Rijo takes leave of absence from Nationals
Jose Rijo, special assistant to General Manager Jim Bowden, is taking a leave of absence from the Nationals because he doesn't want to be a distraction to the team, according to team president Stan Kasten.
Kasten is referring to the scandal involving Carlos Alvarez Daniel Lugo, who went by the name Esmailyn Gonzalez when he was signed by the Nationals and given a $1.4 million dollar signing bonus.
"Jose is on a leave," Kasten said. "With all the questions swirling and all the work being done still on this matter, we felt it would be a good time for him to be away from here."
Rijo was the central figure in convincing the Nationals to give Gonzalez a contract. At the time, everyone thought he was 16. After an intense investigation, it was determined that Gonzalez was really Lugo and his true age was 20 at the time they signed him.
Kasten added that Rijo's mother is ailing and he will most likely return to the Dominican Republic to be with her. There is no timetable for his return to the Nationals and he is still an employee. Rijo is the only person from the organization who has been asked to leave the team.
Kasten went on to say that the surface has only been scratched with regards to Lugo.
"When I first described the situation the other day, it's a serious one, it's one that I'm taking seriously, and its one baseball is taking seriously," said Kasen. "There is a lot going on behind the scenes. You've only seen a small piece of it so far and there's a lot more to do. In time you will be learning more and more about it."
Bowden, who was in Arizona for arbitration hearings, returned to Spring Training today to watch practices, but declined to talk to the media. Kasten ordered his general manager not to discuss the case at this time.
"I would encourage him; let me put it stronger, I'm going to tell him not to talk about the Esmailyn Gonzalez stuff unless he wants to say something very general because it is at a very sensitive stage," Kasten said of Bowden.
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I hope that the Nats are able to do something legally to recover some of the signing bonus paid to this imposter. Since he is employed in the United States by a company in the United States, can they sue for fraud in the US court system even though the imposter is not a citizen?
I hope that Rijo isn't involved other than on the outside of this. How is it that this came to light now but didn't three years ago? I understand how desperate those in the Dominican are to make money, but there must be some recourse short of a worldwide draft.
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Stan Kasten talked about taking every course of action, but wouldn't elaborate. The Nats thought something was wrong, but they were waiting for MLB to investigate before commenting.