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BRAVES NEWS
MLB lays the hammer down on Atlanta with sanctions
The day of reckoning for the Braves finally came and the punishment was just as severe as it was rumored to be. The Braves ended up losing at least 12 prospects, their third-round pick in the 2018 MLB Draft and severe sanctions when it comes to international spending for the next few years.
Additionally, former Braves front office employee Gordon Blakeley was banned for one year and former Atlanta GM John Coppolella is now considered to be in the same category as Pete Rose since they’re both banned from baseball for life. John Hart escaped punishment, but the investigation ended up being a big reason as to why he’s no longer working for the Braves.
Simply put, the hammer came down on the Braves yesterday and it was as bad as we expected it would be. The only bits of good news we have is that the Braves can finally move on and even with the substantial losses, they still have a very talented farm system. However, the sanctions on international spending should absolutely hurt them in the future and then there’s just the fact that this was just a dark day for fans of the franchise in general.
More on Braves sanctions
- Ben Badler of Baseball America goes into the process by which other teams can sign Atlanta’s former prospects
- Sports Illustrated: “Braves hurt but not mortally wounded.”
- Grant McAuley discusses the day of reckoning for CBS Atlanta.
- Fangraphs: The punishment was “harsh.”
- Bleacher Report: Manfred “strikes fear” into hearts of MLB by using “reckless” Braves as example.
- Sporting News: “Braves need a good offseason” to make up for this.
- Ken Rosenthal points out that some Braves higher-ups may have avoided punishment, but are in no way innocent ($).
- The Ringer: This serves as a warning to the rest of baseball.
- Yahoo!: MLB finally taking “significant action” when it comes to international market transgressions.
That was a bummer and if you went through all of those links, you deserve something cool. So here’s Ronald Acuna doing cool stuff in the Arizona Fall League. Here’s hoping that the darkest days are behind us.
MLB NEWS
New posting agreement will indeed allow Ohtani to come stateside
Meanwhile, there’s been a bit of drama lately when it comes to whether or not Shohei Ohtani would actually be able to come over to MLB due to the posting agreement between Japan’s league and MLB expiring. Good news arrived yesterday when all parties involved came to an agreement on a new posting system agreement and now the path has been cleared for the pitching/outfielding hybrid to come play stateside.