Aw Snap...DR is about to catch another bad one...

[MrMadison]

New age investigations requested
U.S. Consulate in Dominican asks MLB to reopen cases of signings

By Bobbie Dittmeier / MLB.com

Major League Baseball has been asked by the U.S. Consulate in the Dominican Republic to re-investigate more than 40 recent amateur player signings in that country for possible age discrepancies, MLB vice president of international operations Lou Melendez confirmed to ESPN.com on Tuesday.

MLB's new investigative unit, based in New York, will look into 42-44 players, including several top prospects, who signed all types of bonuses, Melendez said. Players who are found to have used false information in their applications may be in danger of having their visas revoked or suspended.

Under the previous administration at the consulate, the report said, players only had to prove their identities to secure visas, even if MLB investigators in the Dominican Republic had any questions regarding age.

"The previous administration didn't care if [players] were 17-18," Melendez said. "These guys do. ... Of course it's troubling because some of these cases are two to three years old. Some of these guys have traveled to the United States already."

Dominican U.S. Embassy spokesman David Searby could not be reached for comment, the report said.

Last month, the same MLB investigators based in New York found that a Washington Nationals prospect known as Esmailyn Gonzalez had falsified his age and identity. Instead of being 19, as he said, it was determined that he was 23-year-old Carlos Alvarez David Lugo.

The Nationals thought that Lugo was 16 years old when they gave him a $1.4 million signing bonus in 2006. Lugo has not been able to secure a visa to travel to the U.S. and join the team in Spring Training, his agent said on Monday.

All of the players previously investigated were awarded visas, regardless of whether their cases were flagged for potential age irregularities.

"Our investigations reflected [the age issues]," Melendez said of MLB's Dominican office.

Bobbie Dittmeier is an editor/producer for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090311&content_id=3965000&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb&partnerId=rss_mlb

[blue911]

I would suggest reading Barry Svrluga's column from Monday.

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/08/AR2009030801913.html?sid=ST2009030802175


And remember that "Smiley" was fully vetted by MLB at the time of his signing. I believe SSB has touched on this on several occasions.

[PANatsFan]

I would suggest reading Barry Svrluga's column from Monday.

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/08/AR2009030801913.html?sid=ST2009030802175


And remember that "Smiley" was fully vetted by MLB at the time of his signing. I believe SSB has touched on this on several occasions.

Is Barry back on Nats duty or is this only because the Skins are in the offseason?

[KnorrForYourMoney]

Is Barry back on Nats duty or is this only because the Skins are in the offseason?

It's the offseason.

Vacation Harlan needed "bullpen help."

[UMDNats]

harlan was having a rough time updating the blog twice a day in florida weather with mostly afternoon games. give him a break, it's a rough gig trying to stand around and talk to the dozens of players with possible feature stories and then go write a blog about a game

[Nat of the Living Dead]

harlan was having a rough time updating the blog twice a day in florida weather with mostly afternoon games. give him a break, it's a rough gig trying to stand around and talk to the dozens of players with possible feature stories and then go write a blog about a game

Was the wind blowing him away or something?

[2IPAs]

I had my hopes up when I saw Svrugla's byline. Harlan tries way too hard to be cute when he writes.

[JMUalumni]

Commissioner Bud Selig has given Major League Baseball's security division an open checkbook in an attempt to clean up off-field scandals in the Dominican Republic and other foreign countries.

Major League Baseball has officers in the Dominican Republic who are cooperating with the FBI in at least two major scandals involving the Chicago White Sox and Washington Nationals involving falsified birth records, kickback scandals, and smuggling of performance-enhancing drugs that evaded security -- and former Sen. George Mitchell's investigation into the use of PEDs in MLB -- until recently.

One MLB official estimates that there are more than 70 young players who are being detained in the Dominican and other countries, and one club official said it is his understanding "there are some big so-called prospects on the list."

If the players are found to have falsified their names, birth dates or other information, they may not clear immigration.

"It's no different from any other immigration situation when it comes to American jobs," one general manager said.

The Commissioner's Office became heavily involved in these matters when White Sox personnel director Dave Wilder was found to have smuggled cash into the United States, and the resulting investigation revealed a major scandal involving kickbacks of cash that was supposed to be bonus money paid to teenage prospects.

According to security sources, White Sox general manager Ken Williams was "distraught" by what happened, and opened every team computer and book to MLB investigators. Team owner Jerry Reinsdorf was outraged because of what had been done to poor players from Latin countries, and reportedly has been a driving force, along with Selig, in trying to solve these problems.

Baseball union head Donald Fehr said recently that the union will attempt to ensure foreign players mentioned in reports of use of PEDs are treated the same as U.S. citizens.

Peter Gammons is a studio analyst on Baseball Tonight and Baseball Today. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4027260

[Thousand Made-Up Loves]

Harlan tries way too hard to be cute when he writes.

Not surprising in the least, considering he doesn't like baseball and only considers this gig a "means to an end." I expected to see him wearing a purse in that photo in Washingtonian.