Shohei Ohtani Is Playing With A Torn UCL And No One Knows Why

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SOURCE - However, his decision to continue playing means he is unlikely to undergo a possible medical procedure—probably surgery—until early October, when the MLB regular season concludes. 

Delaying treatment until the end of the season, however, only pushes back Ohtani’s recovery timeline by about a month. There are a few different options he could pursue depending on the severity of the injury, almost all of which would require surgery. But the long-term prognosis and timeline to potentially return to the mound could vary depending on which modality he and his doctors decide is best for his recovery.

I saw Shohei Ohtani play this weekend at Citi Field. On Saturday, he became the 10th player in the last 25 years to have two extra base hits and two stolen bases. He's doing this with a torn UCL. I'd understand to some extent if the Angels were competing for a playoff spot. They are 63-68 and over 10 games out of the Wild Card. It's over. Why isn't Ohtani's season?

He's obviously about to enter free agency and was someone I thought would get a 12 year/$600 million dollar contract from someone. Now? I still think he gets $500 million dollars from someone. But with each day he plays this season will be a day that he won't be able to play next season. 

Bryce Harper came back from off-season UCL surgery on May 2nd. Harper made an improbably quick comeback and still missed a month of the regular season despite not playing any spring training or rehab games. It still took him until August for his power to truly come back. This is an absolute best case scenario for this kind of situation.

Ohtani's situation is more complicated. He's not going to be able to pitch next year and the other reason he should want to get the surgery now is it will help him come back to pitching quicker in 2024. Is he concerned that teams won't want to sign him if he's just undergone the surgery? It's not like they don't know it's coming. 

This is where things get weird. Ohtani complained about soreness in his finger in early August. The Angels offered to give him an MRI and Ohtani refused. I don't entirely blame Ohtani or the team here. The Angels were still in the race and if it was a situation where shutting Ohtani down would help neither the team or the player in the short term.

The Angels are so mismanaged, it's fair to question whey they didn't press the issue more. They could have told him they weren't starting him unless he got the MRI. Especially once the season went in the shitter. Having said that, the last thing they want to do is piss off an all-time great player about to hit free agency. I do give Ohtani some Giant Testicle Points for wanting to keep going out there and help the team. But we've reached the point where people are openly confused why he is still out there.

How does this affect the Angels re-signing Ohtani? It's so hard to get a read on him because he won't comment publicly on the injury or what he plans to do long term. I really don't see him coming back to the Angels. They mishandle everything and have a bleak future. Ohtani spends his off-seasons in Seattle and other well-run teams like the Dodgers or deep-pocketed teams like the Mets will make offers.

As great as it was watching Ohtani play this weekend, he shouldn't be out there. He's not doing himself any good. He won't earn more money if he hits 5-7 home runs in September. He's not doing the Angels any good either. The season is over and it's probably best if they lose as often as possible to get a good draft pick to start the rebuild of the worst farm system in baseball. Living in the now is a pretty lousy philosophy if you are hurt on a bad baseball team.