The San Diego Padres are reportedly pulling out of the deal after learning that International Prospect is five years older than previously thought

A relative scandal in the world of international free agents, where a prospect for the San Diego Padres had his verbal consent revoked after the MLB discovered he was five years older than he claimed.

The report by Jorge Castillo and Alden Gonzalez:

A pre-arranged $4 million bonus for the prospect means he was viewed as a major talent by the Padres…perhaps in large part because he was actually 19 years old and not the 14 years old they thought he was . He was supposed to sign with the Padres in January 2027 (!), but now that deal is off the table.

Remember that players cannot sign in international free agency until they are at least 16 years old. However, with pre-agreed contracts, players (and their coaches) commit years in advance. It's clearly against the rules, but has been openly tolerated for decades. Apparently this is tolerated so openly that MLB can be the entity that finds out that a prospect is five years older than claimed and the deal is pulled by the MLB team, which in theory should never have had a permanent deal to begin with may. It's still an ugly deal, but the MLB Players Association fought to maintain it during recent collective bargaining negotiations because it essentially allows players to choose their own organization and can make them more money than a draft. Basically. How much choice a 13-year-old player actually has or how much money he actually gets probably varies greatly from case to case. For more on how corrupt the system can be and how age falsification has increased, see the ESPN report.

I suppose the potential insights for the entire league are here…

1.) Although things are much, much better than they were a few decades ago, age-related shenanigans in the international market are still a factor in new signings;

2.) “Deals” made years in advance with players under the actual minimum age limit are still treated this way Offers by MLB teams, and there is still no movement to disclose these types of wink-wink agreements (Aside from that one lawsuit, which…did that ever go anywhere? I never heard anything and certainly no changes to the system); And

3.) MLB can cite another example when it comes to implementing an international draft in the next CBA.

(I felt I couldn't go unmentioned about the Padres' success in recent years with exceptionally precocious young international prospects Ethan Salas and Leodalis De Vries, each reaching the ball for the entire season at just 17(!) years old. But I must also make it clear that there is no evidence of age problems there and I am not suggesting anything of the sort. It just felt tone-deaf to write about a Padres problem like this and not mention two extreme outliers like this in the same organization. That's why there is a bracket at the end here.)