Prospect Jake Sanford has been cut by the Yankees after he allegedly stole from teammates and scammed fans. According to the report, he allegedly stole from his minor league teammates and scammed people for money online.
The New York Post has details;
According to a source, the 24-year-old outfielder was released last week after a team investigation found Sanford had stolen from teammates, including equipment that he would then try to sell online, as first reported by NJ Advance Media.
Additionally, a source said Sanford, who played college baseball at Western Kentucky, also accepted money from prospective buyers for the equipment, then failed to deliver the products.
The issues, another source said, could be related to gambling debts.
After the Yankees cut him, Jake Sanford deactivated his Twitter account probably because he didn’t want social media mocking and lashing out at him.
The lefty-swinging Sanford has since signed with the Ottawa Titans in the Frontier League, an independent team.
Sanford was managed by John Pawlowski at Western Kentucky. Pawlowski also managed Brett Gardner at the College of Charleston. And Sanford’s skill set was seen by some as similar to that of Gardner, who, like Sanford, was a third-round Yankees draft pick, in 2005.
I am pretty sure this was gambling debts because minor league players don’t get paid a lot of money and he has been in the system for a while.
He probably thought no one would notice, but alas now he is going to have to get a regular job at the local Popeyes to make ends meet. I hope while he was at Western Kentucky he got a degree in something more than partying and swinging at out-of-the-strike zone curveballs.
Flip the page for more on Sanford getting released and his potential of getting back into the league which is looking like slim and none at the moment.