The Rangers' plan to land Ohtani could revolutionize roster construction

Let's be clear: Shohei Ohtani will almost definitely change baseball. In fact, he likely already has, with the recent player-friendly agreement between Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball and Major League Baseball at least partially attributable to his situation.

Ohtani will also likely become MLB's first two-way star in a generation, though at this point, comparisons to Babe Ruth - who was only a two-way player in 1918 - are becoming trite.

While this could all be true no matter where he lands, by signing with the Texas Rangers, Ohtani's unique skill set and track record could also introduce MLB to a true six-man rotation. Or, at least, the first successful iteration to last an entire season.

After the reported signing of Mike Minor, the Rangers are said to be gearing up for a move toward using six starters regularly, according to Evan Grant of Dallas Sports News. One would assume Texas included this in its pitch to Ohtani, and that it was a legitimate factor in the team becoming one of the seven finalists to land him.

Whether other franchises included a six-man rotation as part of their pitch remains to be seen. However, it's worth noting that Texas is one of two teams among the finalists that isn't on the West Coast - something Ohtani seems to prefer.

The fact is, MLB has been trending toward six-man rotations without actually acknowledging the change. A heavier reliance on fireman relievers like Chris Devenski and Andrew Miller - coupled with the active avoidance of allowing starters to face the third-time-through-the-order penalty - are right in line with allowing those starters to throw fewer innings, and to instead allocate the workload more equally across pitching staffs. In recent years, bullpen construction has veered entirely away from including a long reliever, too.

However, there seems to be some league-wide trepidation about six-man rotations, with very little research pointing toward its benefits. However, there's also very little to suggest the inverse.

For every negative, there's an equally compelling positive. For instance, while a six-man rotation would likely take away a roster spot from a bench bat, the reliance on pinch-hitting specialists has waned drastically over the years, and the 10-day disabled list introduced this past season made pitching staffs even more flexible.

And, if you subscribe to the belief that there just aren't enough good pitchers to make a six-man rotations feasible or effective, they work just fine with far fewer resources in Japan.

Now, perhaps the Rangers would skip a pitcher every once in a while to make it work. After all, a rotation that includes Minor, Martin Perez, and Doug Fister doesn't particularly scream dominance.

But, if Texas is truly willing to commit to the six-man model, it could show the rest of the league a creative, new way to make use of finite roster spots. And so, Ohtani could shape baseball one more way by choosing a team willing to take that chance.

- h/t to Sung Min Kim for research help