Did Gabe Kapler Know That the Dodgers Were Using Human Traffickers to Get Prospects to the US?
I honestly do not know how this is not a bigger story. Since October of last year, the Department of Justice has been investigating the methods of MLB teams recruitment of foreign players in 2015. The Dodgers and our own Gabe Kapler are named in multiple reports. This could be a problem…
It’s no secret that the recruitment of international baseball players has always been a shady business. Stories of kidnapping and human trafficking are prominent throughout the history of the MLB. Yasiel Puig was smuggled out of Cuba to live in a Mexican hotel for a month. Seattle outfielder Leonys Martin was kidnapped and held captive for months as smugglers asked for a kickback when he signed his first contract. Obviously, we only hear about the stories from the players that actually make the league. For every high profile case there are thousands of others that go unheard.
Normally, I would tear the Dodgers apart for this. If you put all this information in front of me and blacked out the names of teams and players I’d probably guess it was the Dodgers. Just classic LA, trying to use money and influence to win. It never works but they try really hard to finish second. However, the mention of Gabe Kapler, director of player development for the Dodgers from 2014-2016, represents a problem for Philadelphia. Did Gabe know how foreign players were getting into the United States? If he didn’t everyone above him in the Dodgers organization were very aware. Dodgers brass even made this quick reference chart to show “Levels of Egregious Behaviour”. The levels range from 1 being “innocent bystander” up to 5 labeled “criminal”.
Lots of Dodgers stuff in this @si_mlb report on the DOJ investigation of MLB’s recruitment of foreign players, including this incredible graphichttps://t.co/REXmaCsWwa pic.twitter.com/OskRXOOjNP
— Eric Stephen (@ericstephen) October 2, 2018
Out of the 15 employees in charge of scouting international players for the Dodgers, 5 are given criminal grades. A solid 33%. I really hope Gabe was too busy lubing himself up for a banana hammock photoshoot to know about any of this. If he was complicit the big J’s are gonna eat this up and spit Philadelphia out like a used piece of gum. My guess is Gabe is gonna at least have to answer a few questions. Lucky for us, Carson Wentz is a “team cancer” so this Phillies story is flying well under the radar. Lucky us, right?!