Screaming Into the Void - Thoughts on the Ohtani Mess

Something interesting happened in baseball that doesn't have to do with play on the field. Not the Athletics complete descent into madness (maybe I'll post about that later), not the new uniforms (see through pants!), but the ongoing saga of Shohei Ohtani and his interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara. (If you know baseball, skid down to the 6th paragraph, as I'm am just giving background).

For those of you who don't know who Shohei Ohtani is, he's essentially the Japanese reincarnation of Babe Ruth. Like Ruth, Ohtani is a pitcher who can hit. In baseball, this is so rare (because pitching itself is a craft that requires hours of preparation and work that it leaves little time to do the work to hit major league pitching), that pitchers are no longer required to go to the plate and hit. Rather, both leagues now use a designated hitter to hit for the pitcher. 

And Ohtani isn't just a pitcher who can hit. He's a pitcher with ace-level stuff, and a hitter who can hit 50-60 home runs per year. In comparison, Babe Ruth might have been a better hitter, but Ohtani is a better pitcher than Ruth. Obviously, being compared to one of the legends of the sport seems extreme, but it is completely apt here. Moreover, unlike Ruth, Ohtani actually takes care of himself. 

So, when it came to free agency last year, it was no surprise that Ohtani signed an enormous contract - 10 years, $700 million. While baseball salaries are huge, no one else is anywhere near $50 million per year, much less $70 million per year. But for a guy like Ohtani, the number, while huge, seems about right. He's an ace pitcher who hits. In the history of MLB - which is a long history, mind you - there's only one other player that compares (Babe Ruth, in case you weren't paying attention).

But after the signing, a lot of weirdness came out. First, most of the money in the contract is deferred, with Ohtani being paid over the course of 30 years, not just 10. This is weird because the team that signed him (the Dodgers) are more than able to pay the money to him without deferment. Apparently, Ohtani requested the money to be deferred, which may be a tax dodge. And certainly the California Franchise Tax Board thinks so. 

Second, Ohtani announced that he was married. Given Ohtani's status as a huge celebrity in Japan (he reportedly makes over $50 million in endorsements annually in Japan), the fact that Ohtani was even dating anyone was a shock, much less being married.

Third, and the whole point of this post, Ohtani got connected to a gambling scandal. Specifically, an illegal bookmaking operation in Orange County who was under investigation by the FBI, received money from Ohtani's banking account, which violates federal law. The initial report was that Ohtani made those payments to the bookie at the request of his interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara. Actually, at the behest of the interpreter for the Los Angeles Dodger, as Mizuhara was their employee. This report was based on the statements made on Ohtani's behalf by CAA, Ohtani's sports agent.

The three problems with that statement is (1) if it was true, Ohtani would have violated federal law; (2) it looks like Ohtani used Mizuhara to place bets on his behalf to avoid MLB's prohibition on gambling; and (3) it was completely, and utterly false.

We now know that Mizuhara - who was Ohtani's friend, and more or less his gateway to the English speaking world - stole over $16 MILLION from Ohtani to cover his extensive gambling debts. Mizuhara was apparently over $40 million in debt, which he racked up in 2-4 years. He did this by literally impersonating Ohtani over the phone, and hacking Ohtani's bank application (reportedly changing the settings so Ohtani wouldn't be notified about any withdrawals from his account). Further, the reason why the initial statement was made that Ohtani paid this money to cover for Mizuhara was because Ohtani's agent ONLY TALKED TO MIZUHARA about this, and took Mizuhara at his word.

While some people are talking about Ohtani and gambling, I would like to point out one thing that's stuck in my craw since this went down: CAA RELIED ON MIZUHARA FOR ALL COMMUNICATIONS WITH OHTANI. This is the same guy who, according to the FBI (and who's about to plead guilty), REGULARLY LIED TO OHTANI ABOUT WHAT PEOPLE WERE SAYING TO HIM IN ENGLISH. Now, this is bad, in and of itself, obviously, but the bulk of these conversations occurred WHILE OHTANI WAS NEGOTIATING THE LARGEST FREE AGENT DEAL IN MLB HISTORY.

In other words, we have no idea if Ohtani actually intended on signing with the Dodgers or if he was steered there by Mizuhara - who subsequently was hired by the Dodgers at an inflated salary. We have no idea if the deferment was Ohtani's idea, or if it was Mizuhara's guilty conscience (if there is no money to steal, he can't steal it). Now granted, this issue is not nearly as sexy as gambling, but this is the sort of thing that keeps attorneys up at night. The sole use of Mizuhara for communications with Ohtani could very well be deemed malpractice. It could potentially be grounds for Ohtani to void his contract with the Dodgers. Hell, is Ohtani's contract with CAA even valid, or did Ohtani keep them on because Mizuhara told him to (rather than go to an agency that had Japanese speakers on staff)?

For those of you in the media, this is the story, not gambling. I am 1000% sure that Ohtani's lawyers (who just came onto the scene here) is taking a close look at any contract where Mizuhara took part as the negotiator. But in the meantime, journalists, LOOK INTO THE CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS WHERE MIZUHARA WAS THE INTERPRETER! Just because Mizuhara is pleading guilty does not mean this story ends.