Cuban Players--what might change?

[GwynnInTheHall]

With the United States talking about normalizing relations with Cuba, how will that affect MLB process of integrating Cubans into the game? Will they adopt the posting system like they do with Asian teams? Would it be draft and development like in the DR? What are your thoughts?

[joncarlos]

I don't think anything changes in the short term. Except now the players don't have to go through the process of establishing citizenship in the DR or Mexico or something.

If MLB still considers Cuba a "professional" league, then teams are still subject to the international bonus rules unless players have 5 years of experience (or something like that).

Now, maybe MLB makes some changes in the long run. Maybe this makes an international draft more likely.

[Moonlight J]

Hopefully it ends the ridiculous human trafficking

[rhd]

Great article by Ben Badler at BA re: this very subject:

http://www.baseballamerica.com/international/mlb-will-handle-big-changes-cuba/

[Fresno Bob]

we should have minimum 2, potentially 4, MLB teams in Cuba

[The Feral Slasher]

we should have minimum 2, potentially 4, MLB teams in Cuba

It will be interesting to see how it all plays out. How will the Cuban leagues be impacted and how much money can MLB make in Cuba ? I saw an interesting article on the Cuban baseball stadiums, they clearly have a ways to go to be up to MLB standards.

http://ballparkdigest.com/201110174264/minor-league-baseball/visits/touring-the-ballparks-of-cuba

[Sour Masher]

we should have minimum 2, potentially 4, MLB teams in Cuba

Could an economically depressed Cuba afford to support even one MLB team? Could they afford the ever growing ticket and concession prices? If not, how would adopting to lower pricing affect the profitability and sustainability of a franchise? I don't see it, in the short term at least, being possible.

[rhd]

It will be interesting to see how it all plays out. How will the Cuban leagues be impacted and how much money can MLB make in Cuba ? I saw an interesting article on the Cuban baseball stadiums, they clearly have a ways to go to be up to MLB standards.

http://ballparkdigest.com/2011101742...lparks-of-cuba

Great article! Thanx for posting this.

I know a bit about the quality of ballparks in 3rd-world locations. I've been to Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, when the Expos played a few games there in 2004 before they moved to DC. At that time, MLB was proposing San Juan as a viable option for the Expos to move to. That was a joke if there ever was one. It wasnt even a good Triple-A stadium. For this, you had to pay about $70 to get a seat behind home plate and the other better seats werent too much less expensive. I sat in the bleachers for $10 and got scorched by the sun. You would think that if fans in Puerto Rico were hungry for an MLB team, they would have turned out in droves to see the few games that the Expos played there. But there were only about 10000 fans there (looked like it had a capacity of only around 25000). And most of the fans seemed to be cheering for the opposing club! (the Marlins and the Mets for the 2 games I saw).

I also saw some games (Caribbean World Series) at a ballpark in Santo Domingo, DR (it was called something like Quezada). This also wasnt even a decent Triple-A park. Both parks looked like they were decades old.

Havana is much bigger than San Juan or Santo Domingo, and the Cubans I think are even more passionate about baseball than the Puerto Ricans or the Dominicans, which is why I think MLB might have a chance there. Economically, they'll be much better after we lift the embargo, if and when we do.

I didnt know about the Cubaballtours tour. The website is no longer operating, so I hope that the tours are still available. I would be interested in going so I will investigate this.

[The Feral Slasher]

Great article! Thanx for posting this.

I know a bit about the quality of ballparks in 3rd-world locations. I've been to Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, when the Expos played a few games there in 2004 before they moved to DC. At that time, MLB was proposing San Juan as a viable option for the Expos to move to. That was a joke if there ever was one. It wasnt even a good Triple-A stadium. For this, you had to pay about $70 to get a seat behind home plate and the other better seats werent too much less expensive. I sat in the bleachers for $10 and got scorched by the sun. You would think that if fans in Puerto Rico were hungry for an MLB team, they would have turned out in droves to see the few games that the Expos played there. But there were only about 10000 fans there (looked like it had a capacity of only around 25000). And most of the fans seemed to be cheering for the opposing club! (the Marlins and the Mets for the 2 games I saw).

I also saw some games (Caribbean World Series) at a ballpark in Santo Domingo, DR (it was called something like Quezada). This also wasnt even a decent Triple-A park. Both parks looked like they were decades old.

Havana is much bigger than San Juan or Santo Domingo, and the Cubans I think are even more passionate about baseball than the Puerto Ricans or the Dominicans, which is why I think MLB might have a chance there. Economically, they'll be much better after we lift the embargo, if and when we do.

I didnt know about the Cubaballtours tour. The website is no longer operating, so I hope that the tours are still available. I would be interested in going so I will investigate this.

Glad you enjoyed it. It would be amazing to travel to Cuba

[bryanbutler]

But there were only about 10000 fans there (looked like it had a capacity of only around 25000).

that would have been about 5000 more than at an expos home game at the time. >.>

[mgwiz22]

There is no way that there will be a major league team in Cuba as things stand. Twenty or thirty years from now maybe. In the near future, I would say that it is more likely that the Cuban league would expand to Florida than a major league team go there and I don't expect either to occur.