Posted on 12/19/2018 3:18:45 PM PST by CaliforniaCraftBeer
The agreement would allow Cuban players to come to the United States on work visas, with MLB teams playing the CBF a release fee, a similar system to how Japanese, Korean and Taiwanese players join MLB teams. As Jeff Passan noted, the pact would "end the trafficking of players by smugglers—situations that have led to players being kidnapped, threatened and extorted. Cuban players coming to MLB have been smuggled out by human trafficking organizations that are often tied to other criminal organizations, and often they lose a big chunk of their bonus to pay for their passage out of Cuba," the MLB's deputy commissioner and chief legal officer, Dan Halem, told Dave Sheinin of the Washington Post. "And often, some unsavory characters continue to harass the player or their family if they believe they weren't given the full amount...
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Well fuch me,why aren’t we all just stinking socialists now?
How many will become kneelers during the Star-Spangled Banner?
Yeah.
Will this hurt their future or families in Cuba? I mean, how can they even pretend to be good Communists, if they intend to earn millions in America playing baseball???
Or does Cuba have their own ulterior motives? For example, will Cuba heavily tax their earnings in America, giving the Cuban government badly needed foreign currency?
from the USA Today (12-17-2014):
‘...41-year-old Eliezer Lazo was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison for conspiring to smuggle 1,000 Cubans, including baseball players such as Texas Rangers outfielder Leonys Martin.
In that case, court documents detailed how Cuban human smuggling ventures through Mexico must pay fees and tribute to cocaine trafficking cartels, such as the Zetas gang.
Under the U.S. “wet foot, dry foot” policy, Cubans who make it to U.S. soil are generally allowed to remain, while those intercepted at sea are returned to the communist island.
For Cuban baseball players, there’s an added incentive to go through a third country such as Mexico before signing a Major League Baseball contract. If they come directly to the U.S., they would be subject to the MLB draft and likely sign a less lucrative deal. Going to Mexico first makes them free agents who can sign with the highest bidder.’
I would be surprised if any of them will. Many Cubans have relatives in the USA and know our country as a land of plenty and relative freedom. They should be smart enough not to bite the hand that feeds them.
Maybe the Dodgers can send Puig back.
I flew into Havana on a mission trip in early November. As we landed I saw a private jet with each MLB teams logo above the windows. I guess we know what they were doing.
Yep. If a mlb team wants to sign a Cuban player they will have to pay Cuba baseball (the government) a posting fee. Same thing the Japanese leagues require.
Cuban players have been allowed to play in Japan but the contract gave the players salary to the Cuban government, who then paid the player a small percentage.
What mlb is doing is helping Cuba keep the players enslaved to the government until their mid 20’s before they are free to earn more, but not all, of what their labor is worth.
Put teams in Havana, Mexico City, Dominican Republic, and San Juan
The Cuban regime will collect big bucks in “signing rights fees” from MLB, just as the Japanese and Korean leagues do.
I am not comfortable with this new posting agreement with the Cuban Baseball Federation. It’s similar to the way players are posted from Japan.
I understand the desire to protect players from smugglers, kidnappers, and other criminals, but I am VERY uncomfortable with doing business with an arm of the tyrannical Cuban police state regime and empowering them.
I also dislike that they impose waiting periods before a defector can sign, where they do not do so on a posted player. It seems like they’re trying to punish players for seeking freedom from the brutal regime. That conflicts with the values I thought we all held dear.
Ynder Alonso, BTW, is Manny Machado’s brother in law.
One of them established residence in Andorra to get around the MLB draft. Andorra?
Yes, the structure of the agreement is very similar. Players get posted, then the MLB teams bid on them, and the club (in the case of Japan and Korea) or the CBF (in the case of the Cubans) gets a fee that amounts to a percentage of the amount that the player is paid by the MLB club.
Take Yusei Kikuchi, the currently posted Japanese lefthander from the Seibu Lions (27 years old.) I don’t know where he’ll sign, but for purposes of argument, let’s say it’s the Yankees. The Yankees would then pay Seibu a percentage of the amount they pay Kikuchi.
The only difference is that with the Cubans, instead of paying the Havana club of the Cienfuegos club, it’s the Cuban Baseball Federation. Technically, the CBF isn’t the government, but of course it actually is.
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