On August 13, the baseball world was shocked after some severe allegations surfaced towards shortstop Wander Franco. The 22-year outdated Tampa Bay Rays shortstop has not performed a sport since.
The accuser, a lady from the Dominican Republic, claimed to be the 14-year outdated girlfriend of the Rays participant. Instantly, Franco was taken out of the lineup as MLB and Dominican authorities introduced seperate investigations into his private life.
Whereas Wander Franco has since been positioned on administrative go away, the investigation is ongoing. Nevertheless, some have claimed that Franco won’t ever see an MLB clubhouse once more.
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Regardless of Franco’s absence, the Tampa Bay Rays have been on fireplace since he left the lineup. Their 3-0 win over the Marlins on Wednesday represented the workforce’s fourth straight win and 9 of their final ten.
“The Rays are 10-4 since shedding Wander Franco and Shane McClanahan. They nonetheless, in some way, have the third greatest report within the Majors. There’ll be a 30 for 30 sooner or later on how this franchise does it.” – Jordan Moore
In a latest interview with UPI Sports activities, Rays second baseman Brandon Lowe was requested concerning the Franco affair. Eager to remain on message and never speculate, Lowe provided a noncommittal, however ample reply. In reference to his disgraced teammate, Lowe stated:
“We have not heard any updates. We all know nothing. What are you going to take for fact? What somebody says on Twitter versus what’s truly occurring? It is a very bizarre state of affairs that none of us have been in earlier than.”
Regardless of opening the season to a record-tying 13-0 report, July was a tough month for the Rays. Their 8-16 report prompted them to relinquish the lead within the AL East, witnessing the Baltimore Orioles rocket forward.
Now 1.5 video games again of Baltimore, no one can deny that the workforce has been doing very nicely since Wander Franco left the lineup. Since August 13, the Rays have hit the second-most RBIs in all of MLB.
Wander Franco state of affairs attracts on without end
Equally to what occurred with Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer in 2021, the league is eager to maintain Franco on administrative go away for so long as attainable. By doing so, they’ll conduct an in-depth investigation with out affected by a PR catastrophe.
Whereas no one is aware of what precisely will come of Wander Franco, or his $182 million contract, his workforce appears to be doing wonderful with out him. Maybe, they might want to get used to not having him round.
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