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I am curious to know if any thought has been given to how Shohei Ohtani will be dealt with next season. Is he going to be pitcher only again?

I personally don't see why he can't be both but not at the same time.
You can slot him in as your utility player (but he will not generate pitching stats for your team during that week).
Or you can slot him in as one of your pitchers (but he will not generate hitting stats for your team during that week).

Or he needs TJ and none of us have to worry about it until 2021

And there it is. New damage to UCL. TJ here we come.

That is unfortunate news. However the question still needs to be addressed. He may not even get TJS and just be exclusively play offense next year. If he does get TJS, maybe he only needs six month recovery typical for position players and he spends next season exclusively on offense. While this is all very speculative right now, we still need a ruling whether or not we can use him as utility player next year.

I hear ya. I was kinda being a smart ass then was on twitter and saw that. Probably should just get the surgery.

I know Greg has said his programmers couldn't manage to fix it for this year, and while that is understandable, it is of course too bad that one of the funnest stories in baseball this year was largely ineligible to be on any of our rosters. But Greg also said if Ohtani ended up doing both, he would fix that in future season, and now that they have two years to get that change in place, I'm sure it will happen. For what it's worth, I played in one league where he could be used as a hitter or pitcher, and to my surprise, he has in fact been quite useful even after his pitching was done.

They get to push off the decision for another year. Just make him a Utility guy in 2019.

It'd be great to get a decision on Ohtani before the Pre-Mature League draft begins.
With the pitching side of Ohtani looking bleak for next year, making him a U only player for 2019 seems like the prudent thing to do.

DOUGHBOYS wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 13, 2018 9:01 am

It'd be great to get a decision on Ohtani before the Pre-Mature League draft begins.
With the pitching side of Ohtani looking bleak for next year, making him a U only player for 2019 seems like the prudent thing to do.

Since Ohtani likely won't be pitching next year and since he hasn't played a single game in the field, he will have to be UT-only for 2019. Our plan was to address his dual eligibility and how we will program that after the season, but we haven't addressed that yet. His injury kind of makes it obvious that the only way he plays in 2019 is as a hitter.

DH only right now and we'll address how we would use him in 2019 if he was a two-way player. Ideally we'd program him as one player with dual eligibility and each week you'd decide whether to start him as a pitcher or as a hitter. No two different players for one guy in the NFBC (one hitting, one pitching). At least that's my opinion.

Hope that helps.

Thanks for the ruling, Greg.

As I continue my prep for 2019, I was wondering what position SP/1B Brendan McKay of the Rays will be initially eligible next season and how he will be handled. He might be one more year a way but I do think a mid-season call-up is a possibility.

jvetter wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 17, 2018 9:56 am

Thanks for the ruling, Greg.

As I continue my prep for 2019, I was wondering what position SP/1B Brendan McKay of the Rays will be initially eligible next season and how he will be handled. He might be one more year a way but I do think a mid-season call-up is a possibility.

If McKay goes from High A to the majors in half a season, that will be something. But if he does, it will likely be because of his arm. He started 17 games this year on the mound and played 18 games at First Base. Again, let's see how we program this in 2019 but he's definitely a Pitcher and if he were to qualify also as a hitter it would be First Base eligible.

Greg Ambrosius wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 14, 2018 2:47 pm

Ideally we'd program him as one player with dual eligibility and each week you'd decide whether to start him as a pitcher or as a hitter. No two different players for one guy in the NFBC (one hitting, one pitching). At least that's my opinion.

I'm come to agree that that is probably the best approach. I play a league on CBS that went with that this season and it actually preserved Ohtani's value when he could no longer pitch. I am looking forward to seeing Ohtani again be a two-way player in 2020.