Missing out on Shoehi Ohtani could be the best thing that happens to the Yankees in 2018

In 2018, the Los Angeles California Angels of Anaheim may rewrite the future of baseball. Their planned six-man rotation may break the mold for pitching staffs everywhere and rejigger the foundations of the game. Historians may someday look back on 2018 as the year when baseball finally stepped up and saved future generations of starting pitchers by scrapping the cruel, outmoded, elbow-tearing, shoulder-blowing, gonad-tweaking, gassy, pockmarked, spirit-befouling five-man rotation.

Or not.

The fact is, the Angels will try the six-man not out of long-term philosophy but because Shoehi Ohtani - the Japanese Babe Ruth - wants to hit and pitch, and nobody thinks he'll hold up by throwing every fifth day (especially since Japanese pitchers usually go once a week.) Ohtani - baseball's best prospect, say the rankers and listers - is reshaping the Angels' infrastructure in ways no rookie heretofore has done. Yesterday, their former ace, Garrett Richards, told a radio barker that he supports the six-man plan, even though it will affect his routines. 

In other words, it will all work out... hopefully.

And maybe it will. As everyone knows, nothing succeeds like success! Iif Ohtani proves to be the hitter and pitcher that he's reputed to be, all cogs will turn greasily in the Angels' machinery, and everyone will take home a door prize. But the more the Angels balance their future on a two-way rookie, the more Yankee fans should be relieved that Ohtani chose to play closer to home.

Okay, I know what you're thinking: I'm still crabbing over the fact that Ohtani snubbed the Yankees. There's a kernel of truth to that. I spent most of 2017 dreaming of the new Babe Ruth in our lineup. But we can't blame Ohtani for his choice, and he did an honorable thing by announcing his desires early. It didn't enhance his bargaining position to rule out the Yankees, Cubs, Mets and Redsocks. We can't gripe. And one last thing: Consider the ramifications if Ohtani had chosen the Yankees.

1. Giancarlo Stanton would probably be an Angel, Dodger, Met or - gulp - maybe a Redsock. He was definitely leaving Miami.

2. We'd still have too many outfielders and, in fact, less flexibility, because Ohtani would be our full time DH. Clint Frazier would still be the odd-man out.

3. We'd now be the experimental forerunners of the six-man plan (which we might do anyway) but with less options.

4. We'd be far less likely to go with three rookies - Glyber Torres and Miguel Andujar being the others - in the lineup. Without Giancarlo's $25 million salary, we would almost assuredly sign a 3B - the Toddfather? - or a starter. 

It's no foregone conclusion that Ohtani will hit and pitch well in the majors. But in mellow LA, who gives a crap? Last year, the Angels went 81-81. The city's newspaper is facing a civil war. If we had signed Ohtani, we'd be balancing a pennant race on a rookie's unprecedented workload. Maybe he'll do what no player since Babe Ruth - or Deion Sanders - has done. But I wonder how far Ohtani can go. As the 2018 Yankees take shape, with possibly two rookies in our infield, we won't lack for excitement. 

Nothing against Ohtani, but thank God we didn't sign him.