Ohtani to keep playing, his future and impending free agency murky after elbow ligament injury

The Angels are a team full of walking wounded!

There is no reason for Otani to play anymore this season. The team SHOULD shut him down and get him healed. If they cared about his health that is!

Oh and to all the pundits here who lashed me at the whipping post for laying the blame for all of the Angel's woes at the feet of the owner numerous sports sites have reported about the lack of leadership of the owner.

The team has known for months that Otani has been having problems, and should have done more and shown true LEADERSHIP and should not have allowed him to get to this point!

They should have told him "no" but fearing backlash, they did nothing, and now it is too late!

@Yubaru:

They sort of treated him like any kid on any team and any pro player in Japan. Use them till you break them.

Better to burn out than to fade out. Maybe he should go the Babe Ruth route because I seriously doubt he will last as long as Yu Darvish has in the MLB pitching.

The team's decision not to trade Ohtani — and to make several acquisitions near the deadline in an attempt to make the playoffs — made no impact on the Angels' fortunes, but the team hopes its unwavering support might be a factor in Ohtani's free-agent decision.

My guess is that $$ will be the main factor in his free-agent decision.

The beginning of the end, but what a glorious few seasons it has been.

should have done more and shown true LEADERSHIP and should not have allowed him to get to this point!

And Otani has NO SAY in this?

He could well have said, "I want to play."

A pretty focused guy by all accounts.

And Otani has NO SAY in this?

Actually, he doesnt have any say. What team anywhere, in baseball, is run by the players?

Maybe you dont know anything about sports, and think the players run things, but the reality is different!

Ohtani already showed by coming to the US at age 23 that he valued playing in the MLB more than money. If he had waited two years later he probably would've gotten $200 million more than he did.

He showed disregard for money again these couple of months by pitching while injured, jeopardizing his free agency contract. Great players are like this. They want to keep pushing, but it's the team's responsibility to protect the players from themselves sometimes.

The Angels, knowing that he has free agency looming, just allowed him to pitch as much as possible, when they should have told him no, protecting him.

If anyone can come back from a second Tommy John surgery it's Ohtani, but it's sad we won't see him pitch for a while.

As Dirty Harry once said ‘ a man has got to know his limits.”

162 games a season makes baseball a tough sport.

pace yourself and take care of your body and you could end up having a long career.

Close. "A man has got to know his limitations"

Ohtani already showed by coming to the US at age 23 that he valued playing in the MLB more than money. If he had waited two years later he probably would've gotten $200 million more than he did.

If he had "valued" the MLB more than money, as you say here, he would have never played in the JPBL as he wanted to go directly to the MLB after HS.

Everyone talks about "money", but he still got millions more than he would have if he had stayed in Japan. He went for money, AND more importantly to play against the best in the world.

Dont go and make it all out for him to be some altruistic dude just "playing" the game. He's in it for the money, just like everyone else.