International signing scandal force Brave FO resignations

[beckmt]

The Braves GM and his top assistant have been forced to resign over a major league baseball investigation into the teams international signings.  John Hart has resumed the role of GM until the position is refilled.  

It is possible that some of the signings including the top international 16 year old the Braves signed this year might be voided.  (Most of this information came from posts on mlbtraderumors).

Should the Twins be interested and at what price for Kevin Maitan(he could be an unrestricted FA).  

John Coppolella and his top assistant Gordon Blakely have been forced out and it is expected some scouts will also be forced out.

Stunning is that up to 15 baseball clubs are under investigation for these type of agreements with 13 and 14 year olds. Maybe many clubs paying the price.

Baseball is expected to insist on a full international draft after the current CBA expires(2021)

[biggentleben]

This is covered quite a bit in the main MLB season thread in more depth.

[beckmt]

Cannot see to find the main MLB season thread, but maybe just because I do not venture there.

[gunnarthor]

I'm really hoping that a bunch of Atlanta's prospects are ruled free agents (sorry Ben). I want the Twins to nab them.

[biggentleben]

 

I'm really hoping that a bunch of Atlanta's prospects are ruled free agents (sorry Ben). I want the Twins to nab them.

 

A lot of people are hoping that, but the more things are brought out, it's less and less likely anything happens there.

 

Turns out that the initial report that got MLB involved was not from another team, but from a report from an employee who resigned after a Coppy blow up in the draft room that completely isolated a number of employees. Said employee essentially pointed the directions to the 14 y/o they had a written deal with already. In fact, one of the beat writers is indicating that the Braves may have been instructed by MLB not to announce the resignation until Monday, but that it had been decided as much as weeks previously.

[biggentleben]

 

I'm really hoping that a bunch of Atlanta's prospects are ruled free agents (sorry Ben). I want the Twins to nab them.

 

Plus, Twins wouldn't be able to do much signing. Most of the guys would be required to go through either draft caps or IFA caps.

[Mike Sixel]

 

Plus, Twins wouldn't be able to do much signing. Most of the guys would be required to go through either draft caps or IFA caps.

 

twins traded for 500K in money and have not spent it yet.....so, they would do well, I'd think.

[biggentleben]

 

twins traded for 500K in money and have not spent it yet.....so, they would do well, I'd think.

 

Yes, but they also spent pretty heavy so far. $500K wouldn't buy much in the market if guys were set free.

[Mike Sixel]

 

Yes, but they also spent pretty heavy so far. $500K wouldn't buy much in the market if guys were set free.

 

really? How much does everyone have left right now, do we think? Assuming they are under this year's cap, there can't be many teams that have a ton left that are free to spend, can there? I don't know, asking for a friend....

[biggentleben]

 

really? How much does everyone have left right now, do we think? Assuming they are under this year's cap, there can't be many teams that have a ton left that are free to spend, can there? I don't know, asking for a friend....

 

While details are not 100% certain, the Yankees are thought to have between $1.25-2M left of their budget. Signings of $10,000 or less don't count toward that cap, but everything else does. Oddly, the Braves likely had one of the highest amounts of money unspent, as they had acquired just under $2M on top of their initial $4.25M and they had a $300K signing limit this season.

[biggentleben]

A number of teams are sitting with $1-2M that they had left or have acquired since the news that Otani would come over as that will be against the signing cap, so collecting some room is important for these teams, even though they'll definitely go over with him. The intention is to avoid the massive financial penalty for going over by having available pool space.

[biggentleben]

Now that the series is over, we can hear the conclusion to this...

 

Of course, with the news out now that this may be involving Coppy and Blakely doing some illegal skimming in their money paid out in Latin America, the stuff that MLB punishes may not really hurt the Braves much at all. More of a "lack of institutional control" thing.

 

FWIW, the Braves are not searching for a GM, they're looking for a President of Baseball Ops, and as of the last out of the World Series, Hart doesn't have an active contract with the team in that role, so it's entirely feasible that he either returns to MLB Network or is bumped into a more reserved role.

[gunnarthor]

Sounds like Atlanta is going to lose some really good prospect(s). Rosenthal wrote the story at the Atlantic but that requires a subscription so here's the mlbtraderumors link.

 

"Previous reports have suggested that top 2016-17 signing Kevin Maitan, who received a $4.25MM signing bonus, could be among any potential losses, though it’s not yet clear which prospect(s) Atlanta stands to lose. There could be further penalties yet, however, as David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution tweeted earlier this morning that it seems likely that the Braves will be banned from signing any international amateurs for at least one signing period. O’Brien also noted that there’s a “good chance” the Braves will lose some prospects as punishment, while Mark Bowman of MLB.com tweeted that he’d be “surprised” if the Braves didn’t lose at least one prospect, listing Maitain, Ji-Hwan Bae and Abrahan Gutierrez as potential prospects that could be impacted."

 

Any of these guys would be subject to the same international pool rules which is good for the Twins.  Sorry to our resident Atlanta fan(s).

[biggentleben]

Bae is as good as gone. Maitan would be very surprising. Gutierrez as well. Essentially, expect the 2017 class to be gone. Coppy was doing some shady stuff with Liberty's money and left a paper trail behind. When the first reports came out that he'd never work in baseball again, I thought it was typical initial reporting overreach, but what I've found out since tells me he'll be lucky if he's not serving time.

 

The Rosenthal story, however, is non-revelatory stuff. Nothing new in there as far as players. People rumored Maitan for ages, but every single time he's been reviewed (and his signing has been looked into before this), he's been clean. One thing to note, there were a few notable prospects absent from the Braves' facilities, including Bae, over the last couple of weeks. Maitan is not one of them.

[biggentleben]

Oh, and Monday is to be announcement day.

[gunnarthor]

 

Seems like we'll have to wait

[Monkeypaws]

Looks like Atlanta's international program gonna get the tomahawk chop from MLB.

 

 

Ohhhh, oh ohhhhoh, ohhh, ohh ohh.

 

 

[biggentleben]

 

Looks like Atlanta's international program gonna get the tomahawk chop from MLB.

 

 

Ohhhh, oh ohhhhoh, ohhh, ohh ohh.

 

 

Braves already disposed of essentially the top 3 decision makers as far as international money went (Hart, Coppy, Blakely). Very feasible that they end up missing multiple years of the international market. Funny part is that people have been all over this, but the Pirates just fired their Latin America scouting director due to international violations that are also still being investigated. A dozen teams are still being investigated this winter and likely to receive fines and/or other punishments.

 

The BIG thing here is not really related to the marketplace at all, but the fact that it was not found out is going to get some "lack of institutional control" discipline.

[gunnarthor]

Gad, I wish they'd get on with it already. Assuming Bowman is right and they'll lose many of their signings over the last two years, who are the big signings they've made that might be available?

 

[gunnarthor]

Heyman reporting that Maitan will be a international free agent. I'd love the Twins to sign him. More will be freed from Atlanta as well.

 

[Winston Smith]

The Twins have the money to sign him and should know in a few days if they have a chance on Ohtani. Still think that chance is slim to none.

[drjim]

 

The Twins have the money to sign him and should know in a few days if they have a chance on Ohtani. Still think that chance is slim to none.

 

Slim probably left the building too.

 

Go hard at these guys. They can basically spend the most money.

[diehardtwinsfan]

 

Heyman reporting that Maitan will be a international free agent. I'd love the Twins to sign him. More will be freed from Atlanta as well.

 

 

So does he get to keep his signing bonus?

[gunnarthor]

 

So does he get to keep his signing bonus?

Yes, he does. And he should.

[gunnarthor]

Wow, this really is a hammer. So far they've lost their four biggest signings from 16-17 year. Kevin Maitan (top 100 before the year), Abrahan Gutierrez, Juan Contreras and Yunior Severino. They are all young but Gutierrez (a catcher) and Severino (a shortstop) had decent seasons for their age. Maitan fell a bit after a rough year and reports of his body changing in a bad way. Sickels had him 14 on his Atlanta list.

 

https://www.baseballamerica.com/international/mlb-removing-prospects-braves/#VJTETtzasGW2pCmR.97

 

 

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2017/11/braves-will-forfeit-rights-to-prospect-kevin-maitan.html#comments

[gunnarthor]

Holy crap, I keep looking and it keeps getting worse for Atlanta. Looks like the final tally is twelve (12!) players are now free agents. They also have severe limitations on international spending the next two years and they lose a third round pick in the next draft. They also already had a deal in place to sign a 14 year old in a couple years but that's been quashed. Geez, I'm really hoping we hear what the actual violations were because this is gigantic. They are losing over 15m (maybe 20m) in signed talent from just a few years ago. These guys are still 17 and 18 year olds. 

 

https://www.talkingchop.com/2017/11/21/16687146/atlanta-braves-will-lose-12-prospects-and-have-severe-signing-restrictions-for-2-years-per-report

 

"The six known players are Kevin Maitan, Abrahan Gutierrez, Livan Soto, Yefri del Rosario, Yunior Severino, and Juan Contreras." Several of these guys have had impressive seasons in short season ball already. We haven't heard who the other six are yet. The Twins are in pretty good shape to nab a few of these guys if they want to.

 

Oh, MLB permanently banned Atlanta's former GM.

[drjim]

That is a legit punishment all around.

 

12 players are now free agents, voided future signings, lost international money in two years, no 3rd round pick in 18, and Coppy banned for life.

[drjim]

Looks like the 12 can sign between Dec 5 and Jan 15 to receive an additional bonus. Anything above $200k counts against international money for teams.

 

Go get it Twins. At least 6 guys worth spending significant money on.

[diehardtwinsfan]

 

Yes, he does. And he should.

 

I wasn't saying otherwise... it was a question. The first thing that comes to mind though is how they were violating said rules. My assumption is that they were finding other ways to funnel cash to said player in order to get better talent for less... but I could be wrong there.

 

If that's the case, then the player was party to it... that's a different issue.  Good deal for him though. Instant FA after collecting 4M. Can easily sign with a loser of the Otani sweepstakes for another 3 and change.

[diehardtwinsfan]

 

Looks like the 12 can sign between Dec 5 and Jan 15 to receive an additional bonus. Anything above $200k counts against international money for teams.

Go get it Twins. At least 6 guys worth spending significant money on.

 

Do they go for these guys or for Otani?  I suppose they can use next year's money on them if they'd like.