Once stars… today without a future in the MLB

In preparation for the 2024 season, which is scheduled to begin in five weeks, the 30 teams of Major League Baseball (MLB) opened their spring training camps in Arizona and Florida and in none of them there is a box with the names by Trevor Bauer, Yasiel Puig, Julio Urías or Wander Franco.

For different reasons, all related to events that occurred off the court, the careers of these four talented players are frozen, at least in the United States, for an indefinite period.

Bauer, Puig, Urías and Franco are not just any four players.

The former won the National League Cy Young Award in 2020, which was the last time he was on a team’s roster for the entire year. The second averages 69 extra-base hits and 15 steals per 162 games in the MLB and recently turned 33 years old. The third is a 27-year-old left-handed starting pitcher with an astonishing .706 win-loss percentage in eight years in the major leagues. The fourth accumulated 11.6 WAR in his first 265 games and, at 22 years old, he was already in the All-Star Game and fighting for Rookie of the Year.

In a normal situation, all four players would enjoy big contracts and methods among the best of their respective clubs on the training grounds. However, the sad reality is that, at this point, it seems highly unlikely that any of them will set foot on a Major League diamond next season, or in the near future, if not ever.

The right-hander had 137 strikeouts and a 2.59 ERA in 107.2 innings in 2021, when he was placed on administrative leave by MLB while the league investigated the sexual assault allegation made against Bauer by a San Diego woman.

Two more women followed, and Bauer received a 324-game suspension that was eventually reduced to 194 games by an arbitrator. When he completed his sentence, Bauer was released by the Dodgers, who had to pay him the $22.5 million he had outstanding on his contract.

But while any other team could sign him for the minimum salary for the 2023 season, none did and Bauer ended up playing in Japan, where he had a 2.59 ERA in 24 starts, proving that he is still a superior pitcher.

This winter no one requested his services and Bauer is still waiting for a call that may never happen.

PUIG IN THE SAME CAR: A call that Puig was waiting for since he played his last game in the MLB, on September 27, 2019.

From the numbers he put up that year (56 extra-base hits, 19 stolen bases and a .785 OPS in 149 games with the Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Guardians) and his record since 2013 (.823 OPS in 3,376 plate appearances ), it seemed more logical that a 28-year-old player would receive multiple offers, including some for several years.

But a plague of legal incidents tarnished the career of the talented Cuban outfielder, who in the last four years has faced three accusations of sexual assault and is currently included in a US Justice Department investigation into an illegal gambling operation.

According to the prosecution, Puig lost $282,000 by placing bets on basketball, tennis and soccer matches through another person in an illegal operation and although he was initially only a witness, justice is now evaluating the possibility of including him as a defendant.

Even with his tremendous performance in Caribbean baseball this winter and his obvious great physical shape, it’s clear that with that kind of uncertainty surrounding him, Puig is not an emergency for MLB teams.

URÍAS IN LIMBO: Urías was in the last month of his final season under the control of the Dodgers, before entering free agency and claiming the largest contract in history for a Mexican player in the MLB, when he was arrested night of September 3. after a witness called the police after noticing an argument between a man and a woman and an alleged attack by the player.

Urías was released on bail after paying $50,000, but MLB began its own investigation and Los Angeles placed one of its best pitchers on administrative leave, where he ended the season and, most likely, his history with the club.

While Urías won a small victory when the Los Angeles County prosecutor’s office said he will not be charged with felony charges and has moved the case to the city attorney’s office to consider filing misdemeanors, his arrest shattered his agency. free and put a big dark cloud on his future in the MLB.

Regardless of what happens in court, Urías faces a potential second suspension for domestic violence, which will dramatically affect his chances in baseball.

The Mexican was suspended 20 games by MLB for violating the domestic violence policy, after he was arrested on May 13, 2019 in a shopping center for throwing a woman to the ground during an argument.

Urías would be the first player with multiple domestic violence penalties in Major League history, and judging by other first-offense penalties, including Bauer’s, his could be quite long.

FRANCO ON SLOW LEGAL ROW: Of the four players in trouble, Franco is the only one with a current contract in MLB. The Rays signed the Dominican for 11 years and $182 million dollars, in a pact that will conclude in 2032, but that includes a team option for $25 million for 2033.

Franco, an All-Star in MLB last year, is being investigated, simultaneously, by the authorities of the Dominican Republic and the office of the commissioner of Major League Baseball for allegedly having sexual relations with a 14-year-old girl in his country of origin.

Franco was arrested on January 1 and four days later, a judge ordered the conditional release of the 22-year-old shortstop, after paying a bail of $34,000 dollars, and the obligation to appear on the last day of each month for the next six months while the prosecution completes its investigation.

Franco was separated from the Rays on Monday, August 14, one day after the bomb of accusations by a minor against him exploded on social media. Tampa initially placed Franco on the restricted list and a week later he was placed on MLB’s administrative leave list. In both cases, the player continued to collect his salary and any bonuses for which he was eligible.

Although MLB’s investigation is not tied to the judicial process against Franco in the courts of the Dominican Republic, since the league and the MLBPA agreed on the policy in August 2015, the commissioner has always delayed announcing the results. of their investigations until after the legal phases of said processes were concluded.

While in MLB the player faces a relatively light sanction (Bauer’s has been the most extensive that the baseball government has issued so far), in the Dominican Republic he faces up to 20 years in prison if found guilty of the preliminary charges (money laundering). asset and commercial sexual exploitation) presented by the public ministry in its request for a coercive measure.

These charges could vary in the formal accusation that the Dominican authorities must present against Franco. On the other hand, the outcome of the judicial process could determine the type of punishment he will receive from MLB and, also, the future of his contract with the Rays.

With Franco out of the picture, the Rays opened their spring training camp in Port Charlotte, Florida, with the premise that Panamanian José Caballero will be the starting shortstop in the first game of the season.