ST. PETERSBURG -- The Dodgers suspended Minor League infielder Erisbel Arruebarrena for the remainder of the 2016 season "for his repeated failure to comply with the terms of his contract," Gabe Kapler, the club's director of player development, said on Wednesday.
Arruebarrena was suspended similarly last year, but the suspension was reduced on appeal to 30 games by Major League Baseball.
Signed to a five-year, $25 million contract out of Cuba two years ago, the 26-year-old Arruebarrena has never made the transition to professional baseball off the island.
A slick-fielding shortstop without a bat to match, he was a disappointment in a brief 2014 callup to the Major Leagues amid suggestions of attitude issues. He triggered a 10-ejection brawl after hitting a home run while on injury rehab with Triple-A Albuquerque and was taken off the Major League roster that winter, although he was invited to Major League Spring Training in 2015.
But after another checkered season, he did not appear in any game this Spring Training and was assigned to Double-A Tulsa, where he was hitting .182 with 21 strikeouts, three walks and four homers in 17 games.