Around Baseball 2025

[Brownie19]

8 hours ago, G-Snarls said:

Yes 

So what does that make the odds of losing 6 in a row?  Pretty low but we've somehow done it. 

That just means that statistically, we're due!

[Grant77]

Ohtani being sued for shady business practices in a Hawaii real estate debacle. I suppose if found guilty, we can expect that his agent will be fired and he will claim to have no knowledge of the situation.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/mlb/article/dodgers-star-shohei-ohtani-and-agent-accused-of-sabotaging-240m-hawaii-real-estate-project/

[John_Havok]

41 minutes ago, Grant77 said:

Ohtani being sued for shady business practices in a Hawaii real estate debacle. I suppose if found guilty, we can expect that his agent will be fired and he will claim to have no knowledge of the situation.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/mlb/article/dodgers-star-shohei-ohtani-and-agent-accused-of-sabotaging-240m-hawaii-real-estate-project/

Meh. Guys like him get sued all the time for ******** just because people see a payday. From the article it also sounds like his manager was the douchebag, but yeah Ohtani is gonna take heat for it for sure. 

Also, I'm no real estate mogul, but I'm willing to bet this kind of thing happens all the time. 

[Brownie19]

Man - your hate for Ohtani is next level Grant.  Claiming he's a "universally hated villain" in the Flu thread sure is something.

[Terminator]

12 minutes ago, John_Havok said:

Meh. Guys like him get sued all the time for ******** just because people see a payday. From the article it also sounds like his manager was the douchebag, but yeah Ohtani is gonna take heat for it for sure. 

Also, I'm no real estate mogul, but I'm willing to bet this kind of thing happens all the time. 

Mariano Rivera is getting sued for negligence as it pertains to some alleged sexual abuse that supposedly happened at a church camp he owns.

Maybe he is liable, maybe he is not. I lean toward not for similar reasons.

But anytime his name comes up on that cesspool of a site called Reddit, everyone immediately runs to calling him a pedophile. It's insane.

[John_Havok]

13 minutes ago, Terminator said:

Mariano Rivera is getting sued for negligence as it pertains to some alleged sexual abuse that supposedly happened at a church camp he owns.

Maybe he is liable, maybe he is not. I lean toward not for similar reasons.

But anytime his name comes up on that cesspool of a site called Reddit, everyone immediately runs to calling him a pedophile. It's insane.

It's gotta truly suck to be famous for those reasons. Of course there's enough upside to it also but... 

It's entirely possible to donate a ton of money, get a great camp set up, help tons of kids every year... and have nearly nothing to do with anything with a camp other than your name being on it and your money being donated, and one bad hire of a creep and suddenly your name is being dragged through the mud. 

[Grant77]

44 minutes ago, John_Havok said:

Meh. Guys like him get sued all the time for ******** just because people see a payday. From the article it also sounds like his manager was the douchebag, but yeah Ohtani is gonna take heat for it for sure. 

Also, I'm no real estate mogul, but I'm willing to bet this kind of thing happens all the time. 

Perhaps, but you don't see other figures like Judge getting caught up in this kind of thing.

This is two scandals in a year involving Ohtani. I think it would be pretty naive at this point to think that there's no fire to all of this smoke.

I honestly thought it was naive of people to still support him after the first scandal where his spokesperson and the Dodgers both stated that Ohtani himself was gambling and then quickly reversed course. MLB ran an outrageously successful PR campaign on his behalf. Critical thinkers that I respect in life and on this forum actually fell for it, which was shocking and disappointing to me.

I also don't think the Rivera situation is really comparable, should the allegations in this case be proven true, or a settlement awarded. They allege direct involvement from Ohtani, not some foundation that is merely associated with his name.

[John_Havok]

13 minutes ago, Grant77 said:

Perhaps, but you don't see other figures like Judge getting caught up in this kind of thing.

This is two scandals in a year involving Ohtani. I think it would be pretty naive at this point to think that there's no fire to all of this smoke.

I honestly thought it was naive of people to still support him after the first scandal where his spokesperson and the Dodgers both stated that Ohtani himself was gambling and then quickly reversed course. MLB ran an outrageously successful PR campaign on his behalf. Critical thinkers that I respect in life and on this forum actually fell for it, which was shocking and disappointing to me.

I also don't think the Rivera situation is really comparable, should the allegations in this case be proven true, or a settlement awarded. They allege direct involvement from Ohtani, not some foundation that is merely associated with his name.

Find me the sources where the Dodgers and Ohtani's spokesperson said Ohtani was gambling. 

[Grant77]

11 minutes ago, John_Havok said:

Find me the sources where the Dodgers and Ohtani's spokesperson said Ohtani was gambling. 

Sources? Why be so dense about this? I know you followed the story.

Ohtani's spokesperson that he hired himself said that Ohtani was aware of the gambling and the payments. The spokesperson (again, Ohtani's employee), even had direct quotes from Ohtani himself saying the same thing.

Before you say he wasn't placing the bets, paying a friend to gamble on sports is still against MLB policy. That story was repeated a couple of times through multiple outlets and sources for the first 48 hours until the entire narrative changed. Some of it is outlined in this article, but it doesn't have the corroborating statement from the Dodgers that said something similar.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/39784809/dodgers-shohei-ohtani-mizuhara-theft-line

[Laika]

I won't go as far as to agree with Grant here but you have to admit that to completely buy Ohtani's story about the gambling thing you had to suspend your disbelief. Like, there is no rational explanation for him to just have no idea what is happening with his money. He can plead ignorance but it's a fair response for people to not accept that explanation. 

This lawsuit... it could be Ohtani and his agent being dicks or they could have used their leverage to save the project for all we know. Maybe they are being sued by a scumbag. No way to judge.

There is just a small element of "him again?" here. Smoke, fire? 

Ohtani Yakuza! 

[Brownie19]

6 minutes ago, Laika said:

I won't go as far as to agree with Grant here but you have to admit that to completely buy Ohtani's story about the gambling thing you had to suspend your disbelief. Like, there is no rational explanation for him to just have no idea what is happening with his money. He can plead ignorance but it's a fair response for people to not accept that explanation. 

This lawsuit... it could be Ohtani and his agent being dicks or they could have used their leverage to save the project for all we know. Maybe they are being sued by a scumbag. No way to judge.

There is just a small element of "him again?" here. Smoke, fire? 

Ohtani Yakuza! 

I agree with all of that.  But that still doesn't make me hate him, nor do I think that makes him universally hated and some villain within MLB.

[Laika]

Just now, Brownie19 said:

I agree with all of that.  But that still doesn't make me hate him, nor do I think that makes him universally hated and some villain within MLB.

I mean he's Yakuza it doesn't get much more villainous 

[Terminator]

Don’t tear Ohtani's jersey off during a home run celebration.

Not because he’s hiding a cheating device, but because he’s hiding a full set of Yakuza tattoos.

[John_Havok]

22 minutes ago, Grant77 said:

Sources? Why be so dense about this? I know you followed the story.

Ohtani's spokesperson that he hired himself said that Ohtani was aware of the gambling and the payments. The spokesperson (again, Ohtani's employee), even had direct quotes from Ohtani himself saying the same thing.

Before you say he wasn't placing the bets, paying a friend to gamble on sports is still against MLB policy. That story was repeated a couple of times through multiple outlets and sources for the first 48 hours until the entire narrative changed. Some of it is outlined in this article, but it doesn't have the corroborating statement from the Dodgers that said something similar.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/39784809/dodgers-shohei-ohtani-mizuhara-theft-line

Literally nowhere in that article says his spokesman or the Dodgers said Ohtani was gambling ... as you asserted in your first post above ... "the first scandal where his spokesperson and the Dodgers both stated that Ohtani himself was gambling" ....and have now changed to "Ohtani was aware of the gambling"  Maybe that was a typo in the first place? Or did the goalposts just move?

 

[Brownie19]

3 minutes ago, Terminator said:

Don’t tear Ohtani's jersey off during a home run celebration.

Not because he’s hiding a cheating device, but because he’s hiding a full set of Yakuza tattoos.

I just read he has more kills than home runs in his career.  He was planted in America to expand the Yakuza crime family internationally.

[John_Havok]

1 minute ago, Brownie19 said:

I just read he has more kills than home runs in his career.  He was planted in America to expand the Yakuza crime family internationally.

He's probably on Epstein's list. 

[Grant77]

15 minutes ago, John_Havok said:

Literally nowhere in that article says his spokesman or the Dodgers said Ohtani was gambling ... as you asserted in your first post above ... "the first scandal where his spokesperson and the Dodgers both stated that Ohtani himself was gambling" ....and have now changed to "Ohtani was aware of the gambling"  Maybe that was a typo in the first place? Or did the goalposts just move?

 

I made a mistake in my first post. You are correct, I was wrong. I did not mean that he was placing the bets himself.

Mizuhara was placing bets on sports with Ohtani's knowledge and funds, if you believe the original statements from Ohtani and his spokesperson. I don't really draw a big distinction between those two things, as he would probably still be banned for life, had the investigation confirmed those statements.

[John_Havok]

If nothing else happens in this thread. please let it be known I may be the first human being to actually get Grant to say the words "You are correct, I was wrong."  

[John_Havok]

6 minutes ago, Grant77 said:

I made a mistake in my first post. You are correct, I was wrong. I did not mean that he was placing the bets himself.

Mizuhara was placing bets on sports with Ohtani's knowledge and funds, if you believe the original statements from Ohtani and his spokesperson. I don't really draw a big distinction between those two things, as he would probably still be banned for life, had the investigation confirmed those statements.

There would be a difference though if Ohtani knew of the gambling and gave him the money to do so, or... if the guy just took Ohtani's money, gambled, then felt like s*** and told him about it after, and they tried to help out and "cover it up" so to speak. 

Hard to say really. It could be something as stupid as Ohtani giving the guy money, he gambled it without Ohtani's knowledge, felt like s*** about it and only told Ohtani later. That's possible. So is the other side where they were both sitting there at the computer betting on the WNBA. We don't know. 

Critical thinking also requires that once we arrive at a conclusion, we question that conclusion with other possibilities. 

[Brownie19]

4 minutes ago, John_Havok said:

If nothing else happens in this thread. please let it be known I may be the first human being to actually get Grant to say the words "You are correct, I was wrong."  

[sliderguy35]

never understood why people think the FBI would cover-up the true story if ohtani was actually aware of the gambling. surely they would have looked into it & included it in their report, especially considering the timeline & the original statements

i guess it's just the rise of right-wing online "truther"-ism + a general lack of trust in government institutions nowadays but like what does the US government care if ohtani gets implicated, they dont give af about baseball

[L54]

I’ll go as far as to say I do agree with Grant 

Not that he’s a universally hated villain, but you can’t sit here and pretend he’s some innocent bystander while the fire is smouldering 

I also remember the story changing quickly while the betting scandal was taking off. I don’t care to find receipts because I’m not changing anyone’s mind, nor do I care to. 

[Masterbather]

I know nothing, I have read no stories but I'm just going to assume that Ohtani's a piece of s*** and hope they find some way to cancel him from Major League baseball in a way that still somehow forces the Dodgers to be on the hook for his contract. 

I don't know if any of that is possible but hopefully there's a way.

[Nexii]

48 minutes ago, L54 said:

I’ll go as far as to say I do agree with Grant 

Not that he’s a universally hated villain, but you can’t sit here and pretend he’s some innocent bystander while the fire is smouldering 

I also remember the story changing quickly while the betting scandal was taking off. I don’t care to find receipts because I’m not changing anyone’s mind, nor do I care to. 

Ohtani definitely knew more than he let on. The story wasn't consistent and moreover, it just didn't add up. You don't spend 24/7 with someone and not have some idea. However admitting to anything can have legal ramifications, and so he suffered a big PR hit instead. 

That said, I don't have the feeling that whatever Ohtani did know, that it is without a doubt into accomplice territory. The bar is pretty high for going off to prison for many years. If his Ippei really was innocent it would have come out in court. Even for a few million payoff I don't think I'd want to rot in prison for 6 years.

[Stangstag]

I think whether you believe the Ohtani scandal or not, whether he’s innocent or not, we can all agree HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN SUSPENDED while the investigation was happening.

Just like Clase is currently suspended while pending investigation. Ohtani had even more reason to be suspended because it was confirmed to be HIS money and HIS accounts being used to gamble.

I think most people are just upset that the “golden boy” gets special privileges all the time, including entire new rules being constructed just for him 

[John_Havok]

Astros closer Josh Hader was unavailable to pitch last night, and manager Joe Espada revealed after the game that the left-hander was nursing some “discomfort” in his shoulder. Houston is now awaiting imaging results and will presumably provide an update later today. 

 

[Spanky__99]

2 hours ago, sliderguy35 said:

never understood why people think the FBI would cover-up the true story if ohtani was actually aware of the gambling. surely they would have looked into it & included it in their report, especially considering the timeline & the original statements

i guess it's just the rise of right-wing online "truther"-ism + a general lack of trust in government institutions nowadays but like what does the US government care if ohtani gets implicated, they dont give af about baseball

Grant77 is not right-wing, lol. 

[Spanky__99]

1 hour ago, John_Havok said:

Astros closer Josh Hader was unavailable to pitch last night, and manager Joe Espada revealed after the game that the left-hander was nursing some “discomfort” in his shoulder. Houston is now awaiting imaging results and will presumably provide an update later today. 

 

This news hurt me first thing after that game. 😥

[Spanky__99]

Ohtani's great between the lines and to teammates that's all I give a s*** about. Ohtani may have messed up with the original statement and there's likely some shade there, but he was cleared by the FBI and MLB as slider mentioned. Meh, who cares...🤪

Grant's just pIsT he didn't sign with Toronto, hahaha

[Spanky__99]

The Mets are floundering, a few weeks ago they were neck and neck with Phillies for the division lead, 1-9 in their last 10 while losing 7 straight. There forum must be going full tilt.