The Puerto Rico Roberto Clemente Professional Baseball League (LBPRC) announced in a written statement this Thursday that the Santurce Crabbers franchise passed into its hands, after the board of directors favored a recommendation from the organization’s president, Juan A. Flores Galarza, to revoke the rights granted to the entities Cangrejeros de Santurce Baseball Club, LLC; Sports Society Cangrejeros de Santurce, Inc.; and to Santurce Merchandising, LLC to manage and operate the Cangrejeros franchise and, in turn, separate them as members of the LBPRC.
The main shareholder in Cangrejeros de Santurce Baseball Club, LLC, is the American Thomas Axon, one of the owners of the franchise and who was suspended by the league a few weeks ago.
The league reported in its statement that “last Tuesday, May 31, 2022, the hearing required by the Winter League Constitution was held where Flores Galarza presented the charges against SCBC, LLC to the Board of Directors together with all the documents that evidenced the violations incurred to the agreement signed on August 10, 2017 and to the Constitution of the LBPRC. For its part, SCBC, LLC had equal space to present its arguments during the hearing. Once received the presentation of Flores Galarza and then hearing from representatives of SCBC, LLC; the Board of Directors ruled unanimously in favor of the league leader’s recommendation.
“As president of the Board of Directors, I can confirm that we carried out this process in accordance with what is established in our Constitution, which governs all the actions of the LBPRC. Both parties had equal time to present their arguments in view and we made the decision by the evidence presented,” CPA and member of the board of directors Raúl Rodríguez Font said in the statement.
The league brief adds that: “According to the Constitution, according to the decision made, the Cangrejeros de Santurce franchise automatically passes to the LBPRC, which owns all the teams assigned to the winter league.”
The controversy with the operators of the Cangrejeros franchise arose after Axon’s criticism of the Municipality of San Juan for the conditions of the Hiram Bithorn Stadium, at the same time that it had threatened to move the team to Humacao. Axon later also criticized the other franchise owners for their lack of investment in improving the show.
Axon was eventually suspended by the league for two years, and Axon took the case to court, but the ruling was in the league’s favor.
The LBPRC season is scheduled to begin on November 4, and President Flores Galarza said that …”until a new operator is found, our immediate priority will be to meet with the Municipality of San Juan to renew the contract for the use of the facilities of the Hiram Bithorn stadium and, in turn, begin the relevant processes to obtain a new operator for the franchise”.
He also added that two groups have shown interest in administering the Cangrejeros, but that neither of them has submitted an official request in this regard.
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PR League assumes control of the Cangrejeros Santurce