The 2015 Major League Baseball regular season hasn’t even started, yet it’s already getting headlines for reasons that new Commissioner Rob Manfred probably doesn’t want to deal with this early in his tenure.
According to multiple reports, Miami Marlins starting pitcher Jarred Cosart is under investigation by the commissioner’s office over his alleged sports-related gambling ties.
MLB spokesman Pat Courtney confirmed to the Miami New Times that Manfred’s office is currently investigating the matter, which centers around multiple Twitter exchanges between the 24-year old Cosart and a person described as a so-called “gambling expert.”
The tweets became public when said expert – identified as @ghostfadekillah – posted screenshots of the DM exchange between him and Cosart, showing the latter saying he had “bet LARGE” on something and “hammered” an under play.
The story quickly became public after being picked up by website Total Frat Move. From there, local Miami news joined in and the Twitter exchange quickly escalated into a national news story that found its way into Major League Baseball’s ivory tower.
The Miami New Times got a hold of @ghostfadekillah and he reportedly confirmed that the exchange with Cosart happened sometime around December, casting doubt on Cosart’s earlier claims that his old Twitter account – he deleted it and supposedly opened a new one – was hacked to create the messages.
It’s unclear what sport Cosart was actually betting on, but MLB rules explicitly states that any “player, umpire, or club or league official or employee” who bets on baseball games would be banned from the sport for a period of either one year or permanently, depending on his involvement with games on which the wagers were placed. Baseball players are free to gamble on any other sport as long as it isn’t baseball.
So if @ghostfadekilla’s claims that the conversation did happen in December, it might help Cosart’s case knowing that the baseball was in its off-season.
The Miami Marlins also released a brief statement, saying, “Major League Baseball is aware and they are investigating it and we have no further comment at this time.”
