The Shohei Ohtani angels will have Tommy John's operation after all

After trying to repel the inevitable for a few months, the Angels announced today that Shohei Ohtani would most likely be operated by Tommy John to rebuild his damaged UCL.

This news means he will miss the rest of the year, the entire 2019 season and perhaps even a part of 2020, during his recovery. The advantage is that it could also change the course of his promising career and he signed a contract that seriously underestimated his talents as he just wanted to play in an MLB team while he was in. good shape.

Wait, my assistant tells me it's not an advantage.

The Angels could have followed this path months ago when they initially placed Ohtani as a launcher and rehabilitated the elbow rather than opting for surgery immediately. Instead, they brought him back as a batter, then as a pitcher, and his UCL still deteriorated and must now be operated. What they knew about a few months back anyway.

So, instead of having him operated earlier and thus allowing him to start rehabilitating earlier, the Angels instead opted for the idea and hoped that their new star would mimic Masahiro Tanaka's luck and not all need surgery. Of course, Tanaka is currently an exception to "re-education versus Tommy John" rather than the rule, but it's up to the Angels to be naively optimistic. Although it was clear that not so long ago, they did not play for nothing this year and could ship it for the season.

Ohtani would join Tanaka on the short list of pitchers who could completely avoid Tommy John after damaging their UCL this way (unlikely) or he would hang on until Spring Training next year and that he would need surgery). So, rather than allowing him to begin rehabilitation earlier and likely to miss 2019, the Angels waited on the basis of the slightest chance that Ohtani was one of the lucky and delayed ones. inevitable. Now, it will also run out of time in 2020.

They (and others) rationalize it by saying that it's always better than doing it next spring. Which is technically correct but not completely logical logic based on this particular situation. In short, Angels' decision making is coming up again. We have been here before and we will be back here.

Angels are bad and they should feel bad.

Let's hope Ohtani's recovery goes exactly as planned, with no setbacks, and we'll bring it back on the first day of opening 2020. And that there is no deterioration of his skills after his return. Let's hope that