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The story
With Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani held out of the starting lineup for a second straight game, manager Dave Roberts told reporters before the game that there’s no structural damage in Ohtani’s right upper arm, but that his return to pitching will be pushed back further than originally planned — making a pitching comeback this season effectively hopeless. On 5ch’s Nanademo Jikkyou G board, reactions split sharply: some worried he isn’t living up to his massive contract, others defended him by pointing out his batting numbers remain elite even as a DH-only player, and still others questioned whether the “two-way player” label even applies to him anymore.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts addressed pitcher Shohei Ohtani’s absence from the starting lineup for a second consecutive game before the match. He revealed there is no damage in Ohtani’s right upper arm, but said his pitching return would be delayed. A pitching comeback this season is now considered hopeless.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
They already got their ¥100 billion worth ages ago
The next 7 years are basically him volunteering
32 years old
DH only
7 years left on the contract
Sorry but… did we just witness the birth of a death-row inmate?
But 'Big Timee Shohei' still tosses a pitch every once in a while and gives us our dose of inspiration porn (Timee = a Japanese app for one-off, single-shift gig work — i.e., he 'gig-works' as a pitcher now)
If this were a foreign player I actually rooted for, I'd be losing my mind right now
Wouldn't be surprised if he just fades out from here
Given his personality you can just tell he's sulking
Like he's thinking, 'Coach, I want to pitch too, get showered with praise, and rake in tons of cash'
He's been DH-only for almost 3 months now
If anything his numbers keep getting worse
Even with his numbers 'declining' he's still 3rd in OPS — that's monstrous
Do you have any idea how insane 1st place is?
Get 1st twice and you're basically a Hall of Famer
Ugh…
Once people start comparing him downward like this, it really starts to feel like he's washed up
Never heard of that weird rule
What do you even think the Hall of Fame is
Ohtani: hits, skips defense, pitches instead
Why is this even called 'two-way' in the first place?
By that logic every batting pitcher in the Central League is a two-way player
That's an insult to Central League pitchers who go through a full season in the rotation
He's not a position player, he's a hitter
A DH-only guy isn't a position player, he's a hitter
His knees are shot, outfield's not happening
You think he could ever pull off a basket catch like Ichiro?
Lol, I can picture it already
Pitching was his original dream anyway, and as a hitter he's pretty much already accomplished everything
Given how off-the-charts his talent is though, people around him probably wish he'd just focus on hitting
He just wasn't getting this much attention back then
$700 million doesn't come for nothing
Lol, didn't you people say pitcher wins are a meaningless stat
For someone supposedly bad in the clutch, he's racking up plenty of RBIs
That RBI total while batting leadoff is insane, no?
Even Skenes wasn't in the running last year — pitching just doesn't carry the value anymore
Back in his AL days, even when he pitched he basically always lost out to Judge
The only season Ohtani won MVP was the one where Judge got hurt and missed a long stretch
However you look at it, he's clearly always wanted to pitch, pitch, pitch
They're using that money to sign other big-name players, so it's not that simple
That's a separate issue though
Guess Ohtani just doesn't want to do anything but start
A reliever with his caliber of talent being wasted on relief work? Not needed one bit
It's not that he doesn't want to, it's that he can't
Background and Key Points of the Debate
Ohtani’s contract with the Dodgers, signed in 2023, is a 10-year, $700 million deal (worth over ¥100 billion at the exchange rate at the time), most of which is deferred. The mismatched figures of “¥70 billion” and “¥100 billion” tossed around in the thread stem from the complexity of this deferred-money structure. The central debate was how to value Ohtani as a hitter now that a pitching comeback looks hopeless — some defended him by pointing to his top-tier OPS, others objected to the “two-way player” label itself, and others worried his motivation is slipping based on talk of lateness or attitude. Manager Roberts’ press conference stressed there is no structural damage to the upper arm, so this is easily misread as a serious injury when it’s really more a matter of usage and conditioning. Note that the claim he has been “showing up late” is unverified hearsay from the thread.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Nanademo Jikkyou G) thread “[Bad News] Shohei Ohtani’s Two-Way Career Is Dead This Season WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW“
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