The next big Japanese Baseball Star? He's got a 100mph pitch and can hit 500 foot home runs. Want's to be a 2 way player in MLB. Not sure the last time a pitcher also played a position. I know that Drysdale sometimes in his career was used as a pinch hitter. Maybe if this kid comes to an AL team he can pitch and do some DH on the days he's not pitching. But even that seems highly unlikely as pitchers have very demanding between starts routines and if he's coming out of the bullpen he can't be in the dugout as a DH, he'd have to be in the bullpen warming up. But he's a pheeeeee...nom! http://m.mlb.com/news/article/164174962/shohei-ohtani-is-next-baseball-star-from-japan/
the article I posted on FB seems to think the Dodgers would make a run at him. You can get away with a DH/pitcher when you use him as the closer. They do it in college baseball all the time. There's been some great players who have done it in the past.
I read that article you posted on FB Corey, the interesting thing to me was that the Dodgers who have a huge Yankee like payroll have been penny pinching in the last few years. I don't pay attention to the Dodgers that much in terms of who they acquire and how, so that was surprising.
The Dodgers have been paying guys who are no longer playing, thus the need for penny pinching. I think some of that drops off this year, JOCO would be the expert on that though.
:idea: The new Dodgers front office inherited the most mismanaged franchise in baseball and they're still paying for it. Consider that they're still paying Matt Kemp 3 million per year, while Corey Seager, Cody Bellinger, Chris Taylor and Austin Barnes are paid 2.7 million COMBINED! Carl Crawford makes 20 million to sit at home... Big changes are under way. Ethier has been released and he was paid 18 million per year. Adrian Gonzalez and Scott Kasmir will be released. It has taken 5 years to stabilize the balance sheet after the pool boy and the parking lot attendant ruined it... The Dodgers will spend money if the player is worth it. Current rumors say the team is pursuing Giancarlo Stanton...
Well some new rules and agreements between MLB and Japan make it more certain that he will come to the USA. ....just where is the question. http://www.espn.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/84728/now-that-shohei-ohtanis-coming-to-america-where-will-he-play
Could he be ... In Babe Ruth’s last year as a full time starting pitcher, 1918, he played 72 games in the field. He had 20 starts, and threw a complete game in all but one of them. He was 13-7 with a 2.22 ERA. He hit an even .300 in 382 plate appearances, and led the league in home runs with 11 in the last year of the “dead ball era”.
The Dodgers and Yankees are gonna open up the checkbooks for this kid and the amount of money that will get spent is profane.
The Angels? I didn't see that one coming. If he's as good they say he is, that make big difference in the AL West. I just wish he'd have signed with the Giants myself, large Japanese community in the Bay Area.
He'll be paid well and there's always room for a ton of money in endorsements in the LA market. I hope he enjoys finishing 3rd for the rest of his career.
A single player like Ohtani can make his team better, but he alone can't make them a championship contender. It's widely reported that the Yankees and Marlins are close to a trade for Stanton.
I'm hopeful that the Astros are able to shore up their bullpen in the off season to counter what the other teams in the league are doing to get better.
It does appear that Stanton to the Yankees is a done deal. Stanton and Judge will be a quite a duo in Yankee Stadium