NY Times: MLB quietly preparing for opening of Cuba

[jmcclain19]

Pretty interesting stuff from the NY Times today about MLB's preperations for a potential lifting of the US embargo of Cuba

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/26/sp...ll&oref=slogin

Baseball Looks to Create a Possible Portal to Cuba

Major League Baseball officials are quietly preparing to re-establish a relationship with Cuba if the United States lifts its trade embargo.

Fidel Castro, 80, has experienced serious health problems in recent years, and his brother Raúl is Cuba’s interim president, a situation that has prompted speculation about the country’s future. Baseball officials began discussions a year and a half ago about how to approach the possibility of normalizing relations with Cuba.

Baseball is contemplating a strategy for teams to sign Cuban players in an effort to create an orderly system for acquiring talent from the island, according to three baseball officials and a scholar who was briefed on the plans.

“There may not be any significant changes with our relationship with Cuba in the near term, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t think about these things,” Joe Garagiola Jr., the senior vice president for baseball operations, said in a telephone interview. “We are thinking about them, and that is probably the extent of what we can say at this point.”

Garagiola, a former general manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks, is coordinating baseball’s discussions on Cuba.

Baseball is also considering moving a minor league team to Cuba and building training academies similar to those that nearly all teams have in the Dominican Republic, according to a report earlier this month by Fortune magazine.

Major League Baseball has stepped up its efforts to expand internationally in the past year. In March 2005, baseball and the players union organized the first World Baseball Classic, a 16-team international tournament designed to broaden interest in the sport. Baseball began expansion initiatives in Asia and Africa this past off-season.

But Cuba, which is 90 miles from Florida, has a rich baseball history and is considered a future source of players, fans and revenue. The first Cuban players arrived to play professional baseball in the United States in the early 1900s. In 1946, the Washington Senators established a minor league team in Cuba, and the Brooklyn Dodgers sporadically spent spring training there in the 1930s and ’40s.

Fidel Castro took power in 1959, and the United States imposed sanctions on Cuba in 1961. Some of the Cuban players who have since reached the majors have been defectors, like pitchers José Contreras of the Chicago White Sox, Orlando Hernández of the Mets and his half-brother Liván Hernández of the Diamondbacks.

Over all, Cuba has produced 152 major league players, according to baseball-reference.com, including Minnie Minoso, Camilo Pascual, Luis Tiant, Tony Oliva and Tony Pérez.

Outside the United States and Canada, only Venezuela, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic have produced more players. The highest number of Cuban players was 30 in 1967, and there were 9 last year, according to the Web site.

In 1999, Baltimore played a home-and-home series with Cuba after the Orioles’ owner, Peter Angelos, worked with the Clinton administration to make the delicate arrangements happen.

But baseball, in accordance with United States law, prohibits clubs from scouting in Cuba or any country affected by sanctions. Because major league scouts are permitted to watch Cuban players only when they compete in international tournaments off the island, much remains unknown about Cuban baseball. It is unclear how deep the talent pool is, how developed the youth leagues are and what shape the fields and equipment are in.

However, one glimpse came at a workout that the Cuban national team held in Havana right before the World Baseball Classic in 2006. At the workout, which was observed by a New York Times reporter, the players wore mismatched jerseys and used just a dozen baseballs, some of them scuffed. A major league team might use 10 dozen baseballs for a similar workout.

Cuba has a 16-team national league that plays a 90-game season from November to April. Players like infielder Yulieski Gourriel, who awed scouts at last year’s World Baseball Classic, are believed to be talented enough to play in the majors. But the overall competition is considered to be close to the play in Class AA baseball in the United States, which is two steps below the majors. Cuba has done well in international competition, including at the World Baseball Classic. It reached the championship of the event, losing to Japan.

“Everybody on our side wonders how much talent is really there,” said Lou Melendez, baseball’s vice president for international baseball operations and administration, who oversees baseball’s academies in other countries. “I don’t think it is as strong as the Dominican Republic, but nobody knows. There is a talent pool there, but we just don’t know how deep it is.”

Baseball officials have reached out to business executives, university professors and Cuban-born players to learn more about the intricacies of baseball, and life, there.

Discussions between baseball and the State Department could soon take place.

A State Department spokesman said the agency would not comment on a hypothetical diplomatic situation like the United States’ relations with a post-Castro Cuba.

Roberto González Echevarría, a professor of literature at Yale University and the author of “The Pride of Havana: A History of Cuban Baseball,” said he was informally advising Garagiola and had the impression that baseball officials wanted to work with Cuba. González Echevarría was born in Cuba.

“Joe has said they want to respect the league, but the moment that major league teams can sign Cuban players, they are all going to want to leave,” González Echevarría said. “Would the players rather play in an impoverished country or play minor league baseball in America in the hopes of making it to the majors?”

One major league general manager, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he did not want to reveal his team’s intentions for Cuba, said his team had plans but would be restricted by whatever rules baseball imposed.

“What happens if Cuba becomes free is going to depend on the rules M.L.B. puts in place,” the general manager said. “We are keeping our eye on the situation, but we can’t do anything until the rules are different. We would treat it like any other Latin American country and look to put training facilities there.”

Another general manager, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for the same reason, said Major League Baseball would not let teams “just run into Cuba and sign as many players as possible.” An orderly system for acquiring players would have to be implemented, he said.

For now, the future in Cuba is unclear. Castro had emergency intestinal surgery last year and ceded leadership responsibilities to his brother. President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela said recently that Castro, his close friend and ally, had “almost totally recovered” from his illness and had “reassumed a good part of his duties,” although not formally.

González Echevarría described the situation involving relations with Cuba as “extremely complicated.”

“The way they deal with a post-Castro Cuba is a process, it’s not a sudden thing,” he said. “The situation will change gradually. Baseball has to be flexible to deal with this.”

[redsmetz]

This is so long overdue. I'll leave it at that.

[RedFanAlways1966]

Boston and the NYY will offer the most $$$ to the best players and the other teams will get the leftovers. Next!

[westofyou]

100 years too late, the Reds used to own Cuba.

[Chip R]

Originally Posted by westofyou

100 years too late, the Reds used to own Cuba.

They still do.

[Always Red]

I'd love to see an MLB team in Havana, someday.

[Chip R]

Originally Posted by Always Red

I'd love to see an MLB team in Havana, someday.

It's a nice idea but how are they going to support it?

[Always Red]

Originally Posted by Chip R

It's a nice idea but how are they going to support it?

Obviously they can't right now, or right after communism falls.

Someday.

It won't take long; US corporations are poised to move right in there and set up shop; Cuba will be a ready source of cheap, non-union labor.

Cuba is a LOT closer than Puerto Rico; I'd be willing to bet in 50-75 years, Cuba's citizens will be contemplating statehood...

[Jr's Boy]

I wish MLB would be preparing to set up baseball clinics in the inner city.Of course MLB whine's about the lack of African American players,yet they would rather set up shop off shore.

[westofyou]

Originally Posted by Jr's Boy

I wish MLB would be preparing to set up baseball clinics in the inner city.Of course MLB whine's about the lack of African American players,yet they would rather set up shop off shore.

Both have absolutely nothing to do with one another. They want the business model in Cuba, they want to tap the island market deeper.

[Always Red]

Originally Posted by Jr's Boy

I wish MLB would be preparing to set up baseball clinics in the inner city.Of course MLB whine's about the lack of African American players,yet they would rather set up shop off shore.

Baseball is huge in Cuba; it truly remains "The National Pastime" there.

Basketball is huge in the inner city.

Even in my own area, which admittedly is suburbia, soccer fields have been placed over areas that were previously used as baseball fields.

[Jr's Boy]

Originally Posted by Always Red

Baseball is huge in Cuba; it truly remains "The National Pastime" there.

Basketball is huge in the inner city.

Even in my own area, which admittedly is suburbia, soccer fields have been placed over areas that were previously used as baseball fields.

So in essence are you saying to just give up hope of baseball ever making a comeback in the inner city?Sorry,don't mean to hijack the thread JM.MLB is every bit to blame for neglecting it's own soil.

[Chip R]

Originally Posted by Always Red

Obviously they can't right now, or right after communism falls.

Someday.

It won't take long; US corporations are poised to move right in there and set up shop; Cuba will be a ready source of cheap, non-union labor.

Cuba is a LOT closer than Puerto Rico; I'd be willing to bet in 50-75 years, Cuba's citizens will be contemplating statehood...

Cuba is a sovereign country, not a colony or a territory or a state. They may not even want the U.S. in there. And even if they do and it is a source of cheap, non-union labor, how are those people going to afford to buy tickets to the games? That's the problem with putting a team in Mexico City or Monterrey or even Havana. You have people there who don't even come close to making the minimum wage in the U.S. Expecting them to pay major league prices to go to ballgames is unrealistic. Plus you have to take the exchange rate into account. People who go to games there are paying their currency. But the players have to be paid in U.S. dollars. TOR and MON were struggling with this a few years ago when the Canadian dollar was worth $.75 U.S. Plus, factor in building a stadium on par with stadiums here. Where's that money coming from? Is Uncle Bud or whomever is commissioner going to make an exception to their desire to have stadiums built with public money? After Castro dies, Cuba's going to have bigger fish to fry than getting a MLB team in there.

[Unassisted]

Originally Posted by Chip R

After Castro dies, Cuba's going to have bigger fish to fry than getting a MLB team in there.

There are a lot of US businesses lining up to service Cuba in many different ways. For instance, there is a multi-million dollar ferry boat operation under construction in South Florida. While it hasn't been openly admitted that it's intended to ferry people to Cuba, you have to figure that there's not a lot of demand for ferry service between Miami and Tampa.

Everything I've read indicates that Fidel's brother Raoul is healthy and considered the heir apparent if Fidel doesn't make it out of the hospital. I just wonder what makes these business people think that Fidel's death is going to flip a switch and make Cuba a great place to do business.

[Always Red]

Originally Posted by Jr's Boy

So in essence are you saying to just give up hope of baseball ever making a comeback in the inner city?

Wow, exactly where did I say that?

MLB is every bit to blame for neglecting it's own soil.

You can't make people like baseball; they either like it or they don't. It's not as fast a paced game, and doesn't play as well on TV as football or basketball.

Look around, the number of amateur baseball teams everywhere is declining. It takes years for most baseball players to make it from rookie ball to the show. I just read an article last week (SI?) about young athletes falling to the "false seduction" of easy money in basketball and the NBA.

Why do you think inner city youth are not playing baseball?