There was a small, but vocal segment of the Atlanta Braves fan base that really, really wanted the Braves to keep Marcell Ozuna after he became a free agent last offseason. Despite showing obvious signs of decline and age, as well as having loads of off-the-field baggage, those who argued for keeping him around hoped that Ozuna would turn into the 2024 version of himself again and pointed out that the Braves didn't have a full-time DH. Atlanta obviously disagreed, and Ozuna ended up with the Pirates.
To say that Ozuna has been disappointing in Pittsburgh is under-selling it quite a bit. Through 37 games this season, Ozuna is the "proud" owner of a .186/.274/.300 stat line with four homers while looking exactly like how you would think a 35-year-old DH with repeated injury issues would look.
That Ozuna is bad is not that newsworthy. Most thought he would stink except his most ardent supporters. However, what Ozuna's struggles have highlighted is that the Braves' decision (forced or not) to not have a true designated hitter seems to be the correct choice in most situations for most teams.
Marcell Ozuna's struggles show why locking in a full-time DH can cause real roster problems
Now, before we get a bunch of angry emails, yes...there are some exceptions. If you have Shohei Ohtani, Kyle Schwarber, or Yordan Alvarez, by all means slot them in at DH the vast majority of the time. They are great hitters that you want to hit as much as possible, but they are also guys that are nightmare fuel to put in the field. In those sorts of cases, go wild.
However, most of the time, having a true designated hitter just clogs up the offensive side of your roster. It is almost always going to be better to focus on building a diverse bench of guys who can hit AND field a bit so that you can play match-ups and maneuver in the late innings. Moreover, if you are paying a DH-only guy real money and he stinks (like Ozuna clearly does at the moment), you are pretty much stuck with him, given that such players have near zero value on the market.
There were real reasons, outside of DH considerations, to not bring back Ozuna. It is honestly wild that the Pirates took that gamble to begin with, but they were in a position where they had to make some sort of play for offense. However, the biggest benefit for the Braves when it comes to Ozuna being gone is probably that it meant they didn't have a true DH at all.
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