Tragedy In The Dominican Republic

The Yankees organization suffered a tragedy Wednesday night when Oscar Acosta and Humberto Trejo were killed in a car accident in the Dominican Republic. The accident occurred at approximately 7p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday, according to Trenton manager Bill Masse. Details of the accident were not immediately available.

Acosta,49, was the manager of the Yankees Gulf Coast League team and Trejo, 39, was the Field Coordinator for the Yankees Dominican Summer League. Several players for the Yankees Double-A team in Trenton apparently knew the pair well and the team was not made available to the media after dropping the finale of their series with the Altoona Curve by a score of 9-3. Masse described his team as simply not prepared to speak to the media.

“The Yankees organization suffered an organizational tragedy earlier tonight when a couple of our Dominican coaches were killed in a car accident and these guys [his team] simply aren’t ready to talk,” the manager said Wednesday night.

The Trenton Times reported Thursday morning that sources placed several executives of the Yankees player development staff, including Senior Vice President of Baseball Operations Mark Newman and Senior Vice President of Player Personnel Gordon Blakeley, in the Dominican Republic at the time of the accident. The source told the Times they were there scouting players in and around the capital city of Santo Domingo.

The New York Post quoted Newman as saying, “Not much is known at this time.”

Obviously, we will continue to follow this developing story and provide updates and player reaction as it becomes available.