The Ohtani Delimma
It is a proven fact that when Shohei Ohtani focuses on pitching, he is one of the top two hitters in the game. When he pitches as well, his focus is not solely on hitting, and it shows. His batting average is .270-.280 when he hits and pitches, while it is over .300 when he only…
It is a proven fact that when Shohei Ohtani focuses on pitching, he is one of the top two hitters in the game. When he pitches as well, his focus is not solely on hitting, and it shows. His batting average is .270-.280 when he hits and pitches, while it is over .300 when he only hits. Yes, he is amazing… but you cannot serve two masters! I think he needs to focus on hitting and also be used as a multi-innings reliever a couple of times a week. FULL STOP!
This year, he is hitting .276 and frequently wildly chases pitches out of the zone. His focus is not on hitting. He could be the best player/hitter in baseball, but that mantle falls on Aaron Judge, who is hitting .343 with a 1160 OPS and an insane OPS+ of 218. It is my opinion that if Ohtani focused more on hitting, his value would be higher. FULL STOP!
- Of course, you can weigh in.
- Mookie Betts appears to be waking up after sleepwalking most of the season.
- Don’t look now, but Michael Conforto is up to .195 and has a .310 OB%
- It’s possible Kike misses the rest of the regular season.
I am headed to Cincinnati to see the Dodgers and Ohtani play tonight. I have to get a Frisch’s Big Boy Platter. There are only 31 locations… mostly around Cincinnati, and they have some in the Great American Ballpark. They even have a Big Boy Statue in the Ballpark:
It’s going to be a great night… win or lose!
P.S. My full shoulder replacement is scheduled for August 27… right after my daughter’s wedding on August 23.
The 2025 MLB trade deadline is Thursday at 6 pm ET
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Discussion (60)
Disagree, not disagreeable
AJ Preller is making dope fiend moves in order to save his job.
It won’t work
Outman to Twins….
Ok now we need a defensive CF replacement
Alex Call for Eriq Swan and Sean Linan.
Call is Steven Quan.
Finally May is gone, now only Gonsolin, Graterol, Miller and next year Kershaw and Glass man are left to go.
We got Boston’s #10 and #29 Prospect for May.
Good haul for 2 months of Dustin May. But I am not overwhelmed by Call. His numbers are not the same as Kwan. His career OPS is a little over .700.
Biggest disappointment is that they didn’t do more to help the bullpen. Brock Stewart has had 2 decent years in 7 and is injury prone. Of the guys they got in the 3 team trade, only Gervase is on the 40 man and he is marginal at best. I guess he’s tall. He did pitch well in the minors.
If they were trying to get an impact arm for the ‘pen, I don’t think they did.
All in all their rivals improved more than they did.
Their returning starting pitchers are better than anyone available at the deadline. Assuming that Snell and Sasaki’s arms don’t fall off. Same with the return of Muncy – if he’s the Muncy of the last 2 months and not the first 2 months. But the bullpen is a different story. Phillips isn’t returning. Yates isn’t suddenly improving. Kopech and Graterol can’t be relied on.
I think that an ineffective bullpen will be the bane of the team this post-season.
Seems to me that we gave up guys that were largely blocked and had no future with the Dodgers for some pretty decent players and prospects. It was a solid deadline but certainly not magnificent as of today. In 5 years who knows?