The Angels Failed Shohei Ohtani, Who Gave Them His All

I’m sad, mad and upset about it Shohei Ohtani and baseball games.

For the second time in his career, Ohtani has torn his ulnar collateral ligament, ending his time on the mound for the 2023 season as he waits to see if he will need to undergo another Tommy John surgery .

Through many signs that something is wrong, the Angels keep letting Shohei go on and on, with caution. He left his start early on July 4 due to a blister on his pitching hand. Just three weeks later, Ohtani left the second half of a doubleheader due to cramps after pitching a complete game early in the day. After his start on August 9, he began to feel fatigue in his pitching arm, which kept him off the field for two weeks.

It all came to a peak on Wednesday, when he left his start against the Reds after pitching 1 ⅓ innings due to arm fatigue, which turned out to be a torn UCL.

It turns out that Ohtani’s body had been breaking down in front of us for the past few months and the Angels were telling us that it was just fatigue. Even if it was just fatigue, why were you throwing him out every five or six days for over a month after his original injury? You have to give Ohtani time to recover because everything his body could do, he gave it to you.

The greatest athletes need to be safe with themselves because they won’t do it. I’ve been watching the Netflix documentary series “The Quarterback” which details three NFL quarterback last season. One episode featured a high ankle sprain patrick mahomes lost in the playoff game against jacksonville jaguars, He pleaded with Andy Reid, the coaching staff and the medical team to stay in the game and not go to the X-ray room, repeatedly saying, “I’m fine.” Reed had to tell him that he would not be returning to the game, at least not until he had X-rays and a better picture of his condition.

Angles needed to do the same with Ohtani at some point this summer. Instead, even after all the warning signs were present, he ignored it because his body was screaming that something was wrong.

It’s clear why he ignored those signals when he had an obligation to keep Ohtani’s future in mind. They wanted to make the playoffs even though their chances had dwindled with each passing day over the past two months. At some point, he should have realized that Ohtani isn’t worth pitching anymore and should have told him that “your future is more important than getting into this by winning eight games out of the wild card spot.” ,

But with Ohtani being in a contract year, I don’t think the Angels care about his long-term health anymore. It’s probably hard to say, and I could be wrong, but prove me wrong. The action he took at the deadline shows that he will stay out of this for as long as possible, even as his body is exploding in front of all of us.

This would complicate Ohtani’s impending free agency, although it was almost certainly going to be the most complicated contract situation ever as he would still receive the largest contract in MLB history.

It looked like he was about to get a contract worth between $600 and $700 million in net worth. I’m not sure he’ll be able to get there now, but I think he’ll still make at least half a billion. we just saw aaron judge Get a nine-year, $360 million contract last offseason and Ohtani should still be able to contribute offensively next year and pitch down the line again.

And that’s just from a field perspective. With a player like Ohtani, you’re getting his brand based on his on-field performance. The value he will bring to your organization will multiply exponentially. He would bring in jersey sales, fan involvement and potentially the entire nation of Japan as a fan base.

If Ohtani finds out soon that he needs Tommy John surgery again, I would recommend him to have surgery until the next day. I don’t care about the Angels’ playoff push at this point. Save yourself now, and maybe Ohtani could potentially be out of the bullpen next season for a team trying to score year-ending runs.

This shouldn’t affect Ohtani’s chances of winning the MVP if he also chooses to end his season today. There isn’t enough time left in the season for anyone to reach the historic ground that Ohtani is already sitting on in 2023. He still has a league-leading 44 homers this season to go along with his .304 batting average and 1.069 OPS. , He is also 10–5 with a 3.14 ERA, and his 11.4 strikeouts per nine innings ranks second in the AL. He has produced a 9.6 BWAR through Thursday, which is almost four complete wins higher than the AL’s second-ranked player.

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It absolutely sucks for Ohtani and I feel so sorry for him. It sucks even for a game of baseball.

However, I am still optimistic about its future. In his six major-league seasons, Ohtani has defied all expectations and predictions for himself. The degree of difficulty of returning from a second Tommy John surgery is far more difficult.

I promise you this: Ohtani will see this as just another challenge in his baseball journey. He has been successful at every single step up to this point, and there is no doubt that he is the greatest player the game has ever seen.

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