While there have been questions over whether the Angels will demote Shohei Ohtani to the minors to begin the season, it seems they do plan to have him open 2018 in the majors, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reports. In terms of results, it hasn’t been a good spring for the 23-year-old Japanese phenom, who has yielded 15 earned runs against 25 outs as a pitcher and collected just two hits in 20 at-bats as a hitter. However, on the pitching side, Ohtani has struck out 19 batters and issued only three walks, which has encouraged the Angels, according to Fletcher. They’re also confident he’ll turn it around at the plate. “The track record gives us the confidence to move forward with him as a two-way player,” general manager Billy Eppler said.
More from the American League:
- The Astros may head into the season with an all-righty bullpen, thanks to the struggles left-hander Tony Sipp has endured in recent years, Oliver Macklin of MLB.com relays. Sipp, whom the Astros re-signed to a three-year, $18MM deal heading into 2016, posted back-to-back subpar seasons entering this year and hasn’t fared well this spring. Manager A.J. Hinch conceded that going with an all-righty relief corps is “an option,” though he suggested he’d rather see Sipp rebound to his pre-2016 ways. Sipp, who’ll turn 35 in July, is due to earn $6MM in the final year of his contract.
- Red Sox knuckleballer Steven Wright may open the season in the team’s rotation, Ian Browne of MLB.com writes. Wright, who has been working back from the season-ending left knee surgery he underwent last May, threw three innings of live batting practice Saturday and called it “a huge, huge step in the right direction.” There’s also optimism about left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez, who had knee surgery last October. Of Rodriguez, manager Alex Cora said, “It seems like Eddie, he’s in a sprint right now, which is great.” Meanwhile, lefty Drew Pomeranz – yet another injured Red Sox starter – will throw a minor league game Sunday as he attempts to bounce back from a mild flexor strain. Cora noted that “you can’t rule out” Pomeranz or either of the other banged-up starters from beginning the year in Boston’s rotation.
- Rangers pitching prospect Cole Ragans has a UCL injury that may require Tommy John surgery, Robert Murray of FanRag hears. The 20-year-old left-hander, whom MLB.com ranks as the Rangers’ sixth-best prospect, is in his third year with the organization. A first-round pick in 2016, Ragans spent last season at the low-A level and pitched to a 3.61 ERA across 13 appearances (all starts) and 57 1/3 innings, also notching 13.66 K/9 against 5.49 BB/9.
- Major League Baseball has given Blue Jays pitching prospect Thomas Pannone an 80-game suspension without pay after he tested positive for Dehydrochlormethyltestosterone, a performance-enhancing substance, per Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet. Pannone, a 23-year-old southpaw, ranks as MLB.com’s No. 20 Jays prospect. Acquired from the Indians in last summer’s Joe Smith trade, Pannone divided 2017 between the high-A and Double-A levels, where he combined for a 2.36 ERA with 9.3 K/9 against 2.2 BB/9 over 144 2/3 innings and 25 appearances (all starts).
I think Spring training #’s mean nothing (sorry)
Good luck, Ohtani
-Yankee fan
Have to agree with you. My only concern is the mental effect it might bring on. Being smashed in your first taste of big league play could start a mental block, similar to what’s happening to Fultz (although I’m aware the situations are different). I hope it doesn’t though. I’m rooting for him to do well.
– also a yankee fan
Wipe your nose!
You ever get tired of trolling me, Carl?
Why do you think I was so down on Wade, I disregarded his Spring Training. As I told Collin, his struggles last year, felt longer than 58 at-bats. I’m sure he won’t have 5BB next year to 19K and a sub .200 BA, Go away, Carl.
I underestimated Wade’s potential because he was completely overmatched last year in his debut. Instead of questioning people’s fanhood, try using the Severino analogy Cereal used, which really made me look at the big picture, regarding Wade’s potential. Even though they play different positions, Severino looked like BUST in 2016, to borderline-Ace SP in 2017. TGCF gave me year sample size of a player who was putrid, and rebounded nicely. You give me nothing but Trouble.
Wrong. Spring numbers matter when the player is doing good. They “mean nothing” when a player struggles.
Agree but disagree. In this circumstance these players are highly overrated. I could go in with examples but I’m sure you know by now. Bad signing, over hyped, will continue in the MLB unfortunately. Did anyone really think a Japanese pitcher could not only dominate yet hit as a DH?? That’s as ridiculous as this offseason.
While I agree that ST numbers mean little for veterans, that’s not the case with young players looking for their first MLB opportunity. There would likely not even be a discussion if it weren’t for the theatrics in Ohtani coming to the U.S. That said I do hope he makes it because there’s nothing not to like about the kid and it would be a great story that would generate piles of good PR.
for a proven MLB player, spring training numbers are mostly worthless. But there’s nothing proven about Ohtani. yes, the K’s to W’s ratio is wonderful but the runs he’s given up as a pitcher seem to point to his needing more time on the mound and his record as a hitter is miserable so far. opening in the minors seems like the best option for him right now unless it’s turned around in the next two weeks
for sure, if that was not the case I don’t know if the Angels would have enough pitchers for opening day! still wouldn’t mind if he started in AAA to get adjusted but he could always go down later if he really struggles early on.
Well yeah I’m sure that was the reason why he allowed the Angels to have his services with the condition of making the big league roster as a 2 way player. That’s the reason why he’s going to be that come opening day.
He signed a minor league deal. He actually included in it what each minor league city had in case he started there. Your are just making shut up lol
Might as well go with Sipp to start the season. You already owe the man $6M.
Yeah, they’ll give him a chance, but the leash is short.
If it’s the difference of retaining Collin McHugh. You let Sipp walk.
Peacock,
Harris,
Devo,
Giles,
Rondon,
Smith,
McHugh.
That’s a roster carrying 12 pitchers, Sipp hasn’t shown any promise in two years and keeping him at age 35 over another position player like Marisnick, Fisher or Stassi. Keeping because he’s the only lefty option is moronic, particularly since the last two seasons the team has gone weeks without using him.
Not having a lefty in your bullpen will hurt you eventually though. I agree if Sipp isn’t the guy you let him go but that doesn’t change the fact that you need a lefty in your bullpen.
Why? Harris and Devo do extremely well against lefties historically and considering how volatile LOOGYS are because they don’t ever learn how to pitch or forget how, it’s not worth wasting the roster spot for a guy who if he is lucky will pitch 45 innings in the season.
The LOOGY is a flawed logic within baseball, much like bullpening or tandem starting.
Yes lefties are more effective against lefties, but making a guy specialize against lefties forgets that a lion share of that data comes from starters who know how to pitch.
Bullpening and tandem starting is the same way. A good idea on paper, but the minute someone has a bad outing it screws with everyone’s rythem and stamina long term.
Yes, Houston did incredibly poorly last season by bulpenning and tandem starting. You’re right, it just doesn’t work.
Houston relied heavily on tandem starts in the postseason and just about every contending team looks for a lh around the deadline. Don’t think the logic is flawed. Never said the lefty needs to be a loogy either but at some point it’s goig to be advantageous to have a lefty lefty matchup.
You two seem to not understand the difference of pitching in a postseason with scheduled rest days and shorter season compared to 162 games of performance. In the smaller sample size there is less opertunity for error in performance. 162 games allows for more opportunities for error which is harder to recover from usage wise since you play every day with few off days.
Postseason is a good idea, regular season outside of a spot start for a sudden injury, not a good idea, I would think that was obvious.
Keeping him in the bullpen as opposed to making room for a position player is a smarter decision imo. It’s wise to not overload the pitchers for next season’s playoff run like we did Devo. Let Sipp eat up innings to keep everyone in the bullpen a little more fresh.
The amount of people who think Ohtani is already a bust are ridiculous. He’s literally one of the games top prospects and has struggled in what, 5 games? Maybe you’re new to baseball, but large sample size> small sample.
Large sample size? At what level?
I mean if he plays this whole year and struggles, then they might have a point. But people can’t write him off because of spring training
Even if he struggles all year, he’s young and remember he signed for peanuts. Let’s give him tome to develop. Many players have great AAA numbers but struggle initially in the majors. Not saying that will happen here as I agree the sample size is small. I’m just hoping even if he plays well, he’s not a one year wonderkid. Fidrych was amazing but flamed out. Anyone remember Super Joe Charboneau? Like JD said, let’s give him a chance.
*time
Those are bitter Yankees fans.
Yankee, Rangers, and Padres fans.
Let’s see Stanton or Ohtani..damn what a tough choice. Let’s go with……Ok Stanton.
1. How are those two connected at all?
2. If Ohtani turns into a star, it’s not even close. They’ll control him for very little in dollar amount. The Yankees on the other hand had to take on Stanton’s deal, which could turn out awfully.
Yankees getting Stanton was good for them now. Marketing him along with Judge and the rest of the bombers will pay off in merchandise and initial ticket sales but getting A-Rod was very similar. Then him and Jeter started having issues (not to mention A-Roids tabloid headings) and by the last few years, the contract was an albatross. Not trying to say that Stanton will go down the same path but the Yankees took a huge long term financial risk that only a few could absorb if the worst happened. Remember, Lurie knew either he or Stanton would be gone before the huge financial years kicked in. He never had the intention of directly paying it off.
Yes… adding a 3-4WAR player for $300M at a position that was not needing an upgrade over a potential front line starter who could put up 6 or 7 WAR for no money at a position that was desperately needing an upgrade….
Why compare the two? What does trading for Stanton have to do with Ohtani deciding he wanted to be on the west coast?
Front line starter that pitched once a week, never endured the travel aspects of the MLB game here in the US, and pitched against an overall inferior brand of baseball over in Japan. That’s your front line starter? See Gyro-Ball, see Big Fat Toad!
Not debating that Ohtani can/might be a terrific player but to denegrade Stanton to promote Ohtani is just wrong.
Also, if he is successful, $300 million will be a bargain comparitively.
You can’t compare a 145 game player to one that will pitch maybe….maybe 25-30 games for you and their impact (and I’m not dealing with his potential to be in the lineup hitting with that comment).
That’s funny. You assume Stanton is going to play more than 145 games a season when he has only done that 2 times in 8 years. Dude is injury prone.
We aren’t bitter we don’t root against anyone. We love baxenall
His bat looks absolutely terrible. As a pitcher he has a long way to go until people judge him. But his bat will not hold at the MLB level
I am going to disagree. Ohtani’s bat will be his living in MLB. That arm and shoulder are going nowhere longterm in the major leagues.
Put him in RF. Time will bare out what I am saying as correct. #Scoutseyes.
Sorry to say but the Angel didn’t get him to hit….its just that to get him you had to commit to him to bat!
You were NEVER a scout or a AAA manager ! Stop the lies!
He throw 105 he’s pitching lol
Well thats sure not what they are saying . They are saying he is finding his timing and is just a hair off. He’s pitching from a different size mound, with a different size ball, in a new country after tearing a ligament in his elbow last year
It looks like he’s going to be a major leaguer despite those struggles. Had he been drafted or been like most IFA’s he’d go down to AAA for awhile and work it out. Hopefully he’s ready for the show because it doesn’t do him any good to be in the big leagues and get torched.
From pujols, to Hamilton, to ohtani (and there’s others) the angels keep making stupid, expensive, long term disasters with their contracts. Enjoy!
They’re paying him the bare minimum.
Plus the intl money you spent and the release fee of 20 million…..but yeah….bare minimum….
You don’t know what he signed do do you?
Do do?
In today’s world, the posting fee is nothing for a 23 year old player at worst deserves to be at AAA. How many teams would do the deal for him now having seen him in spring training? My guess is just about all of the ones who seriously tried to woo him to sign. At worst, what could he today be traded for? Add the marketing dollars and he really is zero cost for the Angels.
Hamilton was a terrible signing. But Pujols HAS produced for CA. Not at STL numbers but in the seasons he’s been healthy (five of six) Albert has averaged 30HR’s and over 100rbi’s and provided Trout with protection batting behind Mike. Even though he’s not a 330 hitter anymore, his power allows Trout to get some good pitches to hit.
Pujols has been hitting in the .240s, only hit over 30HR in 2 of the last 3 seasons and barely hit 100 RBIs in 2 of his 3 100+ RBI seasons. That’s producing I suppose, but not at the value of his contract.
If Morales never got hurt in 2010 , I don’t think the angels sign pujols to the long term deal he got.
The Angels were paying Pujols to lead the team to on the field success. That’s where he hasn’t delivered. While you always hope for MVP numbers, his age and other factors made it unrealistic to expect SLC type numbers after the first couple of years. Unfortunately pitcher injuries and inconsistencies is what cost the Angels.
Pujols was the worst regular player in baseball in 2017.
He’s avg 31 Hr and 111 RBI per 162 for the Angels. Yay he’s not performing lol
That’s zero percent true. And finally after 3 years he has had a pain free offseason and they say he looks phenomenal. Couple more years and he can take his place on the mount rush more of MLB
Lineup protection isn’t exactly a real thing.
It has limited influence, mostly in two-out situations. That’s how I understand it.
The way I understand it is if lineup protection were a real thing, if Trout didn’t have Pujols batting behind him, he would just get walked every time he came up to bat, thus inflating his stats.
100% concur. I have been saying this for years now. Angel fan does not wanna hear it. Unfortunately for Angel fan, facts are facts. End of day Ohtani is what he is…. a bust in the making and that’s ok. This team is not going anywhere.
– Angels Season Ticket Holder
He’s a 23 year old rookie with the equivalent to AAA experience. He’s a prospect!
Not all prospects are Cody Bellinger. For example: Yoan Moncada. First big league stint was awful but he isn’t a bust is he?
Yoan moncada was sent down to AAA though. It doesn’t sound like the Angels have any interest in doing that. Hopefully he’s ready to go. They’ve gone to a 6 man rotation and have basically guaranteed he’s going to crack the roster despite his struggles. It may be the wrong way to go.
Like I said…. At the end of the day it does not matter. This Angels team is going nowhere. Angel fan what are you going to do when your boy wonder Mike Trout is playing in a different uniform?
Mike Trout wasn’t good in his first taste of the majors; he has since gone on to have the best start to a career in history. We can slow down with Ohtani. Scouts and other talent evaluators think he could be a very good pitcher and that the power at least plays at the plate.
Trout ain’t leaving and I’ll bet you $500 they make the playoffs and I’m not an Angel fan
It literally is a minor league deal and Pujols has been an all star for them. Maybe look up his numbers before you talk
I think people are forgetting that Ohtani is getting the minimum league salary plus a measley bonus of a little over $2M People think that because his free agency was such a big deal this year, he received some massive contract. He didn’t
So no matter how much he flops, I don’t think it can ever be considered a “bad signing”. It’s a very low risk, high reward signing and if anything, it’s brought some interest and attention back to the Angels.
It was a high risk signing for Ohtani. If he flops he’ll never receive the payday he was a virtual lock to receive.
That is 100% true. Great point but he made it appear that money wasn’t his priority and everyone just thought he was “saying the right things” figuring he’d get the money between marketing and his later contract. Time will tell. Hopefully he develops and it becomes a moot point.
RytheStunner….Are you forgetting the $20 Million posting fee it took to sign him?
Don’t you think that somehow gets added into the “measly” major league minimum and measly $2 Million bonus for his services?
Ohtani is under team control for 6 years for that 20 million dollars, so a little more than 3m/year with the posting fee included. That’s nothing for a major league franchise.
And let the tommy John surgeries continue more and more each year. These kids needs to stop be thrower and actually be a pitcher with movement and deception. Not blowing out their arms with 100 mph fastballs when everyone in majors is fastball hitting team.
Agree, plus the abuse on kids arms these days is insane. 1996 was the first year there was double digit TJS in MLB…2012 had the highest at 46. since 2010 there has been over 20 per year with 2017 being the lone outlier. You may find this interesting. mlbreports.com/tj-surgery/
Also check out the link they provide for all TJS no matter the level all 1491 of them
The hate on here is ugly to say the least. Reminds me of the hate lonzo ball is getting in the nba. Anything these kids do is minimized but everything bad is bolded and put on headlines. Kid is 23 and playing spring ball, lets wait 2/3 years to really see what he is before we judge.
Well, 10 points a game on 36% shooting is what you can knock Lonzo on. Decent player otherwise.
At what point do they say it was ridiculous to give anyone the monicker “babe Ruth of Japan” and make the guy focus on pitching and nothing more. Trouts gone in 2 years, get the most out of him now:pitch and nothing else. The guy can’t hit, period.
Anyone that calls Ohtani a bust before the season even starts doesn’t understand baseball. Spring training is a time to get to stretched out and ready for the season. By all accounts Ohtani’s stuff is very good and will play at the big league level let him settle in a little and see how he does. As for hitting it’s also way to early to make any calls on that lets see some real game action and let him adjust to the big league pitchers. Give the guy a break my guess he will be just fine after an adjustment period.