ISLAND OF DREAMS
As U.S. restores ties with Cuba, MLB hoping for more Puigs
IN THE wake of Wednesday’s bombshell news, officials in and around Major League Baseball understandably spoke with caution about how President Obama’s decision to restore diplomatic ties with Cuba would impact the American institution arguably most associated with the long-embargoed country.
Yet there’s little mistaking what this could mean. The international game-changer very well might be a national pastime-changer.
“I think any time you increase the talent in Major League Baseball, it’s good for the game,” an off icial for a National League team said on the condition of anonymity.
Imagine MLB teams establishing academies in Cuba and sending scouts there, too. Cuban major-leaguers returning home to participate in winter leagues. Cuban fans flying up to Miami, the nearest MLB locale, to watch a weekend’s worth of Marlins games. World Baseball Classic games in Cuba.
Plenty of rosy scenarios exist for MLB, for a region that has been technically off limits since the days of eight teams in each league. For now, though, Wednesday’s disclosure raises just as many questions as it provides answers, and that’s why both MLB and the Players Association offered statements laced with optimism but short on details.
“While there are not sufficient details to make a realistic evaluation, we will continue to track this significant issue, and we will keep our Clubs informed if this different direction may impact the manner in which they conduct business on issues related to Cuba,” MLB said.
Offered the union: “We will watch this situation closely as it continues to unfold and we remain hopeful that today’s announcement will lead to further positive developments.”
For more than 50 years, Cuban players could reach MLB only after defecting from their home country with the assumption they never could return. Players would risk their lives as well as the possibility of never seeing their families again. So for starters, this marks a victory for human rights. Human trafficking, of both athletes and non-athletes, should diminish to virtually nil if the travel restrictions are alleviated.
So how will the transfer of talent work? Will it be like Cuba’s Latin America neighbors in the Dominican Republic, where most skilled players sign with an MLB organization once they reach age 16? The better guess is a situation analogous to Japan.
Cuba, like Japan, boasts of a recognized league, the Cuban National League. The Cuban Baseball Federation, which governs the league, could negotiate an agree- ment with MLB as have Japan’s professional leagues. Maybe a player will be able to attain full free agency after a certain amount of service time. Perhaps, as in Asia, a team will have the ability to post a player before free-agency eligibility and make a few bucks off the transaction.
“Whatever happens,” said one baseball official who has experience in this area, “the Cuban government is going to figure out a way to make money off it.”
That’s what went down in Japan this past season, as Cuba arranged for players Yulieski Gourriel and Alfredo Despaigne to go to the Far East.
The normalization of relations should eliminate much of the mystery surrounding Cuban players. It’s now legend that the Dodgers committed $42 million to Yasiel Puig based on startlingly little information. The ability of teams to scout Cubans as they develop would dramatically mitigate the risk involved in these investments.
And another mystery, that of Cuban players’ concerns over adjusting to MLB, would be lessened considerably if those players could receive substantive information from major leaguers returning home for the winter.
We have no timeline yet for any of this, and no definitive endgames. Just the common-sense faith that a longtime headache for baseball, let alone for this country, should be hurting less, sooner than later.