John Romano: A judge called Wander Franco a victim. That sounds ridiculous.

John Romano, Tampa Bay Times on May 26, 2026

Published in Baseball

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TAMPA, Fla. — Given everything you know, would you take him back?

Would you be content if Wander Franco was wearing No. 5 and holding a bat at Tropicana Field a couple of months from now?

The odds of it happening are still astronomical, but a court ruling on Monday was so unusual that it seemed to raise Franco’s hopes. Not only did a three-judge panel rule that he deserved no official punishment for his relationship with a minor, but the presiding judge went so far as to suggest that Franco was also a victim because he was extorted.

“With the faith in God,” Franco said upon leaving the courtroom, according to journalist Hector Gomez, “I’ll be back.”

Will he? That seems doubtful.

Should he? Well, that’s another question entirely.

None of us can presume to know everything that happened between Franco and a minor in 2022-23, so making declarative judgments seems dicey. But this much seems obvious:

A then-21-year-old Franco had a relationship with a 14-year-old girl.

He’s gone through two trials in the past 11 months, and both times he was found guilty of sexual and psychological abuse of a minor. It doesn’t matter that the court system in the Dominican Republic seemed more disturbed by the idea that the girl’s mother extorted money from Franco. It doesn’t matter that the mother was sentenced to 10 years in prison for money laundering, while Franco walked away with a judicial pardon that eliminated his punishment.

The bottom line is two sets of judges agreed he was guilty of an inappropriate relationship with a child.

Case closed.

There are more legal and contractual arguments to come, but back-to-back guilty verdicts should forever eliminate a return to Major League Baseball. This isn’t about redemption or second chances. The judges say Franco deserves an opportunity to live his life without state-sanctioned punishment, and I honestly hope he uses this chance at redemption wisely.

But for the Rays and MLB officials there is something larger at stake.

This is about who the team is. Who the league is. And who baseball fans are.

You cannot hide behind the idea that Dominican justice seems strangely fixated on the mother’s response to the relationship as opposed to the relationship itself. If courtroom accounts and translations from Dominican news organizations are accurate, the mother was not even accused of luring Franco into the relationship. She found out after the fact.

From all indications, this was a choice Franco made willingly. And he recognized the problem when he had his own mother provide tens of thousands of dollars to the girl’s mother in apparent hush payments.

Honestly, there’s no coming back from that. Even if there is another appeal and a third trial (which seems likely), even if Dominican judges keep inching closer toward an acquittal (which wouldn’t be a shock), even if Franco somehow wrangles a visa to the U.S. (a longshot, but not impossible), we know too much already.

Circumstantial evidence on social media has turned into convictions in two courtrooms, and no amount of judicial jiu-jitsu can eliminate that stain.

In truth, there is only one wild card that remains: money.

If Franco can pull off a miracle with an acquittal and a visa, the Rays could be back on the hook for his contract. MLB might bail the team out by permanently banning Franco, but that would surely lead to more legal challenges.

MLB faced a similar situation with Trevor Bauer after prosecutors declined to pursue sexual assault charges against him in 2022 and an independent arbitrator reduced his suspension. The difference, however, is the Dodgers only owed Bauer $22.5 million. The team released him, paid the remainder of his salary and no one has signed him since.

Franco, on the other hand, is still owed roughly $160 million on his Tampa Bay contract. If he convinces a third set of judges that he deserves an acquittal and later finagles a visa, that would be a huge bill the Rays could not possibly write off. They might attempt to have the contract voided, but that rarely works in MLB.

So I’ll ask again:

Would you take him back?

Could you overlook his first two convictions, or wash the sordid details from your soul? Would you decide that $160 million is too high a price to pay for your principles? Could you convince yourself that Franco, as the judge suggested, was a victim of a private matter that should have been handled within the family?

For your sake and mine — as well as the Rays and MLB — it probably won’t come to that. It seems more likely that Franco eventually fades from the headlines and ends up playing baseball outside of MLB’s purview.

It’s a damn shame. The team’s trajectory has forever been altered. Tampa Bay fans have been robbed of watching a generational player. Franco has seemingly lost a potential Hall of Fame career and a boatload of money.

And do you know what? None of us deserve sympathy.

There was only one victim in this case.

And it was not Wander Franco.

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