From the account given by DOB, the Blakeley meeting was about how much Hart knew. Following Manfred’s logic from the statement, I would presume that these penalties would have been the same either way.
The Braves absolutely did scapegoat Coppy though and only now is it evident that they were justified.
jpx7 (11-21-2017)
The Braves lost contracts because they circumvented the system and lied about bonuses and funneled money illegally, not because they had agreements in place before the signing period opened.
The biggest mistake in judgment in all of this was funneling money thought Toscano to preserve the Braves signing power the following season. If they'd just forgone signing that extra guy or two that season, they would not have Maitan or most of the rest it appears. Stupid. Greedy.
Firing someone for reasons that you are totally justified in firing them for is not scape goating.
Do you mean that they hoped that firing Coppy with all the cause in the world would help their penalty? I guess they might have hoped. That's not what the phrase means though.
Okay. Lose the term scapegoat.
It reminds me of the scene from Game of Thrones where the three slave masters of Slavers Bay are brought before Khaleesi and they are told that two of three will be allowed to live. Coppy is the guy the other two throw to the wolves to try to save their own life.
In other words, everyone is guilty, but a few thought Coppy could be the one to fall on the sword. He was both scapegoated and deserving.
I just sincerely hope Blakeley sinks the ship.
jpx7 (11-21-2017)
I think that like others said, they're harsh because MLB knew the Braves wouldn't fight back.
Two things that I keep thinking while I fume about this
1. This would have never happened if Stan Kasten was still here.
2. Good luck getting any other taxpayer funded parks built now that you've set fire to the most recent franchise to accomplish that.
Go get him!
Founding member of the Whiny Little Bitches and Pricks Club
BedellBrave (11-21-2017), jpx7 (11-21-2017)
Lol at people blaming MLB for this. Sue over what? For doing **** we weren't supposed to be doing? Best you can do is rat on other teams if they were into this mess which a few probably are. We got conned by shady ass Johns who acted like they knew everything about running a successful organization. What a dumpster fire this is.
zedsdead (11-21-2017)
So what does this mean in regards to money potentially being added to other methods of obtaining players? Will the money not spent on international players be added to free agency or the draft? Will it just go back into the coffers?
jpx7 (11-21-2017)
I'm curious to know why whoever the Braves dealt with when negotiating these bonuses are not being punished. Seems like it takes two parties to circumvent these rules and yet no punishments are being given out on the other side.
Jaw (11-21-2017)
BedellBrave (11-21-2017), chop2chip (11-21-2017)
When someone has no facts or logic to back up their argument they predictably resort to arguing over semantics.
The word of debate now: scapegoat.
Seriously. The loss of players was all completely logical once the Toscano piece falls into place. I didn't really see that coming though it sure seems obvious in retrospect given how weird that whole thing was.
The Braves lost them because they were dumbasses and had to play games the year before their blowout class. If they had not have done that, they'd probably still have control of most of these players. Just so dumb. And blatant. And arrogant.
So is anything going to happen to Hart? Banned from playing golf with any league executives for six months? Anything?