NewsWhore
04-27-2010, 05:20 PM
Sandy Alderson, hired by Major League Baseball in March to oversee reform within the league's Dominican Republic operations, says there is no immediate plan for Dominican prospects to be subject to the First-Year Player Draft, according to Major League Baseball website. According to Alderson, putting Dominican prospects in a draft would only be an option if current issues couldn't be resolved through other means. Last week, hundreds of Dominican prospects, coaches and scouts protested the imposition of a draft, on the grounds that it had destroyed baseball in Puerto Rico and could do so in the DR.
"What we want to do is to strengthen baseball in the Dominican Republic, maintaining the country as an attractive venue to sign players and try to eradicate the problems that have affected signings on the island," he says.
"If the problems that currently exist don't get resolved, there are many people in the United States who understand that the Draft would be the best option. But that's not why we're here."
Nevertheless, he has warned that if the abuses are not cleaned up, "there's a very strong likelihood there will be a draft."
Alderson, a former MLB vice president for baseball operations, has repeatedly said that his priorities are to reduce identity and age fraud and steroid use, establish a scouting bureau and guard against scouts cheating prospects out of signing bonuses.
"It's trying to convince people of what the mission here is and that my goal is really a constructive one," Alderson told the web site. "I'm here to preserve what baseball and the Dominican Republic have while, at the same time, eliminating those problems that cast baseball, and the Dominican Republic itself, in a negative way. Baseball is the international identity of the Dominican Republic. It's important for them, and I think they agree with this, that their reputation is as positive as possible."
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#12)
"What we want to do is to strengthen baseball in the Dominican Republic, maintaining the country as an attractive venue to sign players and try to eradicate the problems that have affected signings on the island," he says.
"If the problems that currently exist don't get resolved, there are many people in the United States who understand that the Draft would be the best option. But that's not why we're here."
Nevertheless, he has warned that if the abuses are not cleaned up, "there's a very strong likelihood there will be a draft."
Alderson, a former MLB vice president for baseball operations, has repeatedly said that his priorities are to reduce identity and age fraud and steroid use, establish a scouting bureau and guard against scouts cheating prospects out of signing bonuses.
"It's trying to convince people of what the mission here is and that my goal is really a constructive one," Alderson told the web site. "I'm here to preserve what baseball and the Dominican Republic have while, at the same time, eliminating those problems that cast baseball, and the Dominican Republic itself, in a negative way. Baseball is the international identity of the Dominican Republic. It's important for them, and I think they agree with this, that their reputation is as positive as possible."
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#12)