Their yearlong bans up, 4 players who bet on baseball reinstated by MLB
Major League Baseball's one-year suspensions for betting on the sport ended for four players Thursday — San Diego starter Jay Groome, Athletics relief pitcher Michael Kelly, Philadelphia infielder José Rodríguez and Arizona reliever Andrew Saalfrank.
The A's reinstated Kelly along with left-hander T.J. McFarland, who was on the injured list. They optioned right-handers Elvis Alvarado and Justin Sterner to Triple-A Las Vegas to make room on their big league roster.
Kelly entered Thursday's 14-3 victory over visiting Minnesota with two outs in the seventh. He pitched 1 1/3 innings, allowing no hits, striking out two batters and walking one.
'The last day when he walked out of the clubhouse, I told him to focus on getting through this and continue to prep to be back in the uniform,' Athletics manager Mark Kotsay said. 'To have him in a game today and see him have success, it couldn't been a better part of the day.'
Saalfrank was optioned to the Diamondbacks' rookie-level Arizona Complex League.
The Padres did not offer Groome a contract, nor did the Phillies with Rodríguez, making them both free agents.
Kelly was suspended for betting on baseball while in the minor leagues, and the other three minor leaguers were penalized for betting on big league games. Each player wagered less than $1,000. Saalfrank and Rodríguez played previously in the majors.
The players violated Major League Rule 21, which is posted in every clubhouse. They were handed mandatory one-year suspensions for betting on games in which they did not participate. If they had bet on any games they attended in person — even if they didn't play — they would have been banned for life.
AP freelancers Ian Harrison in Toronto and Michael Wagaman in San Francisco contributed to this report.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CTV News
28 minutes ago
- CTV News
Judge denies Harvey Weinstein's bid for mistrial after juror complains
Harvey Weinstein appears for his retrial at a Manhattan court, Wednesday, May 21, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith, Pool) NEW YORK — A juror in Harvey Weinstein's sex crimes trial asked to be removed from the case Friday because he felt his fellow jurors were treating a member of their panel in an 'unfair and unjust' way, but the judge told him he had to keep deliberating. Judge Curtis Farber later denied a defense request for a mistrial, saying he believed the juror was simply expressing discomfort in the deliberation process, noting that he's the youngest on the 12-person panel. 'This is nothing other than normal tensions during heated deliberations,' Farber told the lawyers after the juror rejoined his peers. 'Perhaps his youth makes him uncomfortable with conflict.' The second day of deliberations ended Friday without a verdict. Jurors are expected back in court Monday. Jurors reheard testimony from Weinstein's three accusers. They also reviewed other evidence, including medical records and emails. Twice on Friday, though, a juror requested to address the court without the other jurors present. The juror said he wanted to be excused from the trial because he was uncomfortable with how some jurors were acting toward another juror. But Farber denied the request, saying there were no more alternate jurors to replace him and, in any case, his concerns did not warrant being dismissed. The juror insisted, calling the treatment 'unfair and unjust' even as he described the tension as 'playground stuff' with jurors shunning another juror and talking behind their back. Weinstein's lawyer Arthur Aidala argued that the jury should be told to stop deliberating while the court found out more about the concerns. He criticized the judge's questions to the concerned juror as 'anemic at best.' 'You didn't ask him one follow-up question,' Aidala said. Manhattan prosecutor Nicole Blumberg said the judge acted appropriately by reminding jurors about the expectations for them -- including that they not speak to anyone about the case unless all members of the jury are deliberating. The issue, she noted, does not appear to be hindering the jury's work, as the panel requested a readout of other testimony even after he raised concerns. Sexual misconduct allegations against Weinstein propelled the .MeToo movement in 2017. The jury of seven women and five men is considering two counts of criminal sex act and one count of rape against the 73-year-old Oscar-winning movie producer, with the criminal sex act charges the higher-degree felonies. Weinstein has pleaded not guilty. Weinstein was convicted of sex crimes in New York and California, but the New York conviction was overturned last year, leading to the retrial before a new jury and a different judge. Jurors heard more than five weeks of testimony, including lengthy testimony from three accusers. Article by Philip Marcelo. Resources for sexual assault survivors in Canada If you or someone you know is struggling with sexual assault or trauma, the following resources are available to support people in crisis:
CBC
an hour ago
- CBC
Kilmar Abrego Garcia being returned to U.S. to face charges of transporting illegal immigrants
Social Sharing Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose mistaken deportation to El Salvador became a political flashpoint in the Trump administration's stepped-up immigration enforcement, is being returned to the United States to face criminal charges related to what the Trump administration say was a massive human smuggling operation that brought immigrants into the country illegally. He is expected to be prosecuted in the U.S. and, if convicted, will be returned to his home country in El Salvador at the conclusion of the case, officials said Friday. "This is what American justice looks like," Attorney General Pam Bondi said Friday in announcing the return of Abrego Garcia and the criminal charges. The charges stem from a 2022 vehicle stop in which the Tennessee Highway Patrol suspected Abrego Garcia of human trafficking. A report released by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in April states that none of the people in the vehicle had luggage, while they listed the same address as Abrego Garcia. Abrego Garcia was never charged with a crime, and the officers allowed him to drive on with only a warning about an expired driver's licence, according to the DHS report. The report said he was travelling from Texas to Maryland, via Missouri, to bring in people to perform construction work. In response to the report's release in April, Abrego Garcia's wife said in a statement that he sometimes transported groups of workers between job sites, "so it's entirely plausible he would have been pulled over while driving with others in the vehicle. He was not charged with any crime or cited for any wrongdoing." The Trump administration has been publicizing Abrego Garcia's interactions with police over the years, despite a lack of corresponding criminal charges, while it faces a federal court order and calls from some in Congress to return him to the U.S. Abrego Garcia 'deserves his day in court,' lawyer says Authorities in Tennessee released video of a 2022 traffic stop last month. The body-camera footage shows a calm and friendly exchange between officers with the Tennessee Highway Patrol. Officers then discussed among themselves their suspicions of human trafficking because nine people were travelling without luggage. One of the officers said, "He's hauling these people for money." Another said he had $1,400 US in an envelope. An attorney for Abrego Garcia, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, said in a statement after the footage's release in May that he saw no evidence of a crime in the released footage. "But the point is not the traffic — stop it's that Mr. Abrego Garcia deserves his day in court," Sandoval-Moshenberg said. The move comes days after the Trump administration complied with a court order to return a Guatemalan man deported to Mexico despite his fears of being harmed there. The man, identified in court papers as O.C.G, was the first person known to have been returned to U.S. custody after deportation since the start of U.S. President Donald Trump's second term.
CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
Man charged with hate crime in Boulder attack on ‘Zionist people' appears in federal court
As Jennifer Dechtman, back, looks on, her husband Evan, front left, consoles his son, Isaac, right, at a makeshift memorial for victims of an attack outside of the Boulder County, Colo., courthouse Tuesday, June 3, 2025, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) DENVER — A man who told investigators he was driven by a desire 'to kill all Zionist people' when he threw Molotov cocktails at demonstrators raising awareness of Israeli hostages appeared briefly in federal court for the first time Friday to face a hate crime charge. Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, sat in the jury box in a Denver courtroom dressed in a green jail uniform and his wrists handcuffed, a U.S. Marshal sitting in the row behind him. Listening to the proceedings in Arabic through an interpreter, he answered 'yes' and 'I understand' in Arabic as the magistrate judge explained his rights. Before the brief hearing started, Soliman mostly looked away from the crowded gallery, but after the proceedings he nodded and smiled as his lawyers spoke to him. A conviction on a hate crime charge typically carries a penalty of no more than 10 years in prison but federal prosecutor Melissa Hindman said that if the crime involves an attempted murder, the sentence can be as long as life in prison. Soliman is represented by public defenders who do not comment on their cases to the media. He is accused in Sunday's attack on the weekly demonstration in Boulder, which investigators say he planned for a year. The victims include 15 people and a dog. He has also been charged in state court in Boulder with attempted murder and assault counts as well as counts related to the 18 Molotov cocktails police say he carried to the demonstration. Investigators say Soliman told them he had intended to kill all of the roughly 20 participants at the weekly demonstration on Boulder's popular Pearl Street pedestrian mall, but he threw just two of his 18 Molotov cocktails while yelling 'Free Palestine.' Soliman told investigators he tried to buy a gun but was not able to because he was not a 'legal citizen.' Federal authorities say Soliman, an Egyptian national, has been living in the U.S. illegally. Soliman did not carry out his full plan 'because he got scared and had never hurt anyone before,' police wrote in an arrest affidavit. Not all of the victims were physically injured. Some of them are considered victims because they were in the area and could potentially have been hurt in the attack, 20th Judicial District Michael Dougherty said Thursday. Three victims remained in the hospital Friday, UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital spokesperson Dan Weaver said. The dog was among the injured, which resulted in an animal cruelty charge being filed against Soliman, Dougherty said. Soliman told investigators that he waited until after his daughter graduated from school before launching the attack, according to court documents. Federal authorities want to deport Soliman's wife and their five children, who range from 4 to 17 years old, but a judge issued an order Wednesday halting deportation proceedings until a lawsuit challenging their deportation can be considered. U.S. immigration officials took Soliman's wife and children into custody on Tuesday. They are being held at a family immigration detention center in Texas. Colleen Slevin And Jesse Bedayn, The Associated Press
