Written by Greg Fertel | 15 August 2008

According to ESPN, the Yankees have fired two scouting directors in connection with the bonus skimming scandal in the Dominican Republic.  Carlos Rios, director of Latin American scouting, and Ramon Valdivia, director of scouting in the Dominican Republic, who have both been on leave during the investigation, will not return to their positions. This is a big blow to the organization's scouting in Latin America, as Rios and Valdivia have both played huge roles in making the Yankees the biggest spenders in Latin America.  However, they allegedly skimmed hundreds of thousands of dollars from bonuses, including potentially that of Kelvin De Leon, and this practice cannot be tolerated.  They will be replaced, and hopefully their unethical practices have not tarnished the reputation of the Yankees organization with Latin American teenagers.  It's hard to know how this will affect scouting and signing, but the Yankees had no choice in the matter.

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