Major League Baseball dropped an unprecedented hammer on the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday, declaring 12 of their prospects free agents and permanently banning former general manager John Coppolella in the wake of an international signing scandal that spanned three years.
MLB also forbid the Braves from signing any international player for more than $10,000 during the 2019-20 signing period, and reduced by 50% their international signing bonus pool for 2020-21. Additionally, the Braves will lose a third-round pick in the 2018 draft and former assistant GM Gordon Blakeley received a one-year ban.
It's all a result of what Commissioner Rob Manfred termed a "thorough investigation" that determined the Braves "circumvented international signing rules from 2015 through 2017."
The immediate ramifications for the Braves are severe: Loss of a dozen prospects, three of whom received a combined $7 million in signing bonuses.
The long-term effects could run deeper: MLB's discipline essentially imposes a three-year blackout on international signings, creating a considerable hurdle for new GM Alex Anthopoulos in his efforts to create organizational depth.
The Braves, Manfred said in an 800-word statement, diverted signing bonuses from five top prospects in the 2015-2016 class by giving inflated bonuses to older players who qualified under different signing rules.
This tactic kept the Braves from exceeding the international signing for that period, enabling them to operate without restrictions in 2016-2017.
And that's when they signed nine "high-value" international players, as MLB termed it, led by Venezuelan shortstop Kevin Maitan, who received a $4.25 million bonus.
Maita and 11 others in this signing class were among those set free Tuesday, along with right-hander Juan Contreras, Yefri del Rosario, catcher Abrahan Gutierrez, Juan Carlos Negret, Yenci Peña, Yunior Severino, Livan Soto and Guillermo Zuniga.
Additionally, according to MLB, the Braves "signed Brandol Mezquita, Angel Rojas and Antonio Sucre for reduced amounts, and provided additional money to those players’ agents by signing other players affiliated with their agents to contracts with inflated bonuses."
Those players were also declared free agents on Tuesday.
Two more highly regarded players were impacted by Tuesday's discipline - and will not be playing for the Braves.
Robert Puason, a 14-year-old shortstop with whom the Braves agreed to a deal for the 2019-20 signing period, will be barred from signing with them. MLB determined the Braves struck a deal with Puason's agent that paid six of the agent's other prospects over-inflated bonuses in exchange for a commitment that Puason would sign with Atlanta when he became eligible.
And MLB will void the contract of Korean shortstop Ji-Hwan Bae - an 18-year-old whom Coppolella compared favorably to Washington Nationals shortstop Trea Turner - after it was determined the club offered "extra-contractual compensation" to Bae, beyond the presumed $300,000 they had to sign him.
This "package deals" practice came under fire in July 2016, when MLB nullified five signings by the Boston Red Sox and banned them from international signings in 2016-17. MLB determined then that, in a year after Boston busted its bonus pool with signings of players such as Cuban star Yoan Moncada, ostensibly crippling its following international class, the club signed five players for the maximum $300,000 allowed, and diverted money to lesser players.
It's clear that with those penalties and the actions against the Braves that Manfred will have little tolerance for those aiming to circumvent MLB's repressive international signing structure.
"I intend to discipline other Braves’ International Baseball Operations employees who participated in the misconduct after the completion of our internal procedures," Manfred said. "My staff will speak to the Players Association and officials in the Dominican Republic regarding appropriate consequences for the representatives of the players who intentionally participated in schemes to circumvent our rules, none of whom are certified by the Players Association.”
Coppolella resigned as Braves general manager in early October as part of the fallout of the investigation.
John Hart left the team late last week, after being stripped of his role as president of baseball operations when the Braves hired Alex Anthopoulos as general manager.
The Braves released a statement apologizing for the organization's conduct.
Maitan, a 17-year-old shortstop from Venezuela, is the highest-regarded player among the bevy of new free agents.
