{"id":6036,"date":"2013-03-07T09:16:34","date_gmt":"2013-03-07T13:16:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=6036"},"modified":"2014-12-18T09:51:24","modified_gmt":"2014-12-18T14:51:24","slug":"what-could-a-full-team-cuba-look-like-without-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=6036","title":{"rendered":"What could a full Team-Cuba look like without Politics?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Team Cuba looks good so far; imagine them with Cespedes and all their other MLB stars. Photo wiki\/flickr hj_west<\/p><\/div>\n

I just finished re-reading The Duke of Havana<\/a><\/em>, a great book about the back story of Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez<\/strong>, his rise to the top (and subsequent political fall from grace) in Cuban professional baseball, his escape from his home-land, his rise with the 1998 New York Yankees, and the general politics\/life of typical Cubans in the post-USSR era. \u00a0Despite the crushing effects of the Fidel Castro<\/strong> regime in Cuba over the last 40 years, the island continues to produce MLB-quality baseball players. \u00a0Of course, thanks to the lack of diplomatic relations between the two countries, when it comes time for the World Baseball Classic, we can’t see a unified Cuban team<\/a>. \u00a0 Cubans who have escaped to play in America can never go back, and (as detailed in the book), often times leave behind wives, children and family who are subsequently pressured politically by Castro’s hacks.<\/p>\n

I wondered what could an all-Cuba team really look like, if MLB players and other expatriots were allowed to re-unite with the current set of known Cuban amateur stars? \u00a0Using some of the same methods as in my “All Virginia<\/a>” post, by searching for those\u00a0born in Cuba<\/a> along with some well-known Cuban Americans (per the politics link above), here’s a possible WBC roster of maximum strength for Team Cuba:<\/p>\n

Manager<\/span><\/strong>: Fredi Gonzalez<\/strong> of the Atlanta Braves. \u00a0We’d get Cuban hall-of-famer Tony Perez<\/strong> out of semi-retirement (he was coaching at a small college in Georgia recently).<\/p>\n

Positional Players<\/span><\/strong>:<\/p>\n