Yordan Álvarez wins another lawsuit against Manuel Azcona in the Dominican Republic
I had access to court documents on the case
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Cuban slugger, one of MLB’s premier hitters and a star for the Houston Astros, has once again prevailed in an arbitration lawsuit filed against him in the Dominican Republic.
Álvarez, 28, along with his legal team, won the arbitration case brought by Manuel Antonio Azcona, who had once again sued the Cuban star in September 2025, alleging breach of contract. Azcona claimed he had not received a supposed percentage of the money tied to Álvarez’s professional signing agreements.
In the lawsuit, to which I had access in order to review the court documents, Azcona argued that Álvarez had violated the terms of their alleged agreement and therefore demanded $46 million, equivalent to 40% of Álvarez’s second professional contract with Houston, valued at $115 million and running through the 2028 season.
However, Álvarez once again proved in court that he holds no contractual relationship with Azcona and that he had fully complied with every financial and contractual obligation that had previously existed between them. His legal team demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt that the agreement cited by Azcona had already been completely fulfilled and extinguished.
After reviewing the evidence and confirming that Álvarez had no remaining contractual or financial obligations toward Azcona, the arbitration tribunal dismissed all claims brought against the Astros slugger.
According to Baseball-Reference, Manuel Azcona pitched in Minor League Baseball from 1981 to 1984. He posted a 0-2 record with a 9.68 ERA over four seasons in the organizations of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Montreal Expos, never advancing beyond Class A.
While his playing career was relatively unremarkable, Azcona later became a successful baseball agent and handler of Cuban players during the early 2000s, earning substantial money through the signings of several Cuban prospects with Major League organizations. One of the most notable cases was Juan Miranda, who signed a four-year, $2 million contract with the New York Yankees in December 2006.
Still, Azcona’s career has not been without controversy. He reportedly served around 10 months in prison in Cuba during the mid-2000s on accusations related to the illegal trafficking of baseball players. In the book Baseball Cop: The Dark Side of America’s National Pastime, former MLB investigator Eddie Domínguez described Azcona by writing: “I also found Azcona to be a snake, though an interesting one.”
Azcona served as Álvarez’s representative after the player left Cuba in 2015, alongside trainer Aldo Marrero. Marrero later supervised Álvarez’s signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers through his academy, with both men allegedly agreeing beforehand on their respective percentages.
According to court documents that I had access to, the corruption scheme allegedly used by Azcona to deceive Álvarez involved assigning his percentage rights to a third party through a notarized promissory note and credit assignment, claiming he owed all of his shares to that individual.
Azcona allegedly authorized the third party to collect payment from Álvarez through BHD Bank. After the transaction was completed, Azcona later claimed he had never authorized payment of his percentage to anyone else.
That move marked the beginning of a years-long legal battle against Álvarez dating back to 2016. At the time, Azcona filed a garnishment order against the player and secured an additional payment of $100,000 labeled as a loan money that was allegedly never repaid, plus another $10,000 paid to Santiago-based attorney and notary Juan Carlos Ortiz to prepare liability release documents that were reportedly never produced.
For paid subscribers: The “best talent still remaining in Cuba” left the island.
Despite that prior agreement, Azcona later filed another garnishment action against Álvarez, prompting the player to formally retain legal counsel. Álvarez’s attorneys successfully petitioned the court to dismiss the seizure order, arguing it lacked legal basis and factual merit.
In 2019, the court ruled in Álvarez’s favor and ordered the garnishment lifted after it was proven that no outstanding debt or contractual obligation existed between the player and Azcona. The court also confirmed that Álvarez had already paid $480,000 to a third party previously approved by Azcona himself.
Roughly three years later, Azcona returned with a new $46 million lawsuit, which was again dismissed in its entirety as groundless, unfounded, and lacking legal merit after Álvarez demonstrated that no contractual relationship existed between the two parties.
Post-contract lawsuits of this nature are reportedly common in the Dominican Republic.
Attorney Oscar Batista, who represents Álvarez, stated that Azcona spent years obtaining loans from investors in the Dominican Republic under a structured scheme, allegedly promising substantial returns if he were to win the $46 million claim against the Astros star.
In that context, Batista warned that if Mr. Manuel Antonio Azcona continues filing what he considers frivolous and unfounded legal actions, they will be compelled to pursue the appropriate legal measures aimed at seeking full compensation for the damages caused to Yordan Álvarez.
In December 2021, the United States Embassy in the Dominican Republic, through diplomatic note No. 2021-1258, formally requested the extradition of Dominican national Manuel Azcona to face charges in the United States related to “conspiracy to distribute cocaine.”
Azcona later served prison time in Miami and currently resides in the Dominican Republic.
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