Dave Roberts, Dodgers pointing fingers on Shohei Ohtani injury situation is a bad look

The Los Angeles Dodgers finally put Shohei Ohtani on the 15-day IL late Wednesday night, after he was benched for five of their last six games and went 0-for-3 in the one game in which he played.

His health problems are wide-ranging. Knee issues took him off the mound, but a biceps issue has since cropped up on top of it. It was clear to Dodgers fans that, despite the front office's insistence otherwise, his problems at the plate were not purely mental.

Dave Roberts and the Dodgers never took an IL stint fully off the table, but it was impossible to understand the logic behind the delay. The skipper admitted, "If we look right now, here today, I would love to go back and put him on the IL."

But he also alluded to a breakdown in communication between Ohtani and the team throughout the course of this months-long debacle. On Monday, he told reporters he wasn't at 100%, but he did not disclose "additional discomfort" to Roberts or the team until Tuesday night.

The Dodgers have had to walk a difficult line managing their star player, mostly depending on Ohtani himself to make the call as to whether or not he's healthy enough to pitch or, in this case, hit. But there may have been some willful ignorance on the team's part going on here, too.

Dodgers really only have themselves to blame for Shohei Ohtani's delayed move to the IL

General manager Brandon Gomes and president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman have been particularly insistent that Ohtani is healthy. Friedman said back in July that the team fully expected him to pitch again this season; Gomes said Monday that his offensive struggles were not health-related before Ohtani directly contradicted that sentiment.

The problem may have been that none of the front office, Roberts, or Ohtani really knew who was in charge here. Roberts has said that Ohtani would never turn down the opportunity to play no matter his condition, but isn't it on the manager and the team to put the well-being of the player first, regardless of who that player is?

"We did emphasize communication," Roberts insisted on Wednesday. "That's right. We did."

Sure, but is it more on Ohtani for trying to grin and bear it through the pain, or is it on the team for not putting their foot down?

The Dodgers are still figuring out how all of this works. This is their first year having to manage him as a two-way player, after all. But fans will be hoping they're learning from their mistakes — and that they won't be so hesitant to take the lead and overrule Ohtani if they need to.

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