Dodgers Investigated for Signing Underage Player

Dodgers Investigated Over Foreign Player Recruiting Rules

Player claims being signed before 16th birthday

Los Angeles, June 24, 2000 -- Once again the L.A. Dodgers are the subject of a Major League Baseball investigation for rules violations surrounding the recruiting and signing of a foreign player prior to his 16th birthday. The investigation into the Dodgers acquisition of Venezuelan pitcher, Felix Arellan, is the third time MLB has made such inquiries into the Dodgers' acquisition and signing practices in the last year.

MLB rules prohibit a team from signing a player to a contract before the player reaches age 16. The current issue was brought to the attention of the Commissioner's office by Arellan's agent, who alleges that the Dodgers falsified documents surrounding the 1996 signing of the now 19 year-old southpaw, whose fastball has been clocked at 94 mph. The question came to the forefront during spring training when, according to the agent, Arellan himself indicated that he suspected his signing was illegal.

Arellan and his father now claim that they were mislead by the Dodgers during the events leading up to, and including, the signing of a player contract in March 1996. Arellan's father contends that Dodger officials instructed him not to enter the date next to his signature. In turn, when the player signed the document he was told that his father had marked the date as July 2, 1997 and that he should do the same. Arellan followed instructions and signed the contract despite concerns about the authenticity of the date which accompanied his parent's signature. According to several documents, obtained by the L.A. Times, Arellan was born on February 23, 1981. If true, this would have made the pitching prospect, who is currently in his second season with the Dodger's rookie-league team in Great Falls, Montana, only 15 years-old at the time of the signing.

Statements suggest that the Dodgers pursued Arellan when he was only 14, and that the player subsequently, at age 15, worked out for two of the Dodgers' top ranking Latin American officials at the team's Dominican Republican training academy. These are the same officials who were also recently implicated in the organization's other illegal foreign player acquisitions. Both men are no longer with the team. The Dodgers, who are cooperating with the Commissioner's office, have launched an investigation of their own, and stand by the fact that they did not have a binding contract with Arellan before he reached 16 years of age.

The Dodgers already have a history of past signing discrepancies concerning Latin American prospects. Last June the Dodgers were fined $200,000 by Commissioner Bud Selig for signing two Cuban prospects prior to their 16 birthday; both players were subsequently designated as free agents who could not resign with the L.A. ball club. Then, in December, Selig again levied sanctions against the club, this time for the early signing of Cuban third baseman, Adrian Beltre, who the Dodgers were permitted to retain, after paying a League fine of $50,000.

Money is also a focus of the Arellan investigation, as it is claimed that the player received a $30,000 signing bonus, which was delivered to him through a third party, when the player was only 15. At age 16 Arellan allegedly was paid the balance of the bonus. While scouts say that Arellan, not unlike many emerging power pitchers, still struggles with his command, his agent believes the player could garner a lucrative deal and a signing bonus of up to $3 million if he were to be declared a free agent. The MLB inquiry into the Dodger's signing of Arellan is scheduled to be completed with in the next month.

Andrew Goodman