Oh, boy, this is a bad situation. Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco has been indefinitely suspended from the team and the MLB as prosecutors in his native Dominican Republic investigate him for dating a 14-year-old girl.
This is a weird, disturbing story.
In what has to be the strangest and most disturbing baseball story of the season, the Tampa Bay Rays and the MLB have thrown Wander Franco in the baseball purgatory of an indefinite suspension after being told he’s under investigation by the Dominican Republic government for allegations of inappropriate relationships with a minor. And, if these reports and allegations are true, then I hope Franco never even steps within 300 feet of a baseball park again.
I really didn’t think I would be writing on here about potentially criminal allegations of a professional athlete being involved in inappropriate relations with a minor, yet here we are. For those who don’t know much about this story, Rays All-Star shortstop Wander Franco has been suspended by the team and is under investigation of the Dominican Republic government for allegedly having a relationship with a 14-year-old girl.
And, no, I don’t mean that he was just overly friendly with the girl or that he was a creepy uncle (which are still very bad). His being investigated for DATING and…well…you know what else with the girl!
Now, I’m not too clear on all the details of this case but from what I’ve gathered, Wander Franco was in a relationship with a 14-year-old Dominican Republic girl prior to the start of this season and pictures of the two being together surfaced online and obviously grabbed the attention of the Dominican Republic’s National Agency for Boys, Girls, Adolescents and Family and Gender Violence Unit as they opened an investigation into Franco.
And, when this news broke to the MLB and the Rays a few days ago, Tampa Bay immediately placed him on the restricted list to land us in the situation we find ourselves now.
If you want to take a sports angle to this story, this news really is a disaster for the Rays as they not only have just lost a guy who made the 2023 All-Star game, has hit 17 home runs, 124 hits, is batting .281, has 116 putouts, 310 assists, and a fielding percentage of .979, but who also is getting paid $180M over the next 9 years.
Franco, who is only 22 years old, was supposed to be one of the franchise faces of this improving Rays team as they look to reclaim first place in the AL East and mount a World Series run, yet now it seems like he’ll “never play in the MLB again” according to MLB Insider Hector Gomez as the case against him by the Dominican Republic government is that strong.
But, to be honest, I don’t even want to talk about the MLB side of this story as the crimes Franco is being accused of are so heinous and disgusting. I know I don’t need to say this as it’s self-evident and obvious, but it’s truly repugnant and vile to ever treat a minor in the manner of which Franco has subjected this girl (if the allegations are true) and Franco should never suit up for another MLB game for the rest of his days if found guilty.
And, that’s probably not going to be an issue as the presiding judge over this situation, Judge Olga Diná LlaverÃas, is known to be one of the most ardent experts in these types of child abuses cases and the Dominican Republic is known for being very harsh (as they should be) on child abusers.
We’ll know more about this story later, but I’m going to end this article here as just writing about this subject and Franco (if he’s found guilty) makes me sick.
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