Baseball and Cuba

The NYT has a story about a young Cuban baseball player who is now in a U.S. high school. Unfortunately, it is a fluff piece, never mentioning the ways in which agents try to smuggle people out or the promises of huge contracts dangled in front of people’s eyes. The article claims that “his recollections provide a rare glimpse inside the secretive world of baseball development in Cuba” but we don’t really get any insights.

Pete Bjarkman is an expert on Cuban baseball, and it’s noteworthy that in a post from a few weeks ago, he wrote the following:

Personal Wish for the Future: That major league baseball stays out of Cuba for as long as possible

Meanwhile, Jonathan at Global Baseball writes about how MLB is making its move into China.