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2024 Around The League Off-Season

Do Not Sell My Personal Information
I mean I was born in Germany and I know German and Latin as well... @Gson

Either way, Cleveland doesn't have a veteran MIF... Freeman would have the most experience and Schneeman would be the oldest and sincerely both of them would merit more than what the Jays just got if you go by rankings...

Not sure how you could even ask if Cleveland could have a comparable player...
 
Gson said:
.hmmm.... Morosi of MLB Network reported on Wednesday that the Cincinnati Reds are making a notable trade with the Toronto Blue Jays. Cincinnati is acquiring veteran infielder Santiago Espinal and sending righty pitching prospect Chris McElvain back to Toronto.

what would be the Guardians comp to this deal?
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Y'all missing that this trade apparently opens a spot for Ernie Clement to be the Jays utility infielder.
 
macbdog said:
Y'all missing that this trade apparently opens a spot for Ernie Clement to be the Jays utility infielder.
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the Big Ern had a great, albeit, brief year for the Blue Jays.. only 50 AB's.. .but he made the most of them..
 
The stunning scandal swirling around baseball’s biggest star.


SEOUL — Thursday night, an ocean away from Dodger Stadium, Shohei Ohtani did something he had never done in his storied, relentlessly pristine MLB career.


Because Thursday night, roughly 12 hours after news broke that the Los Angeles Dodgers had fired Ohtani’s longtime friend and interpreter Ippei Mizuhara amid allegations that Mizuhara stole millions from his friend to cover gambling debts, Ohtani jogged onto a baseball field enveloped by scandal.


By the time he did, a few things were clear: First, that the Dodgers terminated Mizuhara after Wednesday night’s game, ending a partnership with Ohtani that began in 2013 during Ohtani’s days with the Nippon Ham Fighters. Second, Ohtani’s representatives claimed he was a victim of “massive theft,” though by whom they wouldn’t say.


Reports in the Los Angeles Times and ESPN connected some of the dots, reporting that Mizuhara had accumulated millions in gambling debt. But what wasn’t clear, as of gametime in Seoul — where the Dodgers were facing the San Diego Padres in a season-opening global showcase of the sport — is whether Ohtani knew about the debt and whether he willfully loaned Mizuhara money to cover it: Mizuhara initially told ESPN in an interview that Ohtani did know and covered the debt before Ohtani’s representatives disputed that narrative and suggested it was, instead, theft.
The remaining murkiness meant that on the field before Thursday’s game, snippets of hushed conversation could be heard in English and Spanish and Japanese and Korean — conversations between reporters and team officials and anyone with a pulse, really — about exactly how much Ohtani knew and when he knew it, or exactly how involved he might have been. To be clear, no one — including Mizuhara — has alleged any gambling on Ohtani’s part. But no one is more financially important to his team and the league than Ohtani is, either.


Sports betting is legal in 38 states, but it is not yet legal in California, where Ohtani has played his entire MLB career. But offshore sports betting, which operates in a murky area, does not require upfront payment for bets, relying instead on credit.


Meanwhile, MLB’s collective bargaining agreement with the players’ union makes clear that players are not allowed to bet on baseball in any form, at any level, including in the form of fantasy sports. Mizuhara told ESPN he knew this and did not bet on baseball. But it also makes clear that players are allowed to place legal bets on other sports, though “illegal bets on any sport or event, including bets placed with illegal bookmakers or illegal offshore sports betting websites or applications” are prohibited.


Whatever its specifics, the scandal was as palpable Thursday afternoon as it was invisible. Where photographers had once lined up to shoot the arrival of team buses, fences stood instead. Security did not let them film player arrivals Thursday. No one said exactly why. No one really had to.


The Dodgers clubhouse, too, was marked more by who was not there than who was. A few players wandered in and out, glancing at reporters, as if wondering if someone might approach. Few hung around for long. At one point there were 30 reporters and no players in the clubhouse, a noteworthy ratio even for a veteran team like the Dodgers adept at making itself scarce. And at Ohtani’s locker sat a backpack and a massive water bottle, evidence that Ohtani was indeed at the stadium.


Absent Ohtani, it was Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts who was left to answer the questions being asked across two continents. He said he couldn’t.


“I can’t say anything,” Roberts said, when asked about his reaction to Mizuhara’s firing. He also said he couldn’t comment on what Mizuhara said to the Dodgers after his termination. ESPN had reported Mizuhara addressed the Dodgers and took responsibility for the scandal.


“Anything with that, the meeting, I can’t comment,” Roberts said. “I’m sorry.



The one thing Roberts would say is that he wasn’t worried about distraction for Ohtani, and that Ohtani was in a hitters meeting at the time of his news conference. He said the Dodgers did not consider sitting their superstar, who was in the lineup hitting second, as he was in Wednesday night’s opener.


But unlike Wednesday, Ohtani did not take the field to stretch with his teammates before batting practice. In fact, he never emerged for pregame warm-ups at all, though that isn’t a total departure from the norm: Ohtani rarely takes batting practice on the field before games, preferring to hit off a machine in the cages instead. When he jogged out for introductions — to the usual, undaunted roar — Ohtani wore a taut smile. He hit the first pitch he saw into right for a line drive single. Business as usual. Nothing to see here.


And in some ways, it was: Fans in Ohtani jerseys, or even full uniform, posed for pictures outside the stadium Thursday. Signs reading “Goatani” or “Ohtani Hit It Here” were visible in the stands. The crowd still roared every time they found a reason. Ohtani’s legacy changed forever Thursday. But that does not mean it was tarnished. Within an hour of the news breaking, inboxes of Dodgers staff were filled with applications to serve as his interpreter.
Ohtani also came to the plate with a chance to tie the game in the eighth, but grounded out harmlessly to first to end the Dodgers’ final rally. Good thing, too: Normally, if players homer or provide game-tying hits, they address the media afterward. But as it happened, Ohtani did not meet the usual baseball criteria for a postgame interview.


Still, since he had not surfaced before the game, two dozen or so American, Japanese and Korean reporters circled around his locker in the clubhouse anyway as he packed his bag and pulled on the sweatsuit all the Dodgers wore on their flight back to the United States. As he did so, two members of the team’s media relations staff stood with their backs to him, facing outward, telling any reporters who approached that Ohtani would not be speaking.


Thinking it might be best if Ohtani decided that for himself, reporters asked him if he had a moment to speak as he turned and headed out of the clubhouse. Dodgers staffers instead requested they clear the way, as Ohtani walked out of the room, saying a Japanese phrase reporters translated as “have a good night” as he departed.


“I hope the situation — I hope Sho is good,” his teammate Mookie Betts said, when asked about how the situation affected his team Thursday. “At the end of the day, we have to take care of our jobs … no matter what cards we’re dealt, we’ve gotta go play ’em.”
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I can't imagine a dude who is deferring his salary would be a gambler like that. Could be wrong of course, I guess we'll find out. In my opinion what's most likely is that his interpreter buddy really did do this without his knowledge; some of the problem gamblers that I've known would steal like this from others, and a few flu completely under the radar until it was all discovered. Seeing how close this guy was with Otani, yes, I think it's possible that he had an addiction that led to him being so desperate as to try to take money from his millionaire friend. I don't think this screams cover up by Shohei. But I guess we find out more as all this comes to light. As it is glad to see that the g's avoided all this when they balked at his final demand that Nyango Star be hired to replace Terry Adams on game days.
 
But, which gambling site is going to cover this guy $4 million on what, $100k salary? No way does his betting get so out of hand before a site calls its marker unless someone said I'll cover it (wa before just now).
 
petes999 said:
But, which gambling site is going to cover this guy $4 million on what, $100k salary? No way does his betting get so out of hand before a site calls its marker unless someone said I'll cover it (wa before just now).
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It was an illegal bookie and was already under federal investigation. Ohtani probably paid it off for his buddy, but by doing so, committed a federal crime.
 
Which teams are poised to surprise people the most in 2024? Here’s what the players think.
1. Kansas City Royals
The Royals lost 106 games last year and haven’t posted a winning record since their World Series championship season in 2015. But Kansas City was one of the most active teams during the offseason, adding veterans such as Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha, Will Smith and Hunter Renfroe to a young core led by burgeoning superstar Bobby Witt Jr., who signed an 11-year, $288.7 million extension in February.
That came on the heels of the Royals landing potential ace Cole Ragansfrom the Rangers in a trade for veteran reliever Aroldis Chapman last summer.
Royals select Cole Ragans as Opening Day starter

Mar 18, 2024
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1:55

Royals select Cole Ragans as Opening Day starter​



The club's moves clearly haven't gone unnoticed around the Majors -- more than one-quarter of the players who were surveyed named Kansas City as the team they think will be the most surprising of 2024.
“I wouldn't be surprised if the Royals are in first place in the [American League] Central,” said one National League pitcher. “Everyone saw all the moves they made. Almost every week or so, it was like, 'Oh, Royals sign this guy.' They were at the bottom of the totem pole last year. But when they played us, their offense -- they had enough young offensive guys that could really swing it.
“Now they're bringing in pitchers, they're bringing in veterans. If they're doing that, it's a clear attempt to be at the top of the division. They can see their division's up for grabs, so I definitely wouldn't be surprised if they were up there.”
 
BMAN said:
It was an illegal bookie and was already under federal investigation. Ohtani probably paid it off for his buddy, but by doing so, committed a federal crime.
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But, what I am saying, for a regular Joe like you or I, I know a sports betting place will give us a line of credit. Do you think you could rake up a $100,000 gambling debt without someone with a baseball bat coming to pay you a visit??? And, what about $4.5 million???? Even for a high roller (except for billionaires), this is extremely high. Just saying that Ohtani was probably involved way before this to cover these bets ....
 
petes999 said:
But, what I am saying, for a regular Joe like you or I, I know a sports betting place will give us a line of credit. Do you think you could rake up a $100,000 gambling debt without someone with a baseball bat coming to pay you a visit??? And, what about $4.5 million???? Even for a high roller (except for billionaires), this is extremely high. Just saying that Ohtani was probably involved way before this to cover these bets ....
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Without a doubt, that’s a shit ton of money.
 
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