Quite a splash for Shohei Otani, who in his first full weekend as a major league commodity did what only the world champion Houston Astros accomplished in 2017: He eliminated both the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox.
Otani was officially posted for transfer Friday afternoon. By Sunday his representatives from Creative Artists Agency (CAA) were informing teams their presentations had not done enough to earn them a face-to-face meeting with Otani to further explore possibilities. The Yankees, perhaps considered the favorites by the guessing media, were among the first to be told: "Thanks, but no thanks." Boston got the same treatment.
Within an hour, clubs who had been cut from the chase were informing the media that covers them they, too, did not get a rose. Yankees GM Brian Cashman, for instance, told media Otani said the New York market and its geography (i.e. not on the West Coast) were reasons his team was cut. He added that if he were with a smaller, West Coast market team, he'd feel pretty excited. It should be noted, though, that compared to New York, every market is smaller.
Those that said nothing, well, it was left to believe they would get an L.A. date with Otani, probably in the next week.
The Rangers said nothing.
Nor did West Coast small market teams such as Seattle and San Diego. San Francisco and both Los Angeles clubs were also quiet. And the Cubs, located sorta on the West Coast of Lake Michigan, were also silent. It's hard to have an idea for the Astros because they are perhaps the most secretive organization in the big leagues.
So, that said, let's assume you are a Texas-based AL-team in a largish, but not Gotham-sized market trying to distinguish yourself to Otani, or otherwise known as the Rangers. What have you gleaned from the weekend?
You are still in it: And that's big.
Money is not a consideration: But you already knew that. In eliminating the Yankees and Minnesota Twins, Otani cut two of the three teams with more than $3 million in bonus money to offer. You are the other.
NL teams are not necessarily at a disadvantage: Reportedly, the Dodgers, Giants, Cubs and Padres are all among those teams still in the hunt. Either Otani isn't that concerned about the number of at-bats he will receive beyond pitching or those teams are willing to play him in the outfield, at least occasionally.
You are perhaps battling a geographic and cultural disadvantage: The Dodgers, Giants, Padres and Seattle all ring the Pacific Ocean and are at least three hours closer by plane flight to Japan. All of those cities also have larger Japanese-American communities than Dallas-Fort Worth, which might be an issue in his "assimilation" into culture. In his request to teams for a presentation, the assimilation process was mentioned.
So where does this leave you, if you are the Rangers? What's your next move?
Jon Daniels or assistant GM Josh Boyd, who has all but dedicated the last six years of his life to finding a path to Otani, are trying to figure that out.
One possibility is, a six-man rotation.
This sounds funny. A six-man rotation? The Rangers currently have three. A six-man rotation also requires plenty of multi-inning bullpen arms, a super versatile bench and buy-in from the pitchers on the staff.
Manager Jeff Banister has talked of the six-man rotation often in his first three years and it remains a great white whale for him for just those reasons. In the last year or so, he more often refers to a "five-plus-one" option the club could use for heavy schedules to build in extra rest for his starters, to keep guys fresh and to keep workloads manageable so, in the event of a trip to the playoffs, pitchers aren't burnt out.
If this winter's singular goal is to land Otani _ and it is _ then reshaping the rotation to what Otani and most Japanese pitchers are most comfortable with is imperative. Such a move would allow him to better "assimilate" as a player. It will also allow him perhaps four games as a hitter between starts as opposed to two or three. It might also help preserve the quality of Cole Hamels, who will turn 34 in four weeks. It wouldn't hurt Martin Perez, who still doesn't have a 200-inning season in his career, either. Um, and if you want to convert Matt Bush to a starter, don't you want to manage his innings, too?
Playing around with some of the scripting of a "five-plus-one" plan would put Hamels in the No. 1 spot and Otani at No. 2. Under the best circumstances you might be able to script out as far as the All-Star break and then situations would start to dictate the composition of the rotation. But with minimal manipulation, you could ensure everybody gets five days of rest almost every time through. The exception are two starts where Hamels would need to pitch on four days'. There are other times the "plus one" would be skipped because off days would allow for it. That guy could swing to the bullpen for those periods, giving the Rangers another multi-inning option. Hamels and Otani would likely get 18 first-half starts apiece while the No. 6 guy would get nine.
There are a ton of complexities to work through, but the Rangers could at least communicate to any potential free agent what they were trying to do and get buy-in ahead of time rather than trying to win it in spring training.
It's unknown if pitching this would separate the Rangers from what appears to remain of the competition. The likes of Andrew Friedman and his data-obsessed Dodgers' front office have run the models.
But if the idea is to make the assimilation and transition process as easy as possible for a guy trying to do something nobody has ever done, teams better be willing to think and act differently than they ever have before.
The conditions, at least, are right for the Rangers' to try it.
And, in the process, it might just help land them their singular offseason target.
