MLB Cuba Deal: Ramifications of Trump Administration Nixing Deal With CBF

The Path to the Majors Isn’t Clear For Cuban Players

One of the more obvious ramifications from this ruling is that Cuban baseball players do not have a clear path towards pursuing their dreams of playing in the majors. Both sides hoped the MLB Cuba deal would curtail the long, dangerous road most Cuban athletes face to play baseball in the United States.

First, each player must defect from Cuba and established residency in another country before applying to play in the majors. Too many documented cases have shown how these young Cubans put themselves and in some cases, their families, in life-threatening situations by entrusting the aid of human traffickers to achieve their dream.

This proposed agreement would have eliminated any threat of defection by the players as none of them would have been required to give up their Cuban citizenship. Also, each player would have been eligible to keep their signing bonus after the MLB team had paid their release fee to the Cuban Baseball Federation.

Once again, the players become the pawn of this long-running dispute between these two countries as they have no voice in the matter.