Commissioner yet to decide Atlanta Braves punishment
By Fred Owens
The GM meetings concluded with no real news to discuss. Meanwhile the Atlanta Braves and their fans await their punishment
GM meetings are bland events and this year was no exception. A lack of news means everyone is talking about Giancarlo Stanton’s new home or annual award winners.
Those topics exhausted, Ken Rosenthal writing in the Athletic ($) rehashed potential punishments for the Atlanta Braves.
A story about not much
I believe Rosenthal to be the best in the business but aside from implying the investigation is over, this post wasn’t one of his most insightful. The implication that MLB ended the investigation comes from Rosenthal’s’ opening sentence.
"Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred is still deciding the penalties the Atlanta Braves will receive for violating rules in the international market."
He went on to say that the punishment would:
- Definitely include loss of prospects
- Those prospects would be players signed via the international bonus pools
- possibly include substantial fines and restrictions on future international signings
Rosenthal quoted his source as saying Commissioner Manfred had not decided which players would be lost. He opines that (surprise) Kevin Maitan would be the biggest loss and effectively a $4.25M fine just as the signing bonuses given by the Red Sox were back in 2015.
According to Rosenthal’s source, Maitan had so far “not progress as rapidly as some Braves officials hoped” and “grew thicker in the lower half.” In other words a 16-year-old kid had trouble adjusting to playing baseball as a job everyday, that’s not a surprise.
I’m shocked –nay dismayed- that a teenager who grew up dirt poor and may now eat what he wants whenever he wants and got a little pudgy.
Rosenthal also rehashed the Red Sox faux pas, mentioned in passing the rumored deal with a 14-year-old prospect and the Yahoo report about the apartment where Maitan and another player lived prior to the draft.
Aside from Maitan’s girth and the commissioner’s lack of a decision there’s no news in his piece. There was however a tidbit about another investigation.