The 2011 Opening Day starting pitcher for the Cleveland Indians, Fausto Carmona, whose real name is Roberto Hernandez Heredia was arrested on Thursday in the Dominican Republic for using a false identity to play baseball in the United States. With the arrest, it was also revealed that the player is actually 31 years old and not 28 as he claimed. On Friday, he offered a tearful apology to the team's fan base and was released on a $13,000 bail.
Carmona was the second Dominican player to be arrested for using a false identity in the last few months. In December, Leo Nunez, whose real name is Juan Carlos Oviedo was arrested as well. He has since signed a new contract with the Miami Marlins to continue to be their closer.
Unfortunately, this raises the question of player ethics and whether these players, who lie about their age and identity to play in the US, should be rewarded for their crimes. Nunez recently signed a $6M deal and Carmona is set to make $7 million this year. The team also holds options for 2013 at $9 million and 2014 at $12 million. Can this be considered a breach of contract and can the team revoke their contract with Carmona? Now that the pitcher is 3 years older i'm sure the team will be looking to go over this contract and see if they have a chance of lowering the amount of money due to the player.
Upon doing some further research on the matter, it appears that falsifying their identity to gain entry into the US to play baseball is not a new problem for MLB. A few years ago, all star Shorstop Miguel Tejada was caught lying about his age and the spelling of his surname. He was actually two years older then he claimed when he first signed a MLB contract.
Besides it being unethical for the players to do this, it is also a cause for concern for national security because of how easy a player can change their identity to gain access into the US. At the end of the day, should a player who is caught lying about their identity and age be allowed to play in MLB without any penalty or should they be punished like players who use performance enhancing drugs? It seems like the MLB will need to address this common practice amongst foreign born players.
http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/7484132/cleveland-indians-fausto-carmona-asks-fans-forgiveness
