LAS VEGAS — Albert Pujols will be coming off another knee surgery and heading into his age-39 season, with no guarantee that he’ll even perform at replacement level. Shohei Ohtani will be recovering from Tommy John surgery and will be handled with extreme caution, given his importance to the franchise’s long-term sustainability.
Brad Ausmus’ most difficult task in his first year as the Los Angeles Angels‘ manager will be managing plate appearances for Pujols and Ohtani at designated hitter.
There is no clear answer.
“There’s going to be a balance,” Ausmus said during his media availability from the Winter Meetings in Las Vegas on Wednesday. “We don’t expect Ohtani to be ready when the season [starts]. There will be DH at-bats earlier in the season more available to [Pujols]. And hopefully he gets off to a hot start. But for me, the bigger and more delicate balance is how often can [Pujols] go to first [base]. That’s really the most important thing based on the health of his knees.”
Ohtani showed the ability to be an elite major league hitter against both lefties and righties as a rookie, producing a .925 OPS and 22 home runs in 367 plate appearances. Because Ohtani can only be a DH, Pujols’ only chance to crack the starting lineup on most nights would be to play first base. Pujols started only 34 games at first base from 2016 to 2017, but increased that number to 70 in 2018, finishing the season with a .700 OPS and 19 home runs in 498 plate appearances.
Pujols, who has $87 million remaining on his contract, said towards the end of the season that he will “try to play as many games at first base next year as I can” moving forward.
“My first hope is that Albert is OK,” said Ausmus, who added that he prefers to bat Mike Trout in the No. 2 spot. “He’s had the knee surgery, and I’ve spoken to him a couple times. He says he feels great. But we’re still going to have to take it slowly in spring training. And then it’s just going to be a matter of how he feels and how he’s performing.
“In my mind, he’s one of the top five best hitters ever in the game of baseball. I saw him up close and personal when I was in Houston and they were in the National League Central [with Pujols’ St. Louis Cardinals]. The guy is a phenomenal talent. But going forward, it’s just going to be his health and performance. It’s a performance-based game.”
Pujols, who had his knee surgery in August and then underwent an elbow procedure in September, has been cleared for all upper-body work and lighter-impact lower-body work, Angels general manager Billy Eppler told reporters on Tuesday. Ohtani, Eppler said, is displaying “great range of motion” and “full flexion” in Japan and will check in with an L.A.-based doctor at some point in January.
It’s still too early to tell how much each of them will contribute.
Ausmus spent last season as a special assistant to Eppler in the front office. He compared Ohtani’s power, particularly to the opposite field, to that of Miguel Cabrera, who Ausmus managed during his time with the Detroit Tigers. And he compared Ohtani’s speed to that of an NFL wide receiver.
But the Angels don’t want to lose sight of how good Ohtani can still be as a starting pitcher.
“It’s kind of uncharted territory in the sense he’s coming back from Tommy John and we really want to protect that elbow so he can pitch in 2020 and beyond,” Ausmus said. “And he’s such a dominant pitcher, you want to make sure you preserve that. So we’re going to probably rely on the medical team a little more and be a little bit more cautious. Obviously we want him back because we want his bat in the lineup. But the priority is to make sure when he’s back we’re not risking him as a pitcher.”