The White Sox fired player personnel director David Wilder and two scouts following an ongoing investigation in Latin America that has been turned over to federal authorities.
The firings of Wilder, who has been with the White Sox since the fall of 2003, full-time scout Victor Mateo and part-time scout Domingo Toribio occurred after a two-month investigation conducted by Major League Baseball’s Department of Investigations.
An international scout for another major-league team said two weeks ago that the Commissioner’s office was interviewing the parents of several Latin players about the bonuses they received from MLB teams. Sox general manager Ken Williams, however, declined to comment on whether financial improprieties were part of the Sox’s investigation involving Wilder and the two scouts.
But Williams admitted he was hurt over the firing of Wilder because of his longtime friendship and trust.
“On a professional level and personal level, this hurts,” Williams said after a long pause. “But you will never see me, even though there were obviously some things that have drawn us to this day, you’re not going to hear me say a disparaging word about any of the people who are involved in this, simply because we’re going to maintain a level of professionalism.”
The Sox had requested MLB’s independent investigation of their Latin American scouting operations after internal questions were raised.
The Sox have tried to shore up their efforts in the Dominican Republic for the last two years by studying the successes of other organizations there. They want to combine their successes and blend it into a new facility.
They also signed 16-year-old shortstop Juan Silverio from the Dominican for a $600,000 late last summer and moved minor-league manager Rafael Santana to oversee operations in his native Dominican because of his knowledge of the Sox’s needs at the major-league level and minor-league shortcomings.
Once allegations surfaced about potential wrongdoing, Wilder was re-assigned to scout amateur players for next month’s draft.
Wilder had supervised the Sox’s Latin American operations since the fall of 2004. Williams vowed the Sox would continue to increase their efforts while the federal investigation continues
“That includes more active participation from the Dominican Republic, which traditionally doesn’t get the same attention as [the Class-A teams], that will be on the roving instructors’ routine schedules,” Williams said. “And the scouts’ checks and balances on the schedule will be such that it will be more consistent.”
