While Cubs manager Craig Counsell was having his usual pre-game media scrum on Monday, he decided to opine about Dodgers pitcher/DH Shohei Ohtani and the rule that allows an exception for the Dodgers to have essentially an extra pitcher on their roster, as MLB teams are now limited to 13 pitchers on their 26-man roster.
Counsell called the rule “bizarre” and added:
“I’ve never understood it,” Counsell said. “It’s an offensive rule, essentially. It’s a rule to help offense, more than anything, if you
ask me. And then there’s one team that’s allowed to carry basically one of both, and he gets special consideration, which is probably the most bizarre rule. For one team.”
Well… yes, it’s for one team. At this time. Any team that has a player that meets these requirements can have a similar exception:
To qualify for a two-way designation, players must meet the following criteria in either the current season or any of the two previous seasons:
Pitched at least 20 major-league innings
Started at least 20 games as a position player or DH, with at least three plate appearances in each of those games
With his two-way designation, Ohtani does not count against the Dodgers’ pitcher total on their active roster, another luxury for a franchise with an enormous payroll.
The thing is, everyone in baseball knows Ohtani is a unicorn. There isn’t anyone in MLB history who’s done what Ohtani has — no, not even Babe Ruth, who was a good pitcher for several years before becoming the legendary hitter he was. Ruth only did the pitching/hitting combo for, really, two years (1918-19) before pretty much quitting pitching (he pitched in only five games after 1919).
Ohtani has been a top pitcher and hitter for several seasons, winning three MVP awards for his combined production (though it could be argued he could have been MVP only as a hitter, and won Cy Young Awards had he only been a pitcher). He has 17.0 career bWAR as a pitcher and 36.0 bWAR as a hitter — no one’s ever come close to that, though Ruth did amass 20.4 career bWAR pitching. Ohtani will easily double that. He’s a Hall of Fame player, right now, and could easily wind up with 600 career home runs, 300 career stolen bases and 100 career wins (in an era when wins are downplayed), and possibly 2,000 strikeouts.
Now if any other team can find a player like that, they’d get the same roster exception the Dodgers have. Only that’s not likely to happen, because Ohtani is unique. And I use the word “unique” as it’s supposed to be used, meaning “only one.”
Yes, the rule is called the “Ohtani Rule.” So what? Ohtani is good for baseball and Counsell’s comments, in my view, shouldn’t have been made.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had a pointed response for Counsell, quoted in this Los Angeles Times article by Steve Henson:
“He’s an exception because he’s an exceptional player,” the Dodgers manager told reporters after his team’s 12-3 victory against the Colorado Rockies.
“It certainly benefits us, because we have the player,” he said. “But that’s something that, any team that had Ohtani would have that player.
“We’re more than willing for other teams to go out and find a player who can do both.”
It’s something Counsell shouldn’t have said, in my view, and especially not just before a weekend series coming up between the Cubs and Dodgers at Dodger Stadium this weekend. You can be sure this topic will be revisited before that series.
Oh, and Ohtani is starting tonight against the Giants. If the Dodgers hold to a five-man rotation (though this year, they’ve given Ohtani six, seven and five days of rest between starts), Ohtani could possibly start against the Cubs Sunday afternoon in Los Angeles.
That’d be interesting just for Counsell’s comments alone, but also — Ohtani has never pitched against the Cubs, one of just two teams he’s never faced (the other: the Brewers).
As always, we await developments.
