COPPOLELLA GETS LIFETIME BAN; PROSPECTS LOST

» The Braves lost 13 ATLANTA prospects and former general manager John Coppolella was banned for life by Major League Baseball on Tuesday for circumventing international signing rules from 2015-17.

Former Atlanta special assistant Gordon Blakeley, who was the team’s international scouting chief, was suspended from baseball for one year by Commissioner Rob Manfred.

Sanctions imposed by Manfred leave the Braves unable to bargain at full strength for a top Latin American prospect until 2021.

Manfred said MLB’s investigation determined the Braves funneled extra signing-bonus money to five players in 2015-16 by giving the funds first to another player considered a foreign professional under baseball’s rules and having the money redistributed to the other five.

Judge undergoes surgery.

YORK» After insisting during NEW a summer slump that he was not ailing, Yankees slugger Aaron Judge had arthroscopic surgery on his left shoulder.

The Yankees said the procedure involved a loose-body removal and cartilage cleanup and Judge should be recovered ahead of spring training.

Leagues agree to posting.

YORK» Major League Baseball, NEW its players’ union and the Japanese commissioner’s office agreed to a new posting system that could allow star pitcheroutfielder Shohei Ohtani to be put up for bid next week.

Joe Morgan weighs in.

Hall of Fame second baseman Joe Morgan is urging voters to keep “known steroid users” out of Cooperstown.

A day after the Hall revealed its ballot for the 2018 class, Morgan argued against the inclusion of players implicated during baseball’s steroid era in a letter to voters with the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. — The Associated Press