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Talk about your Faustian bargains (pun totally intended)

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Steak Snabler, Jan 19, 2012.

  1. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    The Indians' Fausto Carmona was arrested in the Dominican Republic for using a false identity. Apparently, his name is actually Roberto Hernandez Heredia.

    Oh ... and he's 31, not 28.

    http://sbn.to/zCq0Lc


    To me, this kind of fraud is as bad — if not worse — than using PEDs. I understand why the players do it, but the teams end up getting cheated out of a lot of money on guys that "age" faster than they should.
     
  2. Versatile

    Versatile Active Member

    So, you think cheating billionaires out of a little money is as bad or worse than gaining a competitive advantage through illegal (by both federal law and MLB rules) means?
     
  3. TheSportsPredictor

    TheSportsPredictor Well-Known Member

    Fausto Carmona anagram = A Scam Afoot, Run.
     
  4. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    It's all fraud.

    And a "little money" is relative. Carmona signed a $43 million contract before the 2008 season. Would he have gotten that if he'd been known to be 27 (in the middle of his prime) rather than 24 (still on the upswing career-wise)?
     
  5. Golf clap
     
  6. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    Wouldn't identity fraud be grounds to utterly void (as in, 'not another cent') a contract?

    If I were the team's lawyers, I'd go on the grounds that we were fraudulently induced to sign a contract with a fictional person 28 years old rather than the real person who is 31. Bang-zoom no more money for you.
     
  7. sgreenwell

    sgreenwell Well-Known Member

    I think teams have voided contracts for this, yes. Because Carmona is a pitcher, this probably hurts his future value, but he probably would have gotten similar contracts if he was 24 or 27 at his last contract signing.
     
  8. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    Carmona's 2008 contract was for four years, with three club options tacked onto the end.

    http://blog.cleveland.com/sports/2008/04/cleveland_indians_fausto_carmo.html

    Something tells me they'll decline those ...
     
  9. Versatile

    Versatile Active Member

    So they lost no money at all. Even knowing his age, they would have loved to have him for a four-year contract.
     
  10. cjericho

    cjericho Well-Known Member

    How is it that guys are always caught after playing 5 or more years in the majors.
     
  11. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    I'm sure it's already happening, but this is going to induce teams to go TOTALLY Orly Taitz on anybody they even think about offering a big free-agent contract.

    In fact I wouldn't be surprised to see MLB, as in the assembled owners, contract with some kind of deep-black-ops intelligence firms to dig deep into the birth records of players. It's really an issue for ALL the owners since it fundamentally distorts the market value of players by inaccurately depicting them as younger (i.e. more valuable) than they really are.
     
  12. Football_Bat

    Football_Bat Well-Known Member

    A lot of times with Latin players, there are no records to dig deep into. The only birth record in a lot of places is a name and date written in the family Bible, if even that.

    Because of that, I'm a little surprised that using a false ID isn't more commonplace. I bet we'll start seeing a rash of these now.
     
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