Padres’ Tucupita Marcano banned for life for baseball betting, 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 ban 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 infielder ) and Andrew Saalfrank (Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher).

MLB received data from a legal sports betting operator regarding baseball gambling activities from accounts belonging to the above players, the league announced. Under MLB rules, staff are permitted to participate in sports gambling provided it is legal in their jurisdiction and they are not betting on diamond sports, i.e. baseball or softball. Every player violated the second part of this.

No player is appealing their suspension.

“Strict enforcement of Major League Baseball’s rules and policies governing the conduct of gambling is an essential part of upholding our most important priority: protecting the integrity of our games for fans,” the statement said. Commissioner Rob Manfred in a statement. “The long-standing ban on betting on Major League Baseball games by those involved in the sport has been a bedrock principle for more than a century. We have made it clear that the privilege of playing baseball comes with the responsibility to refrain from engaging in certain types of behavior that are legal for other people Since the Supreme Court’s decision opened the door to the legalization of sports betting, we have worked with operators. licensed sportsbooks and other third parties to put us in a better position from an integrity perspective through the transparency that a regulated sports betting system can provide. MLB will continue to invest heavily in oversight. integrity, educational programs and awareness initiatives with the aim of ensuring strict compliance with this fundamental rule of our game.”

Here’s what you need to know about Marcano, 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 along with Jack Suwinski for Adam Frazier and last November returned to the Padres on waivers . He hasn’t played a single game since last July after suffering a torn ACL.

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

It is worth noting that Marcano did not appear in any of the matches he bet on due to his injury. He also denied having inside information that influenced his bets. MLB estimates he won only 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 they weren’t part of themselves. They did, however, bet on games played by their organization’s major league team while they were in the minor leagues. None of them bet on baseball with the same frequency as Marcano, either.

Here’s a full breakdown of the data provided by MLB on all four players’ betting:

Kelly, 31, is the most notable of the group considering he was a member of the Athletics’ active roster. In 28 games this season, he had accumulated a 2.59 ERA (151 ERA+) and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 2.20. Kelly, then a member of 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. , which gives him 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 winnings on only two bets.

Rodríguez, who played for the Double-A White Sox team, placed 31 bets on baseball 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, of which $724.09 went to MLB-related bets.

Saalfrank, who was on the Diamondbacks’ Low-A affiliate’s injured list, made 28 MLB-related bets and one on college baseball games between September 9, 2021 and October 29, 2021 and March 9, 2022. He bet $445.87 on baseball, including $444.07 on MLB-related bets. He suffered a net loss of $272.64 on MLB betting, losing all but five of his bets. He also lost his college bet by $1.80. Saalfrank has pitched 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 Gaming Policy

As stated in the introduction, MLB allows staff to bet on sports as long as it is legal in their territory and they are non-diamond sports. The individuals suspended on Tuesday were found to have breached Rule 21, which has two notable points.

The first, violated by non-Marcano players, states: “Any player, umpire, official or employee of a club or league, who will bet any amount on a baseball game for which the bettor has no obligation to perform, must be declared ineligible for one year.

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

Other MLB gambling scandals

Earlier this season, Ippei Mizuhara – the former interpreter of Shohei Ohtani – was accused of stealing more than $16 million of Ohtani to repay his gambling debts to an illegal bookmaker. He faces a maximum sentence of 33 years in prison. Braves minor leaguer David Fletcher is also under investigation 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 took a closer look at other historic baseball betting scandals..