Why Are There No Cuban Players in Japan?

I think that you have the policy confused. The policy is similar to that in the MLB, that they cannot pay a Cuban who's salary goes to support the Cuban government.

Looking at the Players by Nationality page, you can see that at least two Cubans have played in NPB in recent history:

• Orestes Destrade had a long and fantastic career with the Seibu Lions from 1989 to 1995.


• Omar Linares played for the Chunichi Dragons more recently. While he didn't quite live up to expectations, he did have the respect of the players around him.

I don't know why more Cubans haven't yet found their ways to NPB. But I don't think that there exists such an agreement as you suggest.

Just a few thoughts of mine:

- If AAA players go to Japan and increase their power numbers in many cases, Cubans hitters that have done well in AAA should do well in Japan.

There are many like Andy Green, Mitch Jones, Adam Hyzdu, Andy Abad, or other great AAA players who have busted in NPB. It's no guarantee that Cuban players would do well. More importantly, you have to adapt to the different culture in Japan.

- Therefore, a Japanese team could come with a 1 million offer to a Cuban player receiving pennies from MLB and go across continents.

Yeah, but given the uncertainty and not yet proven record, why should an NPB team just give a Cuban player a million dollar offer? It is no guarantee that they would succeed either.

- Japan's policy is reminiscing of MLB policy toward Cubans a few years back.

If you don't mind, could you please elaborate on this? I'm lost how Japan's policy is similar to MLB policy?

- I don't know why more Cubans haven't yet found their ways to NPB.

Might be that there were only 7 Cubans in MLB this year. I also take it that, unlike MLB teams, most NPB teams wouldn't have the necessary connections to find and sign Cuban players who defect from Cuba. Many MLB teams have Caribbean scouting connections in that area, something that many NPB teams lack.

Also, from what I'm aware, there are very few Cuban players of Cuban descent in AAA and AA (not positive on roster figures) that NPB teams also recruits gaijin (foreign players) from.

The Cuban players in the minors usually are highly thought about by the parent MLB organization, meaning that they wouldn't sell them to a NPB team. What I'm saying is that I can't see a MLB team after all the trouble of acquiring Cuban players, to just give up and sell them to a NPB team for such a low price.

- Omar Linares played for the Chunichi Dragons more recently.

From what I remember, the Cuban government allowed Linares to play in NPB.

Orestes was not a defector like El Duke or Jose Contreras. He never played baseball in Cuba. Omar Linares never defected. He was sent by the Cuban government.

Japanese teams have not signed nor show interest in Cuban defectors. By defectors I mean Cuban players that brake with the Cuban government and are not allowed to go back to Cuba. Example: Jorge Toca, Michel Abreu, Amaury Cazanas, Barbaro Canizares, Juan Miranda, Ariel Preito, Rolando Arrojo, etc.

I will elaborate more on this in a day or two.

Rolando Viera sued MLB. The judge never ruled on the merits of the case. Viera did not pay his lawyers after the first ruling and the case was dismissed. Viera's lawyers filed a complaint to the EEOC.

In denying the free agency request, judge James Whittemore pointed out that if the player is drafted, "he has several options, not the least of which is playing professional baseball in the majors, an enviable opportunity for hundreds, if not thousands, of aspiring baseball players around the world." Viera's agent, Joe Kehoskie, argued that "major league baseball uses the oppression in Cuba and the resulting embargo to impose adverse working conditions on Cuban baseball players," according to the Associated Press. Free agents generally command larger salaries than drafted players, but the judge concluded that the financial damage caused by entering the draft does not meet the federal standard of irreparable harm.

Judge Whittemore did mention that Viera still has the option to sue baseball, and can argue that different rules apply to Cuban athletes. One of the key assertions of Viera's lawyers was that Cuban defectors are the only players who must establish residency in a third country before being eligible for free agency. Viera's agent said the player plans to appeal to the U.S. District Court of Appeals in Atlanta. If a court rules that he was unfairly entered in the draft, Viera could receive compensatory damages.

The Major League Baseball draft includes all U.S. residents who have completed high school or the junior year of college. Baseball currently treats players who are living in the U.S. as residents even if they have not obtained official resident status. According to those standards, Viera, who currently trains in Tampa, was entered in the draft. Under Federal immigration law, Viera is not a legal U.S. resident and will not be able to apply for residency until next year. Most players who come to the U.S. from Cuba establish residency in another country prior to immigrating in order to achieve free agent status.

Comments by Bud Selig about the availability of Cuban defector Jose Contreras to Major League teams has led to criticism from special-interest groups that baseball's commissioner is appeasing Fidel Castro, who regards the loss of the island's top players as a hit to Cuba's national pride.

Bud Selig and Orioles' owner Peter Angelos sat with Fidel Castro when Baltimore played a historic exhibition in Havana against a Cuban all-star team in March 1999.

In an interview with ESPN, Selig explained why Major League Baseball subjects Cuban players to its annual draft if they fail to first establish residency in a third country, while prospects from the Dominican Republic, Japan and other foreign countries can be signed as free agents.

"It proves our critique correct, that the reason baseball maintains this policy is to conform to the wishes of Fidel Castro," said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, a public-interest legal group in Washington, D.C.

Judicial Watch was one of the groups that two years ago urged a federal investigation into the stance of the Baltimore Orioles toward Cuban defectors. After the Orioles had played a home-and-home exhibition series with a team of Cuban all-stars, Syd Thrift, the team's vice president for baseball operations, was quoted as saying the team would not sign Cubans because owner Peter Angelos didn't want to "do anything that could be interpreted as being disrespectful or ... encouraging players to defect."
The Department of Justice opened an investigation. The Orioles backed away from their stance, and the Department of Justice dropped the case.

Fitton said baseball should be sanctioned for Selig's comments and forced to abandon its Cuban policy, which some contend is in violation of federal civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination based on national origin.

Baseball agents and lawyers for defectors say the commissioner's office is using the embargo as an excuse to prevent the wealthiest teams from bidding on Cubans, and driving up salaries.

Roger Clegg, general counsel for the Center for Equal Opportunity, a Washington-based policy group, said baseball's policy is discriminatory because civil rights laws prohibit teams from treating people differently based on national origin.

"Why does Selig care whether Castro is happy or not? I don't understand that," said Clegg, a former lawyer in the civil-rights division of the Department of Justice during the Reagan and first Bush administrations.

Sources:

• ESPN
• USA Today
Buzzle
• Sports Law News

The Cuban government tries to convince other entities such as MLB and Japan Baseball so they do not sign Cuban players. The Cuban government does this with other sports, too. Once the Orioles went to Cuba, they convinced MLB not to sign Cuban players. The Chinuchi Dragons went to Cuba, I am sure they did the same.

It is very suspicious that no Cuban defectors have drawn any interest from Japanese teams. This is despite that Cuban players are well known in Japan due to our rivalry in international competitions such as Olympics, World Cups, etc.


Do you know a sports writer in Japan that I can contact to relay this info?

It is a shame nobody talks about it.

To say that Cubans haven't drawn any interest from NPB is to admit you weren't paying attention.

Japanese teams have met in the past with the Cuban sports ministry attempting to reach some kind of accord on allowing Cubans to play in Japan. Japanese teams, including Hiroshima and Chunichi, have even played exhibition games in Cuba as a goodwill gesture in hopes that might encourage the loosening of restrictions on Cuban players.

The Japanese pursued Maels Ariel Rodriguez, Contreras, and Pedro Lazo, none of whom were allowed to go to Japan. Instead, they sent three older players to Shidax, an industrial league club (Pacheco and Kindelan were two of the three; I can't remember the third). Linares was permitted to play for Chunichi with the hopes that he would go back to Cuba and transmit what he had learned about Japanese training methods.

As regards defectors, those are way too costly for Japanese teams to swallow. Moreover, the defectors have their eyes set on MLB since that is where the prestige and the money is, plus it is close to home.

Part of the negotiations with the Cuban government were also about salary, since Japanese teams do not want to pay sky high signing costs for players who may very well wash out or who will play a year in Japan and then jump to MLB. Very few of the Cuban players have panned out in the big leagues anyway.

Believe me, if Gurriel became available to a Japanese team tomorrow, and he had a bug up his behind about playing in Japan and was willing to take only $1 million or so, they would sign him in a heartbeat. Except that the reality is that an MLB team would offer about three times what the Japanese would. There is just no way NPB is willing to get involved in what they term "money games," which is how Alex Ramirez can set a Central League hits record and end up getting released. Japanese teams aren't going to sign lower level prospects because there is no incentive to do so unless those players want to take part in Hiroshima's academy in the Dominican, for example, where they can bring him up to speed first before sending him to Japan.

It needs to be noted that Japanese clubs usually do not sign Latin players off the dusty sandlots anyway. They get them out of MLB or maybe even the Mexican League or Taiwan or Korea. That is the joshiki (accepted way of thinking). Even some of the unknowns Hiroshima has taken on have had some previous flirtation with MLB, such as maybe spending time at a big league academy in the Dominican.

As for Cubans in Japan, Alex Ochoa will be playing center field for Hiroshima next season. His family defected when Alex was a very young boy.

Gary Garland:

Sir. You are missing the whole argument. I am writing about Cuban defectors not players that are still in Cuba and were sent to Japan by the Cuban government. I know the Cuban government and Japanese teams had worked closely in the past. This is precisely what I am claiming. This close relationship prevents Japanese teams from signing Cubans. I am referring to Cuban defectors that break with the Cuban government so they are not semi slaves anymore.

Stop mentioning Cuban-Americans! They never played in Cuba like Alex Ochoa.

Some Cuban defectors are not that expensive because their age prevents them from being seriously considered by MLB. Examples: Michel Abreu, Barbaro Canizares, Amaury Cazanas, etc. They have signed for less than a million.

- This close relationship prevents Japanese teams from signing Cubans. I am referring to Cuban defectors that break with the Cuban government so they are not semi slaves anymore.

What close relationship? So far you've failed to cite any relationship NPB teams have that prevent them from signing Cuban defectors.

Like Gary said, NPB teams very rarely sign Latin players out of the sandlots. Hiroshima is the only team that really has a presence in the Dominican. The teams can't compete money-wise with what MLB teams throw out.

If someone like Gourriel were to defect today, and be willing to play for around $1-2 million, then an NPB team would jump all over that opportunity to sign a Cuban defector. As Gary mentioned, an MLB team would blow away NPB teams on signing Cuban defectors. NPB teams just don't have the money that most MLB teams have to entice Cuban defectors away from MLB.

- Some Cuban defectors are not that expensive because their age prevents them from being seriously considered by MLB. Examples: Michel Abreu, Barbaro Canizares, Amaury Cazanas, etc. They have signed for less than a million.

And as Gary mentioned, most NPB teams do not look to the Dominican to sign amateur talent. Also, most teams wouldn't even have the resources to entice amateur talent to sign with an NPB team.

Japanese baseball authorities at the amateur level and in Nippon Pro Baseball fear that signing defectors would close doors between the two baseball powers.

They want to maintain good relations with the Cuban government not only to have access to players on loan but to cooperate with tournaments and other competition.

I am referring to Cuban defectors...

I'm wondering how many Cuban defectors have actually made it to Japan in any case. It's a long boat ride.

Actually, I believe all the North American players who are in Japan right now first had to accomplish something in at least the AA or AAA level before the NPB teams would even consider them, am I correct?

- Actually, I believe all the North American players who are in Japan right now first had to accomplish something in at least the AA or AAA level before the NPB teams would even consider them, am I correct?

Yes, most North American players who are in Japan have at least played at AA or AAA. Most NPB teams won't even consider signing so and so player if they haven't at least had success at the AA or AAA level.

On occasion, a team like Hiroshima will sign someone out of their Dominican Academy who hasn't played above AA or signed right out of the sandlots. Also, Yomiuri signed pitcher Wirfin Obispo last year who never played above AA.

It's globalist, political, anti-communist crud and xenophobia both in Japan (my guess) and the USA (for sure) regarding the Cubans. Why is it OK to turn a blind eye to millions of foreign worker at the lowest wages in the USA, then make a big stink about Cuban players?

Your guess would be wrong. Japan doesn't really get worked up about communism per se anymore, particularly the Cuban variety. Cuban defectors don't play in Japan because not many of them actually try to defect to Japan - that's all. This is a non-issue.