By Alex Fernandez Fernandez
Issues related to Cuba and the 2023 World Classic, along with team integration, have entered the sad and depressing political arena. Few preferences are observed on a daily basis, such as baseball, which is culturally so beloved by Cubans.
In this case, news from the Cuban Federation echoes the profile Journalist Hernandez Luján’s officer, The last thing a ship of baseball decision-makers brought to the island was said there.
The speech of Juan Reynaldo Pérez, president of the Antillean Federation, although a little cloudy and vague if you will, did not change much.
“He will go to the next World Classic with a team that is as competitive as possible.”
“Athletes not associated with the federation (recruited in individual capacity) and those who are not playing in the national series or the upcoming elite league, but are in much needed positions will also be invited.”
MLB and Cuban Professional Baseball Players Association Profiles, none. The only contact to date is with Yasmani Tomás, who is not currently playing organized baseball, although he will soon be in the Mexican Winter League.
It is still unclear how you can have “a team as competitive as possible” if you exclude your best representatives in baseball in the United States.
The other thing in question is the thousand and one requirements to graduate next March, when Cuba will be in the first round in Taiwan.
Issuing a Cuban passport is not enough. It has already been said on several occasions that those who abandoned a delegation or spoke out against the Cuban government do not enter the “hype”.
However, in the statements of closer Rizal Iglesias, one of the most active members of the Cuban Professional Baseball Players Association, he responded to the complete swing:
Does anyone ban playing for Cuba?
“No, no player is banned from playing anywhere. There’s no contract or anything you have to sign that obligates you to do that kind of thing.”
“Even under-contract pitchers go to the winter leagues. What MLB teams can tell you, for example: the day you hit 20 pitches, you have to spend two days not pitching to take care of the pitcher, things like that.
Hernandez Lujan’s own note is illustrative:
“Approaching players should be positive about our baseball, our flag and our nation.”
Now the Dominican Republic has the same “patriotic” stance that prevented free agents Yosimar Cousín and Yunior Tur from qualifying for last year’s U-23 World Cup.
Although a question arises: Are baseball, the flag and the Cuban “symbols” of the nation equal to a political stance or harmony with the island’s government? Baseball, as well as the flag, the Cuban nation, both originated long before 1959.
You may also be interested in: New Cuban Players Association: Details Revealed by Major Leagues
In the month of JulyPosted by ESPN “Major League Baseball said players and former major leaguers who defected from Cuba could not maneuver to join their country’s team in the World Baseball Classic.”
Today reality and misunderstandings are total between one side and the other (without reservation, only truth should prevail).
Although Iglesias himself clarified after confirming a new structure in the Association of Professional Cuban Players, it:
Can a baseball player who wants to play with the Cuban Federation play with the association?
“A Cuban baseball player who decides to play for the Cuban Baseball Federation cannot be a part of us,” Raisel Iglesias said, clarifying that this was the new baseball players’ union’s position as of their last meeting.
“However, any player from the Association who for any reason wishes to play the 2023 World Baseball Classic with the Cuban Federation, and later returns to the Association, will personally object to being accepted by the table because it considers it disrespectful”.
