Mark Madden: Injuries to Angels' Shohei Ohtani, Pirates' Oneil Cruz raise major concerns

A tale of two injuries:

Shohei Ohtani’s bum elbow is devastating to so many on so many levels, not least Ohtani himself.

Oneil Cruz’s stalled-out rehabilitation for his broken left ankle might diminish the ability of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ projected best player, or even worse.

Ohtani’s torn UCL could necessitate his second Tommy John surgery. It’s not crazy to think he might never pitch again. He would be just a hitter, albeit a great one.

If that happens, Ohtani is no longer a unicorn.

Set to hit free agency this offseason, some projected Ohtani’s contract to be 12 years, $600 million. But now Ohtani can’t be guaranteed to pitch, let alone pitch well. His injury will likely cost him hundreds of millions. (It wouldn’t be shocking to see Ohtani re-up with the Los Angeles Angels. Despair can ignite loyalty.)

Ohtani is no longer in the running for best player ever. His window as a pitcher/hitter will have been too brief. Ohtani has only pitched 481⅔ innings, only won 38 games, never finished higher than fourth in Cy Young Award voting.

This hurts MLB badly. Ohtani’s hype was baseball’s entrée to the first segment of “SportsCenter” when he did anything of remote interest. That’s gone, and football’s here.

Ohtani’s damaged elbow creates wonder about protecting pitchers’ arms from injury via load management, pitch count, etc.

Ohtani’s pitching skills have always been deployed with extreme caution. He never has thrown more than 166 innings in any of his six major-league seasons. He threw 132 innings this year. Yet his elbow has exploded twice. He has pitched just 430 innings since having Tommy John surgery.

Maybe arm trouble can’t be avoided via caution. Maybe, to a degree, it’s random. Or physically predisposed.

Nolan Ryan threw harder than anybody. He pitched 27 years. He didn’t have serious arm trouble until age 46 on the last pitch of his career.

Kent Tekulve will be inducted into the Pirates Hall of Fame on Saturday. A reliever, Tekulve threw a hellacious sinker using a crazy submarine delivery. He pitched over 100 innings seven times, in 90 or more games three times. He posted a bunch of nine-out saves. Tekulve’s arm never fell off.

Good pitchers are expensive. Teams want to protect their investment. But maybe that’s just folly.

As for Cruz, the news that his rehab has been shut down because of soreness in his left foot raises a barrage of questions:

• Will Cruz’s speed be curtailed for good? That’s a big part of his skill set.

• Will Cruz still have the mobility to play shortstop?

• What’s the new timetable for his recovery?

• Will Cruz ever be the same player? Does his career still have the same trajectory?

This is no small deal. As the Pirates attempt to open a window for success, Cruz is projected to be their best player. This situation has profound impact.

Those covering the Pirates need to dig deep on this. Big-time sports teams aren’t to be trusted, let alone when it comes to information about injuries, let alone when it comes to the Pirates about anything.

Of course, when the Pirates ruin Paul Skenes, that will be an even bigger story.