Wander Franco received’t be with the Tampa Bay Rays for no less than per week, and is beneath investigation by Major League Baseball.
Early Sunday afternoon, social media posts alleging that Franco, 22, had been concerned with a 14-year-old woman in his native Dominican Republic, went viral. The nation’s authorized age of consent is eighteen.
Franco occurred to be out of the lineup on Sunday afternoon.
Earlier this season, Rays supervisor Kevin Cash benched the shortstop for “not being the best teammate,” sidelining him for 2 video games. But on Sunday morning, Cash advised reporters it was “just a day off” for Franco, and caught to that story following his crew’s 9-2 loss to the Cleveland Guardians.
“I am aware of the speculation,” Cash mentioned. “I’m not going to comment any further on that, but the day off was because of the day off.”
While the shortstop had performed the final 40 consecutive video games, it was shocking that he’d get Sunday day without work, when the Rays’ giveaway for followers aged 14 and beneath was a “Wander Franco Snapback Hat.”
Even so, Franco left the dugout about midway by way of the sport, and wasn’t within the clubhouse when it ended. According to the Tampa Bay Times, a clubhouse attendant packed “baseball gear into a team travel bag at (Franco’s) locker.”
On Sunday evening, the Rays confirmed that MLB was trying into the scenario.
“During today’s game, we were made aware of the social media posts that are circulating regarding Wander Franco,” the crew’s assertion learn. “We take the situation seriously and are in close contact with Major League Baseball as it conducts its due diligence.”
Franco didn’t journey to San Francisco with the crew. By early Monday afternoon, the Rays introduced that he was occurring the restricted listing. Shortly earlier than 1 p.m., the crew’s public relations division’s X (previously Twitter) account launched a second assertion:
“The Tampa Bay Rays and Wander Franco have mutually agreed that he will go on the Restricted List and take leave from the Club for the duration of the current road trip.”
Less than an hour later, their X account shared a further replace in response to the information of MLB launching an official investigation:
“We support any steps taken by the league to better understand the situation. Out of respect for all parties involved, we have no further comments at this time.”
In a scenario akin to this, it’s vital to notice the excellence between administrative go away and the restricted listing. Both are technique of eradicating a participant from the crew’s roster whereas nonetheless holding them beneath membership management, nonetheless, on administrative go away, a participant continues to accrue service time and obtain their wage. The restricted listing has no such requirement, however ESPN studies that the Rays are persevering with to pay Franco’s wage. He signed an 11-year, $182 million contract in 2021.
Source: www.bostonherald.com