Braves implosion!

[Natsinpwc]

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2017/11/braves-will-reportedly-lose-prospects-in-punishment-for-international-violations.html

[imref]

Per Fan Rag, braves have lost the rights to Kevin Maitan, their top 2016-17 signing.

[dcpatti]

Major League Baseball informed multiple Braves international signings today that they will become free agents.
According to @BaseballAmerica
Those players include
Kevin Maitan SA
Abrahan Gutierrez C
Yunior Severino 2B
Juan Contreras RHP

[dcpatti]

Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports is reporting that the braves will lose *12* prospects. Plus he tweets (3 differnt tweets):

NEWS: Major League Baseball will hammer the Atlanta Braves for significant international and domestic rules violations and declare 12 minor league players free agents, including highly touted 17-year-old Kevin Maitan.

In addition, Braves will suffer significant restrictions in 2019-20 and 2020-21 international FA classes.

Other penalties: The Braves will not be allowed to sign 14-year-old shortstop Robert Puason, the top player in the class of 2019, with whom they had illegally struck a deal. Atlanta also will lose a third-round draft pick in 2018 for offering inducements to a drafted player.


 

[NJ Ave]

Wow, this is crazy, as much as I hate the Braves. Everyone knows there are many teams who have deals in place before the signing period begins, often well before. I guess I'll withhold judgment until we find out what the violations were, but jeez....

[imref]

surprised nobody posted this here yet, not quite the Braves, but it is an Atlanta implosion, with a twist:

[dcpatti]

From Joel Sherman:

In statement Manfred announces former #Braves GM John Coppolella is banned for life, international head Gordon Blakely for 1 yr


 

[NJ Ave]

Commissioner Manfred:

[bluestreak]

From Joel Sherman:

In statement Manfred announces former #Braves GM John Coppolella is banned for life, international head Gordon Blakely for 1 yr


 

MLB did not f—- around, did they?

[imref]

More details:

https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-braves-punishment-is-in-and-its-harsh/

[skippy1999]

Was what the Barves did worse than the Cardinals hacking the Astros?

[dcpatti]

Was what the Barves did worse than the Cardinals hacking the Astros?

From a purely legal standpoint, no; from the perspective of the CBA, yep.

Ethically I think there’s a special place in hell for those who take advantage of some of the Latin American players, some of whom are very young, uneducated and frequently very poor. 

[HalfSmokes]

Ethically I think there’s a special place in hell for those who take advantage of some of the Latin American players, some of whom are very young, uneducated and frequently very poor. 

The braves have them more money, so that makes the mlb, not the braves the bad guys by that standard

[dcpatti]

The braves have them more money, so that makes the mlb, not the braves the bad guys by that standard

The agents siphon off a chunk of the money, and it’s sometimes at the expense of the lesser player (there has to be another player involved if they want to make a bundle). The agents are definitely bad guys and the teams that pay them help enable the corrupt system to remain in place. If no one was paying for shady deals, the shady deal-making would stop.

Sometimes these lesser players would benefit from a little longer in the development system before reaching MiLB, and that means they’re always facing players who’ve developed more, and that can be detrimental to their career.  Plus one of the allegations is of gifts promised but  never delivered, so that’s double bad guy level.

[HalfSmokes]

and sometimes this is their only payday. Too bad for them the mlbpa happily sold them down the river and capped international bonuses at absurdly low levels because somehow our system allows a union to sign a cba on behalf of non-members

[slhubic]

From a purely legal standpoint, no; from the perspective of the CBA, yep.

Ethically I think there’s a special place in hell for those who take advantage of some of the Latin American players, some of whom are very young, uneducated and frequently very poor.

yep.  and I think the main point of it all, is that it was (seemingly), such a focused, deliberate, and planned course.  and so, in my mind (and I can't separate the fact that I hate the 'braves'), it is all well-deserved.

[UMDNats]

and sometimes this is their only payday. Too bad for them the mlbpa happily sold them down the river and capped international bonuses at absurdly low levels because somehow our system allows a union to sign a cba on behalf of non-members

yeah, really glad the MLB made it so poor players are less likely/able to get a decent signing bonus to help their families. they definitely care about the players here!



DR players i've talked to have used their bonuses (60k, 100k, etc.) to basically stabilize their entire families. such a shame that MLB decided they can't get their maximum paydays.

[HalfSmokes]

yeah, really glad the MLB made it so poor players are less likely/able to get a decent signing bonus to help their families. they definitely care about the players here!



DR players i've talked to have used their bonuses (60k, 100k, etc.) to basically stabilize their entire families. such a shame that MLB decided they can't get their maximum paydays.

That's the beauty of a cba negotiated by two sides with incentive and power to screw over a third party

[bluestreak]

The funny think is, that the reason the Otani posting was held up was because MLBPA was troubled by the fact a player so good could be paid so little while his former team will get 20 million.
Even though this was completely predictable when they agreed to it and people even said that it was going to screw Otani before this was even agreed to.

I guess the players were so excited to get to their payday and didn't 1) think about long term consequences or 2) Care about anyone other than themselves.

[dcpatti]

The funny think is, that the reason the Otani posting was held up was because MLBPA was troubled by the fact a player so good could be paid so little while his former team will get 20 million.
Even though this was completely predictable when they agreed to it and people even said that it was going to screw Otani before this was even agreed to.

I guess the players were so excited to get to their payday and didn't 1) think about long term consequences or 2) Care about anyone other than themselves.

Not sure about Otani but with the Latin American players, in some cases it comes down to taking the offer regardless of long term consequences or impact to others because you might never get another offer.  You can't even truly imagine the abject poverty that some of these kids grow up in. Competition for attention from a scout or agent is fierce. In some cases your family has already mortgaged themselves to the teeth just to get you to the baseball "academy" or recruiting center.  When someone offers you $25k or $50k you don't ask twice or look for a better offer because you know if you turn it down, there's 10 other kids waiting to take your chance.

[HalfSmokes]

I guess the players were so excited to get to their payday and didn't 1) think about long term consequences or 2) Care about anyone other than themselves.

The union knew exactly what they were doing when they agreed to it- they're hoping that extra $97 million not spent otani goes to their members. It's the same reason draft bonuses are slotted and milb pay is laughable

[varoadking]

The union knew exactly what they were doing when they agreed to it- they're hoping that extra $97 million not spent otani goes to their members. It's the same reason draft bonuses are slotted and milb pay is laughable

So you think the wealth should be redistributed to those who can't make a MLB roster when it is MLB revenues that you are talking about?

[HalfSmokes]

So you think the wealth should be redistributed to those who can't make a MLB roster when it is MLB revenues that you are talking about?

Or, let the market dictate where the money goes, but that’s something unheard of in American sports

[tomterp]

Or, let the market dictate where the money goes, but that’s something unheard of in American sports

VARK's a big union guy, believes in the sanctity of the collective bargaining process. 

 

[varoadking]

Or, let the market dictate where the money goes, but that’s something unheard of in American sports

I guess major sports leagues shouldn't be exempt from monopoly laws then...