When it comes to Shohei Ohtani‘s injury management, it’s tempting to dwell on the what-ifs.
What if the Dodgers forced him to give up pitching duties in July, when he needed a lubricant injection to alleviate irritation in his left knee?
It was clear by then that Ohtani was playing through multiple injuries. A right biceps problem popped up for the second time on July 3 — the last time he pitched in a game. The Dodgers said his knee inflammation was only aggravated by pitching and the biceps tightness was tied to hitting. And yet, they were confident that the MLB All-Star break would give Ohtani enough time to bounce back.
If the Dodgers had been more proactive, instead of starting and stopping Ohtani’s throwing program until his injuries forced a shutdown, would he be in the lineup Friday against the Miami Marlins instead of the 15-day injured list?
Maybe.
Or maybe one or both injuries were far enough along by then that they would have affected him down the stretch regardless. Maybe seeing if he could return to the mound was worth the risk.
Maybe not.
“Anyone can do that, and say, ‘What could you have done better or different?’” manager Dave Roberts said earlier this week when asked if he had any regrets about Ohtani’s injury management. “That’s something going forward we’re going to look at, absolutely. But, it’s certainly not a blame-game thing. It’s learning from what happened and getting better.”
Parsing through the alternative outcomes from decisions made months ago could take time. But the fallout from this past week is clearer.
What if instead of resting Ohtani four days, and bringing him back Monday, the Dodgers had put him on the IL right away?
“I think if we look right now, here today, I would love to go back and put him on the IL,” Roberts said. “But at that moment in time, we all felt that giving him four days was sufficient. He was agreeable. Getting him out there on Monday with the hope that he would be able to play [again Wednesday]. But where we’re at right now, sure.”
Two weeks without Ohtani is hard to swallow. As a two-way player, he’s eligible for the 15-day IL instead of the 10-day for position players.
The Dodgers tried to avoid it. But when he returned to the lineup Monday, he “didn’t feel great” on a swing, Roberts revealed.
So now the Dodgers can only backdate Ohtani’s IL stint to Tuesday, rather than Sept. 3. At minimum, Ohtani will be out until the final five games of the regular season.
“The most important thing is him being as healthy as possible, not compromising his swing, and kind of bet on that,” Roberts said.
He acknowledged that Ohtani wouldn’t be back to “100%” even with the two weeks off.
But plenty of players push through injuries in the playoffs. October becomes a test of pain tolerance before addressing ailments in the offseason.
“I want to make sure that when I look back [on] this season,” Ohtani said Monday through interpreter Will Ireton, “that I used this as an experience, a learning experience and make sure that I use that as something to improve upon for next season.”
So, does that mean Ohtani feels like he could be more up-front with the team about his physical well-being, regardless of whether he thinks he can play through aches and pains?
Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani celebrates with teammates after a win over the Reds at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
“It’s hard to say now with the season still going on,” Ohtani said. “It’s something that I’m going to reflect back on during the offseason. I’m just making sure that I’m focusing on the now and finishing strong.”
The Dodgers, for the first time navigating what was expected to be a full season of two-way play from Ohtani, leaned on his expertise while managing his workload. In retrospect, they might have put too much stock in his self-evaluations.
Baseball has a long tradition of players downplaying injuries, out of a desire to play and a belief in their own perseverance.
“What can I learn?” Roberts said this week. “I think that sometimes, potentially trying to get ahead of managing his workload — it always feels good to run him out there offensively as a DH. Always feels good when you pencil him in as a starter — for me, it’s just really trying to be mindful of the long season.
“And I guess it’s under the thing of, ‘you don’t know until you know,’ and it’s important to learn from experiences. And I think it’s good for all of us to kind of appreciate that he’s not supernatural, as much as we think he might be at times.”
Roberts said he didn’t learn until Tuesday night, after giving Ohtani a day off for the fifth time in six games, that a swing on Monday had bothered him.
So, Ohtani didn’t return to the lineup Wednesday as planned. And the team arranged for No. 1 prospect Josue De Paula to meet the team in Miami, called up straight from double-A for his MLB debut on Friday.
“It was more just really huddling up and saying, ‘Hey, how are you going to feel on Friday? How are you going to feel on Saturday, talking to the doctors and training staff?’” Roberts said. “There was not much certainty that he’d be in a much better place. With that, just taking it off the table seemed like the best course of action.”
De Paula wasn’t otherwise guaranteed to debut this season, although the Dodgers would have needed to eventually put him on the 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft.
The Dodgers see him as a major-league ready hitter, but he still has work to do on the defensive side for the team to feel comfortable playing him in the outfield regularly. An early taste of the big leagues, even with his playing time expected to come mostly in the DH spot, could be beneficial for the 21-year-old’s development.
For Ohtani, the ramp from the IL to postseason play will be short. But his recent offensive struggles emphasized the importance of having a healthier version of him in the lineup come October.
If anyone can make it work, it’s Ohtani. He may not be supernatural, but he also isn’t just any player. And if he performs in the postseason, that will drown out any lingering what-ifs.
Times staff writer Kevin Baxter contributed to this report.