Is He Worth It?

The Dodgers have signed Shoehi Ohtani to a ten-year contract worth $700 million. Is he worth it? In a word, No. Let’s start with Ohtani being a two-way player—only he isn’t, not really. As a starter, the right-hander has a 38-19 record over five seasons with a 3.01 ERA, and two Tommy John surgeries. The Dodgers didn’t spend $700 million for an occasional appearance by Ohtani on the mound. If he thinks otherwise, Houston, we have a problem. Nobody seems willing to note the obvious about two-way players, that they double the chance for injury. Even if Ohtani were never to get injured pitching again, he’d be accelerating the inevitable erosion of skills that comes with time. And how’s he going to avoid fatigue, if not injury? What the Dodgers have here is a very good DH (he only played the field seven games with the Angels when not pitching), which then leads to the question, all that money for an offense-only player? According to baseball-reference.com, the top players Ohtani is compared to at this point in his career are Pete Alonso, Tony Clark and Greg—he of the White Sox—Walker. Can you spot the future HOFer in that trio? I can’t. So, Ohtani has parlayed 681 career hits and thirty-eight wins into a record-setting contract. I have no problem with that. If he works out the way the Dodgers think he will, good for them. It’s worth noting here that they’ll probably top four million in attendance next season. Lucky for them they have a “legacy” ballpark with a 56,000 seating capacity. All those dinky parks in the 30,000 range will never be able to do that, to offset that kind of contract with ticket sales or enjoy the windfall of a Dodger Stadium-sized crowd when Ohtani comes to town. One last thing—I hope Ohtani can take the pressure. Nobody blamed him for the Angels never being able to win more than eighty games during his six seasons in Anaheim, this despite having Mike Trout for a teammate. At $700 million, Ohtani won’t be able to get away with playing the smiling sphynx anymore. From now on at Chavez Ravine, it’s World Series or bust.