Yoenis Cespedes Sued in Dominican Republic

Yoenis Cespedes has been sued by his former representation and training staff in the Dominican Republic.  According to Enrique Rojas of ESPN Deportes, Cespedes is facing a claim that he breached his contract with Born to Play Academy.  Born to Play claims that Cespedes agreed to pay the academy 17 percent of his new contract in return for the representation and training they provided while he was in the Dominican Republic.

Cespedes is a native of Cuba.  Before he worked out his visa issues, Cespedes was forced to train and talk to major league teams while residing in the Dominican Republic.  Though he had representation based in the US, Cespedes was represented and trained by Born to Play Academy while he resided in the DR.

Edgar Mercedes, president of Born to Play, claims that Cespedes agreed to pay the academy 17 percent of the four-year, $36 million contract he signed with the Oakland A’s.  Mercedes also said that Cespedes owes another five percent of his deal to agent Adam Katz and the Wasserman group, the player’s representatives during negotiations with the A’s and other major league clubs.

Mercedes said that he didn’t want to file a claim, but that he’s been forced to as “Yoenis has not complied with the agreement”.

For his part, Cespedes downplayed the matter, saying that these are simply “internet rumors” and that he’s recently spoken with Mercedes on the phone.  However, Mercedes said he hasn’t spoken to Cespedes since spring training.

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