Shohei Ohtani’s agent reassures Dodgers fans on mysterious surgery

The Los Angeles Dodgers did not buy a lemon, but the Shohei Ohtani car seems to have depreciated in value immediately coming off the lot. Admittedly, this happens when you buy any automobile, but it applies more to new cars than used ones. Not to say that Ohtani is a used car in the traditional sense, but there may have been some medicals that contributed to him leaving the Los Angeles Angels.

In the wake of Ohtani signing a gargantuan 10-year, $700 million contract to suit up for the Boys in Blue, his agent Nez Balelo was asking about the nature of his client's elbow procedure. While Ohtani neither confirmed nor denied that he underwent a second Tommy John surgery, having had the operation back in 2018, Balelo reiterated it was not Tommy John, but it did not have a name.

While Ohtani is as gifted in the batter's box as he is from the pitcher's mound, he is not getting a 10-year, $700 million contract from anyone if his dang arm is about to fall off. Surely, you could have him serve as the designated hitter the entire time he recovers from his latest arm surgery, but it is not like you can stick him over at first base. Freddie Freeman occupies the first base bag since coming over.

We may be making a mountain out of a mole hill here, but man, this feels like such a risky acquisition.

After getting burned on the Albert Pujols deal, you can understand why Angels owner Arte Moreno may not have been willing to match the Dodgers' offer of 10 years for $700 million. Something is up...

Shohei Ohtani's agent reassures client's latest surgery is nothing serious

Even though Ohtani is now playing for one my beloved Atlanta Braves' rival teams, I really do wish him the best. Ohtani is one-of-one in terms of overall baseball talent. The fact his undeniable skill set was being utterly wasted in Orange County is almost as bad as what the Halos have done, better yet, not done, with his former teammate Mike Trout. Baseball is a team sport, not one built around superstars.

What I keep going back to is the length of the deal, rather than the money. Where's the money, Lebowski? It is not like Frank McCourt still owns the team, so I don't have any real concerns about the Dodgers being able to cough up close to a billion dollars over the course of a decade to one player. They won the bidding war, so good for them. But 10 years? Why sign anyone to more than five years?

The hope for the Dodgers is Ohtani is still Ohtani for the first five years of this deal. He may be a lesser version of himself on the back-nine, but it is the price of doing business, I suppose. However, if he has arm trouble at any point in the next olympiad, the Dodgers are so hopelessly screwed. This may go down as the worst contract all time in sports if Ohtani can't stay healthy. Let's hope he does.

The absolute last thing I want to hear about tied to a pitcher who just got paid is undergoing surgery.