10:43PM: A league spokesperson released a statement to media (including Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com) in regards to the Daily News story, saying “Major League Baseball is completely comfortable with the Orioles’ coaching designations for the 2020 season, which are not only consistent with the terms of the pension plan but were approved in advance by MLB and shared prior to the start of the season with representatives from the Major League Baseball Players Association. The suggestion that there is an ongoing investigation that could result in discipline is simply false.”
9:32PM: The MLB Players Association is currently investigating a complaint involving Orioles general manager and executive vice-president Mike Elias and pitching director Chris Holt, Bill Madden of the New York Daily News reports. The matter has to do with Holt’s inclusion on a list of Orioles coaches who qualify for the pension plan between the union and the league.
Teams are permitted to place four coaches per year on the pension plan, “which includes lucrative medical benefits and life insurance,” as well as a players’ licensing check worth somewhere between $40K-$60K. Madden says only full-time, uniformed coaches are eligible for inclusion, however, and Holt didn’t meet this criteria as the team’s pitching director.
Holt spent much of the 2020 season working at the Orioles’ alternate training site, as Nathan Ruiz of the Baltimore Sun notes that the COVID-19 pandemic scuttled the team’s original plan for Holt’s role — a normal season would have seen Holt work throughout the organization with both big league and minor league pitchers. The other three Baltimore coaches listed (third base coach Jose Flores, hitting coach Don Long, and field coordinator/catching instructor Tim Cossins) spent the season working with the Major League team.
Elias is involved in the matter since, as the Orioles’ GM, he was responsible for naming the four coaches to the pension plan. The MLBPA’s pension committee is reviewing the complaint, and it is yet unclear what type of punishment could be levied. At worst, Elias could face a charge of pension fraud, a lawyer with experience of the MLBPA pension plan tells Madden, if it is ruled that Elias included Holt on the four-coach list despite knowing Holt wasn’t eligible.
Holt and Elias previously worked together in the Astros organization when Elias was Houston’s assistant GM, and Holt was one of Elias’ earliest hires after becoming Baltimore’s general manager following the 2018 season. Holt worked as the Orioles’ minor league pitching coordinator in 2019 before being promoted to his current role, and there has been speculation that Holt could become the team’s pitching coach for 2021.
Uh oh. I wonder if they’ll get punished with removal of draft picks?
A former Astro exec trying to skirt the rules in their favor
Shocker
typical of today’s uneducated society. drew a conclusion before getting the facts and now looks stupid for it.
so… there’s beef?
Probably get far worse than the Astros / Sox management …..
No Bueno, could face jail time.
Mike Elias YOUR FIRED.
You’re. ‘Your’ shows possession of something.
Sorry I was busy writing the upcoming Raw script.
really? this constitutes news?
Yes, prominent people in the Orioles managerial staff committing pension fraud is news.
It’s on the Internet so it must be 100% true
Now that’s a motto everybody should live by lol.
They really ought to do an office supply audit, it would be news if someone in the front office used the copier for his own purposes
Pension fraud is the same as stealing pencils? Is that what you’re suggesting? Seriously? The fact that the accusation turned out to be false does not make the story non-newsworthy. Obviously it was an evolving situation.
Move along, nothing to see here.
That reminds me. I read an article from Yahoo the other day after the Luhnow interview. It wasn’t directly about the interview, but it said that people on the Astros suspected 5 other teams of cheating, and they said ” a cheater can always tell a cheater” (meaning the other teams could tell the Astros were, but it’s funny to think of it in a vice versa context). It was the Yankees, Indians, Rangers… I forget the other two, but those came to my mind.
The funny one was the Rangers one, they said a guy was in the outfield with binoculars, and as the game went on he would look into them and then look at his phone. Of course , Jon Daniels and the Rangers Org denied anything, and that was that.
But it is funny to think that a team that has issues already (not just cheating wise, but performance wise as well), is going around pointing fingers at the teams they SUSPECT to be cheating.
Btw, I wouldn’t deny any news of the Rangers cheating, I would be mad, but I wouldn’t deny it. It just has to be a better case than… ” we saw some dude”.
At this point I half expect to see a post come up talking about the union filing a grievance against the league over the thickness of padding on bullpen chairs.
shape of the negotiating table
The gap between Manfred’s teeth.
The MLBPA should only agree to a DH in 2021 if the league agrees to change those damn tables.
“lucrative medical benefits and life insurance” and $40k-$60k in licensing isn’t trivial.
According to some it’s of equal importance to the padding of chairs, negotiating tables and gapped teeth. One can only wonder what they do for a living when they can make such comparisons to real things of ovious financial value, such as medical benefits, life insurance and licensing. SMH.
This is pretty interesting, coming from a guy whose team’s owner literally paid a PI to spy on one of his own players.
If Bill Madden is the reporter, you can be reasonably confident the story is not true.
bring back the law that the media could be sued for things like this. it would help to bring our country together to just hear facts, not one sides opinion of the facts.
Except usually the problem is said article, in big bold letters, says OPINION. But people still think it’s a news story
What a joke of a headline! “Ex-Astros employee”? This guy has a job now. Might as well said “ex Wendy’s employee”. Bill Madden is just as bad as Heyman.
We’ve got how many people in this country scamming the coronavirus bailout system that are apparently capitalists, but sure, this is even worse.