Shohei Ohtani couldn’t make it through an entire season as a two-way player as a 32-year-old.
Chances are, he won’t be able to do it next season as a 33-year-old.
Which is why Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman’s responses to a couple of questions he fielded on Wednesday were particularly alarming.
In retrospect, could Ohtani have been healthier in the playoffs if the Dodgers had managed him differently earlier in the season?
“I don’t know the answer to that,” Friedman said
Considering where Ohtani is age-wise, is it still possible for him to play both ways for a full season?
“I don’t know the answer to that,” Friedman said.
Friedman better have been playing coy when speaking at the Dodgers’ end-of-the-season news conference.
Because if he wasn’t, that would signal a major problem – specifically, that the Dodgers are detached from reality.
Before they decide how aggressively they will pursue Tarik Skubal or how quickly they want to turn over their geriatric roster, the Dodgers must have an honest conversation with Ohtani about how he can return to being a two-way player without condemning himself to another October in which he looks as if he crawled from a nearby infirmary into the batter’s box.
But how can the Dodgers do that if they can’t even acknowledge what’s obvious?
Such as how them acquiescening to his wish to play through knee and arm injuries was a major reason why he was physically compromised when the games mattered most.
Or how him setting out to be a designated-hitter-slash-pitcher for an entire season is a suicide mission at this stage of his career.
The Dodgers’ relationship with Ohtani isn’t a typical employer-employee relationship, nor should it be. But the way the team prioritized Ohtani’s desires over common sense this year pointed to there being an imbalance in power that was counterproductive. Friedman’s reluctance to acknowledge Ohtani’s limitations didn’t dispel this notion.
Friedman said the Dodgers’ braintrust would work with Ohtani to come up with a plan to improve his chances of being healthy in the playoffs, but he sounded as if he would be counting on the player’s team-first mentality to resolve the team’s concerns.
“He is awesome about saying, ‘Hey, whatever it takes to help the team win,’” Friedman said. “He means it. Private conversations, public conversations.”
Of course, in Ohtani’s mind, that means him taking on as much as humanly possible.
In the wake of the Dodgers’ elimination, Ohtani was asked what he envisioned doing next season.
“I intend on doing everything,” he said in Japanese.
If Ohtani insists on shouldering the same workload he had early this season, will the Dodgers be able to stand their ground?
If he is convinced a new offseason training regimen will allow him to go wire-to-wire as a two-way player, will the Dodgers be able to convince him the risks outweigh the potential rewards?
The Dodgers should know by now that Ohtani won’t place any limits on himself.
That’s worked for Ohtani for the most part, as his physical gifts have made it possible for him to overcome the majority of obstacles placed in front of him.
But no athlete has ever defeated the calendar, and this season provided the tangible evidence that Ohtani won’t be an exception to the rule.
By mid-July, Ohtani was shut down as a pitcher because of problems with his left knee and right arm. By mid-August, he was finished as an MVP-caliber hitter.
In the playoffs, he was more of an imagined threat than an actual one, as he batted just .192 and struck out 10 times in 32 plate appearances. He didn’t homer until the night the Dodgers were eliminated.
Friedman sounded as if he knew what had to be done.
“Whether we start a little late …” Friedman said at one point, likely in reference to the idea that Ohtani could delay the start of his season as a pitcher.
And if Ohtani is playing both ways from the start of the season, Friedman raised the question about how the Dodgers are “going to manage that in the first month and then assess things.”
Whatever their thoughts are, the Dodgers have to share them with Ohtani.
They have to be direct.
If Ohtani is as open-minded as Friedman described him, he should understand that they want not only what’s best for the team but also what’s best for him.
Ohtani isn’t 20-something anymore. He has to adjust. The Dodgers have to guide him there, and that starts with them providing him with a candid evaluation of his newfound limitations.
