Immigration to the U.S. has never been easy, baseball prospect or no.

Looks like the art of smuggling baseball players has finally drawn the long arm of the federales. Peter Gammons is reporting that Major League Baseball is working with the FBI to get to the bottom of a litany of problems originally brought about by issues within the Nationals and White Sox organizations.

Former Nats GM Jim Bowden was recently forced to resign over accusations that he was skimming bonus money from contracts offered to Latin American players, and the White Sox have been accused of falsifying birth records to speed up the immigration process  for their prospects.

So far, over 70 players have been detained. It seems like much of the investigation at this point is clerical; just making sure every player is in fact who he says he is. But who knows how far the investigation can run up the chain.

Smuggling players out of Cuba has been a cottage industry for quite some time, as Michael Lewis wrote in “Commie Ball.” Much of what Lewis discovered was shady as all get-out, but due to Cuba’s diplomatic status with the U.S., Cuban players have the luxury of asking for political asylum before going on to make millions in the Majors.

Source.

Joe Blancato espn, immigration, jim bowden, nationals, peter gammons, smuggling, white sox

Beats a picture of Youk.

Dave Cameron over at FanGraphs has put together a super-comprehensive ranking of all 30 MLB teams, rating their franchise using five criteria: Ownership, Front Office, Major League Talent, Minor League Talent and Overall.

Rounding out the top three are the Red Sox at No. 1, with the Yankees and Rays tied for third. Cameron had this to say about the Sox:

Well capitalized owner who wants to win and invests in the product? Check
A cohesive front office that combines scouting and statistical analysis? Check.
A major league team that can win immediately and has pieces to build around? Check.
A minor league farm system that will replenish the major league roster? Check.

The Red Sox are the cream of the crop in baseball right now.

Hard to argue with that, though the AL East certainly remains up for grabs as the Yankees continue to spend and the Rays keep improving their young club.

The worst three franchises are the Nationals, Marlins and Astros. Cameron’s thoughts on the Nats:

It’s impossible to find an organization in worse shape than the Nats. They’re coming off a major league worst 102 loss season and their GM just resigned amidst a scandal over significant issues with their Dominican scouting operations. Rather than hiring a new general manager, the team president is just handling business himself while giving Asst. GM Mike Rizzo some increased authority without a promotion.

Yeesh.

Source.

Joe Blancato astros, dave cameron, fangraphs, marlins, nationals, rankings, rays, redsox, yankees