ProPublica: The Dominican Baseball Factory

[MeleMouth]

"The team, they would soon learn, had agreed to pay Belfi $1.8 million after his 16th birthday. It was a deal Carmona had negotiated without consulting Belfi or his parents. It was also a handshake agreement that skirted Major League Baseball’s rules that bar teams from signing players younger than 16. Every year, all 30 major league teams reach preacuerdos, or early deals, with hundreds of Dominican prospects — a practice they make little attempt to hide. (The Diamondbacks did not respond to a request for comment.)"

"But in two and a half years, the $1.8 million Belfi was promised would be almost all gone. Carmona received $630,000, which represented his 35% commission. But more than $950,000 went to someone who had no hand in teaching Belfi how to play baseball. His name is Santo Caraballo, one of the most notorious moneylenders profiting from Dominican baseball. His business partner is a national hero and, 10 years after his retirement, still a commanding figure within Major League Baseball: David Ortiz, known universally as 'Big Papi.'"

"Major League Baseball has known for years about early agreements and the predatory industry that has grown around them. Even though it has a formidable economic and political presence in the Dominican Republic, it has done little about either. It has never publicly warned or penalized a team for making an early deal, and its attempts to educate families about moneylenders have been ineffectual."

https://www.propublica.org/article/how-dominican-republic-baseball-factory-traps-players-mlb-santo-caraballo?src=longreads

[tony&rodney]

ProPublica is as good as it gets in journalism. Various people and organizations have spent millions trying to sue them into bankruptcy. Every article is carefully researched and gone over thoroughly before publication. 

The Dominican abuse by MLB and scum like those mentioned is simply unbelievable. What a world. The fact that MLB has not stopped the practices is a stain on the game.