No Time For Snark
This is rather bizarre, in a sense it’s a personal matter and tangential to the team itself, but at the same time it has potential implications for roster and clubhouse dynamics. The Seattle Times is reporting that Carlos Peguero’s wife (who is, incidentally, the daughter of Pedro Borbon, one of the let’s say more unusual characters in baseball history) has been charged in federal court with wire fraud based on alleged misuse of a debit card belonging to King Felix’s wife. Got that?
Okay, to begin with, innocent until proven guilty, let’s respect that. The charges are based on purchases made in 2012, although it’s not clear from the report when the issue was discovered. It’s before Felix signed his latest extension, although he was already making enough money that $180,000 from Saks could be overlooked. I’m sure he knows some of the dangers for people that wealthy in determining whom to trust, and has professionals managing his finances as the story indicates, but normally you would be most wary of outsiders trying to weasel in, not necessarily people already connected to the team. Being human, players can have their performance affected by family issues, not that Felix would likely ever admit to this as an excuse. Statistically, of course, it’s impossible to evaluate because you can’t verify or reconstruct many of the factors involved, but the impact is real enough to the person going through the experience.
Peguero has told investigators he didn’t know about the purchases. The presumption of innocence should hold up all the more so for someone not charged with any wrongdoing, so let’s take him at his word. It’s not out of the question that Felix might accept that too and they could coexist, men could be teammates and friends and many other things even when their wives don’t get along.
The team has declined to comment, as you might expect. We have no way of knowing how long they’ve been aware of the situation or what impact it might have on their decisions. Any fallout we might speculate about can just as easily have a much more straightforward explanation. We don’t know if they found out during spring training, or maybe after Peguero spent a week with the team in April, or much more recently. Despite the ongoing disasters in the outfield this past season, Peguero was not at any point the best available solution and overlooked. His lack of development means nothing seemed unusual when he didn’t return, even with expanded September rosters, and his performance at Tacoma never really demanded a callup. He’s now out of options and wasn’t likely to have a future with the team regardless. Perhaps Zduriencik moves on over the winter (he’d be a great candidate to follow Wladimir Balentien to Japan), or else he comes back in spring training for one last try, awkward though that may seem now.
Why would the team make a statement? What would they say?
Well… there’s a lot of things they could say and for a variety of reasons. They could address whether this would influence their decisions going forward regarding Peguero. They could address any concerns that the team is not being more discerning in their review / background check process for players (harkening back to the Josh Lueke debacle). They could mention that they’re cooperating with the investigation in any way they can (blah blah blah). Sometimes it is a good idea to say something just to let everybody know you’re on the ball, if nothing else.
This is a no brainer for the team: goodbye Peguero. The team needs to bring up Morban and Blash to start the season in Tacoma anyway so there won’t be playing time for Peguero. Peguero isn’t a major league talent and team should go ahead and cut ties.
Thanks for the memories, Carlos.
I was wondering where Carlos got those Javan Rhino boots!
I find it remarkable that this story only comes to light one year after the purchases were made.
And, according to the article, Mrs. Fernandez was reimbursed by the Bank that had issued the card so the Fernandez family is not really the victim, at least from a financial point of view (I wonder though, why the bank reimbursed them?).
Finally, the comment by “Not that Ben Stein” to the Seattle Times article is commedy gold.
Felix Fernandez is a class act. Fernandez is probably just taking this all in stride and laughing. Fernandez baby! The reason to be an m’s fan still. Felix Fernandez. Yowza yowza yowza! Fernandez forever!
I would be surprised if this changes anyone’s attitude toward Peggy, actually.
I’ve wanted the team to cut ties with Peggy for a couple years now, so this doesn’t change anything for me. And it’s hard to feel too sorry for a guy that’s been earning a lot more than I do. 😉 But, in any case, I’m not going to blame him for something his wife may have done.
BTW it’s nice to see an appearance from Mr. Snow – thanks for the heads up on this story, Mike!
You pass up a lot of opportunities to use the wondrous semi-colon, and instead create comma splices!
It’s about time the Mariners made some noise in October!
I guess we’ll be seeing her in the King’s Court.
Sorry TypicalIdiotFan but I’m not sure this is either realistic or realevant. One, this appearently has something to do with Pegs wife, not him. I don’t think team’s generally screen a 16 year old international free agent on whom his future wife will be. Nor do they screen a player’s spouse in general. That would be weird at best, intrusive and probably unconstitutional. Second, this is alleged theft not rape or kidnapping. This doesn’t scar the franchise, this has nothing to do with the franchise. I agree with diderot, ‘what would they say’ besides ‘we don’t comment on other people’s business’.
versacegoldbarbie@yahoo.com
At the very least she’s guilty of being a complete cheeseball.
Further proof that money doesn’t buy class, not even other people’s money.
What could they say? Anything they might say that isn’t completely without content runs the risk of (a) p*ssing off Felix! or (b) sounding like they’re throwing Peguero under the bus for something his wife did.
Of course they may well throw Peguero under the bus anyway, but they can do so without taking unnecessary shots at him on his way out of town.
Yes, I wrote this rather quickly last night and might have constructed a couple sentences differently had I wanted to truly polish it. But the bad habit is not simply the comma splice, the writing should really be tighter in general. In that regard, the semicolon would mostly be an enabling crutch, so I tend not to use it much. It’s always good to get feedback on my writing, though, thanks.
In terms of negative PR, this is not as bad as the time Ted Bundy wore a Seattle Mariner t-shirt at his Florida murder trial.
Mrs.Peggy needs to reimburse the bank!
Carlos might want Japanese baseball, but his wife would probably not be able to get a visa to accompany him.
There is a ESPN story up that has more info. Like:
Step right up folks to the Mariners circus! Just when you thought it couldn’t get any weirder…
“Authorities say Peguero had items shipped to her own apartment in Fife.”
Just as the US has fly-over country, Puget Sound has drive-through towns, and Fife for me is the classic drive-through. I can’t count how many times I’ve driven past the signs for the I-5 exit(s) for Fife, but AFAIK I’ve never been to Fife. Not sure that there’s any reason to go there; on the one hand professional athletes usually live in rather luxurious high-rent areas but OTOH Peguero’s essentially a minor leaguer and they often have to scrape by, relatively speaking.
“I don’t think team’s generally screen a 16 year old international free agent on whom his future wife will be.”
Basically correct, although once an event does happen and a wife becomes a known lightning rod, it probably behooves a team to take that into account. Anna Benson is probably the most prominent recent example, and I remember some wives of players on the Supersonics getting into some sort of fist-fight.
Just watch. Come 2014, “The Real Housewives of Puget Sound” will launch – starring Ms. Peguero.
If this was the most important item of interest in current Mariner land, we would be in absolute fabulous shape. Unfortunately, it is not. Only two weeks away from serious discussion on future Mariner “Trader Jack” moves or non-moves. Can’t wait.
I agree – it is never a time for snarf.