24 August 2023
There is some good news for Mets fans ahead of a nine-game homestand that will begin Friday against the Los Angeles Angels: Shohei Ohtani may be able to play.
Ohtani received a devastating diagnosis of a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching arm Wednesday night. He won’t pitch again the rest of the season, which is a blow to just about everyone in baseball, including the New York fans who were hoping to see him pitch at Citi Field this weekend. Ohtani will continue to DH while seeking treatment options that may help him avoid his second Tommy John surgery, according to the Orange County Register’s Jeff Fletcher and ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez.
The Angels, 10.5 games back from an AL Wild Card spot, are hoping for the season-saving miracle that the Mets have long since given up on. The Mets have turned their eye toward the future, one that many have speculated could include Ohtani.
The 29-year-old Japanese phenom will be a free agent following the World Series this fall. He has long been connected to the Mets with Billy Eppler — the executive who lured him to Anaheim — now heading up the baseball operations office in Queens. The familiarity with Eppler along with owner Steve Cohen’s proclivity for spending on premier free agents have led many to connect the dots. Even Vegas sportsbooks list the Mets as one of the favorites to land baseball’s unicorn.
It’s unclear what the Mets actually do plan to do this winter in free agency. Eppler is especially careful about leaking information and typically prefers to keep plans under tight wraps. It’s also not known what, exactly, Ohtani is looking for in his next team or his next contract. Some have speculated that he wants to remain on the West Coast. Some think he’ll follow the money and the wins.
But this injury has left many wondering what the future looks like for baseball’s first bonafide two-way star since Babe Ruth. If that future is with the Mets, will he still pitch? It’s not out of the realm of possibility to think he could return to his old form. Tommy John surgery itself isn’t a kiss of death and many pitchers have credited the operation with saving their careers.
However, it’s a lot harder to come back from two UCL reconstruction surgeries and throw with the same velocity. There were questions about his long-term future as a two-way player when he came to the league in 2018, and they certainly still exist.
MLB insider Ken Rosenthal says the market for Ohtani is about $500 million as a hitter. Teams should look at him as such and consider any innings he pitches as a bonus. If any team is going to be able to afford a multi-year contract at $500 million, it’s the Mets, who are owned by the 10th-richest man in professional sports.
When the Mets sold off all of their veterans at the deadline earlier this month, it was assumed that the club was taking itself out of the running for the Ohtani sweepstakes. One player isn’t likely to change the plans of an entire organization, but should the Mets still view Ohtani as a starting pitcher, then the timeline could make sense.
The club is hopeful to contend in 2024 or 2025, which is about the time Ohtani could pitch again should he end up electing Tommy John surgery. It’s going to be tough for any team to commit that much money to a player who could be looking at a lengthy rehab, but it might be worth it considering the considerable dollars he would bring in between fan attendance and marketing opportunities.
Imagining Ohtani in a lineup with Brandon Nimmo, Pete Alonso, Francisco Lindor, Jeff McNeil and Francisco Alvarez might make a contract more palatable for Cohen. He leads the league with 44 home runs. He’s as prolific of a hitter as he is a pitcher. It’s tempting.
There will be several twists and turns in the saga in the coming months and the next chapter will start Friday in Flushing. This series feels far more anticlimactic than what was once predicted with the Mets using mostly Triple-A players to get by the rest of the season and the Angels having fallen out of contention, despite trying to go for it with Ohtani and Mike Trout at the deadline. To make matters worse, Trout went on the injured list again Thursday, having played only one game since his return from hamate bone surgery.
However, anytime Ohtani is on a baseball field there is interest and intrigue. The fact that this next chapter starts in New York almost seems scripted. But ultimately, we still don’t know how this story ends. All we can hope for is that it ends with one of the game’s most gifted players getting healthy and getting a chance at a World Series.
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