Boomer and Jerry opened Thursday’s show by trying to make sense of the sudden controversy surrounding Shohei Ohtani, in which his interpreter was fired after Ohtani’s name came up in wire transfers to pay off apparent gambling debts, then Ohtani’s attorney’s came out with a conflicting report that the money had been taken from Ohtani.
As they awaited for more details to emerge, Boomer could only assume that there was clearly more to the story.
“Either Shohei Ohtani paid off his interpreter’s bets, or his interpreter was making bets for Shohei Ohtani that he had to pay off,” Boomer said. “If somebody transferred $4.5 million form your private account to a bookie, you’ve given your friend access to have the ability to do that? of course not. So, Shohei Ohtani is definitely involved.
“Now, whether or not he was the one placing the bets, I don’t know that. A lot of people can allege that…but we don’t have proof that’s the case. Could it be a reasonable thing where Shohei Ohtani was paying for his buddy and trying to get his buddy out of trouble? I could see that. But there’s another part of me that sees that the guy could be placing bets for Shohei Ohtani. I could see that too.”
Boomer even went as far as to wonder if Ohtani’s role in the controversy stretched back to his time with the Angels, and if his former team decided to let him walk because of it.
“Maybe this is why the Angels didn’t want to hold onto him,” Boomer said. “Maybe they knew what was going on…when you’re betting this amount of money, there’s more to it. There’s gotta be more to it.”