Wow! Must really suck having your best ballplayers defect to other countries so that they can actually be paid for busting their asses to perfect their skills and talent on the diamond ... and count their professional contract and paycheck as their own in a professional league as free men in a free market system. It also must suck finally realizing Communism fails as an economy (among other things), but the government simply just can't let go of its people so that they can strike out on their own and become successful and productive businessmen and workers in order to build an economy that works. Also sucks, despite the belly-aching of the left in America, that the US embargo on Cuba still hangs on and Cuba can't "farm-out" its brightest baseball players as exported slaves to the USA in the MLB so they can send home those big professional American bucks for the commie castro coffers ...

[...]

Over the last two years, major league teams have spent more than $75 million on Cuban defectors for whom a life with new cars and sparkling jewelry and freedom was too much to ignore. Nearly half the sum went to Aroldis Chapman, who in his first season with the Cincinnati Reds threw the fastest recorded pitch in history and showcased the highest-end talent available in Cuba.

Chapman’s defection, along with that of shortstops Jose Iglesias (Boston signed him for $8.2 million) and Adeiny Hechavarria (Toronto signed him for $10 million), has compelled Cuba to reconsider its policy on restricting players from plying their trade professionally elsewhere. The Baseball Federation of Cuba, headed by Fidel Castro’s son Tony, is discussing a plan that would allow baseball players to leave the country in exchange for a proportion of their salary going to Cuba, according to two sources familiar with the proposal.

Ideally, one source said, Cuba would send players to the major leagues and circumvent the spate of defections that have embarrassed the country. Such a plan, the source said, is currently a non-starter. Though MLB would welcome Cuban players, the arrangement would in effect pay the Cuban government for players, a violation of the United States’ 50-year-long embargo on Cuba. That is unlikely to thaw for baseball. While the U.S. government has allowed Cuba to play in both World Baseball Classics, Cuban players were the only ones not given the prize money handed out by the International Baseball Federation.

For now, the idea is for Cubans to go to Japan, South Korea, Mexico or Europe, like doctors and entertainers who make money elsewhere, then return home eventually. Because of working agreements with the first three countries, MLB would not take defectors from them. And baseball in Europe is played at a significantly lower quality and salary, likely keeping the top-end Cuban talent from playing in the Netherlands or Italy.

Accordingly, the defections probably will continue unabated. In November, Yasiel Balaguer, a 17-year-old on the Cuban Junior National team, defected to Nicaragua. Whether Balaguer is anything more than a marginal talent seems not to matter, as MLB teams’ intrigue with Cuban players continues despite the deep risk involved with their signings. Eleven Cuban players made major league debuts in the last three seasons and 35 have done so since 1995.

[...]

Even if they’re busts, there have been enough Cuban successes in the major leagues to feed the defecting marketplace. The Angels’ Kendry Morales is among the best hitters and the White Sox’s Alexei Ramirez is among the best-fielding shortstops in the American League. Shortstop Yunel Escobar is poised for a breakout season with Toronto, and pitcher Yunesky Maya joins Washington’s rotation this season, and outfielder/first baseman Leslie Anderson could crack Tampa Bay’s opening day roster.

Despite the dozens of players who have left over the past two years, Cuba remains No. 1 in IBAF rankings. Major league teams still covet Frederich Cepeda and Yulieski Gourriel and Alfredo Despaigne and even Lazo, who, at 37 and sporting a paunch, can fire fastballs and forkballs like his old teammate in Pinar Del Rio. [...]

From El Nuevo Herald (translation mine):

TV Production Tech defects in San Diego
By Wilfredo Cancio Isla
El Nuevo Herald

The Cuban team participating in the second World Baseball Classic is under extreme pressure from the highest government spheres to guarantee an outstanding performance in the tournament an “elevate revolutionary athletics,” affirmed a member of the Cuban delegation on Monday.

“There’s a lot of pressure on the team, from the coaches to the players, to make a good showing and ensure that the revolution looks good,” remarked Yuri Boza, a broadcast television technician who defected in San Diego to seek political exile in the U.S.

The 31 year old Boza is the first defector among the Cuban delegation that is attending the Classic. No player defections have been reported to date among the national team which has been practically isolated from contact with the international media.

“The security guards [State Security Agents] have maintained the ballplayers under strict control, not letting anyone approach them,” said Boza, who worked as a sports editor from the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television (ICRT).

Among those traveling in the delegation is a son of Fidel Castro, Antonio Castro, team physician and vice-president of the Cuban Baseball Federation. In a recent article, the ill former leader rooted for a triumph by the national team stating that Cuba can “do something that only free men, without owners, can do, not professionals.”

“Antonio Castro is an intermediary between the team and Fidel, that’s clear to all.” [Boza] asserted.

The young man was interviewed on Monday night on the A Mano Limpia TV program on channel 41-America Tevé hosted by the journalist Oscar Haza.

He made the decision to escape before leaving the island, as soon as he learned he’d be traveling to work on the game broadcasts for the baseball Classic. If the Cuban team didn’t advance beyond the first round in Mexico, Boza had a “plan B” to reach the United States.

But the squad’s 5-4 victory over Australia opened the doors to the second round in San Diego, California.

“That day I celebrated the [team’s] victory made possible by Yosvany Peraza’s homerun with tremendous happiness because it made my plans easier,” he confessed.

He had previously traveled to the Pan-American games in Rio de Janeiro, in 2007, and the Olympics in Beijing last year, but the option of abandoning the island wasn’t as tempting as the day he received the news about a possible trip to the U.S.

“I knew this was my only chance to escape Cuba,” he affirmed. “I wasn’t going to waste it.”

Since he arrived in Mexico, the young man had been in contact with his brother Orestes Boza, a Miami resident for six years. Last Friday, upon arriving in San Diego, he made dash to that city’s airport to take the first flight which would bring him to south Florida.

He arrived in Miami midday last Saturday.

I want to feel free, do what I want, decide for myself where to go,” said Boza during a brief interview with El Nuevo Herald. “Young Cubans don’t have any loyalty to the revolution, we simply don’t want to stay there because we see no future…and I’m not daunted by the current economic crisis because in Cuba we were born in and have always lived in crisis.”

Here and here.