Ippei Mizuhara's gambling debt puts the Oakland A's payroll to shame

Those who have seen the movie Moneyball or have followed the Oakland Athletics in recent years know what lengths the franchise goes to stretch their money and make do with its low payroll.

Amid the ongoing investigation into the alleged gambling scandal and theft involving Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani and his former translator and longtime friend Ippei Mizuhara, the A's caught a massive stray from Steve Perrault of Underdog Fantasy about their financial situation. 

Ippei Mizuhara's gambling debt can nearly cover Athletics 2024 payroll

With reports circulating that Mizuhara has racked up approximately $40.7 million in gambling losses, Perrault took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to point out that he could've used that money to fund nearly the entire Athletics 26-man payroll instead of throwing it away on sports betting. Regardless of how serious the supposed accusations are, this is objectively hilarious.

Mizuhara placed a wager(s) as rich as $160,000 on a single game, according to the complaint filed against him. Athletics third baseman Tyler Nevin has an annual salary of $740,000 for 2024. The former was losing so much money that his bookie even contemplated confronting Ohtani about the matter.

In all seriousness, it is alarming that Mizuhara managed to lose such a significant amount of money and even more concerning that he was playing with Ohtani's finances instead of his own. But the Tweet by Perrault highlights why the A's are leaving Oakland for Sacramento as part of their relocation strategy to Las Vegas ahead of the 2028 MLB campaign.

But as long as John Fisher owns the team, the situation will likely worsen before it gets better for the Athletics if reactions from the fan base regarding his management of the low-cost (by baseball's standards) franchise are any indication.

Nonetheless, this only further puts the magnitude of Mizuhara's gambling and legal concerns into perspective.