Yankees prospects may have been forced to kick back bonus money
By T.J. Quinn and Mark Fainaru-Wada
ESPN.com
Updated: August 5, 2008, 6:36 AM ET
好几位洋基负责多明尼加球探事务的官方人员，目前正接受大联盟和FBI的调查，是否
这些球团的员工只付给签约球员少部份的签约金，而将差额当作自己的回扣。根据一位棒
球人士表示目前接受调查的球队共有6到8支球队。而据ESPN获得的消息目前接受调查的人
约略有20人左右，包括美国藉和多明尼加籍。4位大联盟的调查员上周回国后已经准备好一
份报告，据了解牵涉到的球队包括洋基、红袜、国民和白袜队。和媒体报导不同的是，消
息来源表示FBI调查员尚未前往多明尼加，调查的范围目前仅限于被白袜队官方被解雇的
David Wilder、国民队的GM Jim Bowden及国民队的特别助理Jose Rijo。
Wilder没有作任何评论也没有回复ESPN询问的电话。Bowden先前跟ESPN确认他已经和
FBI谈过但是强调他没作错任何事，而且FBI的调查员并没有问过他个人的行为。洋基的GM
Brian Cashman拒绝发表评论。大联盟的官方人员和红袜队周一并没有立即回复电话对事
情发表评论。
这个来源表示，对于洋基队的调查大约出现在一个月前(注)，但是就在开始调查后不
久又出现一封寄到洋基球团的匿名信。信中列出好几位新秀的名字，以及他们被删减掉签
约金的数额。两个熟悉信件内容的消息来源表示洋基官方人员已经将信件转交给MLB的调查
人员并与他们合作。
注: New York Times表示，上个月Cashman表示多明尼加报纸El Caribe所提到，Melky
Cabrera被删减签约金的报导是不正确的，他表示调查人员告知他这件事缺乏事证，他周
一则拒绝发表评论。
信件中列名的其中一位球员是被期待的大物新秀17岁的Kelvin DeLeon，去年被洋基以
110万签下。他目前在洋基多明尼加的球队打球(DSL Yankees)。
这些来源表示，调查人员也在注意洋基在多明尼加负责球探事务的人员Carlos Rios。
这项丑闻爆发于三月时，当时是白袜球探部的主任Wilder带着从多明尼加携回的4万现
金在迈阿密被美国海关人员查获。消息来源表示，Wilder还未被指控犯行，已经与FBI合作
。他和两位球探则在五月被白袜队解雇。
Wilder和其他人则已被控诉浮报一些多明尼加新秀的身价，一当这些球员签约后便从
球员的家人索取回扣。长久以来饱受批评的便是，多明尼加街头的经纪人(即大家熟知的
“buscones”)向签约球员索取很多部份的签约金当作费用，但是这些消息报导球探和其他
球团正式雇用的人员也索取回扣，则造成多明尼加全国大震动。一个消息来源表示: “球
员的家人已经习惯这样的事，因为他们仍然拿到了钱，球探们实际上是在偷球团的钱。”
Major League Baseball investigators are looking into accusations that several
New York Yankees prospects from the Dominican Republic were forced to kick
back portions of their signing bonuses to one or more team employees, several
sources told ESPN.
The revelation is one of several developments in an ongoing investigation of
a financial scandal involving the signing of players from the Dominican
Republic. Last week, the Red Sox's Dominican scouting supervisor, Pablo
Lantigua, was fired after MLB investigators confronted him about allegedly
skimming signing bonuses, according to an MLB source.
Sources also told ESPN that the investigation is expected to implicate
roughly 20 people on "a handful" of teams before it is complete.
Investigators also have expanded their probe into Venezuela, where many major
league clubs have player academies. "Things are coming to a head," one source
familiar with MLB's investigation said.
The Yankees placed several employees on leave pending the results of
baseball's probe into the possible skimming of bonuses in the Dominican
Republic, The New York Times reported Tuesday.
The employees scouted in the Dominican Republic, the newspaper said, citing
an unidentified person in baseball who was briefed on the matter. Their names
and jobs were not revealed in the report.
Four MLB investigators returned to the United States from the Dominican last
week and are preparing a report for the commissioner's office. While clubs
have fired several officials already implicated in the scandal, MLB has
worked closely with the FBI, which is conducting its own investigation into
the alleged skimming of bonuses.
One source briefed on MLB investigators' findings said he believed "less than
a half-dozen" teams would be implicated, including the Yankees, Red Sox,
Nationals and White Sox.
The 20 or so employees, based in both the United States and the Dominican
Republic, either received money or were aware of others who did, the source
said.
Sources said FBI agents have not traveled to the Dominican, and contrary to
media reports, have limited their probe thus far to allegations surrounding
fired White Sox official David Wilder, Washington Nationals general manager
Jim Bowden and Nationals special assistant Jose Rijo.
Wilder has not commented and did not return several phone calls. Bowden
previously confirmed to ESPN that he had spoken with federal authorities but
insisted he has done nothing wrong, and that FBI agents had asked him nothing
about his own activities. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman declined to
comment. Officials with Major League Baseball and the Red Sox on Monday did
not immediately return calls seeking comment.
The accusations against the Yankees surfaced more than a month ago, sources
said, but were augmented by an anonymous letter sent to the club shortly
after investigators began looking into the charges. The letter listed the
names of several prospects and the amount of money allegedly skimmed from
their signing bonuses.
Two sources familiar with the letter's contents said Yankees officials turned
it over to MLB investigators and have cooperated.
One of the players named in the letter was well-regarded prospect Kelvin
DeLeon, a 17-year-old outfielder who signed for $1.1 million last year. He is
currently playing for the Yankees' Dominican League club.
Investigators are looking at the involvement of Yankees scouting official
Carlos Rios, sources said.
The scandal began to break in March when Wilder, then the scouting director
for the White Sox, was stopped in Miami by U.S. Customs officials while
trying to bring about $40,000 in cash back from the Dominican Republic.
Sources said Wilder, who has not been criminally charged, has been
cooperating with the FBI. He and two scouts were fired by the White Sox in
May.
Wilder and others have been accused of inflating the value of some Dominican
prospects, then demanding a kickback from the players' families once the
players were signed. Critics have long complained that street agents known as
"buscones" had been taking large cuts of players' bonuses as fees, but the
news that scouts and other officials employed by the clubs were taking money
has jolted the island.
"The families went along with it because they were still getting the money,"
one source said. "[The scouts] were really stealing money from the clubs."
Mark Fainaru-Wada and T.J. Quinn are reporters for ESPN's Enterprise Unit.
Fainaru-Wada can be reached at markfwespn@gmail.com. Quinn can be reached at
tjquinn31@yahoo.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report.