Ohtani

[New York Yankees]

When Ohtani 1st came to MLB as a 2-way player, our league decided to treat him as only 1 player. Yahoo was incapable of doing that, so they created Ohtani the Batter AND Ohtani the Pitcher. So to accommodate Yahoo, Pitts (Commish at the time) increased rosters from 25 to 26, and gave every other non-Ohtani team a “Bogus” NA player. It was a little inconvenient for the other 13 teams but it worked as Ohtani could now gather stats as BOTH a Hitter and a Pitcher, a definite advantage for his owner. However, after MLB increased rosters to 26 players from 25 and we decided to do the same here, the solution was to just do away with the NA player and then all teams would have 26 roster spaces. The problem was that now Ohtani would take up 2 roster spots in Yahoo, not 1 player as we had in Cashman’s. By dropping the NA, this only impacted 1 team (KC at the time). KC was replaced last season and I’m sure the new KC didn’t realize he was basically playing with 1 less “player” than the rest of the league since he was new here. I didn’t trade for Ohtani until very late last season and only realized the “situation” while I was preparing my ending roster for the New Cashman’s Year. I then immediately brought it up here, but was basically told that since it only affected 1 team and because Ohtani was so great, that it shouldn’t matter. I strongly disagree with that and I’d like to once again have Ohtani only count as 1 roster spot.

This brings me to my “solution”. Since Yahoo is incapable of only having 1 Ohtani like many other leagues, I’d like to propose we treat Ohtani like Fantrax does, where on any given day, Ohtani can b used as either a Hitter or Pitcher (NOT both) but also only takes up 1 roster spot. It would mean that on days he pitches, I would not receive any hitting stats from him. But at least I wouldn’t have to play the entire season a man down. In Yahoo (nothing needs to be done here or w spreadsheets), I would just need to drop Ohtani-Hitter and add Ohtani-Pitcher (n vice versa) whenever he pitched, if I wanted those stats over his hitting. Again, I could only receive either hitting or pitching stats for any given day, depending on which Ohtani I had on my Yahoo roster. Since teams already do their own Add/Drops in Yahoo, there would b nothing for anyone else to do.

I hope that you guys can agree that this will work and is a “fair” solution!

Detroit feels this is “adding” something new and is against it, but imo this is merely bringing back something that was unfairly taken away last season. He’s asked that I bring this to the entire league since I’m the only one being impacted.

[San Diego]

I agree that when MLB went to 26 roster spots, we followed suit and the way we had agreed Ohtani would be handled was affected. It went unnoticed because of a new owner not realizing the situation. It should be reinstated or addressed in the way Yanks suggests. Suggesting this would be a change to the league without a discussion or vote can not be said without also saying that a change was made to the way Ohtani was treated last year without a discussion or vote. I think Yanks solution resolves it without anyone but Ohtani owner having to do any work. In my opinion, that’s fair and that’s what should be done.

[Baltimore Orioles]

Yanks proposal seems fair to me on this issue.

[Minnesota Twins]

I think what nyy is proposing is a good solution. I don't even consider it streaming because it is the same player. Only headache is for the ohtani owner to add or drop the offense or defensive ohtani

[[e-mail]]

Proposal is sound imo

[New York Yankees]

It was agreed that Ohtani would only count as 1 player not 2 and that as a simpler solution to having 13 teams have an NA like it was originally set up, I would just choose to use Ohtani as either a hitter or pitcher on any given day. Therefore, I should have 1 open roster spot to sign a FA.

[Detroit]

By my count, only 5 managers have replied to this thread (yourself included NYY). I did not reply to this thread, nor did 8 other managers in the league. There is no rule change on this, at this time.

[New York Yankees]

Detroit changed how Ohtani was treated in the middle of Ohtani’s initial contract, when the new KC owner took over so nothing was said, n I traded for Ohtani late last season n noticed the change upon end of season rosters n immediately brought it up. Everyone other than Detroit that chimed in agreed that it was wrong to make Ohtani count as 2 players. Even Pittsburgh who rarely chimes in, said it was wrong to change things in the middle of a contract. Now Detroit is refusing to honor this n told me once again to take it to the Boards, cause his decision on Ohtani is final. Funny thing is, he keeps saying that I’m asking for a rule change when the reality is it was he who changed the rule on his own!

Frankly, I think this is totally unacceptable, even after I came up w a solution to not inconvenience anyone other than myself by not having a NA. Will I quit the league over this, probably not but this really is frustrating!!

[New York Yankees]

Jan 9, 2022 16:27:56 GMT -5 San Diego said:

I agree that when MLB went to 26 roster spots, we followed suit and the way we had agreed Ohtani would be handled was affected. It went unnoticed because of a new owner not realizing the situation. It should be reinstated or addressed in the way Yanks suggests. Suggesting this would be a change to the league without a discussion or vote can not be said without also saying that a change was made to the way Ohtani was treated last year without a discussion or vote. I think Yanks solution resolves it without anyone but Ohtani owner having to do any work. In my opinion, that’s fair and that’s what should be done.

This was said earlier (when 1st brought up) by The Chicken and I think that’s the clearest explanation. Truthfully, I thought this was resolved until I tried for a FA signing and it was refused.

[Detroit]

I said clearly in the PM thread that I was open to discussing it with the other 13 managers in the league. Only 5 managers have replied to this to date, here for us to see.

I also think that you are twisting Pittsburgh's words from that same PM thread. Pitts was saying that no changes should be made to Ohtani until he becomes a FA.

None of this will change the fact that you are not going to get a 27th player tonight.

I don't like the idea of streaming players, Ohtani included. It feels like cheating or stretching the rules. If we allowed streaming in this league, I would be ok with your proposed solution. I don't like grey areas in rules. 5 guys interpret things 5 different ways. We all should be bound by the same rules and procedures.

A permanent solution to 2 way players needs to be installed. I agree with this 100%. Thankfully, this only revolves around Ohtani at the moment. Not sure if more are coming, but we need to be mindful that this is becoming more common these days and this will most likely happen again at some point.

However, you traded for this guy knowing full well (last season) that there was no special rule for a 2 way player, knowing you were occupying 2 roster spots for Ohtani.

It is our fault (and I do mean the leagues fault) for not coming up with a better solution to this when Ohtani joined the league. Our rules should not revolve around Yahoo. We can govern ourselves. I do not feel 100% obligated to fix this mid-contract, but I do feel 100% obligated to fix this permanently for the future of the league.

I'm not going to rule on this until I have the best solution for the league, long term. I would like to hear from the other 8 managers that have not responded to this yet. Right or wrong, I appreciate opinions and suggestions.

[Detroit]

NYY is right. We need to adjust how we handle Ohtani.

After doing some research on the pro boards, I found our previous Ohtani thread where we discussed how we would handle Ohtani in Yahoo. My brain needed to see this in order to process it.

Short term, there are only 2 solutions.

1. We allow NYY (or whoever owns Ohtani) to add/drop the “other” Ohtani as he sees fit. Add/drops swapping out Ohtani only. This means he would only accumulate stats from 1 of the 2 Ohtani players on any given day.

2. We increase Yahoo roster sizes to 27 players, and add a permanent “N/A” player to the other 13 managers rosters to fill out the 27th player. I strongly dislike this idea.


I went into Yahoo to see what I could do with the commissioner’s tools. I added another bench spot (going from 8 to 9). I wasn’t sure if it would work and I wanted to know our limitations. Turns out, you can only increase the # of IL spots, N/A spots and Bench spots. You CANNOT decrease these numbers!!! There is fine print that I caught after the fact.

The only way to decrease the number of roster spots is to RESET the league. This means reloading all players from all rosters. I will exercise this option once Pitts assigns me as the main commissioner. Only the main commissioner can reset the league.

I’ll donate my time to resetting the league. I see more headaches for the league if we don’t reset the league. Rather I will give the headache of shuttling Ohtani back n forth to his owner. Sorry NYY, but “this is the way”.

This could be the solution to the 2 way player issue for the long term as well. It kinda $ucks, but I’m not sure Yahoo will ever be robust enough to allow an alternative solution. I do not like the idea of 13 teams carrying a “dead player”.

I will grant NYY his FA bid player as well. I’ll amend the earlier FA bids post.

[Minnesota Twins]

Option 1. Nobody liked other one when we tried it

[Deleted]

After revisiting this thread and seeing the initial Yanks proposal at the top of this thread, I feel that he has a valid proposal and I would NOT be opposed to it.

[LA Dodgers]

Makes sense to me as Ohtani is 1 man and should be treated as such. Shouldn't be a punishment for being extraordinary

[Deleted]

I agree with LA. Ohtani should be treated as 1 player. Pitching 1 day and hitting 1 day for Ohtani is not streaming to me in this case. I am not sure of a rule change or a rule change on a player.