Braves stripped of 13 prospects, Coppolella banned for life
ATLANTA — The Braves lost 13 prospects and former general manager John Coppolella was banned for life by Major League Baseball on Tuesday for circumventing international signing rules from 2015-17.
Former Atlanta special assistant Gordon Blakeley, who was the team’s international scouting chief, was suspended from baseball for one year by Commissioner Rob Manfred.
Sanctions imposed by Manfred leave the Braves unable to bargain at full strength for a top Latin American prospect until 2021.
Manfred said MLB’s investigation determined the Braves funneled extra signing bonus money to five players in 2015-16 by giving the funds first to another player considered a foreign professional under baseball’s rules and having the money redistributed to the other five. If the money had been counted for the other five, the Braves would have exceeded their pool by more than 5 per cent and been restricted to signing bonuses of $300,000 or under for international amateurs through June 15, 2019.