isringhausen & Joe Nathan had nice careers after 2 (or more!) TJS. Jury might still be out on Daniel Hudson, Colin Poche, Drew Rasmussen and Walker Buehler… but their arms would appear to be fine.
There aren’t a lot of guys who have gotten a 2nd one before turning 30, TBF. Most guys are already in decline or close thereto when they get the 2nd one.
I said it before the trade deadline. The Angels should have traded Ohtani at the deadline for some top prospects.
Babe Ruth had the bellyache heard ’round the world, and now Ohtani has the tear heard ’round the world.
Seek nay = Angels
Well now the Redsox can offer him only $350 million for 8 years and use the rest to try and bring Brasier back…
Ohtani should have gotten the MVP last season.
Ray… yes and no. Judge had one of the greatest offensive seasons off all time and broke the real HR record. For me, he deserved it. N
No
The guardians field crew can suck it