Breaking: Ohtani with a torn UCL, won't pitch, might not DH

[Juliooooo]

That's why it could be disastrous for a team like the Mariners to sign him.

His price tag just went down by at least 50%. If he can't pitch he is just a DH. A damn good DH but the value of him filling two roster spots in elite historic fashion and the allure and mystic that it brings is up in smoke...

I'm talking about before this latest injury happened. A team like the Mariners can't put that many eggs in one basket.

https://www.foxsports.com/stories/mlb/s ... angels-say

Sign him. DH next season, then he can pitch in 2025. Mariners can handle signing him and not have him pitch next year. Still worth signing for 400 million over 10 years

You're insane.

What would he be worth as a hitter? Judge got 40 million a year. He’ll help the team and still bring that much in for the owners for marketability. If he doesn’t pitch, put him at 1B or RF. If he pitches again it’sa bonus

[Sibelius Hindemith]

Yeah Judge and Trout contracts are working out really well.

[Juliooooo]

Yeah Judge and Trout contracts are working out really well.

So you just don’t want to sign big named players ever then.

[Big_Maple]

Yeah Judge and Trout contracts are working out really well.

Trout is still beast, even as he ages and wears down a little. Not his fault the Angels org couldn't build a team around him.

Judge: too early to tell.

Both guys are hampered by injuries, but that is a risk with every player.

The M's need a solid DH. If the DH can play another position, all the better. No matter who they go after, they always risk a player having less value than their contract is worth, and they always risk injury. At then end of the day, you have to ask whether the risks outweigh the benefits. With Ohtani, I think they do. He loses a ton of value if he doesn't pitch, but (a) we've got an outstanding rotation without him, and (b) he actually reduces his risk of injury by not pitching.

The benefits? You get a guy who can hit. He's likely a generational talent like Trout in that respect. He is better than any DH in baseball right now. He can also play outfield. He is a leader in the clubhouse and a role model on the field. He has an outrageous work ethic. He mashes baseballs. He puts asses in seat and sells jerseys. He'd be an ambassador for the Mariners and recruit legions of young, new fans. His impact wold be felt way beyond the diamond.

Without the distraction of dividing his time between pitching and hitting, he can focus entirely on offense - can you imagine what he could do for our team and our lineup? He leads the league in home runs as a two way player - what about if he just focused on hitting and was in the lineup every single day?!!!! And hitting skills are less fungible than pitching - he will still be mashing 5 or 10 years from now.

So yeah, if he costs Judge money just to be on offense, I say "yes, please". All the better that he wouldn't be a 2-way player, and we would be getting him at a deep discount. Compared to literally any other option at DH, this is by far the best option - not even a close second.

[Sibelius Hindemith]

Yeah Judge and Trout contracts are working out really well.

So you just don’t want to sign big named players ever then.

You think if they signed one of those mega-deals Stanton wouldn't be going cheaper at other positions?

[D-train]

https://www.foxsports.com/stories/mlb/s ... angels-say

Sign him. DH next season, then he can pitch in 2025. Mariners can handle signing him and not have him pitch next year. Still worth signing for 400 million over 10 years

Totally agree. It's like a scratch and dent sale. If we can sign him, we just saved several hundred million. So what if he can't pitch - we have one of the best starting rotations in baseball for the next several years. By the time our young arms are ready for free agency, Ohtani's value as a pitcher would have plummeted anyway, and he'd be pretty much a full time DH by then.

So yeah, Juliooooo - if he can get back to pitching in a year or two, great. If not, we'd have one of the best lefty bats in the game at DH, and he can still play COF. It would basically be like signing Aaron Judge but with the possibility that he may return to pitching.

Post Script: I just read that this is his second UCL tear. How many times can you surgically repair the same ligament? Sounds like he may have just pitched his last game. Makes me a little sad. OK - a lot sad.

Kind of makes his legend even more bigger than life though. Like Mark the Bird Fidrych.

[ddraig]

Can’t wait for the Stanton interview “ we were the front runners to get him” bullshit. It’s sad he got hurt. He had one hell of a year going

It means the M's will offer him 75% less than his asking price and then tell u "they were in the hunt right up to the end!" In reality, Ohtani looked at the offer and laughed before wadding it up and throwing it into the round file.

But if the M's were to offer even $50 million a year over four years, they'd be money ahead. They don't need pitching in the foreseeable future, with most of their pitchers being relatively cheap. After those four years, they'd be able to reassess. And perhaps Ohtani could/would pitch sometime in those 4 years. As just a DH, he'd be worth the money. And it wouldn't break the bank. Still, we're talking about the M's here (see my first paragraph).

[D-train]

His price tag just went down by at least 50%. If he can't pitch he is just a DH. A damn good DH but the value of him filling two roster spots in elite historic fashion and the allure and mystic that it brings is up in smoke...

I'm talking about before this latest injury happened. A team like the Mariners can't put that many eggs in one basket.

Sign him. DH next season, then he can pitch in 2025. Mariners can handle signing him and not have him pitch next year. Still worth signing for 400 million over 10 years

You're insane.

What would he be worth as a hitter? Judge got 40 million a year. He’ll help the team and still bring that much in for the owners for marketability. If he doesn’t pitch, put him at 1B or RF. If he pitches again it’sa bonus

He has played 8 innings in the COF spots and ZERO at 1B stateside.

Zero at 1B in Japan either. Played 54 games in the OF a decade ago when he was 18 yo.

He is a DH atm. But if he can't pitch maybe he can spend that new found free time working on learning 1B.

[Seattle or Bust]

Yeah Judge and Trout contracts are working out really well.

So you just don’t want to sign big named players ever then.

You think if they signed one of those mega-deals Stanton wouldn't be going cheaper at other positions?

The Mariners didn't have Ohtani and he gave the yellow light for the Jerry to trade for Wong, Hummel and sign Pollock, La Stella. He's going to force Jerry to sign cheap players regardless... so might as well take the jump at a superstar if Jerry is going to dumpster dive anyways.

[Captain 97]

What would he be worth as a hitter? Judge got 40 million a year. He’ll help the team and still bring that much in for the owners for marketability. If he doesn’t pitch, put him at 1B or RF. If he pitches again it’sa bonus

Judge had an offensive WAR of 31 in the six years prior to signing his contract including a 10.4 oWAR in the last season of his previous deal. Ohtani has had a total of 16.4 oWAR in his 6 seasons in the Big leagues and has a 5.6 oWAR this year. If you take the pitching out of the equation he has nowhere near the resume that Judge had.