free_mhayden said:
It's a grade 1 sprain so jumping the gun a bit on him needing TJS or missing a significant portion of 2018.
And based on what happened in the last week with multiple "finalist" teams trading for more international pool money, doesn't seem like it caused anyone to back off -- there was so much surplus value in a guy like Ohtani that you could sit him for all of 2018 and 2019 and it would still be worth it.
There was this additional piece (pardon the pun):
Quote:
Passan also notes that the medical reports state that a "small free body" is floating around Ohtani's elbow area, close to his UCL.
My point goes back to the fact he had limited pitching in 2017 (25.1 IP in 5GS) with little success (BB9 from 2.9 to 6.8, ERA from 2.12 to 3.20). He has had platelet-rich plasma injection in October. He has had no real meaningful stress on his elbow, meaning his elbow is about as clean as it can be right now.
An MRI is a snapshot in time of where a body is. I think it can provide some historical information, but it would be concerning to me. Was this an injury that is a year old and is being rehabbed, or was this suffered during his 5GS.
I agree teams going after more money indicate they think he is worth chasing. The Rangers just gave a ton of money to Minor, Tyson Ross and Cashner last year. So, $20M posting and $3M on a guy you'd pay $500K/yr for the next 3 years isn't a bad investment. Although that comes out to about $8M/year.
I bet he ends up more like the 2017 version of Tyson Ross and less like the 2017 version of Andrew Cashner.
We'll see how things play out.