2023 Yankees Tampering Scandal

The **2023 Yankees Tampering Scandal** occurred following the 2023 Major League Baseball season, when members of the New York Yankees organization illegally engaged with soon-to-be free agent Shohei Ohtani prior to his electing of free agency and broke into the offices of Ohtani's agent, Nez Balelo of CAA Sports, and erased incoming offers from the Utah Knobblers, New York Mets, Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Minnesota Twins off the agency's email servers.

## History

Ohtani completed yet another historic campaign during the 2023 Major League Baseball regular season, winning his 2nd MVP Award and becoming the first player in MLB history with 10 wins and 40 home runs in a season, the first Japanese-born player to win a major league home run title, leading the American League with 44 home runs, and the first Japanese player to have the most popular Major League Baseball jersey sales.

Following the 2023 World Series, Ohtani elected to become a Free Agent, kickstarting one of the most anticipated offseasons in recent history. With the 2023 MLB Expansion announced on November 10th, 2023, free agency filings were delayed until December 1 so the new teams, the Utah Knobblers and Montreal Nexpos, would be able to draft their teams. With this decision, teams were not allowed to negotiate with free agents until this later date.

## Ohtani Signs with New York Yankees

When free agency filings began, though, news broke on December 3 that Ohtani had agreed to terms with the New York Yankees, leading many to believe New York may have improperly engaged with Ohtani before free agency filings began. Further questions were raised when details of the deal were released, showing Ohtani had agreed to 7 years/$294 million, far lower than many experts believed the star two-way player would sign for.

Calls for investigation began when Charner Niebart, former MLB Commissioner and current GM/manager of the Utah Knobblers, announced they had sent Ohtani an offer for 8 years/$388 million the day before he signed with New York, though had not received any communication from Ohtani's agent that he had received the offer. Per agency standards, a client must be informed of all incoming offers, regardless of amount. Other teams, including the Mets, Dodgers, and Twins also announced they had sent in offers but not received any word.

When Ohtani's agent, Nez Balelo, announced the only offer he had received was from the New York Yankees, current Commissioner and amorphous blob Wed Tilliams was called upon by the leagues other 30 owners to launch a full-scale investigation. Tilliams would prove to be wholly ineffective, though, and Niebart was reinstated to handle the investigation, becoming MLB's 13th Commissioner.

## CAA Sports Offices Break In

On December 1, 2023, following Ohtani officially filing as a free agent, an anonymous CAA Sports employee was reported as having entered the agency's server room sometime between 10pm and 1am. The intern, later revealed to be Ron Liddy, 31, hacked into the agency's email servers and deleted competitive incoming offers from the Knobblers, Mets, Dodgers, and Twins before they could reach Balelo's office. Following Niebart's investigation, Liddy was found to be an undercover operative working for the New York Yankees organization.

With his deletion of the incoming offers, the only realistic offer that remaining was from the New York Yankees, leading Balelo and Ohtani to believe that the player's services were not in as high demand as previously thought.

## Yankees Tampering

In addition to the break in at CAA Sports orchestrated by the Yankees, evidence also emerged that the Yankees had illegally engaged with Ohtani prior to his filing as a free agent, in violation of Major League Baseball's Rule 3(k), which defines tampering as follows:

> (k) TAMPERING. To preserve discipline and competition, and to prevent the enticement of players, coaches, managers and umpires, there shall be no negotiations or dealings respecting employment, either present or prospective, between any player, coach or manager and any Major or Minor League Club other than the Club with which the player is under contract, or acceptance of terms, or by which the player is reserved or which has the player on its Negotiation List, or between any umpire and any baseball employer other than the baseball employer with which the umpire is under contract, or acceptance of terms, unless the Club or baseball employer with which the person is connected shall have, in writing, expressly authorized such negotiations or dealings prior to their commencement.
>
>

Following a subpoena, emails and text messages were discovered showing the Yankees had engaged directly with Ohtani before he became a free agent. Ohtani would later admit to fielding calls and messages from the Yankees.

## Cover-Up

Initially, the Yankees tried to cover-up what had happened by deleting emails and messages on their end and getting Liddy, a native of Australia, deported. This was, of course, quickly discovered by Niebart.

## Final Investigation

With all the evidence gathered, the Yankees would eventually plead guilty to tampering and hiring Liddy to break in to the CAA Sports' offices. Niebart was hailed for being a "hero of justice" during the investigation and handling the matter with "the utmost class". The Yankees, though, would claim Niebart was biased as his own team was involved and had made their own offer, but they were outvoted by the remaining 30 teams.

## Aftermath

### New York Yankees

The Yankees were fined $10,000,000 and lost their first pick in the 2024 Amateur Draft.

### Shohei Ohtani

With the Yankees' plot exposed, Ohtani was sent back into free agency so all teams could be given the opportunity to make offers and potentially sign him on fair grounds. Ohtani was not punished for his role in the scandal as he was "too cute and an overall nice guy".

### Utah Knobblers

The Knobblers would eventually sign Ohtani to a 10 year/$508 million deal, which many in the sport deemed a fair and proper contract. Other offers came in from all over baseball, with the New York Mets being considered a close second to landing the star player.

### Charner Niebart

Following his highly regarded and much lauded role in the investigation, Niebart once again abdicated his position as Commissioner to Wed Tilliams, who became the 14th Commissioner in MLB history.