Alfredo Despaigne
Havana, February 9 (RHC) - Cuba will now be able to count on the free agents included in its roster for the preparation process that is taking place in Japan for the V World Baseball Classic. The news comes to brighten the day, marked by the farewell of the Agricultores team, Elite League champion, of the Caribbean Series, after falling for the sixth consecutive time.
Regarding the world championship event, the new good news means, for example, that players such as Yoenis Céspedes, Erisbel Arruebarruena, Yadil Mujica, Lorenzo Quintana or Onelkis García, can already join the group that, besides training in the Japanese island of Okinawa, will play four games with teams of the professional league of that country.
The information was provided by Juan Reynaldo Pérez Pardo, president of the Cuban Federation (FCB), in an interview with journalist Héctor Villar, of Cuban Television, from Caracas, where the Caribbean League is being played. In the interview, another very important scoop was revealed, related to Joan Moncada.
The player from Cienfuegos, who plays for the Chicago White Sox MLB franchise, has been released by that organization in order to attend the World Classic, as is his wish and the desire of Cuban fans.
Moncada was in doubt, as he required authorization from that organization because he had been placed on the chronically injured list. If he had remained on it, it would have prevented him from fulfilling his aspirations in the best baseball league at the national team level. But yesterday he was no longer on that list, therefore, he is now officially on the list.
According to Perez Pardo, the MLB players who are in the Cuban roster: Luis Robert Moirán, Andy Ibañez, Moncada himself, and pitchers Miguel Romero, Ronald Bolaños and Ronnie Elias, as well as the rest who are in other nations' rosters, will not be able to join their teammates until March 3. In the case of Cuba, that moment will come in Taipei, China.
Finally, in the Caribbean Series, the sixth consecutive defeat of Agricultores de Cuba was consummated, this time against Panama by 10-4, in a game in which the image -not its real potential- of our baseball was very deteriorated, with a pitching that gave away 11 tickets and allowed 15 hits, and a defense that was robbed of eight bases. The 10-4 score was nothing like the close ones they had staged, the result of a tough conduct, despite shortcomings and results, which against the Panamanians was not in the field.
