MLB REPORT

VENEZUELAN LEAGUE OFF LIMITS

Major League Baseball is banning players from participating in the Venezuelan Winter League in one of the first public repercussions of new U.S. economic sanctions against the Venezuelan government. MLB said it is in contact with the U.S. government to determine how to proceed under the new sanctions against President Nicolas Maduro’s administration and at least temporarily suspending involvement in the league. The Venezuelan Winter League is one many that major league players use to hone their skills in the offseason

BALTIMORE ORIOLES

General manager Mike Elias fired 11 members of the scouting department and front office as part of an effort to turn around a team in the early stages of a major rebuild. The rookie GM would not reveal the names of those people dismissed, nor the positions impacted. “We’re in a period of change right now with the industry and we’re in a period of change right now with the Orioles,” Elias said. “Sometimes to make changes you’ve got to make changes.” The Orioles hired Elias in November and manager Brandon Hyde in December following a season in which they finished 47-115, their worst record since coming from St. Louis in 1954. Elias hopes shuffling personnel and scouting assignments will speed the process of bringing the Orioles back to respectability.

TEXAS RANGERS

Reliever Luke Farrell, out since being hit in the face by line drive in spring training, was activated from the 60-day injured list. The 28-year-old righthander has spent the entire season rehabbing since suffering a non-displaced jaw fracture and concussion when he was struck by a ball off the bat of San Francisco’s Jalen Miller in a March 2 game in Scottsdale, Ariz.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS

The Nationals scored a major win in their long-running battle with the Orioles over revenue from Mid-Atlantic Sports Network. A New York Supreme Court judge upheld a Major League Baseball decision that ordered MASN to pay the Nationals approximately $100 million in additional rights fees. The Orioles have maintained a controlling stake in MASN, with Washington a minority partner, since the unusual arrangement regarding the regional sports network was arrived at in 2004, when the franchise formerly known as the Expos was preparing to relocate to Washington. Since then, the two teams have regularly clashed in court over revenue from MASN, with MLB officials getting involved only to be accused by Baltimore of conflicts of interest and of being biased in favor of the Nationals.