The results of MLB’s investigation into the Red Sox’ 2015 international signing class appears to be nearing a conclusion, according to a report from Baseball America’s Ben Badler. While nothing appears to be finalized, Badler says that Boston could face some eye-opening penalties.
MLB is said to be considering punitive measures that could impose restrictions on the team’s ability to spend in the July 2 period set to begin in a few days. Even more remarkably, says Badler, certain prospects inked by the club in 2015 could be declared free agents.
As explained in the above-linked post, the league was looking into Boston’s tactics in landing a class of international signees while the team was prohibited from spending over $300K on any single player. Some kind of “package” signing concerns appear to be the issue.
The possible punishment doesn’t implicate any of the team’s current top prospects, it’s important to emphasize. The league is looking at the signings of raw, still-very young talent here. (Of course, they were signed in hopes they’d one day turn into promising minor leaguers and perhaps one day crack the bigs.)
While it remains to be seen just what will occur here, it’s a rather notable development that the league is even considering this sort of action.
This is an ourtrage! The Red Sox don’t have to play by the same rules as everyone else!
Don’t give them too much credit. “Packaging” is very common, and not a novel Red Sox idea
Packaging for the sole purpose of skirting spending rules, however, is quite novel
I agree the Red Sox, Yankees, and Dodgers are exempt from any rules.
Nice. Love this comment.
Crossing my fingers Yoan moncada becomes a free agent
Me too! Braves will sign him then!!
Red Sox fans want Sonny Gray to be available: Considered by many to mean Red Sox fans are unreasonable.
Other teams fans want to believe Yoan Moncada will be available again despite the article mentioning some Venezuelan players could be available again: It means a Cuban star could be available!
Hmm…
Why would he sign with the braves……I bet there’s 25 other teams he’d rather go to
No they won’t he’ll sign back with the sox or with the yanks
Yoan was part of the 2014 IFA… Won’t happen
Yeah this has no effect on Moncada (or Rusney Castillo). Tried to make clear in the post that we are essentially talking about young guys that nobody has really ever heard of. Not to say they don’t matter.
Rusney was 27 at the time of his deal, making him free of signing restrictions for all teams because he was over the age of 25
Still batting .1000 I see.
thats not how it works he was signed before July 1 2015 so its two signing periods ago, before the sox were capped.
Interesting in the US a contract signed by a minor is not legally binding, i wonder if they let any of these 16 year old kids know that.
Moncada will NOT be a free agent… For all y’all “hopefuls” out there the reason the sox could not spend past the 300K for IFAs was because of signing players like Moncada and Espinoza to deals over their spending limit… Also contracts signed by minors can be legally binding with the approval of a parent/legal guardian… Professional clubs aren’t novices to the law… Lastly, in a previous article initially launched by MLBTR it was stated that the Sox are not the only ones guilty of “packaging” and it was interesting that the Sox were singled out… My guess is something else was going on
You should just return your computer to the dollar store already.
Okay Commish, tell me more about how you’re oblivious to the signing periods…
Dont think it will be yoan moncada. Because it says international signing class and issues stem from inking guys to linked deals. Moncada wasnt signed during the international draft period last year, was signed in march.
So it might be guys that signed for less than they should have in the pairing deals that get a 2nd chance by becoming FA.
I dont see the red sox being forced to give up essentially 63 million for moncada due to tax rates unless they get the money back. I can see guys being let out of their contracts and the sox not being given the money back.
Jeff, when did they sign Espinoza and Devers though? I don’t recall how big they were coming in… Could this affect them? Also there’s a pair of twins on one of the A ball teams that everyone’s raving about, could this affect them?
Espinoza (2014, but same period) and Devers (2013, but the 2014 period) were both signed before Moncada… All three of them will not be affected as the penalties that restricted the Sox from spending more than 300K were initiated due to the Moncada contract that put them over their spending limit
The players listed in the 2015-16 signing period on
Soxprospects.com/international.htm
Are the players in question
But don’t look now, one of those names is a 17 year old RHP by the name of Manuel Ramirez!
It’s funny because everyone is hoping it means Moncada will be available which it won’t. Read where Moncada falls in the the whole scale of his salary. If the max you can sign an IFA to is 300k and Moncada signed for 31.5M, do you think he falls under the same category of guy they skirted rules for? They paid an extra 31.5M in tax penalties to get the guy. They might lose put on promising young talent but they aren’t losing Moncada.
Start crying right now fans. Moncada not included in 2015 IFA signing class.
Eggy, your fingers will forever stay cross because for your information the Moncada deal was done in March 2015 with a 100% tax penalty paid by the Red Sox in order to sign him. This was due to the Red Sox having gone over their allowable pool money on the July 2014 International draft market, at the same time when they signed Anderson Espinoza from Venezuela. As a result of them going over the pool money during 2014-2015 they became limited or penalized from July 2015 to 2017 in spending more than 300 K per draftee. This results in all this mess they are facing now with MLB.
So red sox will sugn moncada. Lol
Me too! That would be proper
The package deals meant something along the lines of, we give these 7 or so players the max 300k each and then they as a group split that 210k in a way that better suits each of their talents (therefore technically you’re able to pay over 300k to a kid by making another signee give up some of his money). Or am I misremembering the details of the strategy?
Usually a deal with the agents who have a stable of guys that they make a deal for group of them and divide the money between them as he sees fit. So in your example the agent gets $2.1 MM and divides it between the players (after taking huge %s) in order to get that one guy they really wanted.
Thanks!
In Boston should have to give back Castillo and receive a full refund
That in no way, shape or form can happen lol
One can dream though, right?
I know but one can hope
So that region had deflategate and now rebategate. What is it with them and cheating.
Lol don’t get your panties in a bunch it was just a joke.
Boston never cheats, they are above that reproach. Look no further then the core of the 2004 championship with manny and big pimple! And if you look at that team you will see quite a few players with head sizes the likes of Bonds with one exception, Pedro who wasn’t that good in 2004 playoffs anyways. Interesting little dilly to think about. Just waiting on that Johnny Damon tell all book. I doubt any player will talk though because your talking about a championship a 100 years in the making.
Johnny’s writing a book? I might actually read that one. Maybe he knows if it was Heinz 57 or Hunts on that sock.
Just ridiculous. Johnny cant write
Dude, every team in MLB had “cheaters” on their teams in that time period, but sure, single out the Red Sox using players who aren’t even definite, proven users. Whether they did or didn’t use isn’t even the point; in a time when PEDs were running rampant all across baseball, how are you going to point your finger specifically at one franchise? Just ignorant.
I haven’t heard of one Braves player in connection with PEDs during that period.
Are you joking? Gary Sheffield, David Justice, John Rocker, Paul Byrd. Many others I’m sure too.
So… if this included a bunch of unknowns. And hypothetically all those unknowns were suddenly declared FAs and Boston wasn’t allowed to sign them. What would that do to the Boston Farm system? Would it be considered depleted or are these guys so raw that it wouldn’t matter all that much?
Also where would these players be right now? Are they in the US playing in the minors are are they in another country still honing their skills.
This post makes me feel that maybe it wouldn’t be a big deal for the sox if they lost them all?
That’s the spirit. It doesn’t matter that they broke the rules. Just that getting caught and suffering the consequences might not be a big deal. Yep, you qualify as a member of RSN.
Valkyrie – You have me wrong. I’m not a Red Sox fan in fact I don’t like them very much at all. It was an honest question/interpretation as to how this affects their farm system. I certainly wasn’t suggesting they didn’t do anything wrong. It sounds like they did something really crappy and I would never say that’s okay. Especially when they are taking advantage of kids just trying to play ball.
Oh and for the record. I’m a Giants fan so you hate on me for that.
It isn’t a big deal if the Sox lost these 16/17 year old kids. Most won’t even sniff the big leagues. This is a non issue really. There’s nothing really too harsh that the league can do really affect the Sox future. They already have Espinoza and Moncada from previous years, who were the bigger fish in the first place.
A lot of fans are probably just glad their teams didn’t get caught as well so they could keep all their 16/17 year old prospects. Every team is doing this.
So keep pretending this is a Red Sox issue. This is a league matter and the Sox are being used as examples. So get out of here with everyone’s cheating accusations.
Wrong again! This is absolutely a Red Sox and hopefully this teaches the arrogant nature if this entire organization a lesson.
In the fine tradition of New England sports franchises, they cheated and got caught.
Guys, take a hint. If you get caught cheating in Boston this often, maybe you should consider not cheating. You appear to have no aptitude for it.
And unlike the other guy who pointed out the local tendency towards cheating, I don’t care what of yours gets in a bunch.
the Red Sox have nothing on the cheating Cardinals. And why do the Cardinals seems to get a pass on that scandal????
They haven’t got a pass. As part if Correa’s plea bargain, he will likely have to walk through the steps of everything that took place. MLB waiting to gather all of those facts is a smart play. If they’ve already handed down the punishment, it could possibly look way too light or severe when all of the facts come out.
But you should look into the case of you think what Correa did was “cheating”
1 – The Cardinals did Not get a pass
2 – That Cardinals scandal was done by one bonehead individual who was immediately fired. I can’t confirm, but I’m sure multiple members in the Red Sox organization would have been involved in this.
If you can’t confirm, then why are you assuming?
Do you really think Correa was the only one who knew he was breaking into the Astros system?
What facts do you have that it was something more?
Or do you believe the FBI is out to protect the St. Louis Cardinals?
Confirm and assume do not mean the same thing. I could have left out “I can’t confirm” I suppose.
You could of done either and you still are making a assumption based off nothing.
What is your point?
My point, again, was that the Cards cheating was done by one person. And unless a transaction by an organization involves only one person (and I don’t see how that’s possible), then several members of the Red Sox organization cheated. Whether it be the GM, President, Owner. Whomever.
And my other point to Nick was that the Cardinals did not get a pass. They will be punished at one point.
The problem is those decisions go beyond sports and to all CBing. The deflategate ruling was bad for all unions alike.
I’m glad MLB stepped in to curb Boston’s obvious attempts at skirting their IFA rules. Not only should they place those players back into the FA pool and limit them this year, but they should also extend their restrictive period another year.
It’s a good thing there’s a new international draft coming in the cba, huh?
You don’t think they would have some type of carry over penalty then? MLB should force the Sox to lose a first round pick in each of the first couple of international drafts then. Either way, the penalty has to be more than just not having the players they cheated to obtain.
Nope the penalties are such as follows. some players will be declared free agents and the Sox won’t be able to sign international minor league free agent deals this year. That’s it. No carry over
@therealryan – I like your solution and (if all this is true) would want to see even a heavier penalty. BUT so long as the kids are not negatively affected. First of all each one of those kids should get the full amount they were supposed to get on paper and the Red Sox should have to make good on that, with no fees going to the people working in between.
THEN the kids should be declared full Free Agents and not be restricted because they have been taken advantage of and deserve an additional break. They may have known what was going on but it sounds to me like the kids were being held over a barrel “you wanna sign with a big league team this is how it’s going to be done”.
When I was a kid and you offered me ANYTHING to play baseball for a MLB team, I would have signed a contract that said anything just for the opportunity.
The only logical thing to do here is to add another 4 games to Tom Brady’s suspension
You all need to read the article again. Those who want Moncada, if you actual read, it’s stated that NO top prospects will be FA’s. And the others that say the Sox get away with everything, if that were true, this article wouldn’t exist!
This really is a non story. Cheating? The Sox have been pushing the envelope and trying to get a competitive advantage with everything through out the years. They were the last ones to get a comp A pick in the last bargaining agreement, with Papelbon signing 3 days before the new agreement was signed. They acquired Billy Wagner in August of 2008 knowing they would get picks back because he was a type A free agent at the time.
Boston had nothing to lose by doing this. If they got caught, then they don’t get the players they weren’t originally going to sign in the first place. If they don’t get caught, then they keep the players.
People hating over the Sox for getting every competitive edge possible. Something the yankees would be doing if George Steinbrenner was still alive with the yankees.
Does Yoan Moncada still sting yankee fans? I bet it does.
Getting a competitive edge= cheating
Signing the comp free agents isn’t cheating. It was within the rules at the time. This was the Red Sox intentionally skirting the rules and knowing they were going outside of the scope of the rules to try and get a competitive advantage, or in other words, cheating.
First of all, your writing skills are atrocious. I suppose proofreading is a thing of the past.
Secondly, there is no way the NHL or NBA are going to investigate the Bruins or Celtics because of scandals from teams from other sports just because they just so happen to be in the same region. Plus, what are you gonna investigate them for? The Celtics have been perennially awful for a few years, so tell me how they could be cheating. And the Bruins are about to start to rebuild, so tell me how they could be cheating.
Third of all, FREE TOM BRADY. This entire thing is an absolute joke and I could write a novel on my thoughts on the case, but instead I’ll leave it at Goodell is an absolute clown who is ruining the sport (deflategate is not the only reason behind this claim).
And now to the real reason I bring such a pompous attitude into this post. I despise it (not hate, despise) when people post things online when they have absolutely no frigging clue about what the hell they’re talking about, but try to make it seem like they do. Let me explain. There will be no investigation into the Red Sox signings from any period other than the 2015-16 period because the Red Sox were not under these restrictions in any other period. The restrictions were put in place as a result of the Sox going over budget in the previous period. But no, you’re right, they were probably doing the same thing last period even though they weren’t under restrictions in the last period (sarcasm). And your reasoning for investigating previous periods flat out is against one of the biggest principles of the US Constitution… Innocent until proven guilty. You can’t just go around investigating teams/people without evidence. And to be clear, doing something illegal one year/time is not evidence to warrant another investigation. Your post summed up in one word is ignorant.
Fun fact, the Patriots are listed as the 23rd most cheating team in the NFL. Not even in the top half. Top 5 includes Denver, NY Jets, Pittsburgh, SF, and NY Giants. The least cheating teams are KC, Arizona, Jacksonville, CIN, and HOU. So let’s investigate Denver and NY more because they’re probably doing SOMETHING wrong, am I right? No. I ask you to kindly get educated.
Where do you get 23rd. My educated guess would be 1 or 2 due to the scandals they’ve had in the past decade. Maybe Atlanta was worse when they pumped artificial noise into the stadium
You can whine and throw a tantrum about brady and deflate gate all you want, the entire state can. Fact remains he still withheld evidence from the NFL investigation.
Here, cbssports.com/nfl/news/agent-explains-why-tom-brad…
His own lawyer is on record saying he did exactly what troy Vincent’s letter stated for his suspension.
“Moreover, the report documents your failure to cooperate fully and candidly with the investigation, including by refusing to produce any relevant electronic evidence (emails, texts, etc.) despite being offered extraordinary safeguards by the investigators to protect unrelated personal information, and by providing testimony that the report concludes was not plausible and contradicted by other evidence.”
At this point it’s no longer about tampering with footballs. Its about brady thinking he didnt have to abide by league rules and finding out he was sorely mistaken.
I 1000% agree that Brady should be punished for withholding evidence, but a 4 game suspension is ridiculous. This wasn’t about Brady thinking he was above the league, this was about the league’s rights in the CBA. Truth be told, I think Brady should have lost the first appeal. But I also think the penalties imposed on the Pats are ridiculous, and I would assume Brady did too, which is probably why he’s gone through all this trouble because 4 games is ridiculous!
5 contracts have been voided by the mlb
Trying to decipher what language you wrote that rant but the US Supreme Court is not going to hear the friggin Tom Brady case
First off I’ll apologize for people bashing your language. It’s obvious English isn’t your first language. Secondly you should apologize to the whole state of Massachusetts. Why on earth would you drag two other franchises into this from two separate sports? That’s ludicrous. Thirdly as already pointed out the Sox where only under this restriction for one year. There is no reason for them to have done this in previous signing periods.