The Ohtani Saga

[kaldaniels]

https://x.com/thecousinsal/status/17...gxwYJ5KNUDGyPw

A clip from this morning. Two guys where one just stole 4.5 MM from the other and they know about it?

[Strikes Out Looking]

The first story was that Ohtani payed an associate of Southern California bookmaker Mathew Bowyer to pay off Mizuhara's debt. ESPN says they reviewed bank records of two $500,000 payments with Ohtani's name on it to the associate. I guess they realize that puts Ohtani in some hot water. Sports betting is illegal in California and Ohtani's name is on the payments. I don't know enough about the legal system to know what that means. From the sound of that article this may be the tip of the gambling ice berg.

I believe this is the true story- Ohtani knew of his pal's debts and he paid them off. The two of them didn't realize that this, in and of itself, is a violation of baseball's gambling rules. This morning, after the ESPN interview with Tisha Thompson (who once interviewed me on local DC tv), Ohtani's lawyers got wind of what they'd admitted to doing and had the story changed to the "theft" -Now they have to hope that he didn't bet on baseball as he said.

[kaldaniels]

I believe this is the true story- Ohtani knew of his pal's debts and he paid them off. The two of them didn't realize that this, in and of itself, is a violation of baseball's gambling rules. This morning, after the ESPN interview with Tisha Thompson (who once interviewed me on local DC tv), Ohtani's lawyers got wind of what they'd admitted to doing and had the story changed to the "theft" -Now they have to hope that he didn't bet on baseball as he said.

That fits everything we know right now. It’s possible it goes deeper than that but that does make sense.

[AlaskaReds]

Definitely some shady stuff around Ohtani, and with the multiple stories around it, there is no way he isn't somehow involved in his friend gambling on baseball. The way the Dodgers made a mockery of the MLB with his contract, I hope there is severe punishment handed down on both the franchise for employing his interpreter and Ohtani himself. Huge fine, loss of draft picks, long suspension for Ohtani etc

[mth123]

This is why he deferred the money. He figured he could coast for a couple of decades on his black jack winnings.

He has a salary for each season. Part of it is paid and part of it is deferred. If he's suspended without pay he doesn't get the portion he's paid nor the deferred portion.

[Ron Madden]

31 Veterans With Opt-Out Opportunities Looming This Week

One of the provisions in that 2022-26 collective bargaining agreement is uniform opt-out opportunities for Article XX(B) free agents on minor league deals.

An Article XX(B) free agent is one with at least six years of service time who finished the previous season on a major league roster or injured list.

Any such player who signs a minor league deal more than ten days prior to Opening Day can opt out of that deal at three points if they haven’t been added to the 40-man roster: five days before Opening Day, May 1 and June 1.

The first uniform opt-out date on this year’s calendar falls Friday at 1pm CT.

Any player can trigger his out clause at that point, and the team will subsequently be given a 48-hour window to either add him to the roster or release him.

With many clubs around the league dealing with spring injuries, some of these players should be able to find opportunities elsewhere if they can’t find it with their current organization.

Their current clubs can prevent them from opting out by giving them a roster spot, but that may involve cutting someone else.

Read More
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2024/...this-week.html

[Big Red Smokey]

Pete not having a fall guy was his biggest mistake obviously

[WrongVerb]

Pete not having a fall guy was his biggest mistake obviously

IIRC, there was someone in Pete's orbit that they did first try to put the blame on. I think the guy was a body builder type. Some were saying he was actually Pete's first kid that he'd fathered at like age 16. But my memory is fuzzy, so maybe others can fill in some of the blanks.

[Z-Fly]

Ohtani is too big to fail. He's a revenue generator for too many people. This will be handled.

[westofyou]

IIRC, there was someone in Pete's orbit that they did first try to put the blame on. I think the guy was a body builder type. Some were saying he was actually Pete's first kid that he'd fathered at like age 16. But my memory is fuzzy, so maybe others can fill in some of the blanks.

Paul Janzen

[kaldaniels]

Reporter on ESPN stating that the initial statement said Ohtani logged on to the computer to access the bank account and Ippei directed him on what to do.

How the turntables…

[kaldaniels]

The reporter who had the initial 90 minute interview with Ippei is on ESPN and you can tell she’s pissed for the switcheroo in Ippei’s story. She was ready to click “publish” on the “Ohtani knew” story but right then found out the story changed.

Don’t see this one getting swept inter the rug. Ohtani will probably wiggle out of it but we aren’t done here.

[Chip R]

Ohtani is too big to fail. He's a revenue generator for too many people. This will be handled.

Pete was pretty big at the time. No longer an active player but still one of the faces of the game and he went down.

What I find puzzling is that MLB said they are not doing an investigation on Ohtani. The news broke yesterday and they are announcing there is no investigation? As you said, maybe this is how they are handling this. Maybe they are just going to try to sweep this under the rug and hope everyone forgets about it. I'm not so sure you can do that in this day and age unless the media has an agenda that would be harmed by harmful information being released.

Is MLB getting their just desserts because of how they have embraced gambling? Perhaps. But this would have been illegal even 5-10 years ago when gambling - except for the casino ads behind home plate - was still verboten. Mizuhara used an offshore bookie since sports wagering is still illegal in California. While baseball - and other sports - embracing gambling is pretty icky to some, that really has nothing to do with this. But remember, this is how Pete went down. They were looking at him for betting on other sports - which was illegal then. Then they found out that was just the tip of the iceberg. We don't know if these bets were on baseball yet. If not, I'd say Ohtani's in the clear even if Mizuhara was a fall guy. But we knew Uberroth's, Giamatti's and Vincent's position on gambling was back then. Do we know what Manfred's position is? As I said, he's certainly embraced gambling but I think he had to in order not to fall behind. With more states legalizing betting, people were going to bet on baseball whether he embraced it or not. I do hope MLB changes their mind and investigates this because I assure you, someone is going to and I don't think MLB wants to get egg on their face.

[medford]

So Ohtani is going to have MLB look the other way for his shady dealings? Must be nice to part of the "cool crowd" in baseball.

[kaldaniels]

Stephen A. just mentioned something that I was just about to post about.

Wouldn’t there be a third party involved with such a large wire transfer(s)?