MLB gambling scandal explained: Padres’ Tucupita Marcano gets lifetime ban for baseball bets, others punished

San Diego Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano has been permanently banned from Major League Baseball after violating the league’s gambling policy, MLB announced Tuesday. Marcano’s suspension was accompanied by one-year suspensions for four other players: Oakland Athletics reliever Michael Kelly and minor leaguers Jay Groome (Padres pitcher), José Rodríguez (Philadelphia Phillies pitcher) and Andrew Saalfrank (Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher).

MLB received data from a legal sports betting operator about baseball gambling activity from accounts belonging to the above players, the league announced. According to MLB rules, personnel are permitted to participate in sports gambling as long as it is legal in their jurisdiction and they do not bet on diamond sports – that is, baseball or softball. Each player violated the second part of this.

None of the players are appealing the suspension.

“Strict enforcement of Major League Baseball rules and policies governing the conduct of the game is a critical component of upholding our most important priority: protecting the integrity of our games for fans,” commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. “The long-standing prohibition of betting on Major League Baseball games by those who play the sport has been a fundamental principle for more than a century. We have made clear that the privilege of playing baseball carries a responsibility to refrain from engaging in on certain types of behavior that are legal for others Since the Supreme Court ruling opened the door to legalized sports betting, we have been working with licensed sports betting operators and other third parties to put ourselves in a better position from an integrity standpoint through of transparency that a regulated sports betting system can provide. MLB will continue to invest heavily in integrity monitoring, educational programming and awareness initiatives with the goal of ensuring strict adherence to this fundamental rule of our game.

Here’s what you need to know about Marcano, the other players and MLB’s gambling penalty history.

Marcano banned for life

Marcano, 24, was signed by the Padres as an amateur free agent out of Venezuela in 2016. He was traded to the Pirates in 2021 with Jack Suwinski for Adam Frazier and last November returned to the Padres on waivers. He hasn’t played since last July after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament.

The MLB investigation found that Marcano not only bet on baseball frequently – he claimed to have bet more than $150,000 on nearly 400 baseball bets, including on MLB and international competitions – but that he even bet on his own team, so the Pirates. . “[Almost] All of Marcano’s Pirates bets were on which club (the Pirates or their opponent) would win the game or whether there would be more or less than a certain number of runs scored in the game,” MLB said in a press release.

It is worth mentioning that Marcano did not play in any of the games he played in due to the injury. He also denied having inside information that influenced his bets. MLB estimates he won just 4.3% of his MLB-related bets.

Other players did not bet on their own games

As for the other players – Kelly, Groome, Rodríguez and Saalfrank – they all bet on MLB games that weren’t part of theirs. They did, however, bet on games played by their organization’s major league team while they were in the minors. Neither of them bet on baseball as often as Marcano did either.

Here is a complete breakdown of the data provided by MLB on the four players’ bets:

Kelly, 31, is the most notable of the group for having been part of the Athletics’ active roster. In 28 games this season, he has accumulated a 2.59 ERA (151 ERA+) and a 2.20 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Kelly, then with the Astros’ Triple-A team, placed 10 bets on nine MLB games (including three Houston games) between October 5, 2021 and October 17, 2021. In total, he bet $99.22 and won five of the bets. , putting him with a net gain of $28.30.

Groome, assigned to the Red Sox’s High-A team, placed 32 bets on MLB games between July 22, 2020, and July 24, 2021, including 24 on Boston games. He bet $453.74 and lost $433.54. He received payouts on just two bets.

Rodríguez, who played for the White Sox’s Double-A team, placed 31 baseball bets on September 30, 2021, and from June 5, 2022, to July 30, 2022, including on several college baseball games. In total, he bet $749.09 on baseball, $724.09 of which was on MLB-related bets.

Saalfrank, who was on the injured list of the Diamondbacks’ Low-A affiliate, placed 28 MLB-related bets and one on college baseball games between Sept. 9, 2021, and Oct. 29, 2021, and March 9, 2022. He bet $445.87 on baseball, with $444.07 of that on MLB-related bets. He had a net loss of $272.64 on MLB bets, losing all but five of his bets. He also lost his $1.80 college bet. Saalfrank played in two games in the majors for the Diamondbacks this year and in the 2023 playoffs for Arizona, including three games in the World Series.

MLB Gambling Policy

As noted in the introduction, MLB allows folks to bet on sports as long as it is legal in their territory and on non-diamond sports. The individuals suspended on Tuesday violated Rule 21, which makes two notable points.

The first, violated by non-Marcano players, states: “Any player, umpire, official or employee of the Club or League, who bets any amount on any baseball game in respect of which the bettor has no obligation to perform, shall be declared ineligible for a year.”

The other, specifically violated by Marcano, states: “Any player, umpire, official or employee of a club or league, who bets any amount on any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has a duty to perform, will be declared permanently ineligible. “

Other MLB Gambling Scandals

At the beginning of this season, Ippei Mizuhara – former interpreter of Shohei Ohtani – was accused of stealing more than $16 million of Ohtani to pay gambling debts to an illegal bookie. He faces a maximum of 33 years in prison. Braves minor leaguer David Fletcher is also being investigated by MLB for placing bets with the same illegal bookmaker that Mizuhara used. Neither Mizuhara nor Fletcher would have bet on baseball, but betting on any sport through illegal channels is also prohibited by MLB. Earlier this year, CBS Sports dug deeper into other historic baseball gambling scandals.