MLB slams Braves for violations

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 201920 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 investiga- tion” 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.