Headlines

  • Royals Release Hunter Dozier
  • Yankees Release Aaron Hicks
  • Brewers Sign Julio Teheran To Major League Deal
  • Red Sox Move Corey Kluber To Bullpen
  • Athletics Reach Tentative Stadium Funding Deal With Nevada Lawmakers
  • NPB Watch: May Edition
  • Previous
  • Next
Register
Login
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Rumors

MLB Trade Rumors

  • Home
  • Teams
    • AL East
      • Baltimore Orioles
      • Boston Red Sox
      • New York Yankees
      • Tampa Bay Rays
      • Toronto Blue Jays
    • AL Central
      • Chicago White Sox
      • Cleveland Guardians
      • Detroit Tigers
      • Kansas City Royals
      • Minnesota Twins
    • AL West
      • Houston Astros
      • Los Angeles Angels
      • Oakland Athletics
      • Seattle Mariners
      • Texas Rangers
    • NL East
      • Atlanta Braves
      • Miami Marlins
      • New York Mets
      • Philadelphia Phillies
      • Washington Nationals
    • NL Central
      • Chicago Cubs
      • Cincinnati Reds
      • Milwaukee Brewers
      • Pittsburgh Pirates
      • St. Louis Cardinals
    • NL West
      • Arizona Diamondbacks
      • Colorado Rockies
      • Los Angeles Dodgers
      • San Diego Padres
      • San Francisco Giants
  • About
    • MLB Trade Rumors
    • Tim Dierkes
    • Writing team
    • Advertise
    • Archives
  • Contact
  • Tools
    • 2023-24 MLB Free Agent List
    • 2024-25 MLB Free Agent List
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Arbitration Tracker
    • Agency Database
  • NBA/NFL/NHL
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors
  • App
  • Chats
Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Mexican League Working To Lease Cuban Players

By Steve Adams | September 27, 2013 at 11:01am CDT

There could be significant changes on the horizon for Cuban players, writes Ben Badler of Baseball America. The Mexican League is working with the Cuban government to work out an agreement that would allow Mexico to import Cuban players to play in the Mexican League in the spring and summer. Those players would still be able to return to Cuba to play in Serie Nacional — Cuba's top professional league — over the winter.

The change would be significant, as the Mexican League could offer Cuban players significantly more in terms of salary than they are currently receiving to play in Serie Nacional. In addition to benefiting players, it would benefit Cuba, as the government would stand to profit by leasing player rights to Mexican teams.

Former Cuban stars German Mesa and Omar Linares have joined the Veracruz Red Eagles of the Mexican League, one of the two teams expected to be most active in recruiting Cuban imports, according to Badler. Veracruz is the same team that sold right-hander Luis Heredia's rights to the Pirates three years ago. Heredia is now one of Pittsburgh's top prospects, but Badler cautions that the new arrangement would not allow Cuban-born players to be sold to Major League organizations, even though the Mexican League is technically an affiliate of Minor League Baseball.

Mesa and Linares will work with Mexican-born players to develop them for the Red Eagles' top team and to be sold to big league clubs. Other examples of big league teams purchasing the rights to Mexican League prospects include Manny Banuelos of the Yankees, Roberto Osuna of the Blue Jays and Julio Urias of the Dodgers.

Major League teams would benefit from the arrangement by being able to scout Cuban players with much greater ease. As it stands right now, the only time MLB scouts can see Cuban players live is during international tournaments; the rest of their scouting has to come via video footage from Cuba. Major League teams would be able to freely scout Cuban talent in Mexican League competition, however.

Eventually, it's possible that Japan and Korea could become involved in a similar arrangement, writes Badler. For now, the hope is that the additional salary earned by Cuban players in the Mexican League will curb some of the desire to defect to America. Cuba has seen several of its top players defect in recent years, including Aroldis Chapman, Yasiel Puig, Yoenis Cespedes, Leonys Martin, Jose Iglesias, Jose Dariel Abreu and Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez, among many others.

Share 2 Retweet 16 Send via email0

Uncategorized

Mets Unlikely To Go Past Four Years For Choo
Main
Marlins Plan To Build Around Stanton In 2014
View Comments (0)

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please login to leave a reply.
Log in Register

ad: 300x250_1_MLB

    Top Stories

    Royals Release Hunter Dozier

    Yankees Release Aaron Hicks

    Brewers Sign Julio Teheran To Major League Deal

    Red Sox Move Corey Kluber To Bullpen

    Athletics Reach Tentative Stadium Funding Deal With Nevada Lawmakers

    NPB Watch: May Edition

    Yankees Designate Aaron Hicks For Assignment

    Cubs Designate Eric Hosmer For Assignment

    Mets Select Gary Sanchez, Place Tim Locastro On 60-Day IL

    Astros To Activate Jose Altuve

    Rays Recall Taj Bradley, Plan To Keep Him In Rotation

    Kumar Rocker To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

    Anibal Sanchez Announces Retirement

    Willson Contreras To Return To Catching Duties On Monday

    Rockies Place Antonio Senzatela On 15-Day IL Due To Elbow Sprain

    Cubs, Marcus Stroman Had Preliminary Extension Talks

    Drew Rasmussen Shut Down For Two Months With Flexor Strain

    Tyler Mahle To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

    Marlins To Promote Eury Pérez

    Max Fried Facing Notable Absence Due To Forearm Strain

    Recent

    Bryce Elder Has Been Bailing Out The Braves’ Rotation

    Twins To Activate Royce Lewis, Max Kepler From Injured List On Monday

    Chad Pinder To Retire

    White Sox Activate Eloy Jimenez From 10-Day Injured List

    Pirates Place Vince Velasquez On 15-Day IL

    Michael Soroka Expected To Start Monday For Braves

    Angels Select Ben Joyce

    Royals Place Josh Taylor On Injured List

    MLBTR Chat Transcript

    Quick Hits: Stroman, Maeda, Orioles, Barreto

    ad: 300x250_5_side_mlb

    MLBTR Newsletter - Hot stove highlights in your inbox, five days a week

    Latest Rumors & News

    Latest Rumors & News

    • Shohei Ohtani Rumors
    Trade Rumors App for iOS and Android

    MLBTR Features

    MLBTR Features

    • Go Ad-Free
    • 2023-24 MLB Free Agent List
    • 2024-25 MLB Free Agent List
    • MLB Player Chats
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Extension Tracker
    • Agency Database
    • MLBTR On Twitter
    • MLBTR On Facebook
    • Team Facebook Pages
    • How To Set Up Notifications For Breaking News
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors

    Rumors By Team

    • Angels Rumors
    • Astros Rumors
    • Athletics Rumors
    • Blue Jays Rumors
    • Braves Rumors
    • Brewers Rumors
    • Cardinals Rumors
    • Cubs Rumors
    • Diamondbacks Rumors
    • Dodgers Rumors
    • Giants Rumors
    • Guardians Rumors
    • Mariners Rumors
    • Marlins Rumors
    • Mets Rumors
    • Nationals Rumors
    • Orioles Rumors
    • Padres Rumors
    • Phillies Rumors
    • Pirates Rumors
    • Rangers Rumors
    • Rays Rumors
    • Red Sox Rumors
    • Reds Rumors
    • Rockies Rumors
    • Royals Rumors
    • Tigers Rumors
    • Twins Rumors
    • White Sox Rumors
    • Yankees Rumors

    ad: 160x600_MLB

    Navigation

    • Sitemap
    • Archives
    • Feeds by Team

    MLBTR INFO

    • Advertise
    • About
    • Commenting Policy
    • Privacy Policy

    Connect

    • Contact Us
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS Feed

    MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

    hide arrowsFOX Sports Engage Network scroll to top
    Close

    Desktop Version | Switch To Mobile Version