Evan is not implicating that Shohei Ohtani is guilty of any wrongdoing as the bizarre story of his interpreter being fired amid gambling controversies continues to unfold.
But, Evan says Major League Baseball has shown time and time again that it can’t be trusted with these kind of off-the-field issues, and don’t look into controversies until they are “publicly embarrassed.” So, as MLB reportedly won’t investigate Ohtani for any potential role in the millions being paid to a bookie for his interpreter, Evan says it’s hard to believe that MLB will do right by the sport and protect integrity.
“I love Major League Baseball. I don’t trust Major League Baseball,” Evan said. “I don’t trust Major League Baseball from the steroid scandal many decades ago, and the way they reacted to it years later. I don’t trust Major League Baseball from the Astros cheating scandal. I don’t trust Major League Baseball on a lot of things.
“I’m not telling you Ohtani is guilty of anything, because we don’t know. What we know is that we saw a story change within 12 hours…but for MLB to say ‘Eh, I think we’re alright, we got nothing to see here.’ I don’t trust you. I don’t think anybody should trust Major League Baseball.”
Evan says “there better be” a full investigation into Ohtani and the entire story, and to make sure “the face of this sport” did not gamble, or provide someone information to use to gamble. But for now, it seems like Rob Manfred and company are doing their usual response of “move along, there’s nothing to see here.”
“That is one of many things that make my antennae go up on this story,” Evan said. “You should start one immediately…the only way to find out is by investigating.”