Chicago Cubs: Counsell bashes “bizarre” Shohei Ohtani Rule

The Chicago Cubs are riding high on a six-game winning streak, something which has allowed them to rise out of the basement of the NL Central Division and move into a three-team tie for second place, along with the Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals.

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Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Dodgers, winners of back-to-back World Series championships the past two years, sit firmly atop the NL West with a 16-6 record, blessed with seemingly endless money—and frustratingly for teams not named the Dodgers—a MLB-instituted rule that specifically and uniquely benefits them.

Fans and media have come to call it “The Ohtani Rule,” unofficially named after the Dodgers’ outfielder/DH/starting pitcher and cash cow Shohei Ohtani.

This tinkering with the rules allows teams with “qualified” two-way players to use them on the 26-man roster without it counting against their 13-pitcher roster cap. To qualify for this exemption, a player must have pitched at least 20 major-league innings and started in at least 20 games as a position player or DH with at least three plate appearances in those games in the current season or in any of the previous two.

So, basically, the rule gives the Dodgers one extra pitcher on their regular season, pre-September callup roster. Since Ohtani is the only player who qualifies for this two-way designation, it provides Los Angeles with another advantage in addition to their financial power.

Craig Counsell goes after “The Ohtani Rule”

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“I’ve never understood it,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell told reporters on Monday, before his team’s series opener against the Phillies at Wrigley Field. “It’s an offensive rule, essentially. It’s a rule to help offense, more than anything, if you ask me. And then there’s one team that’s allowed to carry basically one of both, and he gets special consideration, which is probably the most bizarre rule. For one team.”

“There’s not another player like that,” Counsell added, “but one team gets different rules for that player.”

Dave Roberts fires back

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, hearing of Counsell’s comments, later fired back.

“The thing is it certainly benefits us because we have the player,” said Roberts. “But that’s something that any team that had Ohtani would have that player. We’re more than willing for other teams to go out and find a player who can do both. He’s an exception because he’s an exceptional player. It is what it is.”

And “it is what it is” would certainly work as a brush-off for the ones benefiting from “what it is.”

The truth is that the Dodgers only have Ohtani because they were in the unique position to offer a 10-year, $700 million contract with a vast majority of that money designated for deferred payment, extending way out into 2043. It’s not like the Dodgers scouted him, developed him, and built him into a two-way star. All they did was be rich enough to win him over when he left the Angels for free agency.

This disparity in available spending money will be an issue at the upcoming Winter Meetings where MLB’s Collective Bargaining Agreement needs to be hammered out. Many believe that one major sticking point will be the institution of a salary cap, specifically because of the way the Dodgers have wielded their checkbook and the advantages it brings them.

The Cubs are set to travel to Los Angeles this weekend for a three-game series against the Dodgers.

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Source: https://www.chicitysports.com/chicago-cubs-craig-counsell-shohei-ohtani-los-angeles-dodgers-dave-roberts/