The Dodgers
- Thread starter Gold Trojan
- Start date
It is early in the season and they sure put up a lot of runs.
You got up or stayed up and watched the game?
You got up or stayed up and watched the game?
They need to clean up the Ohtani translator mess. Dude says Shohei knew and then reversed course and said he didn't. Not a good look.
ya, that dude is fired, but he needs to keep his mouth shut. he is going to have a hard time getting any future gig now.
The bats are going to produce but it's the defense I'm concerned about. Muncy (2 errors 
today!) & Lux are a liability on the diamond defensively. Miguel Rojas should be the every day SS and I'd put Mookie back in RF and Kike/Lux platoon 2B. Bringing back Muncy and not re-signing JT 2 years ago still hurts. Go Dodgers!
today!) & Lux are a liability on the diamond defensively. Miguel Rojas should be the every day SS and I'd put Mookie back in RF and Kike/Lux platoon 2B. Bringing back Muncy and not re-signing JT 2 years ago still hurts. Go Dodgers!
Ohtani's translator was fired for allegedly stealing from Shohei and using the money to bet on sports.
"A Major League Baseball source told ESPN on Thursday that the league has not been contacted by federal authorities. The source said MLB's next step would be to gather facts, which could take time in light of the ongoing federal investigation.
On Wednesday, lawyers for the Dodgers pitcher and designated hitter said he had been "a victim of a massive theft" after reporters asked an Ohtani spokesman questions about why $4.5 million in wire transfers had been sent from Ohtani's bank account to a bookmaking operation.
The theft allegation came after his spokesman initially told ESPN that the slugger had transferred the funds to cover the gambling debts of Ohtani's former interpreter and friend, Ippei Mizuhara.
Mizuhara on Tuesday evening told ESPN the same and laid out his story in great detail, including saying that Ohtani had sat with him, and the two transferred the money in $500,000 increments in several different settings. But as ESPN prepared to publish a story Wednesday, the spokesman disavowed Mizuhara's account."
Mizuhara has said that Shohei knew and that he didn't know. Problematic. Pete Rose is reading with great interest.
Not really relevant to Pete.
Allegation seems to be that Shohei was paying off debts for his interpreter.
Is that a problem? I don't know.
I think anything to do with betting even if it's periphetal is a problem.
My understanding is you can bet on other sports, just not your own.
I could be wrong.
It certainly sounds like there's more to the story than the initial report, (that his interpreter embezzled/stole millions of Ohtani's money to cover gambling debts) but don't expect to ever hear many details. Ohtani is MLB's chosen one.
This article is what I was talking about. The whole situation is problematic for Ohtani and the Dodgers.
"The fundamental problem is that this account really doesn’t make a lot of sense. This version of events, which aims to completely divorce Ohtani from any wrongdoing, requires dozens of layers of checks and balances to be ignored, nobody having the wherewithal to catch massive fraud, and relies on the premise that Ippei, a long-term friend, had the nefariousness to steal money from Ohtani, but not hide it."
-"Regardless of the fact that Ippei was a close friend and Ohtani’s translator, it’s wholly bizarre that he would have the kind of extensive access to money required to initiate a wire transfer. This is a man who wasn’t Ohtani’s personal assistant, nor was he ever listed as a financial advisor of any kind.
It’s unclear how, or why Ippei had the kind of control over an athlete’s money typically only reserved to high-level bankers or legal representatives who are on retainer."
-"Part of the mystique of Shohei Ohtani has always been this mythos of his laser-focus on baseball, with an aloofness about everything else in life. Whether that’s true, or part of the branding behind him, it’s really the only way you can imagine he would be unaware of $4.5 million leaving his bank account.
To be clear: Ohtani is very wealthy, but he’s not stratospherically rich yet. To this point he’s earned approximately $42M from MLB, with other funds coming from endorsement deals and his earnings in Japan.
It would be one thing to simply not notice $4.5M missing when you have hundreds of millions in the bank, but the nature of Ohtani’s back-loaded Dodgers’ contract means that he needs to manage his money closer than most athletes. It’s very difficult to imagine that this kind of sum of money could simply leave his account without anyone noticing."
-"Now why, when it comes to something as serious as a payment to an illegal bookmaker, would representatives for Ohtani simply take his translator at his word, instead of immediately finding out what was happening from Ohtani? The profound difference between “paying off a friend’s debt” and “he stole $4.5M from me” was worth confirming with Ohtani himself — but we don’t know what exactly happened."
Maybe they are hoping it wall all go away and it might. But there are definitely some questions about what really happened here.
