(Gomez) Juan González: “MLB isn’t saying that (gamblers) are threatening to kill relief pitchers, as they do in Taiwan. MLB doesn’t want to say that’s currently happening.

29 comments

  3. Funny because Giolito reportedly spoke directly to Manfred earlier this year about him AND his family receiving death threats from gamblers.

    The quote Giolito gave Manfred was something along the lines of, “Will a player have to actually be killed for any action to take place?”

    I think this is a much scarier time than we realize with the popularity of sports betting. I can not believe any reason to sweep this under the rug like this, other than the only reason that matters to decision makers like Manfred, in any industry. $$$.

  6. Going to use this as an explanation for every reliever injury going forward

  8. If we’re going to wind the clock back to 1919, can the White Sox at least be *good* again?

  9. Oh look, pro sports being involved with gambling is causing issues and problems.

    I would have NEVER guessed this!

  10. Sports betting is a fucking cancer. I hope we can realize we screwed shit up by allowing it to infect our pastimes.

  11. Maybe Scorsese can have a movie about baseball gamblers and mobsters one day…. Taiwan had lots of experience in that..

  12. I’ve dabbled in gambling here and there, but not once have I ever thought to message a player about a gambling loss, what the fuck do they care

  14. When you consider the several break ins per year (that we know about) of athletes’ homes, I’d actually be surprised if this isn’t actively happening already. They know where you live. Know where to find you. Know how to find your family. Now consider an international player that travels to a less secure and more corrupt home country. Where corruption abounds and organized crime is rampant. Who the hell am I to say that the two guardians pitchers weren’t threatened rather than enticed with a cut of the money.

    Not to mention the flat out angry bettors that didn’t get their way and blame the player.

  15. The live betting Money Lines go insane during a game… the amount of comebacks needs to be counted. Comebacks happen but not this often.

    It seems like late leads just can’t be held by any team around the league anymore.

  16. Who would have thought that allowing people to bet unlimited amounts of money on literally every inane aspect of a game from their phones would have negative effects on the sport and society?

  17. Theyre really just going to wait until a player gets killed before they do anything about this. Its pretty fucking disappointing tbh.

  18. You reap what you sow.

    The league wanted more revenue. The Player’s Association wanted higher salaries.

    And now they are getting what they bargained for.

  19. MLB wants to lay with the dogs and get no fleas. This is yet another reason why Manfred is the absolute worst commissioner in the history of the sport. This man actively and passionately hates the game of baseball and is doing his best to dismantle it piece by piece.

  20. There hasn’t been any violence associated with CPBL in Taiwan for 20+ years fwiw. Taiwan is very safe and they take gambling seriously now since it basically destroyed the league in the early aughts.

  21. There have been issues before with the players who had to defect from their country to play here. Puig a very notable one. Its not impossible for those cartels and such to be reaching their hand even further in for gambling.

  22. If we are being honest here, Manfred is going to be the guy who ruins baseball for a generation. Ghost runners, integration (not just approval) with gambling concerns, trying to realign teams and what will almost certainly be a lockout in 27′.

    When we lose baseball for a year+, lots of fans aren’t coming back. We’ve been abused by 150 dollar GA tickets, 60 dollar parking, shitty blackout rules for watching at home and a league where a good third of teams dont compete.

    While I feel bad for the players who want to play, its hard to forget that most MLB players have banked at least 1M dollars in their career. I feel no such guilt for ownership. The fans have been losing for a long time now.

  24. It’s not just the players themselves – these guys can easily threaten a family member or close friend, somebody who is outside of the public eye.

  28. I enjoy gambling from time to time, it’s fun putting $5 on the outcome of a pitch but those types of bets need to go away. Keep prop bets but they should be season long ones, not minuscule such as first pitch, etc. Just leaves the door open for this to happen.

    Unfortunately these gambling companies are publicly owned and only care about maximizing profits so this won’t happen. At the very least cap the bets at $500 or something

Leave a Reply