Craig Calcaterra is a baseball writer and a lawyer. His analysis of the Shohei betting scandal was interesting to read.
Wire transfers are not like paying for your DoorDash order with a credit card. They are not like Venmoing your weed dealer. You cannot effect a wire transfer, especially a multi-million dollar one, without a lot of paperwork and verification. You cannot effect a wire transfer on behalf of someone else without explicit authority to do, which entails even more paperwork and authorizations.
Possibility Two: These were Mizuhara’s gambling debts and, as per his and the spokesperson’s comments to ESPN, Ohtani felt bad for him, wanted to help him out, and covered his debts by transferring the money to the bookie.
My speculation: All of that is pretty damn harrowing, but of any of these possibilities, this one best satisfies Occam’s Razor. For one thing, it’s what Mizuhara and an Ohtani’s spokesperson told the press, at least at first. It likewise does not require either blatant personal betrayal or falsification of wire transfers, neither of which are easy things to pull off. It also flows with what we all want to think about Ohtani being a decent guy and a loyal friend which is something none of us know for a fact, obviously, but we’ve never been given reason to doubt it either, all of my usual “we don’t know anyone, not that well” disclaimers notwithstanding.