House That Hank Built
Fansided

Atlanta Braves penalties are coming soon: here’s a best guess on what they might be

By Alan Carpenter

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - DECEMBER 09: South Korea's National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-Kyun banging the gavel for president impeachment during a plenary session at National Assembly on December 9, 2016 in Seoul, South Korea.The South Korean National Assembly voted for an impeachment motion at its plenary session, which will set up the rare impeachment trial for President Park over the accusation of corruption involving Park and her long time confidante. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - DECEMBER 09: South Korea's National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-Kyun banging the gavel for president impeachment during a plenary session at National Assembly on December 9, 2016 in Seoul, South Korea.The South Korean National Assembly voted for an impeachment motion at its plenary session, which will set up the rare impeachment trial for President Park over the accusation of corruption involving Park and her long time confidante. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
1 of 3
Next
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA – DECEMBER 09: South Korea’s National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-Kyun banging the gavel for president impeachment during a plenary session at National Assembly on December 9, 2016 in Seoul, South Korea. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA – DECEMBER 09: South Korea’s National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-Kyun banging the gavel for president impeachment during a plenary session at National Assembly on December 9, 2016 in Seoul, South Korea. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images) /

So the investigation is over… and soon we’ll know the sentence (the Braves plead ‘Guilty’ a long time ago).  We’re just hoping now that all of the Mea Culpas have had an effect.

There is no escaping it:  the Atlanta Braves are going to get slapped down, and fairly hard, too.  The big question, of course, is “how bad?”.

There have been some hints, but both MLB and the Braves have been keeping things fairly quiet in this process.

We should know all of the answers soon – perhaps sometime next week once MLB hands out all of their trophies and (hopefully) before the Thanksgiving weekend.

In the meantime, here’s a guess about how it’s going to go.

International Market

In my opinion, this could come down to the extent of other violations internationally – and we still don’t know that full story

There’s probably a lot that’s gone on here, to be honest.  At the same time, however, we’re talking about a system that’s truly been broken for a while.

New rules in the latest Collective Bargaining Agreement will likely help, but the ultimate solution – an international draft – isn’t in the cards just yet.  So until then, it’s still mostly all about who you know and who gets extra cash to funnel players in your direction.

That’s probably how Gordon Blakeley and the Yankees snagged so many hot prospects in 2014 – that and throwing a bunch of money around.

But others played that game, too, and the Padres/Reds/Cardinals/Nationals all dove into the deep end of the pool in 2016 – along with Blakeley and the Braves – to get the lion’s shares of International talent last Summer.

Where the Braves may have gotten caught was in paying Kevin Maitan a bit early – before July 2016 – in the form of an apartment he occupied with another teen that Atlanta later signed as well.

But that was also said to be the tip of the iceberg, with some suggesting that the rule violations were more significant than those of the Red Sox.  For their indiscretions, Boston was saddled with a 1-year international signing ban… and the loss of five players (and – effectively – the $1.5 million they had received).

The Braves forced out Blakeley and Coppolella for this.  That isn’t to be overlooked.

Buried at the bottom of this treatment of the arrival of Alex Anthopoulos yesterday was this jewel from Nubyjas Wilborn:

"According to sources with knowledge of the proceedings, MLB will look favorably upon Hart no longer being involved with the baseball operations. “The office wasn’t happy that the Braves of all teams are involved in this kind of stuff,” the source said. “It looks better for the Braves to clean house. Hiring Alex gives them a chance to show baseball that it’s serious about operating in a new way.”"

Home/Braves News