Ohtani Hurt

Ohtani, showing why some ridiculously large contract is not a good idea for most teams, was discovered to have an arm injury that might have him out for a long time.  How long will he be able to pitch and hit?  Would a team want him to do so even now?  If he just hits, he's still a really great player, but just how much is a really great hitter worth?  

A unique superstar like him, especially on a team like the Angels with limited things for fans to be happy about, is treated in unique ways. He is given a lot of discretion.  This is understandable.  

An article suggests this might have meant (the GM is being coy with details, according to this account) that he was allowed to beg off a testing procedure that might have caught things before the injury got to a more serious point:

However, the Angels have come under fire for giving Ohtani too much autonomy to call his own shots. Ohtani seems to mostly decide when he will and won’t play with the club believing that fewer restrictions allow him to harness his full potential.

Unfortunately, they also allowed him to get injured.

I'm not sure how we know 1+1=2 that this is why he got injured.  But, yeah, it's something you deal with regarding superstars.  The immediate thing that caught my eye, however, was the usage (common enough) that he "complained" about such and such pain.  It is a curious usage since the word is usually more in the sense that someone whines or generally feels aggrieved about something.  Such as a "complaint" in court.

The usage here is more like that someone "reports" that they are hurt.  The usage is not just used for sports stars.  People in general are sometimes said to "complain" about pain. Again, it is a curious usage of the word since it is often not something about a neutral statement about something happening to you.  Maybe, someone "complains" about a bad day as in feeling annoyed about it.  But, do we "complain" about having a fever?

Just a thing that makes me go "hmm" -- for whatever reason, I have felt more like a philosopher thinking about the meaning of things in the last few years.  On the other hand, that sort of thing is more something I have picked up for a longer time.  Anyway, the Mets are playing the Angels now, which is why the Ohtani thing is particularly directly notable, as is the fact that some have dreamt about the Mets getting him.

This was never really that likely while the Mets' multiple needs made such an expensive superstar contract dubious, even if we have a billionaire owner.  The injury might even make it more likely the Angels might keep him, especially if they continue to give him that discretion. Some other team, for instance, might not want him to pitch and hit so much.  

Meanwhile, the Orioles closer just got hurt. I hope they can get past it since I'm rooting for them to go far this season.  They seem continuously to have nail-biter games and this is worrisome. Seattle -- who many thought weren't quite there yet -- are now (aided by the Rangers having a long losing streak) at the top of the AL West.  Diamondbacks are back in the hunt too.