Washington Nationals' Prospect Lied About Identity, Age

Last night's article on SI.com revealing, "Nationals Prospect Falsified Identity," is yet another black eye to the Washington Nationals' franchise, which just can't get out of its own way.

Not even a full week has gone by since the signing of Adam Dunn and the team gets this bombshell. It's not A-Rod big, but in the grand scheme of things, it's plenty disappointing, on so many levels.

The "prospect" in question is Esmailyn Gonzalez, listed by the Nats as being 19 years old.  As it turns out, the player, according to four sources in the SI.com article, is really Carlos Alvarez Daniel Lugo, 23.

When the signing was announced, Nats' GM Jim Bowden said, amongst much fanfare, "This signing is symbolic of the Lerner family's and incoming club president Stan Kasten's pledge to become an industry leader in scouting and player development.'' 

The attention the Nats put toward the signing of Gonzalez and his success in the low minors seemed legitimate, as Gonzalez won a batting title and led his Gulf Coast team to a title last summer.  Now we know he was a man playing amongst boys.

The revelation about Gonzalez's age not only reduces his value as a prospect, it also provides a reminder about the perils of scouting in the Dominican Republic, where the Nationals have a spotty track record under dubious circumstances.

It's not a new story in baseball, where a once-lauded prospect turns out to be several years older that his presented birth certificate.  But this version has a couple of particularly disturbing aspects:  the amount of money involved, the familiarity of the parties involved in the negotiation, and the continuing misplaced trust in members of the Nationals' organization.

If SI.com writer Melissa Segura figured out Gonzalez' lies, why couldn't Bowden, Special Assistant Jose Rijo, and Jose Baez (the Nats' director of ops in the D.R.)? The cynic will point toward the ridiculously high signing bonus the Nats extended to the player and his buscon (street agent), Basilio Vizcaino.

Remember, the Nats signed the shortstop in 2006 with a $1.4 million signing bonus, twice what the next highest bidder offered. Also remember, all the negotiations for the other teams in the bidding process were handled by an agent—except the Nats' offer, which was coordinated by Vizcaino, a childhood friend of Rijo and protege of Baez.

The deal originally sparked the federal investigation of the Nats' organization for bonus money skimming, and with these latest allegations, expect even more scrutiny from the FBI and MLB's own investigation department.

The player can all but write off his American baseball career.  Falsifying federal immigration documents in the post-9/11 landscape is a sure-fire way not to be allowed back into the country.

Rijo's comments were downright laughable, if a Nats' fan can find humor in any of this:

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Asked if he sought documentation at the time of the signing, Rijo said, "[Heck] no. That's not my job. That's why the major league has an investigation. Before we sign [a player] he has to go through them... You see a document, but you're going to see a, you know, a real or fake one either way. But that doesn't matter. It has to go through Major League Baseball before you can get the player signed. They do their investigation; they do everything."

As for whether Rijo believed the SI.com article, he said, "I don't know what to believe."

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Just when a Nats' fan might think they could start feeling good about NatsTown, yet another shoe drops. Doesn't someone need to be held accountable for this?