Major League Baseball has been working in recent months to ease the path in which Cuban baseball players take in order to come to the U.S. and play for a big league club. An announcement from President Barack Obama's administration on Tuesday will fulfill that goal.
Cuban citizens will now be allowed to work in the U.S. and receive salaries from American companies. Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes spoke to the media about the monumental decision to lift some of the sanctions against the communist nation. He specifically talked about the impact that it will have on Major League Baseball.
"It certainly does address the ability of Cuban athletes who could earn salaries in the United States to do so. That's obviously one of the issues that (Major League Baseball) has been discussing with Cuba," he said.
All in all, Rhodes said that the ultimate goal of the new policy is to allow the Cuban economy to have a "greater connectivity with the global economy."
Now, instead of Cuban players having to defect and establish residency in another neighboring nation before undertaking the laborious process to receive clearance from the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control, a Cuban citizen can leave the island and sign a major league contract without having to take the previously mandated in-between steps, which, often times, were dangerous.
"If M.L.B. and their franchises are assertive in their interpretations of these new rules, it would allow teams to negotiate contracts with Cuban baseball players at any time under U.S. law," added Matthew Aho of the New York law firm Akerman L.L.P.
This will also make the process of Cubans coming to the U.S. much less corrupt. Current MLB players Yasiel Puig and Leonys Martin were smuggled into the country and gained residency through the "wet feet, dry feet" policy. Additionally, both players negotiated with their smugglers and agreed to give them a percentage of their MLB contract.
Other high-profile players that previously defected from Cuba would hire a "buscon," or an investor, who would house, clothe, feed and train them leading up to their MLB showcase in exchange for a percentage of their contract as well. It was reported earlier this week that the buscon of 16-year-old Cuban prospect Lazaro Armenteros threatened the life of the youngster's agent in the U.S., which prompted the agent to cease his representation of the potential star.
Cuban baseball players hoping to fulfill their dream of playing professional ball in the U.S. will hopefully soon very much control their own destiny. Cuban officials say they still need to reach a deal on transferring Cuban players to the U.S., which can be achieved once the economic embargo on Cuba is lifted.
The next international signing period will begin on July 2, and this time, it could be much easier for teams to hammer out contracts for Cuban players, which will be a positive change in the overall landscape for both parties.
