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Tuesday, November 15, 2011

MLB: Xavier Paul victim of identity hoax in ABL

Pirates outfielder Xavier Paul has become caught in the middle of an identity hoax that had officials with the Australian Baseball League expecting Paul’s arrival at the start of their season, which began earlier this month.

Problem was, Paul had never actually agreed to go.(...)

Posing as an agent, [Diamondbacks minor leaguer Breland] Brown offered the ABL a deal in which Paul would agree to play in Australia this offseason if Brown was also invited. The ABL accepted the agreement. Brown was assigned to play with the Sydney Blue Sox, while Paul was put on the Brisbane Bandits roster.

Last week, Paul was tipped off that his identity was being misused when he was alerted to Internet articles that mentioned he would be participating in the ABL. Around that time, Brisbane reached out to Paul to ask him why he had not yet arrived in Australia.

That set off an investigation by the ABL, which quickly discovered the hoax. Brown, who had not yet joined the Sydney team, was immediately taken off the Blue Sox roster. Paul has since been removed from the Brisbane roster as well.

This is just a strange, strange story. Brown is 26 and was playing in the independent leagues two seasons ago, so he must have been doing everything possible to get noticed by Major League teams.

Austin Posted: November 15, 2011 at 08:57 PM | 26 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
Tags: pirates

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1. charityslave is thinking about baseball Posted: November 15, 2011 at 10:03 PM (#3994325)

It was a foolproof plan! How on Earth did it fail?!?

2. Pat Rapper's Delight (as quoted on MLB Network) Posted: November 15, 2011 at 10:04 PM (#3994326)

Brown could probably get Lenny Dykstra to sign up with him for a paid winter vacation in Australia.

3. Javy Joan Baez (chris h.) Posted: November 15, 2011 at 10:30 PM (#3994353)

I need to bookmark this thread to use as a counter-example the next time some nitwit insists that PEDs MUST work because if they didn't, athletes wouldn't use them. After all, athletes are SMART.

4. Shredder Posted: November 15, 2011 at 10:57 PM (#3994374)

I give him an A for concept, but an F for execution.

5. Voros McCracken of Pinkus Posted: November 15, 2011 at 11:02 PM (#3994378)

Dude seriously wanted to go to Australia

6. Athletic Supporter is USDA certified lean Posted: November 15, 2011 at 11:03 PM (#3994379)

This can't be a complete story. You are looking for a bigshot to pretend to bring to Australia, and you pick Xavier Paul?

Heck, if he'd picked Dykstra as 2 suggests, that would have been better; no one would believe Dykstra's side of the story.

7. Gold Star - just Gold Star Posted: November 15, 2011 at 11:07 PM (#3994383)

Paul really isn't an ID theft victim. I mean, no one tried to pass himself off as Paul.

Paul's agent, otoh, has a legitimate ID-related beef.

8. Guapo Posted: November 15, 2011 at 11:23 PM (#3994392)

Hilarious Breland Brown article from 2010:

Link

Money quotes:

Brown reported to San Francisco last spring to begin training with the Giants. During his absence, Brown has kept in touch, sending pictures of his locker and providing updates of his first year with the Giants.

After viewing the Dallas/San Francisco game during this year’s World Series, I emailed Brown to ask how things were going. He responded by saying: “The experience has been good. Got injured and signed a brand-new contract with my childhood dream team, NY Yankees.”

Yes, the New York Yankees! In just one year, Brown has signed with two major league baseball teams...

He also said he is grateful for two endorsement deal opportunities he has received...

Though Brown did not get to play in the World Series playoff game against Dallas in October, he said, “I’ll be playing in the 2011 season with the Yankees; I’ll be the one that leads them to the championship. Mark my words!”...

He is indeed someone our community can be proud of.

I guess having gotten this reporter to buy into his legend, he figured he'd up the stakes...

9. esseff Posted: November 15, 2011 at 11:31 PM (#3994395)

Holy cockeye. Is there no one awake at the Times-Picayune to say, "Hey, wait a sec . . .

10. phredbird

Posted: November 15, 2011 at 11:31 PM (#3994396)

oh geez. these guys are from my hometown, on the west bank of the mississippi near new orleans. native new orleanians habitually mock people from the west bank for being somewhat intellectually challenged. this won't change their outlook.

actually, brown is. Paul is from slidell, which is east of new orleans.

11. Tricky Dick Posted: November 15, 2011 at 11:35 PM (#3994400)

This can't be a complete story. You are looking for a bigshot to pretend to bring to Australia, and you pick Xavier Paul?

yeah, it really struck me as odd that he selected Paul. I can understand that he doesn't want to pick someone who is too famous. But why Paul, who has no apparent connection to him? Maybe he found out that Paul was on some kind of list of MLB players that the ABL wanted to recruit.

Though Brown did not get to play in the World Series playoff game against Dallas in October, he said...

Dallas? The Rangers don't even play in Dallas.

12. phredbird

Posted: November 15, 2011 at 11:37 PM (#3994401)

ess eff, i just messaged a buddy of mine over there. i wonder if they'll follow up.

13. phredbird

Posted: November 15, 2011 at 11:40 PM (#3994402)

tricky, the article mentions that they are very close in age and from the new orleans area. there is probably some connection.

The 'Dallas' thing is typical of the poor quality of writing one can expect from someone from Harvey, which is also on the West Bank. West Bankers are not known for their intellectual attainments.

14. Johnny Sycophant-Laden Fora Posted: November 15, 2011 at 11:53 PM (#3994407)

This can't be a complete story. You are looking for a bigshot to pretend to bring to Australia, and you pick Xavier Paul?

1: You need someone the Aussiess would be interested in- and who is not such a bigshot that the Aussies would immediately, say, "hey why on earth would this guy wanna come here?" So basically you need a fringy MLBer- Paul fits the bill.

2: Paul and Brown are the same age and grew up in nearby towns- that likely gave Brown the plausibility to say that he and Paul were old childhood friends- and that's why Paul was insisting that they take Brown too...

looking at Breland Brown's BBREF page I see that he's put up a .167/.259/.194 line in 81 Independant League and Pioneer league PAs, I suppose Browns' goal was to recreate the Morgan Burkhart path to the majors...
but alas I suspect that Burkhart was a non - "athlete" who just flatout knew how to hit- Brown is, my guess, someone athletic or fit enough so that a scout doesn't immediately do a spit take and laugh- but that line indicate someone who flat out cannot hit a baseball - that line is far worse than what minor league pitchers hit against Rookie league/ Indy league pitchers- it's basically what your random 25 year old beer leaguer would do

15. Tripon Posted: November 15, 2011 at 11:55 PM (#3994410)

I think Brown should have passed himself as Xavier Paul.

16. The Long Arm of Rudy Law Posted: November 16, 2011 at 01:34 AM (#3994473)

Willie Mays Hayes already showed us what you should do if you don't get invited to join a team. Of course, you'll eventually get replaced by Omar Epps.

17. bigboy1234 Posted: November 16, 2011 at 02:06 AM (#3994498)

The trades for pitching.

You would take back the Marcum for Lawrie trade in a second.

Picking up Nyjer for a bag of jellybeans.

Good

The bullpen signings.

Maybe

Pickup of Kotsay who was a great bench guy the last 3.5 months.

Eh.

He drafted Rickie Weeks...Yovani Gallardo...Ryan Braun...Jonathan Lucroy

The GM does the drafting in Milwaukee?

18. Baseballs Most Beloved Figure Posted: November 16, 2011 at 02:26 AM (#3994507)

World Series playoff game against Dallas

How I remember that World Series playoff game against the Dallas base ball team.

19. bigboy1234 Posted: November 16, 2011 at 02:29 AM (#3994510)

Crap, disregard my #17, when I logged in I was on another page (best GM) and it redirected me here.

20. Gamingboy Posted: November 16, 2011 at 04:02 AM (#3994574)

And he would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for those meddling investigators!

21. Meatwad Posted: November 16, 2011 at 04:31 AM (#3994596)

I feel like we have heard of this before...

22. Voros McCracken of Pinkus Posted: November 16, 2011 at 11:37 AM (#3994668)

[Gene Rayburn]There's a second aspect to this story. The Brisbane Bandits dipped into a bank account that Peter Moylan had set up to help the development of baseball in Australia. The Bandits did this in anticipation of using the money to pay Pittsburgh's outfielder. So what happened turned out to be a classic case of ___________________________________.[/Gene Rayburn]

23. Jefferson Manship (Dan Lee) Posted: November 16, 2011 at 12:20 PM (#3994682)

"Theft, grand, Queensland"?

That feels forced, but I'm having trouble coming up with a punchline that works with 'Moylan', 'Xavier', or 'Paul'.

24. Russ Posted: November 16, 2011 at 01:12 PM (#3994696)

Robbing Peter to pay Paul.

25. Javy Joan Baez (chris h.) Posted: November 16, 2011 at 02:01 PM (#3994708)

Willie Mays Hayes already showed us what you should do if you don't get invited to join a team. Of course, you'll eventually get replaced by Omar Epps.

Yeah, but look how that worked out! Dude's in charge of a freaking hospital now.

26. Jefferson Manship (Dan Lee) Posted: November 16, 2011 at 02:01 PM (#3994709)

Robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Dammit. Charles Nelson Reilly and Brett Somers are laughing at me right now.

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Tuesday, November 15, 2011

MLB: Xavier Paul victim of identity hoax in ABL

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