MLB notebook: Braves lose 13 players for illegal signings

Nov 22, 2017 - 1:48 AM Major League Baseball came down hard on the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday for multiple violations of the international amateur signing rules, making 13 players who had previously signed with the organization free agents.

MLB will also dock the Braves a third-round pick in the 2018 amateur draft after the team offered extra benefits to 41st overall pick Drew Waters last year. Waters, however, will be able to remain with Atlanta.

The league determined that the Braves had packaged international signing bonuses during the two-year signing period from 2016-18, which is in violation of MLB rules.

MLB stated that Juan Contreras, Yefri del Rosario, Abrahan Gutierrez, Kevin Maitan, Juan Carlos Negret, Yenci Pena, Yunior Severino, Livan Soto, Guillermo Zuniga, Brandol Mezquita, Angel Rojas and Antonio Sucre were illegally signed during the two-year span.

The scandal cost former Braves general manager John Coppolella and team scout Gordon Blakeley their jobs and also led to the resignation of Atlanta president of baseball operations John Hart.



--Reigning American League Rookie of the Year Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left shoulder Monday, but is expected to complete his recovery before the start of spring training.

The Yankees announced that Judge's procedure "involved a loose-body removal and cartilage clean-up."

Judge, 25, hit an AL-leading and a Yankees-rookie-record 52 home runs while driving in 114 runs and batting .284 over 155 games.



--Hall of Fame vice chairman Joe Morgan emailed every eligible voter from the Baseball Writers' Association of America on Tuesday, writing that "steroid users don't belong" in Cooperstown, N.Y.

Morgan's email, which he said he wrote on behalf of "many of the Hall of Famers," comes one day after the 2018 ballot was released.

"We hope the day never comes when known steroid users are voted into the Hall of Fame. They cheated. Steroid users don't belong here," wrote Morgan, a two-time National League Most Valuable Player who was voted into the Hall of Fame in 1990.

Former stars Roger Clemens (54.1 percent) and Barry Bonds (53.8 percent) received their highest vote totals last year, moving closer to the 75 percent required for enshrinement.