Baseball America | Blog | Baseball America Prospects Blog | Jairo Beras Decision Remains Pending For Rangers

MLB has yet to announce to teams a decision on the case of Jairo Beras, according to sources familiar with the situation.

Beras, a lanky 6-foot-5 Dominican corner outfielder, had been considered by several teams to be the top prospect eligible to sign on July 2. However, after using a birth certificate saying he was born Dec. 25, 1995, Beras used a new birth certificate claiming he was 17 to sign with the Rangers on Feb. 29 for $4.5 million, a far greater amount than he likely would have been able to command under the new international signing restrictions that begin on July 2.

Whatever the outcome of the case is, Beras’ pending status does put the Rangers at a disadvantage in the July 2 market, since they won’t know whether Beras might get suspended and then fall under the $2.9 million bonus pool rules for the 2012-13 international signing period. Yet general manager Jon Daniels and his staff had to have known, given the circumstances in the Beras case, that it would take MLB a long time to sort through everything.

From MLB’s perspective, there also isn’t any hurry to reach a decision. MLB has “verified” the ages of several high-profile players in recent years, only to go back later and find out that those players had lied about their ages and in some cases their identities as well. There are some players who haven’t been able to get on the field yet after waiting for nearly a year for the results of an MLB investigation. Other players in the past have had to wait even longer. From MLB’s perspective, their concern is to make sure that nobody involved in the case is engaged in fraud or other corruption. While July 2 is an important date on the baseball calendar, there’s no reason MLB has to make any ruling before then, and the Beras investigation is only one of hundreds of cases they’re face with tackling.

Technically, the decision should affect any team with interest in Beras. If he is suspended and would become eligible to sign next year (presumably February or March 2013, if it’s a one-year suspension retroactive to his signing date), teams that might want to sign Beras would have to consider reallocating resources from their $2.9 million bonus pool, a big chunk of which is likely to be spent next month for many teams.

The alternative for Beras in that situation would be to wait until July 2, 2013 to sign, since then the signing bonus pools would be larger than $2.9 million for some teams based on inverse order of 2012 winning percentage, although that means the Rangers would likely have minimal funds. However, most teams expect Beras to end up with the Rangers regardless of what happens, so the decision is likely to primarily affect Texas.

Meanwhile, everyone involved will just have to wait.

Hurry the decision? That's ridiculous; they're already at least 6 weeks overdue. They may not have to "hurry," but they do have a responsibility to make a decision in a timely manner so that the player and all of the organizations that are waiting on this kid can move on.

Posted by Ajax | June 22, 2012 at 3:14 pm | Shortcut

Six weeks overdue from what? There is no deadline. This is not a standard case and the length of the investigation reflects that. Many players have had to wait longer.

Posted by Ben Badler | June 22, 2012 at 3:20 pm | Shortcut

RE: Six weeks overdue from what? There is no deadline.
Six overdue from when they originally promised to make a decision. If there's no evidence of wrongdoing, just admit it and move on. It's not right to let the case linger without an end in sight just because you can.

Posted by Ajax | June 22, 2012 at 3:23 pm | Shortcut

I'm not aware, and I don't think the Rangers are either, of any promise to resolve the case by a certain date. For a variety of factors, these cases take time to figure out, especially a complex one like the Beras case.

Posted by Ben Badler | June 22, 2012 at 3:35 pm | Shortcut

RE: I'm not aware, and I don't think the Rangers are either, of any promise to resolve the case by a certain date.

OK, instead of "promise," let's say that MLB first indicated that the investigation was concluded and that decision was imminent two months ago.

According to MLB.com on April 23, "The investigation into the identity of prospect Jairo Beras is complete and a decision could be imminent, according to an industry source."
http://texas.rangers.mlb.com/n.....8;c_id=tex

According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on April 25, "
Major League Baseball is nearing the end an investigation it launched in late March after giving the Rangers 20 days to provide evidence that Beras is 17 years old and that the $4.5 million contract is legal. A decision could come next week."
http://www.star-telegram.com/2.....ation.html

According to someone named Ben Badler on April 27, "Now MLB.com is reporting that the league has concluded its investigation into the Beras case and could make a decision soon"
http://www.baseballamerica.com.....13315.html

According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on May 16, "A source said that the Rangers have been told that the investigation into Beras' age and if he misrepresented his age has been completed, but another source said the investigation is in its final stages."

This investigation has been in its "final stages" for about 6 weeks now. Get on with it MLB. You have no right to take forever.

Posted by Ajax | June 22, 2012 at 4:23 pm | Shortcut

Those are media reports from other outlets, not anything coming directly from Major League Baseball that the league would finish the Beras case by a certain date. As we reported on April 27, the Rangers had not heard yet whether the investigation was complete. I have never been told by anyone within MLB that the case was either completed or would be by a certain date.

Posted by Ben Badler | June 22, 2012 at 4:34 pm | Shortcut

Ajax, thanks for the questions. Just to clarify since there may have been some confusion, the April 27 report of mine you pointed to was referencing the MLB.com story, but pointing out that our information, which came from the Rangers, was that Texas had not been informed of whether MLB had reached any decision. From all of my conversations with Rangers personnel, they have been consistent in saying that they have not been told by MLB that any investigation was complete. I believe them.

Posted by Ben Badler | June 23, 2012 at 3:28 pm | Shortcut

There is only a small subset of baseball fans that is following this investigation, but to those fans that do the length of time to resolve this matter makes the MLB look like they are either incapable of completing a timely investigation or they have a punitive reason for waiting so long to render their decision. Hopefully, once they do finally give a decision, they will explain why it took them so long. It would give fans more confidence in their decision.

Posted by scott | June 23, 2012 at 9:20 pm | Shortcut

If MLB approves the contract before July 2, how many other newly-minted 17-year-olds will pop out of the woodwork looking for a $3 or $4 million contract? This would not be good.
If MLB approves the contract on (or after) July 2 retroactive to when the Rangers signed the kid, the precedence this case sets will not have any impact as all the rules change effective July 2. Hopefully, the Rangers SHOULD still have their entire $2.9 million to spend on this year's crop along with Beras. Anything other would be exposing the Commissioner to more charges of conflict of interest and he really doesn't need that.

Posted by Ed Looney | June 24, 2012 at 3:30 am | Shortcut