Was injury to Angels superstar Shohei Ohtani avoidable?

Los Angeles Angels manager Phil Nevin understands some believe that he and others associated with the club failed two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani this month. 

"I think everyone in that room is wondering, hey, could we have done anything differently," Nevin admitted ahead of Friday's series opener at the New York Mets, per Jeff Fletcher of the Los Angeles Daily News. "You sit here and rack your brain about it and beat yourself up over it, and no, there’s not anything. These injuries happen. It stinks." 

Ohtani had a pitching start skipped earlier this month because of what was referred to at the time as arm fatigue. The 29-year-old returned to the bump against the Cincinnati Reds this past Wednesday, but prematurely left that game due to what was later diagnosed as an ulnar collateral ligament tear in his right elbow. That setback could cost the phenom (who was likely to soon be a two-time American League Most Valuable Player) at least $100M total in free agency and it could possibly sideline him for part or all of next season. 

Nevin insisted the club had no reason to think Ohtani was dealing with such a serious issue before Wednesday's events. 

"Talking to Shohei, talking to (interpreter Ippei Mizuhara), talking to the trainers, there was no pain," Nevin explained. "People want to speculate all they want. That’s not the case. That’s not true. He just felt what he called fatigue, a little tired. When he got through the week after missing the start, he felt great all week. He threw a great bullpen. And it just went amiss there in the second inning (against Cincinnati)."

Interestingly, general manager Perry Minasian revealed that the Angels did not conduct any imaging on Ohtani's arm during his brief break from pitching. It's unclear if an MRI would've picked something up that would've resulted in the Angels shutting Ohtani down as a pitcher through the end of the campaign. 

Minasian also said Ohtani and his agent are seeking a second opinion regarding whether the generational talent – who plans to keep playing as a designated hitter – will have offseason surgery that likely would halt his pitching career until 2025. For now, outsiders and possibly even Ohtani can't help but wonder if somebody should've protected who could've been a $600M man, one who first needed Tommy John surgery in the fall of 2018, from himself.