A report on Tuesday says the Padres are among the teams that have violated Major League Baseball rules in dealings with underage players in Latin America.
A lengthy story in USA Today on MLB teams reaching informal agreements with players as young as 12 identified the Padres as having backed out of such deals with two players from the Dominican Republic in April.
Padres international scouting director Chris Kemp, who is named in the report, did not respond to a message seeking comment. The Padres responded to an inquiry with the following statement:
"We are confident in the work being done by our baseball operations team and international scouting department, and we go to great lengths to follow the applicable guidelines and policies set forth by the league. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to reevaluate spending in all areas of the organization. When it became apparent that our international signing plans would be impacted, we advised the players and their agents as soon as possible in an effort to be transparent with all parties involved."
The accusations regarding Kemp and the two players, Cristian Garcia and Luis Frias, came from Rudy Santin, a former major league scout who ran a baseball training academy in the Dominican until his death from a heart attack in May.
The two players, both 15, were reportedly expected to sign with the Padres on July 2, the scheduled start of the international signing period, a date that has been postponed until Jan. 15 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The paper also cited an audio tape it reviewed in which Kemp told Santin the team wanted to reduce an offer to another young player.
"Be ready for a fight," Santin responded on the tape, according to the paper. "This is what happens when you (expletive) sign these 12- or 13-year-olds. You got four years to second guess yourself. When you (expletive) sign a guy, you sign him. You made a mistake, the mistake is made."
It is common practice for teams to discuss parameters of deals with players prior to the signing period, just as it is common for teams and potential draft picks (and their representatives) to talk about signability leading up to the draft. That helps teams budget their signing bonuses.
Kemp, two team sources said, was simply alerting international players about necessary changes due to new regulations and financial limitations brought on by the pandemic. Virtually every team had to deal with that new reality when MLB froze transactions, including trades that could net more international signing bonus money, and changed the international signing dates due to the virus.
The USA Today article was written by freelancers Christian Red and Teri Thompson, who have written several articles (and were co-authors of a book, "Baseball Cop") regarding teams' alleged violations of MLB rules and U.S. law in dealings with Latin American players.
Santin and others cited by USA Today suggest it is common for teams to enter into the forbidden deals with young players and then either lower or pull out of the deals. Players' families often take out loans with high interest rates against those future signing bonuses and are left owing money when teams renege.
MLB says such handshake deals are neither valid nor enforceable. Santin and others told USA Today the league also does not enforce its rules.
Santin is among the buscones who broker deals between MLB clubs and players. The story does not mention reported accusations that he charged players exorbitant fees and even threatened one.
The story's other on-the-record source was former MLB executive Gordon Blakely, who was suspended in 2017 while with the Braves for his role in breaking international signing rules.
According to the paper, the FBI interviewed Santin as part of its investigation into alleged human trafficking and visa fraud involving ballplayers that is unrelated to the revelations about Kemp and the Padres. However, Santin said the FBI also questioned him about the workings of the agreements involving underage players.
MLB forbids signing or negotiating with players until they are at least 15 (and will turn 16 by September 1).
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred in 2017 suspended former Atlanta Braves General Manager John Coppolella for life for his role in that team's violation of international signing rules. In that scandal, the Braves were found to have gotten around signing bonus limits by funneling money from one prospect to another.
Preller, the Padres general manager, has had his own past brushes with MLB discipline, including when he was suspended for a month while an assistant GM for the Texas Rangers for talking with a Latin American player who had been suspended for an "age/ID discrepancy." Preller was also suspended for 30 days in 2016 over discrepancies regarding the Padres' handling of medical records in a trade with the Red Sox.
After a May article by Red and Thompson appeared in the Washington Post that mentioned the Padres as among teams to have been queried by the Justice Department regarding acquisition of players from Cuba, the team stood by Preller and his staff.
"We believe in them," Padres General Partner Peter Seidler said at the time. "We're proud of the work that they do. We believe they're solid across the board. That's all throughout organization _ baseball operations, international scouting, player development. We believe the best-in-class commitment is why we are positioned to be on the upswing and why we're positioned for a lot of years of winning baseball. A big part of that positioning is that we believe in doing things the right way."
