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Post by patford on Mar 27, 2024 10:28:13 GMT -5
A little surprised Yorke is starting off in AA but makes that Portland team even more must see for the first few months anyway. It feels like Yorke has been around forever but he'll still just be 22 in April, he feels like the under the radar guy maybe in the whole farm right now. Big year for Yorke. He's had a series of injuries nagging and otherwise so it's been impossible to get a solid read on him. In order not to be a blown pick he has to hit really well and not just okay.
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Post by patford on Mar 27, 2024 9:53:02 GMT -5
If somebody stole 4.5 million from me I would certainly report it This is highly suspicious. Does anyone even know where Mizuhara is at the moment? My assumption is he did not return to the U.S. with the Dodgers and charges will not be pressed by Ohtani. When questioned Ohtani's attorneys Blair Berk and Andrew Brettler gave this statement, "Shohei has been the victim of a massive theft, and we are turning the matter over to the authorities." Yet when asked exactly who "the authorities" are they didn't respond.
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Post by patford on Mar 26, 2024 21:52:00 GMT -5
I like it when the podcast description says things like "Players discussed include Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer, Yoeilin Cespedes, Richard Fitts, Franklin Arias, Blake Wehunt and more!" Both makes me want to listen, and also helps when they say a guy's name once and then talk about him for five minutes, saying "he" and "his" and never saying his name again. That would be helpful or perhaps they could time stamp-hyper link each segment as some podcasts and YouTube posts do so it would be possible to go exactly to a segment. Easy for me to say. Doing that might be a real pain.
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Post by patford on Mar 26, 2024 21:47:52 GMT -5
FYI, this is pretty much an issue for any podcast. As a listener I have the same frustration sometimes, but note that it's very hard to get into the habit of saying a guy's name over and over again. The guys had no trouble on this one saying Cespedes Cespedes Cespedes and Bleis Bleis Bleis. As long as they don't call him Cespie I'm good.
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Post by patford on Mar 26, 2024 20:08:14 GMT -5
Seeing Mark Kolozsvary catching. I get the team needs to carry three catchers during Spring Training but he's 28 and pretty obviously an org guy at best. What is the thinking in having Kolozsvary with the MLB club when Teel is so polished? Is it just that Teel is getting a lot more work in minor league Spring Training than he would be if he was backing up Wong and McGuire? Teel wasn't even in MLB camp. Kolozsvary is there because he's one of the depth catchers in AAA. You don't really use a guy headed to AA for that sort of thing. Thanks. I'd somehow thought he was starting the year in Worcester. Looks like all three catchers in Worcester are almost player coaches. Highly experienced older catchers who know how to call a game and handle pitchers.
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Post by patford on Mar 26, 2024 15:13:27 GMT -5
Seeing Mark Kolozsvary catching. I get the team needs to carry three catchers during Spring Training but he's 28 and pretty obviously an org guy at best. What is the thinking in having Kolozsvary with the MLB club when Teel is so polished? Is it just that Teel is getting a lot more work in minor league Spring Training than he would be if he was backing up Wong and McGuire?
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Post by patford on Mar 26, 2024 15:06:43 GMT -5
The Cespedes talk on the podcast is really really exciting. Sounds like he’ll be moving up in the rankings and has elite bat speed. Very encouraging podcast. The system seems loaded. Sounds like the team drafted well under Bloom.
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Post by patford on Mar 26, 2024 15:02:45 GMT -5
I wonder if the shoulder subluxation wasn't something which was already an issue before he was shut down and had surgery? Similar to what was the case with Mayer trying to play through an injury perhaps leading to poor results. It was definitely already bothering him during that week he came back and went 1 for 18, which really tanked his line. He hadn't been lighting the world afire in April, but he'd been decent enough for a guy in his first full-season league. An important point to keep in mind. Injuries have a huge effect. And sometimes we don't know about them because a player might not be a type who complains and tries to play through things.
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Post by patford on Mar 26, 2024 9:11:53 GMT -5
Rafaela's been very consistent. Seems like he has a hit in every game. He’s been fun to watch but the way people talk about him you would think he’d have a better wRC+ than 121 this spring. That would be more than good enough during the regular season, but I don’t think the .242 ISO is sustainable, and the 6% BB rate might not be either. Yes. He's only hitting something like .270 but he is still managing a hit in almost every game. So perhaps he just hasn't had a hot streak and this is what he does when he's in a slump. I have on my rose colored glasses.
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Post by patford on Mar 25, 2024 22:27:36 GMT -5
Rafaela's been very consistent. Seems like he has a hit in every game.
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Post by patford on Mar 25, 2024 15:59:55 GMT -5
So the player that comes up with a brilliant contract to avoid paying California taxes. If he simply moves after finishing out his contract. Is the same guy that doesn't notice $4.5 million missing? Who when notified says he's just paying his friends debts, then completely changes his story? Just my two cents, but yeah it's like Payton Manning saying it was my wifes. It's so completely unbelievable the only reply to someone who buys his claim is to laugh in their face while poking them on the sternum with an index finger.
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Post by patford on Mar 24, 2024 20:40:40 GMT -5
To me the Yankees kindergarten dress code really does sort of emasculate a player. The very fact a player (particularly someone with the stature and clout of Cole) would agree to such idiocy says something about them. And I'm saying this as someone who dislikes the whole greasy looking Southern cowboy look. I'd never dream of telling a professional baseball player (or anyone) "If you're a Yankee you must conform to the Waffen SS dress code. Waiting for the day when someone finally has the eggs to tell the Yankees, "I'll sign with you but don't tell me how my hair and beard are supposed to look." It's such a perfect symbol of how ossified the Yankees culture is. "Keep your hair short and shave your beard" is a statement within the cultural logic of like the 1970s; it bears no relation whatsoever to 2020s fashion or politics. But half a century later they just keep at it out of sheer inertia and self-regard. Early '70s Yankees were very much on the shaggy side and that's the root of Steinbrenner's idiotic rule. It's just absolutely this purists and amazing to me that someone hasn't told the Yankees to shove it. Gerrit Cole should have done it. Cole with the Astros looked like a complete filthy slob. And then he folds like when he could have made it a matter of principle and had the clout to do it.
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Post by patford on Mar 24, 2024 16:17:16 GMT -5
It's the Samson effect - cut the hair, lose the flair. To me the Yankees kindergarten dress code really does sort of emasculate a player. The very fact a player (particularly someone with the stature and clout of Cole) would agree to such idiocy says something about them. And I'm saying this as someone who dislikes the whole greasy looking Southern cowboy look. I'd never dream of telling a professional baseball player (or anyone) "If you're a Yankee you must conform to the Waffen SS dress code. Waiting for the day when someone finally has the eggs to tell the Yankees, "I'll sign with you but don't tell me how my hair and beard are supposed to look."
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Post by patford on Mar 24, 2024 16:11:05 GMT -5
Chris Sale hasn't pitched since March 14 when he went 3.1 against the Rays. Has there been any recent news touching on that? Maybe they've already got him in the bubble wrap and packing peanuts? I managed to find a tweet from a week ago saying he was pitching on a backfield so the Braves could set up their rotation. Which may be but none of their other starters have skipped a turn and this is the time in Spring Training where starting pitchers are ramping up to five or more innings. All I know if he was still with the Sox I'd be very concerned and not believing the "set up the rotation" bit.
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Post by patford on Mar 23, 2024 13:11:25 GMT -5
Chris Sale hasn't pitched since March 14 when he went 3.1 against the Rays. Has there been any recent news touching on that?
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Post by patford on Mar 22, 2024 23:27:48 GMT -5
If you read Silver's piece, he explains it clearly. His relationship with the interpreter was very close, very personal. If he trusted him enough to have him acting as a personal secretary with access to the account, that's all it would take. I get that part - but like for a banking institution, aren’t there any steps they would take at this level of transaction to verify its authenticity? Ohtani I would have to imagine has to a money manager, even if that is a separate person from his bank. No one saw the multitude of $500,000 dollar payments to some obscure bank account and bothered to double check? That’s what I don’t understand, but I’m no finance guy. The kind of complete indifference doesn't jibe with the SPORTS ILLUSTRATED article published one day before the gambling story broke. www.si.com/mlb/2024/03/19/shohei-ohtani-is-an-icon-among-us-los-angeles-dodgers-dog-decoy#gid=ci02d8c822d0002684&pid=part-4-the-deferral"The deferral idea had percolated in Ohtani’s mind for weeks. Ohtani had never come close to signing an extension with the Angels before the 2023 season...Once Ohtani told Balelo about the deferral idea, the agent went to work to devise the best structure for his client...Ohtani made his decision that night. He told Balelo he wanted to play for the Dodgers."
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Post by patford on Mar 22, 2024 22:57:54 GMT -5
For those with a banking background, how exactly would a person steal money via wiring from someone else’s account, which is what Ohtani’s people seem to be alleging? Life if I use a shady ATM to withdraw 100 bucks my bank will text me to make sure it’s me - how would Ohtani not get notified about 4.5 MILLION dollars in bank transfers? Ippei was an interpreter, not an accountant? If you read Silver's piece, he explains it clearly. His relationship with the interpreter was very close, very personal. If he trusted him enough to have him acting as a personal secretary with access to the account, that's all it would take. It would take more than that. It would also mean Ohtani never looks online at his bank accounts or on paper and does not have an accountant or any sort of financial advisors. It's not as if Ohtani seems to be completely uninterested in money.
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Post by patford on Mar 22, 2024 22:13:54 GMT -5
I take note of the last paragraph: the basic fact of the matter is that $4.5 million was transferred from Ohtani's account to a bookie. Occam's razor leans in the direction that Ohtani was gambling. For those with a banking background, how exactly would a person steal money via wiring from someone else’s account, which is what Ohtani’s people seem to be alleging? Life if I use a shady ATM to withdraw 100 bucks my bank will text me to make sure it’s me - how would Ohtani not get notified about 4.5 MILLION dollars in bank transfers? Ippei was an interpreter, not an accountant? One can only assume he was so immersed in the financial tax issues connected to the State he was determined to live in (when he could have gone anywhere else) that he was too busy to pay any attention at all to his bank account for many many months.
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Post by patford on Mar 22, 2024 17:38:14 GMT -5
something something something Friday Night news dump (especially given the other (NON BASEBALL) news that broke today MLB obviously has to do some kind of investigation but it's really the FBI which is doing the investigation and has been all along.
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Post by patford on Mar 22, 2024 14:23:23 GMT -5
lol Red Sox urgently correcting some Wikipedia misinformation The fact that some in the media are bending over backwards to loops the Red Sox into this has the same energy as the recent news story about the transgressions of "former Patriot Antonio Brown." It's pretty much certain if this involved the Red Sox there would already be multiple suspensions and the team would sacrifice all it's draft picks for 20 years.
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Post by patford on Mar 21, 2024 12:53:55 GMT -5
I concur, as this will have wide reaching implications if MLB tries to sweep it under the rug.. ( Kindly requesting a "Say It Ain't So, Sho" thread name It would be best if one of the admin creates the post because they have to tools to move all the comments. This is a big topic and it is sure to clutter up (already has) this thread.
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Post by patford on Mar 21, 2024 10:32:23 GMT -5
Suggesting that one of the admin create a Subject Post just for the Ohtani stuff as it's going to be running awhile.
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Post by patford on Mar 21, 2024 10:24:02 GMT -5
Something is definitely fishy around this whole story and the large sum of money the debt ended up being. Not to mention as I understood when I read through it sounded like Ohtani's story flip flopped so MLB seemingly should be investigating this further. Or the FBI. The wire transfer of funds to an illegal gambling operation is text book wire fraud. Which possibly explains why that part of the story spun on it's heels and ran the other way.
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Post by patford on Mar 20, 2024 23:22:54 GMT -5
I have a hard time believing a gambling operation would allow for an interpreter to rack up that much in debt I'll beg to differ. You've got a pilot fish in tow and the big one is following along. That could have been an easy bet to get the bill paid. But the $4.5M may have blinded the bookie to how big the wake would be, pulling in the Feds. This fellow must have been known to the authorities and they may have been willing to ignore him for the "service" he provided. No more... This might explain why the debt was allowed to reach such a high figure: "One ESPN source claims that Bowyer allowed people to believe Ohtani was a client to help his business." sports.yahoo.com/shohei-ohtani-interpreter-scandal-piecing-together-the-confusing-timeline-based-on-what-weve-been-told-so-far-014454049.html
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Post by patford on Mar 20, 2024 21:49:14 GMT -5
The fact the bets were placed with "a bookmaking operation that is under federal investigation" might complicate matters. Further sports betting is illegal in California. You’re right. I should wait to see where the investigation goes before drawing any conclusions. I just have a hard time getting outraged over “illegal sports gambling” (if that’s all it is) at this point in time. If he bet on baseball, that is obviously a different matter. This whole thing is very strange. Up above the member julyanmorley quoted the rule. I'm predicting Ohtani is about to go from the shrewd negotiator who played the system and tax code like a human computer to "He doesn't speak English and isn't familiar with American culture. And MLB will buy it. It was also mentioned it's maybe odd a bookmaker would allow an interpreter to get 4.5 million in the hole. (3) Any player, umpire, or Club or League official or employee who places bets with illegal book makers, or agents for illegal book makers, shall be subject to such penalty as the Commissioner deems appropriate in light of the facts and circumstances of the conduct. For purposes of this provision, an illegal bookmaker is an individual who accepts, places or handles wagers on sporting events from members of the public as part of a gaming operation that is unlawful in the jurisdiction in which the bets are accepted.
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