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Does anyone know what is going on with Stephen Strasburg at this point? He still hasn't officially retired. I know last year there was supposed to be a retirement event but it got cancelled at the last minute because of some disagreement over money he is still owed by the team.
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Mar 25, 2024 23:50
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Henrik Zetterberg posted:I can barely transfer a few thousand dollars from my wife’s account to mine, in the same bank, without them putting a hold on her account, and I can’t pull more than like $500/day out of the ATM. There’s no sensible way that Ippei could drain him of millions without anyone noticing. Yes because as we know banks treat multi-millionaires the same way as people off the street with a free checking account
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Mar 25, 2024 23:51
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my man is nothing if not focused https://twitter.com/kirsten_watson/status/1772386301368467501
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Mar 25, 2024 23:53
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FlamingLiberal posted:Does anyone know what is going on with Stephen Strasburg at this point? He still hasn't officially retired. I know last year there was supposed to be a retirement event but it got cancelled at the last minute because of some disagreement over money he is still owed by the team.
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Mar 25, 2024 23:54
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bawfuls posted:my man is nothing if not focused He's already been training throwing millions at bookies!!!!!!!
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Mar 25, 2024 23:55
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mdemone posted:Dude is making obscene amounts of money. He's not checking his bank app every day. This isn't a checking account where you Venmo over a few hundred dollars off your phone. You're talking $500k wire transfers to a sketchy business. You're signing some forms or doing this in person with a banker. It's not a simple process at sums that large.
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Mar 25, 2024 23:57
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Also gotta say, part of Ohtani's statement seems to be him declaring he's never knowingly paid a bookie. But if Ippei had access to the account and was the one who initiated all the transfers, there's no need for wedging "knowingly" in there, you can just say Ohtani never paid a bookie, full stop. Wedging "knowingly" in there seems to be a defense should it ever be proven there were transfers to the bookie that were initiated not by Ippei but by Ohtani, Ohtani can say, well my statement to the public wasn't a lie, I did initiate the transfer but I didn't know he was a bookie.
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Mar 25, 2024 23:59
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Shohei Ohtani has been (coining a new euphemism) golfing with Charles Barkley
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Mar 26, 2024 00:00
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All of this has to take into account that the initial story Ohtani's team put out was that he knew about this and was helping a friend pay off debts. Ippei is likely a conman but Ohtani's side is the one that has lied already.
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Mar 26, 2024 00:02
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Niwrad posted:All of this has to take into account that the initial story Ohtani's team put out was that he knew about this and was helping a friend pay off debts. Ippei is likely a conman but Ohtani's side is the one that has lied already. Ohtani's explanation is that the initial account was given to Ohtani's spokesperson by Ippei directly, without Ohtani's involvement. That's a major gently caress up by the PR person on Ohtani's behalf. Or maybe they're lying and decided today was a good day to double down, after spending the past week consulting with very expensive attorneys and inviting an investigation from government authorities.
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Mar 26, 2024 00:09
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If this story is true, I think Ippei's going to be the most hated man in Japan. It'll make Steven Bartman look like a national hero in comparison.
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Mar 26, 2024 00:16
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It seems not improbable to me that Ohtani has no loving idea what has been going on because he has never paid attention to his money at all and just said "yeah cool whatever" whenever Ippei hit him up for money. It's also not at all difficult to believe Ohtani is a chronic gambling addict and Ippei is a convenient fall guy. Either extreme is totally believable to me. bawfuls posted:He hasn't officially retired because the Nats are trying to gently caress him out of the money they owe him, so he's not going to voluntarily give it up. This is correct about Strasburg. The dude can't even write properly with his right hand and the Nats are trying to contest his claim that he has to retire for injury reasons.
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Mar 26, 2024 00:17
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Eric the Mauve posted:It's also not at all difficult to believe Ohtani is a chronic gambling addict and Ippei is a convenient fall guy. Either extreme is totally believable to me. THAT guy being a gambling addict would be shocking, to say the least.
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Mar 26, 2024 00:23
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You do realize that replacing "baseball" with "basketball" makes that a verbatim description of Michael Jordan, right
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Mar 26, 2024 00:26
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bawfuls posted:Ippei has also lied since he gave two, conflicting accounts to ESPN on consecutive days. So Ippei had unfettered access to Ohtani's bank accounts, shielded transactions from accountants/advisors, and was the point man for his PR team AFTER finding out that $4.5 million had been stolen? Either Ohtani is the dumbest loving man alive who hired a slew of other incredibly dumb people, or Ippei is a mastermind who lost $4.5 million to an illegal bookmaker. I'm still going with the story that Ohtani paid the debts and the story changed after they realized it could put him in legal jeopardy and a potential ban from the sport. Maybe he didn't know they were gambling debts, but I still find it incredibly hard to believe that Ippei did this without anyone knowing. From the wording of the press conference (specifically the word "knowingly"), I think the defense will end up being Ippei said he needed money for something and Ohtani paid it without looking into it.
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Mar 26, 2024 00:30
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Also pretty much any other player in the league would be on administrative leave right now.
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Mar 26, 2024 00:30
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Michael Jordan and Shohei Ohtani are not the same person and have very different life stories though? My point wasn't "oh this guy is good at sport therefore he can't be a gambling addict." It's about how he got to where he is, it's about everything that's ever been reported about his demeanor, priorities, personality, etc.
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Mar 26, 2024 00:32
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Niwrad posted:So Ippei had unfettered access to Ohtani's bank accounts, shielded transactions from accountants/advisors, and was the point man for his PR team AFTER finding out that $4.5 million had been stolen? Either Ohtani is the dumbest loving man alive who hired a slew of other incredibly dumb people, or Ippei is a mastermind who lost $4.5 million to an illegal bookmaker. The media started to ask questions of Ohtani's people because ESPN found a transfer from Ohtani's account to the bookie. So what did Ohtani's people do? They asked Ippei, the person closest to Ohtani, his most trusted advisor, and the go-between for Ohtani and his PR people. At the moment that the media first reached out to Ohtani's PR people about this, they did not know this involve Ippei. They still trust Ippei, and offer him to ESPN for the interview. Ippei starts lying to protect himself, and it is only after he's making public statements to the team in front of Ohtani that don't jive with reality that Ohtani realizes something's not right. bawfuls fucked around with this message at 00:37 on Mar 26, 2024 |
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Mar 26, 2024 00:35
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Eric the Mauve posted:You do realize that replacing "baseball" with "basketball" makes that a verbatim description of Michael Jordan, right Jordan famously gambled on the team plane, partied all night at casinos, etc. Shohei would have to be doing that completely alone, at home. I'm not saying it's impossible but he does not seem like That Guy.
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Mar 26, 2024 00:37
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Didn't see the press conference, did he start laying the groundwork for how he's wants to retire and follow his life long dream of playing in the NBA?
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Mar 26, 2024 00:38
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bawfuls posted:$4.5M was never stolen, as noted above in this thread ESPN found two $500k transactions. Ohtani's people didn't bother to ask him about it? A response about why your bank account was being used to pay off a bookie seems like something you'd want to check with the person about instead of just trusting the word of his translator buddy. His accountant or financial advisor never sent a message like "hey, what's this $500k for? We need to know for tax reasons". Maybe Ohtani is a naive, child-like figure who even his own PR team doesn't bother to run plans by. Just seems like a really far-fetched excuse. I don't think Ohtani is a gambler or anything. But I do think he knew about the payments. Maybe he didn't know it was going to a bookie, but I just don't buy that this Ippei guy is such a mastermind that he could fool everyone for a year about this stuff.
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Mar 26, 2024 00:46
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Niwrad posted:Ohtani's people didn't bother to ask him about it? A response about why your bank account was being used to pay off a bookie seems like something you'd want to check with the person about instead of just trusting the word of his translator buddy. His accountant or financial advisor never sent a message like "hey, what's this $500k for? We need to know for tax reasons". Maybe Ohtani is a naive, child-like figure who even his own PR team doesn't bother to run plans by. Just seems like a really far-fetched excuse. By all accounts Ippei was his personal assistant and best friend. They spent every day together, even in the offseason. Angels beat writer Sam Blum said that translating was in reality the smallest part of Ippei's job. It is entirely believable that baseball-obsessed Ohtani would have arranged his life so that the default communication with his people goes through Ippei to minimize his distractions. That was of course dumb in retrospect considering where we're at now, but I don't find it ridiculous on it's face. ESPN found two payments, from last September and October. We don't know if there were more payments before that. So by the current version of events, Ippei was able to maintain this ruse for less than 6 months before it blew up in his face. And he wasn't able to maintain the "Ohtani was just being a bro for me" lie for even a single day. Other pro athletes have been embezzled by assistants for far more money, for far longer than that. bawfuls fucked around with this message at 00:55 on Mar 26, 2024 |
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Mar 26, 2024 00:52
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bawfuls posted:$4.5M was never stolen, as noted above in this thread ESPN found two $500k transactions. Ippei's story to ESPN was that the debt was at least $4m paid in multiple installments over a period of months. ESPN has seen transaction records for 2 payments for $500k a piece, but per Ippei's first story, there were "8 or 9" of those $500k transfers, meaning that ESPN doesn't have evidence for all of them. quote:Mizuhara's debt ballooned to $4 million by early 2023, he tells ESPN, and that's when he says he went to Ohtani for help. He says he feared losing Ohtani's trust, and he also feared for his safety, that someone might come to his house. Also, no, Ohtani's agent and the PR people did know Ippei was involved at the time they let ESPN interview him: quote:3 p.m. ET Monday (4 a.m. Tuesday in Seoul): ESPN contacts Ohtani's agent, Nez Balelo, to ask about information it has found, including that Ohtani's name appeared to be on two wire transfers totaling $1 million. The transfers had been sent in September and October to the Southern California bookmaking operation of Mathew Bowyer. ESPN receives no immediate response. should probably add a link to the timeline piece that this is coming from: https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/39784809/dodgers-shohei-ohtani-mizuhara-theft-line thefncrow fucked around with this message at 01:02 on Mar 26, 2024 |
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Mar 26, 2024 00:58
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mdemone posted:Jordan famously gambled on the team plane, partied all night at casinos, etc. Alone at home in front of a dozen spreadsheets, calculating the odds on a 6-game parlay
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Mar 26, 2024 00:59
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thefncrow posted:Ippei's story to ESPN was that the debt was at least $4m paid in multiple installments over a period of months. ESPN has seen transaction records for 2 payments for $500k a piece, but per Ippei's first story, there were "8 or 9" of those $500k transfers, meaning that ESPN doesn't have evidence for all of them. Ippei claims there were 8 or 9 of those payments. ESPN has not seen evidence of it and as yet we haven't either. The PR people didn't know Ippei was involved when the media first reached out to them about it, hence they go to Ippei who they trust to communicate with Ohtani. Ippei reports back to them some story about Ohtani helping him with his debts, and lies about having talked to Ohtani about it. I agree the PR person hosed up at that point by continuing to trust Ippei enough to relay his story to ESPN and offer him up for an interview. That's the point where the PR person should have made an effort to communicate with Ohtani directly, involve attorneys, and if necessary a non-Ippei translator.
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Mar 26, 2024 01:02
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bawfuls posted:Other pro athletes have been embezzled by assistants for far more money, for far longer than that. Two 500k payments? Pfft, chump change.
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Mar 26, 2024 01:02
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I know the bookie in question won't talk, but I sure hope he does
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Mar 26, 2024 01:05
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bawfuls posted:Ippei claims there were 8 or 9 of those payments. ESPN has not seen evidence of it and as yet we haven't either. ESPN has, though, independently confirmed that Ippei's debts amounted to at least $4.5m: quote:9:05 p.m. ET Tuesday (10:05 a.m. Wednesday in Seoul): The Ohtani spokesman confirms to ESPN that the gambling debt amounted to at least $4.5 million, which ESPN had previously learned from other sources. Ippei's story is that 8 or 9 $500k installment payments were made stopping in roughly October, and ESPN has records of two such payments from August and September. I'd say chances are far better that the payments are real and not that Ippei's lying about payments that were never actually made.
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Mar 26, 2024 01:08
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That's the kind of detail that will inevitably come out of the investigation I'm sure. Doesn't really matter, I think it's easy enough to believe Ohtani didn't notice either amount.
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Mar 26, 2024 01:26
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Ohtani, when he started making millions in Japan, gave all his money to his mother. She gave him a $1k a month allowance, of which he averaged spending $200 on food. Dude has a history of giving zero fucks about money. He probably had his life set up to specifically not every think about cash. An incredibly close confidant embezzling is a story old as time.
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Mar 26, 2024 01:29
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The thing that raises the most alarms to me is the second Ippei story, the one where he calls back ESPN and is like, I lied to Ohtani, he didn't know anything about gambling, etc. Like, if the thing is that Ippei's a con man, there's no leverage in any of that. Like, the first story, you can read that as Ippei lying to save his rear end, absolutely. Ohtani absolutely knew, he was being a good friend and helping me out, and so on. There's no angle in the stuff that Ippei's saying in the second go-around that's really that self-serving. It's basically all just, hey can you please ignore all those times when I said Ohtani was complicit in all this stuff? And it's only when he's point blank asked if he stole the money that the communication stopped. I'm not saying a criminal can't do something stupid to cover up their crime, but I'm hard-pressed to find any angle where the second ESPN/Ippei conversation seems to be at all self-serving on Ippei's part and not just him trying to dive on his sword while trying to undo all the dirt he probably didn't realize he was throwing on Ohtani with the previous interview. If I had to make a guess of what actually happened, I'd go with Ippei's first story was more or less true, and everything since has been an attempt to salvage all the liability that that story puts on Ohtani. With a small outside chance of, Ohtani was actually gambling and Ippei made an incredibly poor attempt at taking the fall for him.
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Mar 26, 2024 01:53
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It seems established at this point that Ippei is a con man. The place he claimed he got his degree and the prestigious company he claimed he worked at before Ohtani/the Angels both said they never heard of him. It sounds like the difference between the stories is Ippei's (original) story of "I asked Shohei to cover this huge debt for me and he said okay sure and paid it" vs. Shohei's "I never agreed to pay anything, he straight up stole that money from me and I had no idea until it blew up in the press and my lawyer called me" It is very safe to assume that anything that comes out of a con man's mouth is a lie, in the absence of incontrovertible proof otherwise. Eric the Mauve fucked around with this message at 02:13 on Mar 26, 2024 |
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Mar 26, 2024 02:07
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The Red Sox are prestigious now?
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Mar 26, 2024 02:09
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Well Played Mauer posted:The Red Sox are prestigious now? To the extent any of the 30 MLB teams is prestigious, sure. Even the Pittsburgh Pirates are prestigious relative to the rest of the sports world.
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Mar 26, 2024 02:09
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lol wow this projection HATES the yankees. 19 games under 500!!!!!! https://twitter.com/baseball_ref/status/1772371681081794670
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Mar 26, 2024 02:14
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Well Played Mauer posted:The Red Sox are prestigious now? depends how you define prestige, but in terms of name recognition and history they're a top 5 team imo
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Mar 26, 2024 02:22
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ohgod please give us a 90-loss Yankees season 
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Mar 26, 2024 02:28
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Outfield is better, infield an injury dumpster fire, pitching is godawful without Cole, bench is a corpse. So either 90 losses or 110 wins because baseball has a sense of humor.
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Mar 26, 2024 02:37
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Very interested in the underlying data behind that 71 win projection.
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Mar 26, 2024 03:08
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Eric the Mauve posted:To the extent any of the 30 MLB teams is prestigious, sure. Even the Pittsburgh Pirates are prestigious relative to the rest of the sports world. Eric the Mauve posted:It seems not improbable to me that Ohtani has no loving idea what has been going on because he has never paid attention to his money at all and just said "yeah cool whatever" whenever Ippei hit him up for money. And since it's still technically the offseason and I'm coming out of my posting slumber (I've been really sick - bleeding ulcers) here's some MLB esoterica I randomly came across last night via Alfredo Griffin's career statistics. He had a season (1984) where he walked four times in 442 Plate Appearances .His average was .241 and his on-base was .248. He had fourteen extra-base hits. His OPS+ was 48. His WAR was -1.5. He made the All-Star Game for a Blue Jays team that won 89 games and had two other All-Stars 
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Mar 26, 2024 03:14
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