Posting Cuban Players May Take Years to Happen

Everyone around Major League Baseball was ecstatic when President Obama and President Raul Castro announced that the United States and Cuba would try to improve their diplomatic relationships with each other. There have been Cuban players defecting for years to the United States and there were five alone in the All Star Game this past season which has really put a strain on Cuba’s Serie Nacional. With the economy the league brings in and the struggles it’s already having I cannot see the Cuban government simply opening the gates for their players to come and go as they please.

Enter the posting system not unlike the system in place for Korean and Japanese players. While Korean players are still posted through the blind and private bidding system while the Japanese bidding system has been capped at $20 million per player. Cuba has been losing their players without compensation for years while the players are getting in excess of $60 million to play the game.

It won’t happen this year, next year or probably in the next five years but I truly think it is coming. The game will become even more of a national and global sport, the players can return home and not have to risk their lives getting here and worry about their families being labeled as traitors and the game of Major League Baseball gets better. This excites me and I can’t wait to see it all play out.