4 replies to this topic

[JohnnyK]

http://sportsillustr...ning/index.html

A top New York Yankees prospect is not who he claims to be, sources tell SI.com. Two weeks ago, the Yankees signed a shortstop purporting to be 16-year-old Damian Arredondo from the Dominican Republic to an $850,000 bonus. Now Major League Baseball's Department of Investigations has determined that Arredondo is not the player's real name and that he is older than 16.

Glad MLB is cracking down on this, but I sure hope the Yankees would have done a more thorough investigation.

[hi neighbor]

Glad MLB is cracking down on this, but I sure hope the Yankees would have done a more thorough investigation.

Not a Yankee problem. Sox prospect Raphael Espinoza, a SS, was paid $250,000 in 2007 as a 16 year old. This winter he had VISA problems. He's not 19 and he's not Raphael Espinoza. He's 21 and has warts.

[SaveBooFerriss]

I'm sure the Sox's $250K is gone. I wonder where the Yankees' $850K is.

[hi neighbor]

I'm sure the Sox's $250K is gone. I wonder where the Yankees' $850K is.

The $1.6M that the Nats gave 16 year old Smiley Gonzalez in 2006 is supposedly gone. He turned out to be this winter a 23 year old Carlos Lugo. In the GCL, he looked like a man playing among boys.

Remember that his handlers, buscon and special friends of Bowden got in on this money, too.

Although not all the money all the time is up front. Baseball does defer money sometimes.

[JohnnyK]

Not a Yankee problem. Sox prospect Raphael Espinoza, a SS, was paid $250,000 in 2007 as a 16 year old. This winter he had VISA problems. He's not 19 and he's not Raphael Espinoza. He's 21 and has warts.

Oh, definitely not just a problem for the Yankees; still, seeing that they were willing to pay someone nearly a million bucks without running thorough enough background checks is a bit baffling. Unless it is common practice to let MLB handle those background checks.

And the money is not lost, see the link in the first post:

The Yankees did not lose any money on the prospect because his bonus was contingent on the outcome of the investigation.