聯邦大陪審團開始調查MLB在拉美的交易 - 美國職棒

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來源: The Yahoo Sport
網址: https://tinyurl.com/y8wykvmp

Sources: A federal grand jury is investigating MLB's international dealings,
and officials on all sides are worried
消息來源:聯邦大陪審團正在調查大聯盟的國際交易，各方官員開始擔心

The plundering of Latin America wasn’t Major League Baseball’s original
sin. It’s simply the one that has festered the longest. Corruption of all
kinds – illicit payoffs, bonus-money skimming, doping teenagers with
performance-enhancing drugs – has been treated as the cost of doing
business. And the fallout may finally strike the game with the sort of
consequences that for decades have seemed inevitable.
掠奪拉丁美洲的球員不是MLB的原罪，那只是一個惡化最久的問題。各式各樣的腐敗--非法
的回扣，獎金貪汙，給未成年體能增強藥物--都被當做是經營的成本。這場風暴將會導
致棒球比賽無法避免的後果且會持續許多年以上。

A federal grand jury is looking into Major League Baseball teams’
international dealings and has issued subpoenas to club officials and other
personnel involved in the transactions, three sources familiar with the probe
told Yahoo Sports. Agents from the FBI have spearheaded the investigation,
according to sources familiar with it, and lawyers from the Department of
Justice who specialize in Foreign Corrupt Practices Act cases – which
typically involve bribery of foreign officials – are involved as well.
消息來源指出，聯邦大陪審團正在調查MLB的國際交易，也發出了傳票給球團高層以及交易
相關人等。消息來源也指出，FBI探員做先遣調查，司法部專長在國外貪腐行動調查的人
員--通常專長調查外國官員賄賂--也參予調查。

While the target of the inquiry could not be confirmed by Yahoo Sports,
sources said investigators have subpoenaed at least one former Atlanta Braves
official as well as people involved with the signing of Cuban star Hector
Olivera, who agreed to a deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers before being
traded to the Braves. Multiple witnesses have agreed to cooperate with the
investigation, according to sources.
調查的目標目前還未確認，但是消息來源說調查人員至少已經傳喚一位前勇士制服組以及
參予簽下古巴明星Hector Olivera的相關人等；Olivera在被交易到勇士前同意與躲人簽
約。消息來源透露，多位證人已經同意配合調查。

Just how deep the case goes is unclear. MLB’s business in Latin America is
expansive. All 30 teams have academies in the Dominican Republic and
regularly scout players from Venezuela. They spend well over $100 million a
year on international amateur talent. Most of the players are 16 years old
and have trained since before they were teenagers in hopes of fetching large
signing bonuses on July 2, the first day of the international signing period.
到底這案件會辦到多深目前並不清楚，MLB在拉美的生意是逐步擴張的，30支球隊在多明尼
加都有棒球學校，定期都會去委內瑞拉找球員。每年會花超過1億鎂尋找國際業餘潛力球
員，大部分球員大約16歲，在青少年之前都接受過訓練，希望可以在每年的七月2日，國際
交易簽約期開始的第一天，可以拿到一大筆的簽約金。

The potential threads to investigate are almost limitless. Front-office
officials have been sent to prison for schemes in which they skimmed money
from signing bonuses. An agent last year was convicted for smuggling Cuban
players, which has happened regularly over the last decade and went
unregulated by the league. Other agents are alleged to have paid players to
steal them as clients from competitors, an issue that directly affects the
MLB Players Association.
可以調查的線索幾乎是滿坑滿谷，已經有制服組人員因為貪汙簽約金被捕入獄。去年一位
經紀人因為走私古巴球員被定罪，這走私的行為已經持續十多年但是聯盟卻是未予管理。
其他一些經紀人則是私下給錢給敵對球團的球員，跳槽成為他們的客戶，這行為直接影響
了MLB球員協會。

MLB’s tacit acknowledgement of the issues in Latin America have come through
both penalty and action. In November, the league banned for life former
Atlanta Braves general manager John Coppolella after its investigation
revealed the team had run afoul of international signing rules. A year
earlier, the Boston Red Sox were penalized for similar – though less severe
– infractions. In 2010, MLB suspended A.J. Preller – now the GM of the San
Diego Padres, then head of the Texas Rangers’ Latin American operations –
for illicit negotiation with a player. The league last year hired a forensic
accountant to look through teams’ books and ferret out illegitimate business
in Latin America, according to two sources, one step among a handful MLB
hopes to use as it tries to change the culture.
MLB承認了這些在拉美的行為，開始懲罰以及做出行動。去年11月，聯盟在調查發現勇士在
國際交易違規，前勇士總管John Coppolella終生禁止參予聯盟事務。再一年之前，紅襪也
因類似違規--雖然情節較輕--也被處罰。2010年，聯盟停止了A.J. Preller的職務--那時
他是條子的拉美營運負責人，現在是教士總管--因為他非法與球員協商。去年聯盟找了法
庭會計師去查球團的帳本，根據消息來源，找到了球團在拉美的非法經營證據，這是MLB希
望可以用來導正這樣文化的眾多步驟之一。

The league has redoubled efforts to prioritize change in Latin America,
starting with the Trainer Partnership Program, which will attempt to
incentivize the buscones – trainers who spend years cultivating young talent
– to end the pervasive use of PEDs on young teenage boys. The desire to
foster a stronger relationship has been productive, according to two trainers
who this week said the presence of MLB deputy commissioner Dan Halem at an
event in the D.R. last week left a strong impression – and belief that a
relationship with the league could be more productive than with the MLBPA,
which traditionally represents the buscones in labor negotiations.
聯盟在這方面加倍努力，希望可以在拉美有所改變，他們開始了訓練員-夥伴計畫(Trainer
Partnership Program)，希望可以讓那些負責培養年輕選手的掮客們更有動機不要在這小
球員身上給體能增強藥物。根據消息來源指出，MLB副主席Dan Halem上周在多明尼加留下
深刻印象，也相信這樣的夥伴計畫會比與MLB球員協會來的更有效率，因為球員協會在勞工
協商時通常代表了那些拉美掮客。

MLB’s culpability in the larger scheme of how teams operate in Latin America
is a vexing question – and one commissioner Rob Manfred will have to answer.
What did the league know about Olivera? MLBPA executive director Tony Clark
will be pressed similarly: Was Olivera’s representation aware of anything?
Officials from the league, MLBPA, Dodgers and Braves declined comment. Olivera
’s agent, Greg Genske, did not return messages seeking comment.
MLB聯盟在球隊如何在拉美營運的這件事是不是該受譴責是個難解的問題--而且有個問題是
聯盟主席Rob Manfred將會要回答的，「聯盟知不知道Olivera的狀況？」球員協會執行長
Tony Clark也會被問到類似的問題，「Olivera的代表有沒有知道一些內情？」聯盟，球員
協會，躲人跟勇士都拒絕評論。Olivera的經紀人，Greg Genske，當被問到是否有評論時
也沒有回訊息。

Of course, Olivera is just one player. One investigative possibility. One
$62.5 million bust with 108 career plate appearances and an 82-game
suspension for a domestic incident that later sent him to jail for 10 days.
The scope of the probe could go so much deeper, so much wider. It is
potentially, for people in Latin America who have long felt taken advantage
of by baseball, an overdue comeuppance.
當然，Olivera只是個球員，一個可以調查的可能性，6250萬鎂合約，108次上場打擊，因
家暴案件被判入獄10天，禁賽82場。這所有的調查可以查得更寬，查的更深，讓那些在被
棒球界認為是從拉美球員身上得利的那些人得到應有的制裁。

And as MLB enters the final weekend of its regular season, with the National
League a wide-open frenzy and the American League primed for a fascinating
postseason, the grand jury is a reminder that the business of baseball is
ever vulnerable. The Braves, in the midst of a magic season that led them to
an NL East championship, aren’t entirely rid of their past misdeeds. Other
organizations that have taken liberties in Latin America have a right to be
fearful if the scope of the investigation is as wide as it could be.
當聯盟賽季進入最後一周，國聯還是一團混亂，美聯已經好整以暇準備好打季後賽，大陪
審團這件事提醒了我們，讓我們知道棒球事業始終是脆弱的。雖然勇士打了神奇的一季，
拿到了國東冠軍，他們仍然還未擺脫他們過去所做的錯事。隨著調查開始擴大，其他過去
在拉美得利的球團開始要怕了。

The league and the union, meanwhile, can only hope that their treatment of
the issues in Latin America as the cost of doing business don’t fall back on
them. A federal grand jury is serious. The Department of Justice’s
involvement has top officials on both sides spooked. Where it’s going they
don’t know. In a business as opaque as baseball in Latin America – a
business the powers that be on both sides created – it’s only fitting.
而聯盟以及工會，在此同時，只能期待以經營成本為名在拉美所做的這些事不會影響到他
們。聯邦大陪審團是認真的，而司法部的參予也嚇到了兩邊高層人士，他們不知道這件事
的發展最後會如何。在拉美的棒球營運如此不透明--這兩造雙方共同創造出來的這種營
運--這只是剛好而已。

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