Ken Rosenthal is reporting that the Pittsburgh Pirates have dismissed Rene Gayo, who was their Director of Latin American Scouting. According to Rosenthal’s article on The Athletic (subscription required), an investigation by Major League Baseball revealed that Gayo took an improper payment for the sale of at least one player from a summer team in Mexico several years ago. When the Pirates found out about the payment, they told Gayo that they would not renew his contract. Rosenthal also notes that Gayo faces possible discipline from Major League Baseball.
Gayo has been in charge of the Latin American Scouting for the Pirates since 2004. He was responsible for signing players such as Starling Marte, Gregory Polanco, Jose Osuna, Edgar Santana and Elias Diaz among others. The Pirates are currently searching for Gayo’s replacement.
UPDATE 9:12 PM: The Pirates released the following statement:
The Pittsburgh Pirates announced that the Club will not be renewing the contract of Director of Latin American Scouting, Rene Gayo. The announcement was made by Executive Vice President, General Manager Neal Huntington. “We informed Rene that we would not be renewing his contract upon its expiration next month and thanked him for his efforts on behalf of the Pirates,” said Huntington. “As an organization, we concluded that we needed to move in a new and different direction with our Latin American scouting leadership. We will immediately begin an exhaustive search aimed at securing the very best leader for our Latin American scouting operations.” “We had been apprised of Major League Baseball’s investigation into alleged Rules violations committed by Rene during his tenure with the Pirates and the fact that MLB intends to discipline Rene as a result of those violations. Other than confirming our profound disappointment in the breach of trust that was the subject of MLB’s investigation, we will have no further comment on the investigation or MLB’s intended discipline.”
