Ippei fired by Dodgers after being accused of theft by Ohtani’s attorney’s

[fan_since79]

If Shohei ends up involved in gambling and is banned from baseball, will this affect the value of my Ohtani rookie card, Gem Mint, graded 10?

I hope not...

[cals]

I bet Ohtani smelled this coming and that’s why he deferred so much cash.  If he gets suspended for 10 years or whatever without pay then he’s only losing $20 million.  The Dodgers will start paying the 68 mil per year after the suspension is done.  Smart move.

[BTH]

30 minutes ago, fan_since79 said:

If Shohei ends up involved in gambling and is banned from baseball, will this affect the value of my Ohtani rookie card, Gem Mint, graded 10?

I hope not...

Getting banned from baseball would probably make him more famous (infamous?) than he is now.

[Jason]

2 minutes ago, cals said:

I bet Ohtani smelled this coming and that’s why he deferred so much cash.  If he gets suspended for 10 years or whatever without pay then he’s only losing $20 million.  The Dodgers will start paying the 68 mil per year after the suspension is done.  Smart move.

This scenario would be so funny to watch it happen to the Dodgers 

[cals]

5 minutes ago, Jason said:

This scenario would be so funny to watch it happen to the Dodgers 

Yes, but MLB won’t let that happen to it’s “premier franchise.”

[warped]

BREAKING NEWS

 

Shoeless Joe Jackson and Pete Rose are pardoned by Baseball and now eligible for the hall of fame 

[RallyMo]

Now the stories are coming out in which they try to account for the wildly divergent information that has as initially released yesterday. Fun. I guess the plan is to have Ippei be painted as a huge liar. It still doesn’t add up.

[AngelsLakersFan]

9 hours ago, Tank said:

in the old days of hollywood, they use to have arranged marriages to hide the fact an actor was gay. 

i'm not saying that's the case here, but it seems to have happened rather suddenly. 

Damn, rough couple days for Ohtani

[AngelsLakersFan]

3 hours ago, m0nkey said:

Who else will be following this story more than the Angels the upcoming days/weeks/months

People will be following the Angels?

[Angels 1961]

2 hours ago, warped said:

BREAKING NEWS

 

Shoeless Joe Jackson and Pete Rose are pardoned by Baseball and now eligible for the hall of fame 

Joe only had 1 bet and lost his shoes

[SlappyUtilityMIF]

16 hours ago, Stradling said:

And then “fans” will call it another black eye for the team and use it as a reason Arte has to go. 
Just a hunch, if Trout didn’t know Shohei had a girl friend, there’s a pretty good chance no one knew of this gambling situation. 

And suddenly they got married..... His wife can't be a witness against him? We're they betting on games in the women's basketball league in Japan? She was the insider? She retired last year. 

 

[SlappyUtilityMIF]

15 hours ago, Duren, Duren said:

Going off on another tangent ...

If, IF ... Ippei was/is somehow more devious than he always seemed, you never know exactly how accurate his translations were to Ohtani. 

Perhaps intentionally misleading? Trying to cause friction between Ohtani and others? With the intention of affecting Ohtani's mood and attitude in game and/or beyond? Misrepresenting gossip and rumors as well? 

Ohtani basically was helpless in communication issues without Ippei. At least in the baseball context. And maybe beyond. 

I assume Ohtani has others in his service who were bilingual. Or other translators. Such as on his legal and accounting team. But maybe Ippei was also a friend socially to some degree. Especially recreationally as it pertained to gambling. 

As highly speculative as this wild theory is, you just don't know. It's possible that Ohtani was the one with the devious mindset and saw Ippei as an easy stooge. Even more unlikely given the enormous risks and money at stake, but you can be sure the spin masters will protect him at all costs. 

Ohtani can communicate fine... 

[warped]

Shoehei private life is history. 

[Taylor]

6 hours ago, SlappyUtilityMIF said:

And suddenly they got married..... His wife can't be a witness against him? We're they betting on games in the women's basketball league in Japan? She was the insider? She retired last year. 

 

[Inside Pitch]

Season may suck but the "Shoheinfraud" might be entertaining for a while.  It's going to be pretty interesting when nothing happens despite the clear violation of the CBA.

[fan_since79]

14 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

Season may suck but the "Shoheinfraud" might be entertaining for a while.  It's going to be pretty interesting when nothing happens despite the clear violation of the CBA.

Yep. Slap on the wrist then move on. Shohei's an icon, he'll do just fine.

Meanwhile, Angels 5-10 year rebuild begins! 

[m0nkey]

Betting on baseball instead? We can only hope 

[Taylor]

2 minutes ago, m0nkey said:

Betting on baseball instead? We can only hope 

Maybe he was betting on the Oscars.

[James]

9 minutes ago, m0nkey said:

Betting on baseball instead? We can only hope 

Well, they didnt even know he was getting married so what his teammates knew or didnt know really doesnt mean much. 

[cals]

30 minutes ago, Taylor said:

Maybe he was betting on the Oscars.

Was he at your house?

[greginpsca]

To me, this just has the smell of a big coverup. Lawyers all over this before the news broke. Multiple stories. If Ohtani did indeed wire money, i have to think he has some culpability unless Ippei held a gun to his head. Something tells me MLB and Manfort will try to protect their biggest "Commodity'. Stock up on popcorn everyone, this should get interesting.

[Stradling]

44 minutes ago, greginpsca said:

To me, this just has the smell of a big coverup. Lawyers all over this before the news broke. Multiple stories. If Ohtani did indeed wire money, i have to think he has some culpability unless Ippei held a gun to his head. Something tells me MLB and Manfort will try to protect their biggest "Commodity'. Stock up on popcorn everyone, this should get interesting.

The Feds don’t give a shit about him being a commodity. 

[James]

2 minutes ago, Stradling said:

The Feds don’t give a shit about him being a commodity. 

[Angels 1961]

Baseball bigger than any one person. Wonder if he will be able to hit it out of the yard. Just ask Ohtani if he wired the money.

[Junkballer]

18 hours ago, cals said:

I bet Ohtani smelled this coming and that’s why he deferred so much cash.  If he gets suspended for 10 years or whatever without pay then he’s only losing $20 million.  The Dodgers will start paying the 68 mil per year after the suspension is done.  Smart move.

If Ohtani ends up with a mega-suspension or serving time it will be interesting if MLB tries to invoke the Uniform Player Contract "morals clause" to void his contract on behalf of the Dodgers.  MLB/Padres had to take it to an arbitrator in '87 in Lamarr Hoyt's case, and lost, but I'm sure they'd rather try that again than be stuck with 700m. 

They didn't try it with Bauer but the difference between Bauer and Ohtani's situations was that MLB knew that Bauer's case was a shakedown but still a PR nightmare, while Ohtani's case appears likely that he participated in criminal activity to some, as yet unknown, extent.  That, and about 600m.