Yesterday brought final word on the long-awaited penalties for the Braves’ amateur signing infractions. Among other things, the Atlanta organization has been stripped of a dozen prospects who were brought in through improper means.
Many of those players were part of a highly-regarded crop of international talent, so they will be of keen interest to other teams. That’s particularly true now that they have had their first taste of the minors, increasing the information available to make an evaluation. MLB will also stage a showcase at the end of the month for these young players.
New information, of course, isn’t always a good thing. Kevin Maitan, the top name on the list of newly-minted free agents, certainly did not boost his stock with a .220/.273/.323 showing in the Appalachian League. Those with Baseball America subscriptions will certainly want to read an updated scouting report on Maitan from J.J. Cooper, who also provides a look at the best of the other prospects who have now been set free.
So, what’s the process for signing these players? We learned some elements of the process yesterday, and MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo provides a more complete look at the ad hoc rules that will apply here. Here’s a breakdown:
- The players — who get to keep their original bonuses but cannot be represented by the agents that negotiated their original contracts — will be subject to international signing pool restrictions but are otherwise free to sign with any organization.
- MLB teams will be allowed a fresh $200K of bonus pool space to work with to sign any of these prospects. They may elect to draw from either their current signing period pool allocation or that of the 2018-19 period (but not both).
- All MLB teams but the Braves can sign the prospects between December 5th of this year and January 15th of the next. Any players that do not sign within that period will no longer be eligible to receive a signing bonus. The Braves are eligible to pursue any still-unsigned prospects (without a bonus offer) beginning on May 1, 2018.
I don’t think you can punish these kids. Money waved in their face by the Braves
Money waived in the faces of their handlers/agents
It’s interesting that the teams can pick which year the signing bonus comes from.
That facet likely comes from the timing of their free agency. Normally international prospects sign in the summer and many teams have already used their pools for this period, so MLB will allow them to use next years pool instead if they choose. It’s actually a brilliant way of making sure that every team (outside of the Braves) has a close to equal chance of signing these prospects
When these deals were done these kids were age 14 to 16. They didn’t have any say in the process. They didn’t know who was offering or for how much. It is possible they were not even told a deal was done. They were bought and sold.
Are you comparing baseball prospects signing contracts to basically chattel slavery? They were 16, not 6. They might not know every little detail, but they definitely know a little about the process.
Everything changes with time… “Elite players” a.k.a Bonds, McGuire, Canseco, et al were on steroids for long but back then PED’s used was not banned and those players weren’t punished in any way and actually some are running for a Hall of Fame statue… Point is this amateur drafting scandal just pales before others like steroids used but that is how business is conduct by some…
Can someone breakdown what exactly the Braves did wrong in their process? I’m honestly curious.
Google it dude. It’s everywhere.
They agent funneled money through lower end prospects to get bigger name prospects without taking a hit. A team can sign super cheap prospects without impacting their bonus pool.
A variety of things. For instance, signing a player not subject to bonus limits and using him as a money launderer, sending extra cash to the kids they really wanted, who were subject to limits. Also paying agents to get valuable signees to agree, sending cash to families over and above limits. And on and on.
So for a team like the Padres that have already spent way past their cap for this year, how would it affect them if they signed any of these guys?
The Padres would have to use next years bonus pool money which allows them to obtain these prospects but reduces their money pool to sign international free agents for the upcoming class eligible to sign on July 2.
The Padres are one of the 11 teams capped at a $300k max bonus, so that would very likely take them out of the Maitan sweepstakes and probably prevent them from some of the other top guys. .
The Padres still have $300,000 in their IFA pool according to USA Today. No one can spend past their pool this IFA year which runs July 2nd 2017 to June 30, 2018. New rules in the CBA.
With the additional $200,000 they could spend up to $500,000 on these players.
It’s wrong to cheat in MLB but if you make a racist gesture during a World Series game on national TV, don’t worry you won’t be punish and only given a slap on the wrist. Also get a standing ovation from your fans for being s racist.
I don’t think the fans cheered him for being a racist. Maybe winning the world series had something to do with the cheering. Why are you taking it harder than Yu Darvish did?
No they gave him a standing ovation before his first at bat in the next game after he made his gesture.
I agree. Darvish didn’t care, and Yuli was punished. Move on.
“I agree”
Astros fan
*thinking emoji*
It’s interesting that people are absolutely sure the kids knew the rules were being broken or they are absolutely sure they didn’t.
I haven’t read anything stating that the players knew what was going on how the heck does anyone here know?
Look *if* the kids knew rules were being circumvented then maybe there should be some punishment and don’t you think MLB would not be so generous with the rules towards resigning those players with other teams if there were evidence of that?
Im not sure why it would ever be up to a player to safeguard mlb or any teams rules. The onus is on the game, in this instance, to patrol itself. If a police officer pulls me over and fails to issue me a ticket….how would I later be to blame for the police error? This payment system was not a crime….just against league rules. Its a different case than some instances where state/federal laws are compromised. PEDs….there is a legal issue involved. Id place money on this bonus system being abused by other teams….and this is a containment strategy by MLB.
So what’s the chances one of these guys doesn’t sign with anyone and re-signs with Atlanta after May 1?
Can a team use the extra 200k towards signing Ohtani?
I’d assume not, just the Braves prospects.
Although I don’t agree with the penalties and sanctions. I do sincerely hope the MLB takes a look at other teams following this. It’s been said time and time again we didn’t do anything others aren’t. For them to turn a blind eye to everyone else seems unjust.
That’s just it, no other team did the things the braves did. It’s just braves fans saying others did. The Red Sox did some of these things and we’re stripped of players too. But even the Red Sox didn’t go as far beyond the rules as the Braves did.
The braves actions were unprecedented NO OTHER TEAMS did what they did
The Braves went so far beyond the rules that the punishment was entirely just
It’s only Braves fans saying others did trying to justify their actions
Braves fan here, I think the punishment was well deserved. Don’t judge us all by the bad apples.
There was an anonymous quote in one of the articles that other teams have done the same thing. I hate these quotes. He isn’t admitting his team did but says other teams did. Does he have proof of that or is he repeating gossip? And by same thing does he mean everything the Braves did. Because they just didn’t get an early commitment. It goes beyond.
Regardless of whether others get punished, the Braves deserve this punishment. Maybe they’ll catch other teams who’ve done it in the past. After this and the Red Sox punishment teams will think twice in the future.
Another Braves fan here. One of the first MLBTR posts said as many as 15 teams did this, but none as blatantly or extensively as the Braves. To some degree MLB is making an example of the Braves to end this scam moving forward. Since the Braves pretty much cleared out the FO before the punishment was announced, the team decided to take their medicine. I only wonder if/how much JS knew about it.
I agree. Probably other teams bent the rules a bit and MLB was annoyed. The Braves went way way beyond that and MLB is making an example. The punishment may be excessive but it seems to me it’s about deterrent. They’ve made it so big that no one should think of violating the rules.
After what happened with the Red Sox, I think Manfred thought teams would cool it. Then the Braves did it in the 2016-2017 IFA signing period and he said we have to make an example of them so no other team feels its worth it to even try this.
This system seems to reward the 10 teams that were in subject to signing limitations in 2016, and punish those teams that went over in 2016 and are subject to limitations for 2017 and 2018.
Paul Newman no it doesn’t, you get a 2 year sanction for going over your pool amount so those who went over in 2016 or 2017 would be subject to the same restrictions. Teams that went over in 2015 do gain a minor benefit but that’s why all teams were allotted an additional 200k. On the whole it’s entirely fair, most of these players were originally signed in the 2016 class anyway
Are the prospects capped at accepting new bonuses of only $300,000?
No, they aren’t. They can sign a bonus up to the amount the signing team has left in their IFA pool +$200k. If they choose they can spend from next years pool.
If a team is subject to a $300k cap then they still get an extra $200k. So $500k max per player up to how much they have in their IFA pool.
Johnny Coppolella, is that you, the one who just keeps commenting to “ban the kids”?? Lol. Even as a Braves fan I could not disagree with you more, the team and it’s executives and the agents are the ones who fouled up and now they’re paying the price. Hopefully our scouts are dead on accurate with the next 3-4 drafts because we won’t be playing the international market for awhile. Thanks again John and John
Yes, but AA is usually pretty good at turning another’s trash into treasure. I’m sure there’ll be enough LAD cast-offs to restock the bottom portion of the farm system pretty well. We were worried about having enough spots that there was talk of ATL purchasing another team for the prospects — and now we don’t need to anymore. lol
I feel like those cast off will be more so complementary pieces. Although they could probably go the churning route. They appear to have so much pitching depth in the uppers and in the bigs they could try to replenish. Makes you wonder which route AA chooses to go. They’ll have to hit hr in the draft though.
Finally a braves fan who is rational and honest and sees the truth, and doesnt first blame others for what coppolella did.So many of your brethren were justifying their actions by falsely claiming that they were singled out for punishment.
Other teams who had done something like this were also punished (The Red Sox) but no other team went to the extremes the Braves did and thus they received A Just Penalty.
I Salute You for your honesty jjdunckly
RunDMC is pretty top notch.
I wonder if any of these players want to play for the Braves bad enough that they will hold out until May 1st to resign with the Braves?
Why would any of them want to hold out to resign with the Braves for no extra bonus and miss out on spring training and several months of development time.
They never wanted to play for the Braves “so bad” in the first place. The Braves cheating got them the most cash. Cash they keep.
I’m going out on a limb and guessing the braves have been banned from resigning these 13 guys.
Braves are banned from resigning these players until May 1, 2018 after which they can resign them but with no bonus
What I really want to know is whether the Orioles get to trade away this new $200K bonus pool money?
LOL. But can they do it before the end of the first day they have it? That’d be a new challenge for them.
These young men keep their bonus amounts paid by Braves, rather than make them free agents why not have a draft in inverse order of 2017 records with no additional bonus money? I do not think these players should be disciplined but neither do I agree with them getting a windfall.
why benefit the teams in reverse order?
the braves did what they did to WIN the bidding.so the teams that were directly hurt were those that finished 2nd to the braves illegal offers, not teams that finished at the bottom of the standings. they already get a larger pool anyway so why should they gain an extra advantage.
this is fair mow the teams who lost the bidding to the braves in the first place, can and will get a 2nd chance.
Personally, in light of these circumstances, if I was Manfred, I would just add $500k to everyones pool regardleds . Most of the teams banned would have been able to sign these kids then and with all of the insane talent on the market: These 12, Salinas, Juan Pablo, obviously Ohtani and then the other kid tht might be posted, it makes it more interesting for everyone else: Teams and fans alike and supports competition.
no 200k is fine, in fact its generous, a team that can only go to 300k was penalized for a reason. why should any team gain for breaking the rules?
Lol if none of them sign with other teams and rejoin the Braves.
Braves punishment was not servere enough!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am a Braves fan and I some what agree with the punishment. However, it should be investigated of ALL major league teams not just singling out one team and punishing it. How can you allow a team that also circumvented the rules to sign a player and then allow them to sign these players the Braves have let go. If you going to punish for wrong doing, do it for the whole league not one team!!!