Major League Baseball goes into business with Castro Inc.

The devil is in the details.

 

Two years after making their initial proposal, Major League Baseball (MLB) is going into business with the Castro family.  Cuban baseball players will be able to play in the Majors, but at a cost. According to Reuters, "MLB teams will pay the Cuban Baseball Federation a release fee for each player to be signed from Cuba."  How big will this release fee be? Will Cuban baseball players have to give up a big chunk of their salaries, like Cuban doctors have had to do?

***BREAKING**** #CUBA BASEBALL FEDERATION AND #USA MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL REACH AGREEMENT ALLOWING CUBAN PLAYERS TO SIGN WITH U.S. TEAMS WITHOUT NEEDING TO DEFECT - #MLB DEPUTY COMMISSIONER DAN HALEM TELLS REUTERS @danieljtrotta

— Sarah Marsh (@reuterssarah) December 19, 2018

With all apologies to Sarah March but the reasons for defecting are still there, and they are to be free of the Castro regime. The spin in the media is that this will "limit defections, trafficking of players." Additional questions arise such as:

Will the MLB be turned into a collaborator with the Castro regime in trafficking players as the Pan-American Health Organization has allegedly trafficked in doctors?

Will anyone mention that Fidel Castro's son, Antonio Castro, runs the Cuban Baseball Federation? Antonio likes to live large. What will be his cut?

Not all agree that this is a good idea. Incidentally the more informed appear to have a more negative view.

Like all people, Cuban baseball players should be free to negotiate their own terms and wages. MLB's reported proposal to cede their rights to the regime in Cuba, which profits from the players' labor, institutionalizes their exploitation.

— Mario Diaz-Balart (@MarioDB) December 19, 2018