Cuba is interested in bringing defectors back to its national team

Cuba is interested in bringing defectors back to its national team
By Demetrius Bell @fergoe on Mar 27, 2016, 8:36a +

Sunday's Say Hey, Baseball talks about Cuba being open to the idea of
welcoming defectors back to its national team. Plus, Justin Verlander
hates running almost as much as a normal person does.

Listen, we know it's tough to catch up on everything happening in the
baseball world each morning. There are all kinds of stories, rumors,
game coverage and Vines of dudes getting hit in the beans every day.
Trying to find all of it while on your way to work or sitting at your
desk just isn't easy. It's okay, though, we're going to do the heavy
lifting for you each morning, and find the things you need to see from
within the SB Nation baseball network, as well as from elsewhere. Please
hold your applause until the end, or at least until after you subscribe
to the newsletter.

★★★

As of right now, any Cuban player who defects from their nation to the
United States in order to play baseball is subsequently banned from
playing for their national team. That has been a hard and fast rule ever
since the embargo between the United States and Cuba went into place.
However, thanks to the recent warm-up in relations between the U.S. and
Cuba, a possibility has opened up that could have major ramifications on
the upcoming World Baseball Classic -- Cuba is open to the idea of
bringing back defectors to its national team.

According to a report from Jon Morosi, if the Cuban government (or
another entity) could receive a "release fee" of sorts in exchange for
Cuban players coming to the United States to play baseball without
giving up their Cuban citizenship, then the next step would be allowing
those players and other defectors from the past to be eligible to play
for the Cuban national squad. The embargo prohibits this from happening,
but the embargo itself will probably be a thing of the past in the near
future -- at least by the time the new President of the United States is
in office -- but baseball clearly doesn't want to wait that long, which
means that they're currently working to strike an agreement that would
work under the current embargo and also when it's lifted.

Aside from the political ramifications of this deal, just imagine what
it'll be like to see a full-strength Cuban national team. Although it's
slowed down a bit in recent times, Cuba has historically done very well
in tournaments without defectors, so seeing a team with the likes of
Jose Fernandez, Yoenis Cespedes, Yasiel Puig, Jose Abreu and Aroldis
Chapman just to name a few would be absolutely amazing for the World
Baseball Classic -- and also utterly terrifying for their opponents.
We're probably very close to seeing a full-strength Cuban national team
in tournament action, and the effect that this will have on both Major
League Baseball, the World Baseball Classic and the culture of the game
itself in Cuba is probably too large to be measured. This could be a
watershed moment for the sport, and it can't come too soon.

A few days after their visit to Cuba, the Rays were greeted in Florida
by an angry man who invaded their dugout and threw beer at them.

Jake Arrieta will probably be ready for Opening Day, but the Cubs are
coming up to with plans to make sure that they're sufficiently prepared
for the possibility that he isn't ready.

Coco Crisp will be with the Oakland Athletics on Opening Day, but will
his veteran presence enable him to keep a spot on the squad for the
entire season?

The Colorado Rockies are probably going to be pretty bad this season,
but they've got an interesting farm system that you should keep your eye
on as they rebuild.

The St. Louis Cardinals don't have an "ace" level starting pitcher in
their rotation, but do you necessarily need one in order to be a contender?

After making a couple of huge splashes in the offseason, the Arizona
Diamondbacks are feeling pretty optimistic about their chances in 2016.

Going to spring training games can be an extremely fun venture, so
naturally, teams are catching on to this and making the entire
experience really expensive.

Would you like to see graphical representations of every at-bat from the
career of one Barry Bonds? Of course you would.

A lot of things haven't gone right for the Seattle Mariners during their
current league-leading playoff drought, but what if this is the season
in which things finally go right for them?

Justin Verlander laid down a bunt on Saturday afternoon and ran maybe 10
feet at the most before being thrown out. He received a Bronx cheer from
the crowd, and he responded by giving them a tip of the cap. There's
only a few days left of this, y'all.

Source: Cuba is interested in bringing defectors back to its national
team - SBNation.com -
http://www.sbnation.com/2016/3/27/11312362/cuban-national-baseball-team-defectors-world-baseball-classic-spring-training-2016