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Call clickgrainger.com or just stop by. Grainger, for the ones who get it done. Elliot Johnson, it is, well it's not opening day, we've played two games already in the season. I don't even understand, I go to my baseball scoreboard page and I've got spring training games in amongst the two Dodgers-Padres games that have already been played in South Korea. Did you get up early to watch the Shohei Ohtani and others show? No, but I mean, much respect to those that did, man. I'll get up and watch the highlights and that's pretty much what I'll do.

I'm not going to do that, but I'll give credit where it's due. Growing the game, just like the World Baseball Classic, I'm looking forward to, in 10 years, 15, whatever it is, seeing whomever can be the next Shohei, if you will, of Korea would be great, or whatever player that we end up getting. So growing the game worldwide is important because you never know where that most talented person is going to be from. And the culture over there is fantastic for baseball, so hopefully they can develop the next Korean star, Shinsu Chu, or whomever it might be. It's a massive attraction in Asia, there's no doubt about it. Whether it's Japan or Korea, it is just incredibly exploding.

It's not even exploding, it's been great there for a long time. I think we're just now, as a business, baseball is recognizing how important it is. Real quick, because there are going to be people, we're going to get to Shohei Ohtani in a minute, plus we might have to talk about maybe a new interpreter for him.

The new guy, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who signed his $325 million 12-year contract, or whatever it was, and pitched one inning. People are going to hot take this all day long. Is it maybe as simple as, boy, March 21st might be too soon to start a big league season? What do you make of that?

Obviously, you did not watch the game, but it's not a great start for him, which is the easiest thing anybody could say. Hey, it's Adam Goldin, I'm in the studio with my friend Coach Pete Teruda with the Capital Financial Advisory Group. Is it ever too soon to seek out you and your expertise?

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Investment advisory services offered by Capital Financial Advisory Group, a North Carolina registered investment advisor. Yeah, and the first thing everybody wants to point to is he's tipping pitches, and he's not tipping pitches. His stuff just wasn't great. So, it's not the end of the world. Of course, you expect a whole lot more. Anytime, you know, where much is given, much is required, everybody expects when you pay that much money to get a guy that he's going to be liked out.

But that's just not the way the game works. Like, the Padres are a good team. They want to beat the Dodgers. They're probably going to beat the Dodgers some. I still think the Dodgers are a better team, but that's why you play 162 to see who can be the best team standing at the end of the year. But he'll bounce back.

He'll be fine. It's one inning. And the problem with it is this is magnified. So, I'll give you an example, Adam. When you start off the season, I had a rough year with the Bulls where I went one for 25. I mean, it's painful. And then, you know, I hit 350 the rest of the way. But you have to carry that one for 25 for the first month or two, and it has a huge bearing on things.

But, I mean, you're one good game away from getting right back in. So, he can wash this away with a good outing his next time, and nobody will be talking about it. What do you think the biggest – he's 25, so he's been a pro in Japan for a while. What are, for people who may not know, what is the biggest difference between pitching in the Japanese leagues and pitching in the big leagues? So, the number one thing that you find, you watch these guys. They control the strike zone so well, Adam. So, if you are nibbling, meaning pitchers that don't like to throw in the zone and challenge guys with their best stuff, if they're afraid to pitch into the strike zone, they're not going to find a lot of success because eventually you have to cave or you're going to walk everyone.

So, what I've found is guys that trust their stuff, that have power stuff, that just attack, attack, attack, they get guys out. But if you're a nibbler, you will not find success because umpires, most of them are pretty good at the big league level. So, you have to throw strikes in order to get guys out because the difference between, call it Japan, Korea, AAA, is that guys in the big leagues will not offer that stuff that's a couple inches out of the zone.

They will make you come into the strike zone and they'll punish you. Who's the best umpire in the major, home plate umpire, in the big leagues? There's a guy named David Rackley that's pretty good. When I was still playing, I remember he called a game 100% correct, which is really rare.

There's a guy named DJ Rayburn that's very good. Obviously, we know how bad Angel Hernandez is. Let's throw that to your fan base. Everyone knows how awful he is. And it's not just behind the plate, Adam. Even on the bases, he's a nightmare.

Oh, what are you doing? He thinks everyone's there to watch him. He's got fans on the pass list. The guys is unbelievable. There are guys that are very, very good.

We know who they are. We would get reports on where guys would have a bigger strike zone. It's not like pitchers can exploit it per se, but it's certainly something that when they do call that pitch, you remember your preparation afterwards that, hey, this guy does call pitches big there. Anyway, by and large, they do a pretty good job. They call the game relative to how the strike zone is supposed to be called for the most part.

Of course, there's outliers on both sides. We're not that far away from it being completely automated anyway, but I'm against that. I love the nuance of the strike zone, but I'm an old school guy when it comes to that. Let me ask you about Shohei Ohtani. He's going to pitch this year. I assume he's going to DH as, I don't know, 155 to maybe max out at 162 because he's just hitting. Should we prepare for an even better offensive season than we have seen from him?

No. I think that we're probably over-exaggerating what type of energy that it takes out of him. I don't see there being a whole lot different. Think about him. He's a machine, Adam. If he isn't mentally, physically prepared to pitch and hit, why are they doing it with him in the first place? He's already physically in that condition to be prepared to do both sides. To say that somehow now that he gets to just focus on hitting and that's going to have some sort of huge impact, I don't see it. I think he's going to stay relatively close to his trend lines. He's still going to be one of the greatest players in the game, but I wouldn't assume that we're going to see any huge uptick just because he's only hitting. He goes from the best player in the game to just one of the best players in the game because he's not pitching. Is that a fair assessment?

Yeah. I think if you're trying to just use war or whatever the case may be to determine his output, when you combine his pitching and his hitting, yeah, he becomes the most valuable player on the planet. But if he's just hitting, again, we've had this conversation plenty of times. I think he's not even the best hitter on the Dodgers. I think Mookie and Freddie are better hitters than he is.

Juan Soto is going to probably have a huge year in New York. Maybe I was wrong about him last year, but he's still a very good baseball player and if not the best hitter in the world, one of the best. That's why I say, look, when you combine pitching and hitting, sure, he creates more value than any player on the planet because he's elite on both sides. But just hitting, and that's not a disrespect to him. Freddie Freeman is one of the best hitters of our generation. Mookie Betts is one of the best hitters of our generation.

So it's not like I'm being disrespectful. The Dodgers have an all-star team over there. Right.

In the middle of their lineup, it is just insane. Who steals more bases this year? Otani or Betts?

Oh, man. Betts. I stumped him. I stumped Elliot Johnson. What's the easiest choice you can make?

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Plus, you can count on access to a committed team ready to go the extra mile for you. Call, click Grainger.com, or just stop by. Grainger, for the ones who get it done. Is he there? I thought you were asking me who's going to steal more this season. Are you saying so far this year you're saying that?

No, this season. Who is going to steal more bases this season? Mookie Betts or Shohei Ohtani? Yeah, I'm going Betts. I think Ohtani is going to be a 40-40 guy.

Well, I mean the problem is when you only hit doubles and home runs, it's hard to steal bases. That is a very good point, Elliott Johnson. All right, so anything about the interpreter getting four and a half million dollars into Ohtani's pocket to place bets with an illegal bookmaker? Anything strike you as, excuse me? Well, of course. This whole thing is, I don't know, I mean, so let's start with this. The stories haven't been the same throughout this process, and not like I'm a private investigator or I am in law enforcement. But I'm pretty sure your story needs to be consistent and it hasn't been consistent from the beginning because now we've got lawyers involved and they're trying to craft a message after the message has already been out. You've got the Dodgers who are obviously going to do everything they can to protect their guy.

We've got a interpreter that seems like it's falling on a sword. We've got the black eye on baseball that is the Black Sox scandal and Pete Rose. We have the greatest player in the world making the most money, all this stuff. He's an international superstar.

He's a marketable player on one of the best teams in the world who's caught in this thing. And it feels like we're not getting the whole truth is what I'll say. I don't know what it is, but it sure as heck doesn't feel like this makes any sense whatsoever.

I don't know how an interpreter gets four and a half million into, you know, into debt. I mean, I guess I could see it if you're a gambling person, which I'm not, but I don't I mean something it just doesn't feel right. And I don't know exactly what's going to come of this, but I think the Dodgers are going to do everything they can to make sure that they protect him as much as they can.

And I don't know what's going to be end up being the fallout. But, you know, but again, it's not like Major League Baseball gets to get away with this scot-free because, you know, everywhere you look, it's, you know, it's, you know, Sunday night baseball brought to you by FanDuel or whatever the case may be. So, you know, I think they're trying to do they're trying to have their cake and eat it, too. And I understand that. And, you know, players know the rules.

No question about it. But it's still, you know, something about this doesn't feel right. And I think I have a feeling that more and more information is going to be coming out here in the next few days.

Oh, it's it's a it's a very weird story. And FanDuel is America's number one sportsbook, I've been told. And and I'm not a gambling guy either, although Manny Machado anytime home run kind of spoke to me yesterday and worked out. Isn't that nice? All right. I'll let Elliot Johnson go. You don't have to be a part of this madness anymore. Elliot Johnson, my friend, I appreciate your time as always. Happy almost opening day for real. Thank you very much, Adam. Pleasure as always. Get it done.