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Cuba out of the World Baseball Classic


Sean O

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Not sure if everyone has heard, but Cuba has been banned from entering the WBC by the US Treasury, citing the embargo. This has to be one of the most idiotic moves by the US government, and lately that's been one hell of a prize.

I hope they get to compete, because the argument for exclusion fails on a moral, financial and logical basis, and this comes from a person who really, really, really hates Communism.

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This was certainly a possibility from the beginning, but still very disappointing with all the positive signals MLB and the Cuban government were sending. Maybe they ticked off the wrong bureaucrat in the Treasury Dept by assuming Cuba would be coming? Mr. Orza from MLB is still "very, very confident that the Cubans will play." Damage control for ticket sales or real confidence with an ace up his sleeve yet to be played?

Not having Cuba in the tourney is like leaving the Yankees out of an American League season. In their four Olympic baseball appearances, Cuba has 3 golds and a silver. And I was really looking forward to that Round 2 pool of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Rep. and Venezuela.

I don't suppose there are 30 Cuban defectors in the MLB, Japanese, or Caribbean systems as an emergency fill in? Otherwise, they probably would need to move Mexico to Cuba's slot in Pool B and put the replacement in Pool C to help maintain some balance.

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

So at last U.S. Treasue Dep. gave the aproval and the Island team is in the tournament. Just hope the NY Yankees dramatically crash this year. Nothing personal agaist the fans, but this team and some players have been so selfish about this event, that they deserve a lession. You're not that great, Matsui :evil:

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Is good cuba its not going...because i hate Fidel Castro...but i really was looking foward to beat them in a beaseball game...

What's the matter with you guys?

Baseball and politics should NOT get mixed in together. I don't like George Bush either, but still want USA to compete in this Championship. The WBC is made for baseball NOT politics!

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there is no reason to HATE communism (fundamentally disagreeing is absolutely a different story), only its greedy symbols in history who have given it such a terrible connotation i.e. josef stalin. you have to understand the circumstances of these latin american countries...for the most part, their poor have no hope in any other system because corrupt leaders, most often funded by the united states, have ruled throughout their histories. yes, i know, the communist leaders have also turned out to be corrupt like the reactionary ones, but the point is that there are many poor people in these countries and to them, communism, which is most IDEALISTIC to them, seems the only solution (all else has screwed them over).

it's a lot like blacks in this country...history has screwed them over in so many ways that they are still unable to recover (each of their ancestors left little for them to work with because of slavery, then segregation...welfare, believe it or not to you conservatives, does not mean free, easy living and is not even guaranteed to be available). this struggle to this day makes them stick together against the people who they see as the cause of the problem, suburban whites...likewise, suburban whites blame blacks for crime and all that without considering how history may have impacted their options in the present.

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Good speech, but a bit deep for this context, Zelda. Hating something you just have heard about what others want you to hear is not pretty smart, I guess. Not being agree, that's another thing.

But my post is to ask why so many foering MLB players are refusing to play with their national teams. Most of these players belog to certain powerfull MLB teams, BTW. I mean this is the first tournament of its class, and some selfish unnoficcial attitudes are pointing to kill it early. Beware MLB!.

I also found that the bracket system is just made to force USA team to be at the finals. Despiting the surely strong team, and with all respect to the rest of nations, the hardest teams USA could face before the finals are Japan or Mexico. Venezuela and Dominican Republic, for example, must face each other THREE times in case both go the farthest they can, and only one can be at the finals. The same with Puerto Rico and Cuba. But it's impossible that two of these four teams play the finals, according to the schedulle. I know the organizing country has the right to set the schedulle according to it's convenience. That happens in every international tournament. But this is just absurd.

Well, the schedulle is there, and any other aspirant must deal with it to take the Classic. But what about the MLB teams behavior I mentioned before?

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All potential roadblocks for the inaugural World Baseball Classic have been cleared.

Though there never was any doubt, Cuban President Fidel Castro gave his stamp of approval on the WBC late Wednesday night in Havana, the first time he has commented on the 16-team tournament since Cuba was given permission last Friday by the U.S. Treasury Department to compete.

[source]: http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article...t=.jsp&c_id=mlb

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