MLB seeks safe, legal path for Cuban baseball players to U.S.

By Daniel Trotta
HAVANA, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Major League Baseball wants to
find a safe and legal way for Cubans to reach the big leagues
without the need for dangerous overseas journeys in search of
riches in the American game, a top MLB official said on Tuesday.
"It is the goal of our commissioner and our owners to
ultimately negotiate with the Cuban Baseball Federation ... a
safe and legal path for Cuban baseball players who desire to
play in Major League Baseball," Dan Halem, MLB's chief legal
officer, told a news conference.
Halem is part of a goodwill mission to Cuba to that includes
celebrated Cuban defectors such as Jose Abreu and Yasiel Puig
who were given special permission to return to their country
despite their illegal departures from the island.
The tour, which runs through Friday, also includes some of
baseball's greatest stars such as Clayton Kershaw and Miguel
Cabrera.
Abreu and Puig each left on speedboats destined for third
countries to maintain their free agent status and avoid the
player draft that they would have been subject to as U.S.
residents.
After making less than a dollar a day in Cuba, they each
signed multiyear, multimillion-dollar contracts.
Before creating a regulated player transfer system, the U.S.
Congress would have to lift the trade embargo of Cuba or the
administration of President Barack Obama would have to grant
extraordinary permission for Major League Baseball to reach a
deal with Cuban officials.
U.S.-Cuban relations have improved since Obama set a new
course a year ago that led to the restoration of diplomatic
ties. But so far the policy has emphasized commerce only with
Cuba's nascent private sector, steering away from the state.
Absent normal relations, Cuban players are enticed by all
manner of freelance talent scouts and player agents who lure
them to defect. When they do, Cuba bans them from the ultimate
glory in the Caribbean country: playing for the national team.
When Puig left Cuba in 2012, he soon found himself entangled
with Mexico's notorious Zetas crime organization, which
threatened to chop off his arm if it failed to receive the
promised $250,000 fee for his passage.
"The current situation ... is not acceptable," Halem said.
"We are going to try very hard to fix it but it's going to
require ... the cooperation of two governments and certainly the
assistance the Cuban Baseball Federation and INDER (the Cuban
sports institute.)"