Document Back Beltre’s Claim

So the ugly case of the Dodgers vs. Adrian Beltre now has a smoking gun.

If only we could dust it for fingerprints.

The saddest truth of the Dodgers’ upcoming battle to keep one of their franchise cornerstones despite allegedly signing him illegally is not going to be found on a baseball field, but a conscience.

Something’s just not right here.

The Dodgers are going to argue that the birth certificate and work visa made public Tuesday--confirming third baseman Beltre was 15 when signed in 1994, one year younger than baseball regulations permit--were not examined by current officials until last month.

Scott Boras, the agent fighting to free Beltre, is going to argue that they knew about it this spring, if not sooner.

The Dodgers are going to argue that because Beltre’s signing occurred in the Dominican Republic, they were at the mercy of the Dominican scouts who signed him, and cannot be responsible for illegal activities conducted 3,500 miles away.

Boras is going to argue that the crime was committed right in their backyard.

Not too much rests on who is right.

Only the future of the Dodgers at third base, the future of the Dodgers in the Latin American community, even the future of certain members of the Dodgers’ front office.

For Boras, at issue is the future of his client, a 20-year-old talent who could be the Dodger third baseman for the next 10 years.

Or would have been.

Or maybe still will be.

At this point, it’s anybody’s guess, although here’s guessing the answer is not Kevin Orie.

That the commissioner’s office has taken its sweet time while investigating a claim filed a month ago bodes well for the home team. The league will tread very carefully before making the Dodgers the first club in history to lose a major leaguer as punishment for violating an amateur signing rule.

But the delay angers Boras, who wants his client to become a free agent before every team has already blown its budget.

Hence, his public display Tuesday of Beltre’s documents, acquired from the Dodgers after much hassle and ultimate reliance on the California law that states employers must show employees their personnel file.

What do you know? This one was full of wrecks, lies, and birth certificates.

Sifting through the two different documents that list Beltre as being born in two different years--ah, the miracle of white-out--plus the various work visas that all correctly list him as being born in 1979, two things are clear:

* The kid was illegally signed when he was 15.

* Somebody from the Dodgers with access to an Office Depot knew he was illegally signed.

The question is, who knew? And when?

If only Dominican scout Pablo Peguero knew, and didn’t tell anybody until Boras formally raised the issue this fall, then the current Dodger administration is guilty only of being the most naive, bumbling baseball team since Walter Matthau once managed one.

You lose two minor leaguers during the middle of this season because of other rules violations by Peguero, and you don’t immediately check the files of every player Peguero ever touched?

Five times you apply for a work visa for Beltre, five times you submit a birthday of 1979, and five times you don’t realize that his media-guide age is one year older?

It stretches the imagination to believe that nobody on the Dodgers knew that one of their potential star players had spent five years in the organization under a false age despite blatant evidence in their filing cabinets.

But for Dodger fans, imagining that is better then imagining the alternative.

That would be a scenario where the Dodgers knew about this all summer, yet didn’t tell anybody in hopes that the entire deal would blow over. In this case, they are guilty of far more than foolishness.

Sources say Boras actually informed the Dodgers of his suspicions last spring after a Vero Beach dinner with Beltre.

During that dinner, attended by two other witnesses, Beltre reportedly told Boras that he was only 20. Boras promptly did the math, saw the dollar signs, and informed him that he had been signed too early.

After the dinner, Boras allegedly told a Dodger official of his discovery. The official allegedly told him that the matter would be investigated. It wasn’t, yet Boras waited until after the season to cry foul.

Many think Boras waited only because he wanted to make sure Beltre had a good year before capitalizing on free agency.

Boras, a former player, says he only wanted to make sure his young player went through his first full season without distractions.

Whatever, it’s dirty, all of it.

During a time of year when we should be gathered around a hot stove, we are gathered around a legal brief. When we should be talking about a third baseman’s RBIs, we are taking about his date of birth.

Adrian Beltre is lucky. Unlike weary Dodger fans, this disgusting process has aged him only one year.

*

Bill Plaschke can be reached at his e-mail address: bill.plaschke@latimes.com.