On Thursday, the Arizona Diamondbacks announced they were making a roster move, designating right-hander Scott McGough for assignment while reinstating Andrew Saalfrank and optioning him to the Arizona Complex League.
Normally such a move wouldn’t move the needle, but Saalfrank was suspended for one year due to gambling on baseball on June 4, 2024. Note that date. The suspension has now concluded. Saalfrank wasn’t alone as there were three others suspended for a year while Tucupita Marcano received a permanent ban.
MLB gambling scandal explained: Padres’ Tucupita Marcano gets lifetime ban for baseball bets, others punished
Matt Snyder
Saalfrank, Athletics reliever Michael Kelly, Padres pitcher Jay Groome and Phillies infielder José Rodríguez were all found to have bet on baseball games, though not ones in which they were participants. MLB allows players to gamble on other sports, but not baseball (or softball) at any level. The bets were all in small amounts (no one exceeded an average of $25.86 per bet) and two of the players lost money overall.
Saalfrank’s activation and assignment to the ACL means he’s going to start building himself back up with the hope that he’ll return to the majors. In fact, all four suspended players appear like they could be on their way back. Per The Athletic:
The Arizona Diamondbacks will bring back Saalfrank. The A’s also plan to bring back Kelly. … The Philadelphia Phillies have welcomed Rodriguez back to their facility. That’s all according to sources with the individual teams, who were granted anonymity to speak freely due to the sensitive nature of the issue.
The Padres have non-tendered Groome, according to The Athletic.
Saalfrank was an important bullpen piece in the D-backs’ run to the 2023 World Series, but last season pitched his way back into the minors. Kelly was having a solid season in the Oakland bullpen last season and it would make on-field sense if the A’s brought him back quickly this time around. Groome is a former prospect who has yet to make it to the majors and was in Triple-A for the Padres last year. Rodríguez has also never made the majors.
Major League Baseball continues to attempt to juggle gambling, in terms of making money via advertisements and allowing fans to bet on baseball while forbidding team personnel from doing so. The hope here is that the players getting caught serves as a deterrent to any players in the future from doing so and that it just isn’t worth the trouble.
The activation of these players also comes just weeks after MLB reinstated more than a dozen now-deceased players who were permanently banned from baseball, many of them due to gambling. Most famous on the list was Pete Rose, who was permanently banned in 1989 due to having bet on his own team’s games.
