Jorge Arangure Jr. from ESPN:

The Washington Nationals have decided to fire special assistant Jose Rijo and will shut down the team’s academy in the Dominican Republic as part of a restructuring of the team’s operations in Latin American in the wake of an age-changing scandal involving one of the team’s top prospects, several baseball sources have confirmed.

The team’s academy operates out of a complex owned by Rijo in San Cristobal.

Nationals assistant general manager and vice president Mike Rizzo arrived in Santo Domingo on Tuesday to look for alternative sites for the team’s Dominican academy. Rizzo also met with Fernando Ravelo, general manager for the Dominican Winter League Tigres de Licey, about replacing Rijo as the team’s director of Dominican operations.

When asked whether he had been offered Rijo’s position, Ravelo told ESPNdeportes.com’s Enrique Rojas “Maybe.”

The Nationals have already contacted people in Boca Chica about the possibility of the team moving it’s academy into the area for the short term and possibly constructing an academy in the area. Most team academies are located in the Boca Chica region. Another source said the team spoke with the Los Angeles Dodgers about their facility. Tampa Bay currently rents space in Los Angeles’ Campo Las Palmas but they will move out of that complex by the end of the March to move into a brand new complex.

Jose Castellanos, the Dodgers director of operations in the Dominican Republic, had no comment when asked about the Nationals’ potential move.

Rijo told Rojas that he had not yet been contacted by the Nationals concerning his future with the team, but on Tuesday he admitted, “Considering the latest developments, it wouldn’t surprise me if the Nats apply drastic changes to their team operations in the Dominican Republic.”’

And later…

This move by Nationals ownership may not be a good sign for Bowden, who hired Rijo and has known him since Bowden was the general manager of the Cincinnati Reds, where Rijo played from 1988-2002. Bowden was Cincinnati’s GM from 1993-2003.

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