大谷翔平 - The Official Shohei Ohtani Thread

[WicketMaiden]

19 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

Semien may be too pricey, after his possible top 5 MVP voting season.

Stroman on a 3 year tops deal adds the much needed pitching durability with a #3 starter’s stuff.

Then hopefully no more longer contract FA starting pitchers will need to be signed with the depth being built on the farm.

Ohtani, Sandoval, Stroman, Cobb, Suarez, and either Barria, Detmers, or Junk 

I don't like Sandoval 2nd in the rotation at all AO, I think we need someone that is clearly a top 2 alongside Ohtani. No idea who that could be without the usual speculation but you know the type I mean, someone putting up regular 6 plus innings quality starts with the arsenal to shut down the very best line-ups. 

[Angel Oracle]

13 minutes ago, WicketMaiden said:

I don't like Sandoval 2nd in the rotation at all AO, I think we need someone that is clearly a top 2 alongside Ohtani. No idea who that could be without the usual speculation but you know the type I mean, someone putting up regular 6 plus innings quality starts with the arsenal to shut down the very best line-ups. 

I get the gist of that.   Sandoval has the stuff, but not the innings/durability  yet.

Do they try for Stroman and gamble on someone like Rodon off of his career season with previous health concerns including a 3 weeks IL stint in 2021?

Rodon has been pretty consistent this season, only five starts out of 24 starts allowing more than 2 earned runs.

Ohtani, Rodon, Stroman, Sandoval, Cobb, Suarez = intriguing rotation with righty/lefty mix?

And then re-sign Cobb but not Iglesias, and hope Mayers/Warren can be joined by a couple of farm guys for the late innings roles?   Plus maybe Bachman becomes a late innings guy up here halfway through 2022?  He already has an elite four seamer and slider.

Edited October 1, 2021 by Angel Oracle

[WicketMaiden]

28 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

Semien will be pricey but because of his age he's not going to get the 5-10 year contracts that Seager, Correa and Story get. 

I'm having doubts about Fletcher being anything more than a utility only guy. If he has some trade value, I'm trading him this offseason. 

Semien would be nice to have, maybe if the Angels can trade for a cost controlled TOR pitcher the funds would be there for someone like Semien, I'd prefer his shorter contract but I'm wary he will instantly decline upon signing for us and lose a step on D. 

[Angel Oracle]

4 minutes ago, WicketMaiden said:

Semien would be nice to have, maybe if the Angels can trade for a cost controlled TOR pitcher the funds would be there for someone like Semien, I'd prefer his shorter contract but I'm wary he will instantly decline upon signing for us and lose a step on D. 

I also see the gist of that.

I kind of want them to stay in Stoneman mold for another year, and keep the key prospects.

Then once they are set up enough, then ease off on Stoneman mold. 

[WicketMaiden]

19 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

I get the gist of that.   Sandoval has the stuff, but not the innings/durability  yet.

Do they try for Stroman and gamble on someone like Rodon off of his career season with solid innings count to match?

Ohtani, Rodon, Stroman, Sandoval, Cobb, Suarez = intriguing rotation with righty/lefty mix?

And then re-sign Cobb but not Iglesias, and hope Mayers/Warren can be joined by a couple of farm guys for the late innings roles?   Plus maybe Bachman becomes a late innings guy up here halfway through 2022?  He already has an elite four seamer and slider.

I think signing Raisel Iglesias should be the first priority. Having a closer this year has made such a difference and contributed hugely to the Angels amazing record when leading after the 8th. Once Joe worked out how to use him he's been so reliable and pretty fun to watch too. Get him, then use the farm to trade for a TOR or stretch the budget for a year or two to get the quality we need.

I like Sandoval a lot, his demeanour on the mound and his stuff, but the development curve over the first 600 innings of a pitcher's MLB career is huge, so let him experience that as a 4 or 5, and have some guile and experience at the front of the rotation. 

[WicketMaiden]

28 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

I also see the gist of that.

I kind of want them to stay in Stoneman mold for another year, and keep the key prospects.

Then once they are set up enough, then ease off on Stoneman mold. 

But surely the window is now. Trout is past 30, Ohtani is 2 years away from FA and in his prime, Pujols is gone, we have the outfield we've been talking about for years and promising young pitching to pad out a rotation. If not now, what are we waiting for?

[Chuck]

Okay, back to Ohtani content before we derail this thread too much with offseason plans. 

 

[Angel Oracle]

Ben Verlander (yes, Justin’s younger brother) has significant minor league experience as a player.

He’s not just some talking head.

[Chuck]

Please download to see the Year in Review for Shohei Ohtani by the Angels media group. 

SHOHEI OHTANI’S 2021 SEASON IN REVIEW.pdf

[Chuck]

 

[WicketMaiden]

Pesky WAR! Shohei lost .1 bWAR and .1 fWAR last night by pretty much being pitched around again. I blame Jerry of course.

This is the difficulty in building a strong positive WAR as a DH, without the fielding metric adding to the total, an ordinary day at the plate creates negative WAR as a DH. To have Shohei's offensive WAR profile considering this is all the more impressive.

[FromJapan]

 

[FromJapan]

On 9/21/2021 at 2:13 AM, Chuckster70 said:

 

 

[UndertheHalo]

[UndertheHalo]

[HanfordGuy]

Congratulations Ohtani on having one of the most prolific 2 way player seasons ever. You’re a pretty good ball player.

[Chuck]

 

[FromJapan]

8 hours ago, Chuckster70 said:

 

This tweet was quoted on "The DIGEST", a comprehensive sports information site in Japan.
https://thedigestweb.com/baseball/detail/id=47273

The title:
"Shohei never ceases to impress." The US media praised Shohei Ohtani, who rounded off his career by hitting the 46th HR! "Shohei Ohtani is the undisputed Most Valuable Player in MLB."
 by THE DIGEST editorial.

In the article:
Fans and the media are excited about his extraordinary success of this season. Angels specialized media "Halos Heaven" praised, "I don't think we all realize how incredibly fortunate we are to have been able to watch this day in and day out. One of the most incredible seasons in baseball history." "Shohei Ohtani is the undisputed Most Valuable Player in MLB." said AngelsWin.com.

 

[DCAngelsFan]

Saw the little Ohtani "tribute" video after the game last night, and it kind of made me a little melancholy - I have to wait 6 months to see him play again?  

While we didn't "waste" his season, like @WicketMaiden said above (among others), this is the time for Arte to go all-in - there will never be a time when Trout, Ohtani, and Rendon are any better than they'll be next season - and while I wish we didn't have quite as many holes to fill, it's within reach to build a team that can contend for the playoffs, and the World Series (we all know luck plays a huge role once in the post-season - but first you've got to get there.)   

If Arte can't bring himself to dip into his cash flows to fund it, I'm sure there's a line of billionaires who'd *love* to buy some equity in the team (or the entire team) to be part of the Ohtani phenomenon - he's the single most marketable face in baseball right now.   Larry Ellison, Tiger Woods, Mark Cuban come to mind ...

(if he's to do it - would also be a great time to go all-in on out scouting and development system - as we lose picks and international pool money for signing FA"s and going over thresholds.)

 

[WicketMaiden]

Final WAR report for Shohei:

9.0 bWAR

8.1 fWAR

How may days until we get to see him play again?

[WicketMaiden]

I posted this in its own thread because it's just so bloody incredible, but thought I'd put it here too for posterity:

This is how Shohei compared to his peers in the American League in 2021:

1st in bWAR (9.0)

1st in fWAR (8.1) 

1st in Triples

1st Intentional Walks

1st AB’s per HR

1st Win Probability Added

1st Power/Speed Number

2nd Slugging %

2nd OPS

2nd Runs Created

2nd XBH

2nd Offensive Win %

3rd Home Runs

4th Total Bases

5th Stolen Bases

5th OBP

5th Pitching xERA (3.32)

5th K/9 (10.77)

7th Times on Base

Fastest man from Home to First

Throws the most un-hittable pitch in all baseball (Splitter - 48.5% Whiff rate)

Top 1% in all baseball for: Barrel %; Max Exit Velocity; xSLG

Top 3% of all baseball for: Hard Hit %; Exit Velocity; xWOBA

[Angel Oracle]

Without Trout and Rendon for a large part of the season

[Chuck]

 

[Chuck]

 

[Angel Oracle]

What’s the likelihood of Ohtani finishing in the top 10 in the AL Cy Young race?

For AL pitchers with at least 130 innings, he was 8th in ERA and WHIP.

Regardless of innings pitched, he was 7th in pitching WAR.

Finished the season with 156/44 Ks/BBs ratio, just over 3.5/1.0 ratio.

Pre-July: 60 innings, 35 BBs, 5.25 BBs/9 innings

July forward: 70.1 innings, NINE BBs, 1.16 BBs/9 innings, Maddux like control with more wicked stuff

Edited October 5, 2021 by Angel Oracle