Shohei Ohtani said he could pitch through the discomfort in his knee.

Until he couldn’t.

Even then, he insisted could be the Dodgers’ designated hitter.

Until he couldn’t.

Everyone can see the direction in which this is trending, so what is Ohtani still doing on the active roster?

There’s a difference between involving a star player in decisions about his playing time and allowing him to destroy his body, and the Dodgers are dangerously close to crossing that line.

Manager Dave Roberts defended the organization by mentioning that Ohtani wanted to play on Friday in the series finale against the Seattle Mariners.

“To that point,” Roberts said, “he’s not playing tonight.”

Great, so the Dodgers can draw a line in the sand.

Now, draw another.

Don’t play him this weekend against the Boston Red Sox. Or in the following series in Chicago against the Cubs.

As I wrote earlier this week, place him on the injured list and shut him down for 10 days.

But it doesn’t sound as if that will happen, as Roberts said he was “very confident” Ohtani would be back in the lineup on Friday.

This feels reckless. This feels negligent.

I’m all for listening to players, especially superstars directly responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising revenue, and Roberts said that’s what the Dodgers were doing. Roberts pointed to how they gave Freddie Freeman a chance to play through ankle problems in recent years.

“Teams do that with players,” he said. “They’re all treated fairly but differently, right? That’s part of it.”

Respecting a superstar enough to give him a say in major decisions is smart – up to a certain point. 

But this has moved beyond that point, and the way in which the Dodgers have dealt with this situation makes them look as if they fear Ohtani to where they’re reluctant to step in and do what has to be done.

Asked if he was concerned that Ohtani required a break only three days after the Dodgers’ day off on Monday, Roberts replied, “Fair question. I think I’m trying to restrain from forecasting what’s going to happen, as opposed to just reading and reacting.

“So, yeah, three days ago we just had an off day, and then to say that there’s some soreness certainly is different than what we’ve done the last two weeks. So is there a trend? I hope not. But if it is, then we just gotta manage it.”

The problem is that it could be too late by then.

Considering Ohtani’s knee has forced him to do less and less as time in recent weeks, shouldn’t the Dodgers just place him on the injured list?

“That’s a hard question,” Roberts said. “I understand the thought behind it. But [the knee has] gotten better over the last few weeks, markedly. He’s been a very productive player. But to kind of essentially take it out of his hands, shut him down …”

Roberts said the Dodgers trusted Ohtani’s judgement. Ohtani alerted the Dodgers of his renewed discomfort after their game on Wednesday, and Roberts said that was evidence of the strong communication between the player and team.

“He understands the most important part of the season is to come, and he understands his value with our team,”Roberts said. “A player that’s been around for as long as he has, that knows his body, it’s hard to just take it out of his hands and essentially bench him.”

In mid-June, when Ohtani started experiencing knee problems, I advocated in these pages for the Dodgers to do what they’re doing and trust him. 

The last seven weeks, however, have shown Ohtani’s instincts for self-preservation to be unreliable. Many of the qualities that make Ohtani a great player – everything from his love of the game to his extreme pain tolerance – are working against him.

Roberts said the Dodgers have refused to place him on the injured list because they respect him. Fair enough. 

But the Dodgers could show Ohtani an even greater level of respect by telling him what he doesn’t want to hear and forcing him to take a break he doesn’t want.

Ohtani wants to be at his best in October. The Dodgers have to do what’s necessary to make that happen, however uncomfortable it might be in the short term.

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