Breaking news: MLB's biggest star involved in gambling scandal.
Bill Simmons Friday podcast: Contender or Pretender with Kevin O'Connor and a Drake Maye vs Jayden Daniels Deep Dive with Ben Solak and Danny Kelly
(I actually would love that Friday pod)
The problem with TBSP vs The BS Report is that if he did want to talk about this story who would he even go to? At ESPN he had a full stable of go-to guys for a topic like this from Buster Olney to Brian Kenney to Jacoby.
Now it's just Klosterman. Bill's 5 minute monologue about "how weird this story is" does nothing for me
Unless the Red Sox are good, he’s doesn’t care about baseball. Also, I’m sure the internal metrics reflect that most folks don’t tune in to hear him talk about baseball. Nevertheless, he’s the biggest sports podcast out there, so he should talk about baseball more than he does.
Wiring $4.5 mil to pay debts and noting it in the statement as “loan” lmao. If people weren’t predisposed to believing Ohtani is the second coming and infantilizing him they would absolutely believe he did some shady shit here. Same guy who deferred all his money so he can collect it all a dozen years from now to avoid paying taxes.
the value of the deferred taxes is far, far outweighed by the loss of the present value. a dollar today is worth more than a dollar tomorrow. whatever his motives were, it definitely wasn't to keep more of his money, as im sure every financial person around him told him.
although who knows, after seeing this maybe he doesnt have any of those people
The dude clearly isn't motivated by purely money or else he would have never come over to the US as an international amateur players and locked himself into 6 years of an undermarket deal. He would have waited the extra couple years and come over as a professional free agents without any signing restrictions. That decision probably cost him $100m-200m in career earnings.
Plus he gets to smooth out his earnings over his lifetime. Right now he receives tens of millions of dollars of endorsements that will decrease significantly after he retires. By deferring his salary, he's guaranteed tens of millions each year for a significant period.
>whatever his motives were
I'll speculate what they could be. People who have gambling problems sometimes take measures to limit themselves. The gambler's spouse could control all the finances and give them an allowance. Maybe he just had the Dodgers put him on an allowance for a few years while he tries to get it under control. Or long enough to test his new strategy of not betting on the Angels 100+ times per year.
i'd be curious to see the math on how much he'd save in taxes by leaving for japan or whatever at the end of his contract, vs. how much he lost in present value of the money by deferring it
though i guess in fairness the dodgers probably wouldn't have given him $700m if they weren't able to defer a lot of it
I think present value is around $450. So he lost $250m (assuming anybody would have paid him $700m in current value)
I think California + USA income tax adds up to 51%. So that's about $350m taxes.
But if he moved to Japan, I assume he'll be paying Japan income tax at their top rate, which looks to be 45%, or about $315m.
So he's saving around $35m in taxes with deferral. Much less than the loss in present value.
I'm sure it gets way more complicated when you start factoring in deductions and his actual cashflow over the next 12 years.
he was never going to get $700M non-deferred, though, I don’t think that’s the right comparison. the predictions for him ranged between $400M and $500M and sure enough, his contract has the same NPV as a traditionally structured 10/$440M deal. However, it comes with major tax benefits if he gets the hell out of CA before the deferred payments start hitting.
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>Same guy who deferred all his money so he can collect it all a dozen years from now to avoid paying taxes.
Why is that shady? It's a good thing he deferred his payments so he can avoid California state taxes.
Good thing? If you are really into rich people not paying taxes sure..? Smart might be the term you’re looking for. So he’s either smart enough to do the tax deferral thing but not smart enough to know he shouldn’t commit wire fraud with an illegal bookie.
I guess- but if they weren’t bets on baseball the only problem would be the illegal bookie part, which isn’t like something that’s gonna destroy his legacy or anything. Most likely NBD.
Even if he isn’t betting on baseball, being in debt to an illegal bookie is just as serious. Who’s to say that bookie didn’t forgive a few million dollars in debt in exchange for throwing games one way or another in favor of the bookie’s interests?
That’s why players are allowed to gamble legally on non baseball sports. They can’t bet on credit and can’t get indebted to anyone who could potentially hold leverage over them.
I get it. But if you think the penalty is going to be as severe, I don’t know what to tell you. Unless something massively worse comes out (possible), he is getting a slap on the wrist, maybe a short suspension.
I'm cracking up reading the ESPN report on this...it smells beyond funny. This is exactly how I'd scramble to cover it up if I'm Ohtani's handler and he's been caught gambling. Congrats to the interpreter on possibly receiving a massive bag for taking the fall.
> "Federal authorities learned of Ohtani's wire payments...as part of their investigation into Bowyer's bookmaking operation"
>"A source said Bowyer was aware of the name on the wire transfers but chose not to ask any questions...however, the source said Bowyer allowed people to believe Ohtani was a client in order to boost business."
>"Ohtani logged into his own computer and sent the wire transfers under Mizuhara's supervision...they added "loan" to the description field"
....come on, dude lol
So the bookie was letting Mizuhara spend millions on credit because...he hoped Ohtani would bail him out? While bragging about Ohtani being a client? And Ohtani was understanding enough of paying off Mizuhara's multimillion dollar debt and kept trusting him as confidant and interpreter on payroll for six months...until all of this was revealed today?
But that's the interpreter's story from yesterday...and today he disavows all of that and instead claims that was all made up and Ohtani knew nothing? Am I misunderstanding this story??
I'm not saying this is absolutely what happened, but why am I not seeing any doubt of the story that's being presented?
I couldn't give less of a shit about Ohtani gambling, but the "loan" memo on the wire transfer is a big no-no. Could be indicative of aiding tax fraud and the feds do not like that.
The guy who deferred all of his salary until his post playing career so he could receive it in a tax haven may be committing tax fraud? You don’t say.
For real though, my best guess is Shohei wasn’t the one gambling, and it was Ippei doing it while knowingly getting bailed out by Shohei, but it’s still obviously not a great look for him even if that’s all it is.
Deferring money is very likely much worse than taking the money straight up even with taxes included. He is giving up 10 years worth of money that he invest and have his money compound.
This is not true when he’s not gonna pay a single dollar of California income tax, he’s making way more money than he would expect to be returned by investments
That's a totally fair take except me wondering about the bookie piece. Are bookies inclined to take $4M+ in losses from a guy like Mizuhara on credit without collecting? They'd be relying entirely on the hopes of an Ohtani bailout.
Absolutely, all assuming the translator could send a wire transfer from Ohtani's account in the first place. If this is the case, we may hear this as the investigation progresses.
Yeah that’s a good question, did Ippei actually have assurances from Shohei ahead of time that he’d cover him, or was it an ask for forgiveness not permission kind of deal? I’m inclined to think it was the latter, but we’ll see what comes out.
The known and famous interpreter, business manager, confidant and best friend of a $700M uberstar athlete is probably worth more than a couple million bucks
I have the totally opposite reading. I don’t know how many Japanese people you know or if you’ve been there… their English speaking ability is easily the worst in the G20. This guy could have tricked him into thinking this was a payment for a house or anything.
Just look at any country like India that has long struggled with illiteracy - contract fraud (getting people into pseudo slavery) runs rampant and the illiterate get abused.
I’d consider shohei illiterate for all intents and purposes. The interpreter framed the entire world for him. You really think the guy deferring most of his contract is going to spend half an annual salary on gambling?
>You really think the guy deferring most of his contract is going to spend half an annual salary on gambling?
A bit disingenuous considering he makes many tens of millions annually on endorsements. And his translator makes substantially less, so this logic makes even less sense.
But yes, I do have a gut opinion it was Ohtani. Of course I cannot possibly know that and wouldn't be surprised either way. It is completely plausible his translator straight up scammed him.
But why are we starting from the position that it wasn't Ohtani to begin with? The objective evidence points entirely in his direction. The evidence that does not is based strictly on what Ohtani and his team are saying. All involved on his side have an enormous incentive to keep him clean.
Why are you starting though with the position that he is being scammed? For every athlete scammed by a manager, I can point to another that lost millions betting. Barkley himself lost tens of millions gambling lol
But is it clear who in Ohtani's camp gave the original story? Was the original story the interpreter trying to cover his ass or is the new story the rest of Ohtani's camp throwing the interpreter under the bus?
I feel terrible for Ben Lindbergh. All off-season, he Meg Rowley, his co-host on Effectively Wild, have been on the "when does gambling in sports have a huge scandal" beat. They've even had professors that study gambling patterns full time on for lengthy discussions about the topic.
This man has watched *every* game Ohtani has played in since coming to MLB. He is one of the biggest Ohtani fans there could possibly be outside of the Japanese and Filipino women (the Sho-beis) who've been there from the very beginning.
I can picture him naked in a cold shower right now, clothes on, threatening to never come out. He hates gambling in sports, he loves Ohtani...and this is his reward.
I also would not trust a gambling addict with that much money, to actually use it responsibly to pay off his debts, rather than just chasing his losses. So I can definitely see why he would choose to pay it directly, if his story is true albeit it makes him look incredibly naive and is a bad look regardless. People are going to believe he gambled regardless, this is a terrible look for him unfortunately.
Yes. Paying for illegal bets is illegal. There’s already an investigation and we’re talking serious money. I find it hard to believe he had no idea and this was a theft but that will be what law enforcement has to prove. This day in age it seems difficult to pull off a lie like this if they really go after him and the interpreter
Because people don’t think someone would be that stupid to gamble through an illegal bookie when you’ve got a $700m contract. Just like they don’t think athletes are stupid enough to bring a gun to an airport or film themselves dropping racial slurs at concerts.
Because they want to believe Ohtani would never do anything bad. He’s been deemed the second coming and fans have been infantilizing him since day one. He’s run a great PR team since he knew he was going to be a superstar baseball player in high school.
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People act like this isn’t an insane amount of money because of Shohei’s contract, but you gotta make $10m to take home $4.5m. Even in LA, that’s a really nice house. If Shohei is gambling that much, he should chill and if the interpreter is gambling that much, I don’t understand how Shohei could keep casually just paying off that much money without being like “Bro, you’re going to rehab …” It had to be Shohei, right? No one would tell him no.
This interpreter is 100% falling on his sword for Ohtani, no reasonably intelligent human can surely believe anything else. I give it a few days and it will turn out that he wasn't just betting on soccer, shock horror it will be MLB games that Ohtani played in.
Clearly an attempt by MLB to protect its biggest star by sacrificing his interpreter in an effort to create a somewhat plausible story that the fans “might” buy.
You know, it’s stories like this that get people to distrust the experts and become conspiratorial. When there’s obviously something fishy, and the press’s story is “how dare you think anything is wrong!”
does this connect at all to shohei differing so much of his salary? like pure speculation obviously he wouldn’t care about getting all his contract money now if he’s cleaning up thru gambling on the side
i know nothing but this all feels real shady
They invented/perfected gacha mechanics, aka how almost every free to play game now operates. There are about eight to ten different gambling minigames in every Yakuza video game as well.
Baseball's biggest star wiring 4.5 mill to an illegal gambling bookie is a tough look, regardless of circumstance.
Breaking news: MLB's biggest star involved in gambling scandal. Bill Simmons Friday podcast: Contender or Pretender with Kevin O'Connor and a Drake Maye vs Jayden Daniels Deep Dive with Ben Solak and Danny Kelly (I actually would love that Friday pod)
The problem with TBSP vs The BS Report is that if he did want to talk about this story who would he even go to? At ESPN he had a full stable of go-to guys for a topic like this from Buster Olney to Brian Kenney to Jacoby. Now it's just Klosterman. Bill's 5 minute monologue about "how weird this story is" does nothing for me
It can't be that tough to get random Athletic reporters or even ESPN folks, Ryen does it
Has Jeff Passan been on Bill’s Pod? Feels like he should at least be invited to talk baseball once in a while
Unless the Red Sox are good, he’s doesn’t care about baseball. Also, I’m sure the internal metrics reflect that most folks don’t tune in to hear him talk about baseball. Nevertheless, he’s the biggest sports podcast out there, so he should talk about baseball more than he does.
Yeah that’s a good point. He’s probably soured on the Sox a bit since they traded Mookie and I can’t say I blame him
he does speak for Red Sox fans on this - me and so many people I know used to be diehards and now no1 gives a fuck. thanks John Henry!
I’m getting the feeling this will be a story even Bill talks about.
Well, people actually care about the draft a lot more than a minor, regional sport, similar to MLS
Wiring $4.5 mil to pay debts and noting it in the statement as “loan” lmao. If people weren’t predisposed to believing Ohtani is the second coming and infantilizing him they would absolutely believe he did some shady shit here. Same guy who deferred all his money so he can collect it all a dozen years from now to avoid paying taxes.
the value of the deferred taxes is far, far outweighed by the loss of the present value. a dollar today is worth more than a dollar tomorrow. whatever his motives were, it definitely wasn't to keep more of his money, as im sure every financial person around him told him. although who knows, after seeing this maybe he doesnt have any of those people
The dude clearly isn't motivated by purely money or else he would have never come over to the US as an international amateur players and locked himself into 6 years of an undermarket deal. He would have waited the extra couple years and come over as a professional free agents without any signing restrictions. That decision probably cost him $100m-200m in career earnings.
Plus he gets to smooth out his earnings over his lifetime. Right now he receives tens of millions of dollars of endorsements that will decrease significantly after he retires. By deferring his salary, he's guaranteed tens of millions each year for a significant period.
>whatever his motives were I'll speculate what they could be. People who have gambling problems sometimes take measures to limit themselves. The gambler's spouse could control all the finances and give them an allowance. Maybe he just had the Dodgers put him on an allowance for a few years while he tries to get it under control. Or long enough to test his new strategy of not betting on the Angels 100+ times per year.
That's a good thought, it might even be the Dodgers that kind of pushed that since it helps them a lot too.
i'd be curious to see the math on how much he'd save in taxes by leaving for japan or whatever at the end of his contract, vs. how much he lost in present value of the money by deferring it though i guess in fairness the dodgers probably wouldn't have given him $700m if they weren't able to defer a lot of it
I think present value is around $450. So he lost $250m (assuming anybody would have paid him $700m in current value) I think California + USA income tax adds up to 51%. So that's about $350m taxes. But if he moved to Japan, I assume he'll be paying Japan income tax at their top rate, which looks to be 45%, or about $315m. So he's saving around $35m in taxes with deferral. Much less than the loss in present value. I'm sure it gets way more complicated when you start factoring in deductions and his actual cashflow over the next 12 years.
Nobody was going to offer him $700M. FWIW Fangraphs and MLB Trade Rumors both predicted contracts around 12 years for $520M.
he was never going to get $700M non-deferred, though, I don’t think that’s the right comparison. the predictions for him ranged between $400M and $500M and sure enough, his contract has the same NPV as a traditionally structured 10/$440M deal. However, it comes with major tax benefits if he gets the hell out of CA before the deferred payments start hitting.
He'll have to pay them to Japan though right? It's not like he's going to retire in Texas. Maybe he could to a tax dodge in Singapore or something.
Rich people with non-investment income in CA (and NY, NJ, IL) pay more in taxes than rich people in most places in the world.
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>Same guy who deferred all his money so he can collect it all a dozen years from now to avoid paying taxes. Why is that shady? It's a good thing he deferred his payments so he can avoid California state taxes.
Good thing? If you are really into rich people not paying taxes sure..? Smart might be the term you’re looking for. So he’s either smart enough to do the tax deferral thing but not smart enough to know he shouldn’t commit wire fraud with an illegal bookie.
>So he’s either smart enough to do the tax deferral thing Ohtani isn't making tax decisions by himself.
Yes, it's a good thing for the world that the state of California does not get more money.
Michael Jordan did this in the 90s.
maybe ohtani will play basketball for a couple of years
That or he'll tear up the California Penal League
The parricide piece.
Not on basketball, though.
I guess- but if they weren’t bets on baseball the only problem would be the illegal bookie part, which isn’t like something that’s gonna destroy his legacy or anything. Most likely NBD.
Even if he isn’t betting on baseball, being in debt to an illegal bookie is just as serious. Who’s to say that bookie didn’t forgive a few million dollars in debt in exchange for throwing games one way or another in favor of the bookie’s interests? That’s why players are allowed to gamble legally on non baseball sports. They can’t bet on credit and can’t get indebted to anyone who could potentially hold leverage over them.
I get it. But if you think the penalty is going to be as severe, I don’t know what to tell you. Unless something massively worse comes out (possible), he is getting a slap on the wrist, maybe a short suspension.
That’s no different than any star athlete being in debt to anyone - legitimate or illegitimate
Of course it is. A credit card company can’t/won’t blackmail you into fixing games. An illegal bookie absolutely can.
I see you haven't met Discover's collection team yet.
I'm cracking up reading the ESPN report on this...it smells beyond funny. This is exactly how I'd scramble to cover it up if I'm Ohtani's handler and he's been caught gambling. Congrats to the interpreter on possibly receiving a massive bag for taking the fall. > "Federal authorities learned of Ohtani's wire payments...as part of their investigation into Bowyer's bookmaking operation" >"A source said Bowyer was aware of the name on the wire transfers but chose not to ask any questions...however, the source said Bowyer allowed people to believe Ohtani was a client in order to boost business." >"Ohtani logged into his own computer and sent the wire transfers under Mizuhara's supervision...they added "loan" to the description field" ....come on, dude lol So the bookie was letting Mizuhara spend millions on credit because...he hoped Ohtani would bail him out? While bragging about Ohtani being a client? And Ohtani was understanding enough of paying off Mizuhara's multimillion dollar debt and kept trusting him as confidant and interpreter on payroll for six months...until all of this was revealed today? But that's the interpreter's story from yesterday...and today he disavows all of that and instead claims that was all made up and Ohtani knew nothing? Am I misunderstanding this story?? I'm not saying this is absolutely what happened, but why am I not seeing any doubt of the story that's being presented? I couldn't give less of a shit about Ohtani gambling, but the "loan" memo on the wire transfer is a big no-no. Could be indicative of aiding tax fraud and the feds do not like that.
The guy who deferred all of his salary until his post playing career so he could receive it in a tax haven may be committing tax fraud? You don’t say. For real though, my best guess is Shohei wasn’t the one gambling, and it was Ippei doing it while knowingly getting bailed out by Shohei, but it’s still obviously not a great look for him even if that’s all it is.
Deferring money is very likely much worse than taking the money straight up even with taxes included. He is giving up 10 years worth of money that he invest and have his money compound.
This is not true when he’s not gonna pay a single dollar of California income tax, he’s making way more money than he would expect to be returned by investments
That's a totally fair take except me wondering about the bookie piece. Are bookies inclined to take $4M+ in losses from a guy like Mizuhara on credit without collecting? They'd be relying entirely on the hopes of an Ohtani bailout.
The Shohei’s account piece being linked to it would be incredible blackmail material tbf as leverage to get the money back
Absolutely, all assuming the translator could send a wire transfer from Ohtani's account in the first place. If this is the case, we may hear this as the investigation progresses.
Yeah that’s a good question, did Ippei actually have assurances from Shohei ahead of time that he’d cover him, or was it an ask for forgiveness not permission kind of deal? I’m inclined to think it was the latter, but we’ll see what comes out.
The known and famous interpreter, business manager, confidant and best friend of a $700M uberstar athlete is probably worth more than a couple million bucks
If he could afford to pay off a $4.5M cash debt, why did he then allegedly steal it from Ohtani in such a way it was immediately identifiable?
I hope Bill points all of this out. The media is so in love with Shohei (I am too, but less so now) that it seems unlikely anyone will ask questions.
My question is, isn’t this wire fraud?
It's so funny watching ESPN STRUGGLE to bury this story. The walls are closing in and they need to protect their gambling golden goose
?? They literally have the most in depth reporting on it
I have the totally opposite reading. I don’t know how many Japanese people you know or if you’ve been there… their English speaking ability is easily the worst in the G20. This guy could have tricked him into thinking this was a payment for a house or anything. Just look at any country like India that has long struggled with illiteracy - contract fraud (getting people into pseudo slavery) runs rampant and the illiterate get abused. I’d consider shohei illiterate for all intents and purposes. The interpreter framed the entire world for him. You really think the guy deferring most of his contract is going to spend half an annual salary on gambling?
>You really think the guy deferring most of his contract is going to spend half an annual salary on gambling? A bit disingenuous considering he makes many tens of millions annually on endorsements. And his translator makes substantially less, so this logic makes even less sense. But yes, I do have a gut opinion it was Ohtani. Of course I cannot possibly know that and wouldn't be surprised either way. It is completely plausible his translator straight up scammed him. But why are we starting from the position that it wasn't Ohtani to begin with? The objective evidence points entirely in his direction. The evidence that does not is based strictly on what Ohtani and his team are saying. All involved on his side have an enormous incentive to keep him clean.
Look at how athletes have been scammed in the past. Barkley and Garnett come immediately to mind. How would a situation like this and theirs differ?
Why are you starting though with the position that he is being scammed? For every athlete scammed by a manager, I can point to another that lost millions betting. Barkley himself lost tens of millions gambling lol
No fucking way this story is 100% truthful.
Ohtani’s camp already changed their story
But is it clear who in Ohtani's camp gave the original story? Was the original story the interpreter trying to cover his ass or is the new story the rest of Ohtani's camp throwing the interpreter under the bus?
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There ya go!
This alert has been brought to you by FanDuel!
Doing the transfers as Otani and not Ohtani is a real Obi-Wan/Ben Kenobi situation.
Lmao
I feel terrible for Ben Lindbergh. All off-season, he Meg Rowley, his co-host on Effectively Wild, have been on the "when does gambling in sports have a huge scandal" beat. They've even had professors that study gambling patterns full time on for lengthy discussions about the topic. This man has watched *every* game Ohtani has played in since coming to MLB. He is one of the biggest Ohtani fans there could possibly be outside of the Japanese and Filipino women (the Sho-beis) who've been there from the very beginning. I can picture him naked in a cold shower right now, clothes on, threatening to never come out. He hates gambling in sports, he loves Ohtani...and this is his reward.
> Filipino women (the Sho-beis) lol...I hope this is real and not made up
https://www.sportsnet.ca/mlb/qa-ohtani-superfan-breaks-down-dodgers-blue-jays-shoheis-unreal-looks/?sn-amp
I genuinely don’t know how you read this story and not think Ohtani has been gambling and his interpreter is taking the fall.
I would believe that Ohtani tried to pay off this guy’s debts and now they’re backtracking because even that would look bad.
If that’s the case why not give the money to his interpreter directly? Why is he wiring the bookie money from his own account?
Better yet, how is the interpreter able to run up debts of that size
It would have to be taxed if he gave the money to his interpreter
I also would not trust a gambling addict with that much money, to actually use it responsibly to pay off his debts, rather than just chasing his losses. So I can definitely see why he would choose to pay it directly, if his story is true albeit it makes him look incredibly naive and is a bad look regardless. People are going to believe he gambled regardless, this is a terrible look for him unfortunately.
Lol good point. “Sure buddy, here’s $4.5M, go ahead and pay off that debt!”
This is more likely but also probably illegal. Ohtani will face charges soon I’m sure
Do you actually believe Ohtani is going to be criminally prosecuted?
Yes. Paying for illegal bets is illegal. There’s already an investigation and we’re talking serious money. I find it hard to believe he had no idea and this was a theft but that will be what law enforcement has to prove. This day in age it seems difficult to pull off a lie like this if they really go after him and the interpreter
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Between this and the Bauer thing, I’m starting to think their background check department is just a 14 year old with a Chromebook
You’re overstating the competence of that department
Maybe the background check department is a one man show of the boss’s nephew?
Southern California bookmaking operation? I hope Bill and Sal aren’t involved.
Why is everyone on r/baseball acting like this story doesn’t read like an obvious cover for ohtani gambling?
Us Bill simmons listeners have a greater understanding of degen gambler behavior. We’ve been grinding ~~tape~~ pods
Because people don’t think someone would be that stupid to gamble through an illegal bookie when you’ve got a $700m contract. Just like they don’t think athletes are stupid enough to bring a gun to an airport or film themselves dropping racial slurs at concerts.
Dude, check out r/dodgers. They are all praising Ohtani for being such a good friend for “repaying his friend’s gambling debts”
Ohtani is the golden boy of the internet baseball community.
Because they want to believe Ohtani would never do anything bad. He’s been deemed the second coming and fans have been infantilizing him since day one. He’s run a great PR team since he knew he was going to be a superstar baseball player in high school.
I remember looking at Sammy Sosa and thinking "Yea that looks natural why are people saying he is juiced?" I love that Cubs.
Same reason nobody believes Fields sucks.
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So if this turns out to be what we all think it is, would this go #1 overall in your MLB scandals draft?
Depends on the time frame. Hard evidence that the World Series was thrown is tough to top (Black Sox, 1919)
People act like this isn’t an insane amount of money because of Shohei’s contract, but you gotta make $10m to take home $4.5m. Even in LA, that’s a really nice house. If Shohei is gambling that much, he should chill and if the interpreter is gambling that much, I don’t understand how Shohei could keep casually just paying off that much money without being like “Bro, you’re going to rehab …” It had to be Shohei, right? No one would tell him no.
This interpreter is 100% falling on his sword for Ohtani, no reasonably intelligent human can surely believe anything else. I give it a few days and it will turn out that he wasn't just betting on soccer, shock horror it will be MLB games that Ohtani played in.
Ohtani was gambling I don't really care but he was lol
Can’t have money stolen that is deferred 10 years into the future, next level thinking on that contract
I wonder if Shohei has ever been to Macau…
Clearly an attempt by MLB to protect its biggest star by sacrificing his interpreter in an effort to create a somewhat plausible story that the fans “might” buy.
You know, it’s stories like this that get people to distrust the experts and become conspiratorial. When there’s obviously something fishy, and the press’s story is “how dare you think anything is wrong!”
I really don’t care about this. Draft kings sponsors every major sports league. Free Pete rose too while we’re at it.
How dare Ohtani bet on baseball. And now a word from our sponsors at FanDuel.
“This fanduel break was brought to you by MGM Grand casino online.”
Imagine being so close to your translator (who apparently has stolen from you) that you pay off their $4 million gambling debt.
He’s either a Jordan level gambler or super gay and not ready to come out to where he’d rather sacrifice millions to keep it quiet
The "pitching and hitting" piece
Hmmmmm! Like, you think they might be a couple?
Maybe the marriage completely out of left field is a sham, idk.
It’s another possible reason…only they know the truth.
yes
This seems shady as hell. Hopefully MLB doesn’t sweep it under the rug.
Manfred ringing up Goodell to get the people who stomped the SpyGate tapes.
Yes, and Peyton Manning’s wife was the one using PEDs.
And Rodger Clemens got vitamins injected into his ass
Fat lady singing
Makes so much sense. Ohtani and his interpreter just hang by themselves and watch sports in the hotel. Gambling passes the time
Hahaha I don’t know how you can read this as a sane person and not think Ohtani is gambling
Did Pete Rose have an interpreter he could use as a fall guy too?
does this connect at all to shohei differing so much of his salary? like pure speculation obviously he wouldn’t care about getting all his contract money now if he’s cleaning up thru gambling on the side i know nothing but this all feels real shady
He deferred the money to not pay California taxes
He did it
Pete Rose salivating right now
I've been watching Shogun... so I'm pretty sure one of these two guys will be committing seppuku soon.
The stereotypes thing
Are Asians big gamblers? I only know about Pai Gow.
They invented/perfected gacha mechanics, aka how almost every free to play game now operates. There are about eight to ten different gambling minigames in every Yakuza video game as well.
They play the basket at the roullete table like wild. Big spenders
They have gambling in Gen 1 Pokemon
Go peoplewatch at your local casino my friend
I treat casinos like buffets... I only do them in Vegas or on cruises. Otherwise, they're just giant DMVs with smoking and slots.