Marcano Banned from Baseball for Life

[revo]

Tucapito Marcano of the Padres was permanently banned from MLB after having been discovered to have wagered on baseball, including on the Pirates when he played for them.

"MLB's investigation found that Marcano didn't just bet on baseball frequently -- he's claimed to have gambled more than $150,000 across nearly 400 baseball bets, including on MLB and international contests -- but that he even bet on his own team, then 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's notable that Marcano did not appear in any of the games that he bet on because of his injury. He also denied having inside information that influenced his bets. MLB estimates that he won just 4.3% of his MLB-related gambles."


Four other players were suspended for a year for also wagering on baseball, but not on their own team's games. They include:
Oakland Athletics reliever Michael Kelly and minor-league players Jay Groome (Padres pitcher), José Rodríguez (Philadelphia Phillies infielder) and Andrew Saalfrank (Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher).

Here's a complete breakdown of the data MLB provided on the four players' bets:

Kelly	10	$9.92	$28.30
Groome	32	$15.12	-$433.54
Rodríguez	28	$25.86	N/A
Saalfrank	28	$15.86	-$272.64

Michael Kelly, who is an active member of the A's bullpen, just blew one year's salary and perhaps his entire career for $28???

[madducks]

MLB umpire Pat Hoberg has been disciplined for a violation of the league's gambling rules, according to The Athletic.

MLB's statement, via The Athletic:

“During this year’s Spring Training, Major League Baseball commenced an investigation regarding a potential violation of MLB’s sports betting policies by Umpire Pat Hoberg. Mr. Hoberg was removed from the field during the pendency of that investigation. While MLB’s investigation did not find any evidence that games worked by Mr. Hoberg were compromised or manipulated in any way, MLB determined that discipline was warranted. Mr. Hoberg has chosen to appeal that determination. Therefore, we cannot comment further until the appeal process is concluded.”