Former Atlanta Braves general manager John Coppolella has been placed on baseball’s permanently ineligible list and the team will lose its top prospect as part of MLB’s penalties against the team for rules violations in the international market.
This would be the third person placed on the “permanently ineligible” list by Rob Manfred, and the second one this year. (Previously. Previously.)
In addition, the Braves “must forfeit 13 international prospects”:
Atlanta must forfeit [Kevin] Maitan, Juan Contreras, Yefri del Rosario, Abrahan Gutierrez, Juan Carlos Negret, Yenci Peña, Yunior Severino, Livan Soto, Guillermo Zuniga, Brandol Mezquita, Angel Rojas, Antonio Sucre and Ji Hwan Bae.
(Kevin Maitan is described in the article as the team’s “best prospect”.)
All 13 players will become free agents and are eligible to sign with any team. Manfred also announced that the Braves have been prohibited from signing prospect Robert Puason.
Also, Gordon Blakely, who used to be a “special assistant” with the team, has been suspended for one year.
(Sorry for linking to ESPN. I would rather have linked to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution‘s coverage, but they haven’t updated their story.)