Keith Law, ESPN Senior Writer 6y

Braves lose more than talent in MLB crackdown on international market abuses

The penalties levied on the Atlanta Braves by the commissioner's office set the team's rebuilding process back a bit, but not as much as the sheer quantity of names involved might imply. It does, however, send a very clear message to other teams that the league might come down on the kind of shenanigans that have become routine in the international market -- including bundling players, for which the Boston Red Sox also were penalized two years ago -- since Major League Baseball started trying to regulate such signings six years ago.

MLB made 13 Atlanta minor leaguers, all signed in the 2016-17 period, free agents, with the most notable name among them Kevin Maitan, who signed for $4.25 million on July 2, 2016. (I'm using the publicly reported bonus amounts for players here, although the MLB investigation found that the freed players received additional, unreported money too.)

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