Former Braves GM gets lifetime ban
Signing scandal also costs team, which loses 13 players.
ATLANTA — Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred hit the Atlanta Braves with heavy sanctions, including the loss of 13 players, on Tuesday for rules violations committed by the team in the international player market.
Manfred also placed former Braves general manager John Coppolella on the permanently ineligible list. Former Braves Special Assistant Gordon Blakeley, who was the team’s international scouting chief, is suspended from performing services for any team for one year.
Manfred said an investigation conducted by Major League Baseball determined the Braves circumvented international signing rules from 2015 through 2017 by moving bonus pool money from one player to boost another player’s contract.
Most notable among the players the Braves will lose is Kevin Maitan, an infielder from Venezuela who signed for $4.25 million in 2016.
Other “high-value” players the Braves will lose include Juan Contreras, Yefri del Rosario, Abrahan Gutierrez, Juan Carlos Negret, Yenci Peña, Yunior Severino, Livan Soto and Guillermo Zuniga.
Three more international signees — Brandol Mezquita, Angel Rojas and Antonio Sucre — were declared free agents. The team’s contract with prospect Ji-Hwan Bae, which was not yet final, was disapproved.
Finally, the Braves were banned from signing prospect Robert Puason in the 2019-20 signing period.
The 13 players will be free to negotiate as free agents with other teams.
Also, the Braves will forfeit their third-round selection in the 2018 draft as punishment for offering “impermissible benefits” to an unnamed draft pick in an effort to convince him to sign for a lower bonus.
The investigation showed the players signed by the Braves in 2016-17 would have been unavailable if the team had not circumvented the rules. Manfred said stripping the Braves of the 13 players was not sufficient punishment and “additional sanctions are warranted.”
Therefore, the Braves will be prohibited from signing any international player for more than $10,000 during the 2019-20 signing period. Also, the team’s international signing bonus pool for the 2020-21 signing period will be reduced by 50 percent.
And there is still more discipline to be handed down.
Manfred said he intends “to discipline other Braves international baseball operations employees who participated in the misconduct.”
Coppolella was forced to resign after the season. Former team president John Hart moved to a senior adviser role when GM Alex Anthopoulos was hired Nov. 13. Hart left the team on Friday.
Coppolella did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press. The Braves said in a statement Tuesday they “understand and accept the decision regarding the penalties.”