Ex-MLB player gets home detention in insider-trading case

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — Former Major League Baseball player Doug DeCinces was sentenced to eight months of home detention and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine for his role in an insider-trading scheme, a newspaper reported.

DeCinces, who played third base for the California Angels and Baltimore Orioles, was convicted in 2017 of insider trading for a stock buy that earned him over $1 million.

U.S. District Judge Andrew Guilford on Monday sentenced DeCinces to one day in jail, the Orange County Register reported. Since DeCinces has credit for time served, he will not spend more time behind bars. The home detention will be part of two years of supervised release ordered by the judge.

DeCinces, 68, who long denied the charges, agreed to testify against another defendant, James Mazzo, in exchange for a shorter sentence.

Mazzo's two trials ended with mistrials when jurors deadlocked. Prosecutors dropped the case against Mazzo in December.

Before Monday's sentencing baseball Hall-of-Famer Rod Carew spoke on DeCinces' behalf, highlighting his friend's charitable contributions.

"I am here," Carew said, "because he has done so much more for other people."

DeCinces said in court that if he could go back and change his actions, he would. "I knew it was wrong," he said.