Over the last few years, Cuban players like Puig and Cespedes have defected to the U.S.  They are here because they wanted to play ball in the Majors and negotiate freely with teams.

The latest example of the Castro regime exploiting the Cuban people is owning the players who want to play in the Majors.  Yes, I said owning.  What else do you call someone who gets a portion of your salary without your consent?    

This is from Jose Hugo Fernandez via my friends at Babalu:

I hope I'm not a victim of some prejudice that clouds my understanding, but I cannot fathom the need for Major League Baseball (MLB) executives to sit down and negotiate all the time with Cuban officials, who function like overseers over slaves through their monopoly on baseball in Cuba. Wasn't it supposed to be that after March 16, thanks to another of President Obama's anti-embargo measures, all Cubans living on the island -- baseball players included, of course -- could work in the US and collect wages directly from American companies if hired by them?

If that is the case, then there is nothing to discuss. All the regime has to do is finally grant our players their freedom, so they can go play in the US, return home as often as they wish and, above all, negotiate directly (personally or with the mediators of their choice) with the MLB, like athletes from any other country.

We already had enough upon reading the cynical statements by Higinio Vélez, president of the Cuban Baseball Federation, when he announced that "their" players were ready to join the Majors, impudently placing them on sale, maneuvering to charge for letting them fly out of the airport "with their heads held high." His shamelessness knows no bounds, his words coming from someone that fans on the island recognize as the deputy of a mafia that, under the orders of Antonio Castro, ruined our national sport and now, to top it off, intends to line his pockets at its expense.

In any case, nothing should surprise us when it comes to the Castros’ cadre and their shenanigans. What I cannot make any sense of is why MLB execs would pander to that mafia, legitimising it by negotiating with them, and approving of and even repeating in public its scheming arguments.

This is a sham.  The Cuban government is turning the players into another source of cash for Castro Inc.

By the way, this is what happens with all of those hotel joint ventures with Mexico and Canada.  The Castro regime shares the "hard currency" profits and then turns around and pays Cuban workers with meaningless pesos.

The players union should issue a statement along these lines:

First, we welcome Cuban players to our ranks, and second, they should be treated the same way as others.  In other words, they negotiate freely with MLB teams and own their contracts.

P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.