In a sweepstakes that went beyond money, one MLB team came out alive in a free for all battle royale. On Friday, Shohei Ohtani picked the Los Angeles Angels as his team.
At first, it wasn't about who Ohtani chose, but who didn't make the first cut. All 30 teams gave a pitch and offer to him, where he considered each of them carefully. The Angels were finalists with the San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Dodgers, Seattle Mariners, Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers and San Francisco Giants.
Ohtani spurned offers from the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox on first glance, which drew quite a commotion. Why would he ignore two of the bigger market teams? It's simple: Expectations.
One thing we here at Graveyard Baseball knew is that money would mean nothing and it was all about the opportunity. We knew the team that would be more open to letting him hit would give him a shot. Ohtani is a smart individual who speaks with intelligence with interviews and thought out his plan.
If he were hitting .200 with the Yankees or Red Sox after three months, the media and fans would be clamoring for his head and saying to end the experiment. With a smaller market team, he can be anonymous and the expectations won't be sky high immediately. Playing the American League made the most sense to us knowing he can DH on the side, which is why we were perplexed that the Cubs, Giants, Dodgers and Padres were even finalists as National League teams.
Ohtani did not want to be in the shadow of another player from Japan. While no player is alike, fans and media will always make irrational comparisons as it is human nature to do so. If he were to go to Seattle, Ichiro Suzuki will be talked about. Going to the Texas Rangers would draw comparisons to his Fighters' predecessor Yu Darvish.
Only three Japanese born players have put on an Angels uniform. They are P Shigetoshi Hasegawa (1997-2001), Hideki Matsui (2010), who was near the end of his player career, and Hisanori Takahashi (2011-2012). Just eliminating the finalist teams based on the designated hitter and NPB alone made the Angels the most logical candidate.
None of us knew exactly what he wanted besides not money, but the Angels have given him something he can't refuse. While Anaheim and Southern California is in a "big market" compared to others, it's in the shadow of the Dodgers and always plays second fiddle.
The LA media will not shine the spotlight on the Angels unless they're winning, which will give an under the radar silent treatment compared to other teams in the area including the Dodgers, Los Angeles Lakers and college USC Trojans which draw more attention.
General Manager Billy Eppler said Ohtani will not be starting in the outfield immediately and will likely DH on the few days he doesn't pitch as he joins the rotation in Anaheim. Playing alongside Mike Trout obviously won't hurt as that duo alone is intriguing.
Manager (kantoku) Mike Scioscia has been a traditionalist, but even he will have to buck his trend when using Ohtani in order to fulfill the promises.
By picking up Ohtani, the economy for the Angels already takes a boost with several fans from Japan watching and staying up at a crooked hour for his games.
The Angels have battled mediocrity and shortcomings in the Trout era which have even called for some to trade their asset and build for the future. They won the division in 2014, but didn't win a playoff game as they were swept by the Kansas City Royals. In 2016, the Angels would've been a dead last place team if Trout was not on the team, let alone he carried them with a high wins-above replacement.
Their farm system has been shot down in the past for short term fixes, but this team is now expected to contend for the AL West with the signing of Justin Upton to join the fold.
Baseball in Orange County will be interesting for the first time in four years with Ohtani existing. They may not turn it around overnight, but the future looks good assuming Ohtani develops and can find a rhythm in MLB.
His biggest adjustment will be pitching on four or five days of rest, where in NPB, starting pitchers typically go once a week with pitch count not being a factor. The Angels could also go with a six-man rotation and giving Ohtani an extra day to DH. In an NPB calendar, Mondays are normally of days and he would be the DH from Tuesday to Thursday and sometimes Friday. He would have the day before and after his start as off days.
While going to any team will draw comparisons to his fellow countrymen, Ohtani won't be in one individual's shadow with the Angels. This isn't about Matsui, Ichiro, Darvish, Kenta Maeda, Hideo Nomo or anyone else. This is his story and his time to shine in the big leagues.
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Excellent synopsis. I will be honest, I just don't think Ohtani is ready for MLB-pitching. His strikout-to-walk ratio as a hitter is around 2.5 to 1 and he hasn't shown much improvement in his walk ratio. And his swing isn't that compact, so I question whether he can handle the inside fastball.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of pitching, I think Ohtani will be fine. He hasn't really reached his peak and he really doesn't have that much mileage on his arm. I am very excited to see how he fares and how he adjusts his pitching style to suit MLB.