No Cuba in world baseball classic

[chisox2k5]

The whole baseball classic idea is stupid anyways

When the World Baseball Classic is contested in March 2006, Cuba likely won't be there.

The U.S. government informed event organizers Wednesday that Cuba has been denied permission to send a team to the major inaugural championship.

Major League Baseball was also told of the decision by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, according to Patrick Courtney, a spokesman for the commissioner's office.

A permit from OFAC is required because of U.S. laws governing commercial transactions with Cuba.

The decision doesn't sit well with two senior baseball officials. Paul Archey, the senior vice president of Major League Baseball International, and Gene Orza, the chief operating officer of the Major League Baseball Players Association, issued a joint statement saying the organizers would try to reverse the decision.

"We are very disappointed with the government's decision to deny the participation of a team from Cuba in the World Baseball Classic," Archey and Orza said. "We will continue to work within appropriate channels in an attempt to address the government's concerns and will not announce a replacement unless and until that effort fails."

The commissioner's office and the union have jointly organized the 16-team tournament, which runs from March 3-20 in the U.S., Puerto Rico and Japan.

Cuba was to begin its first round of play on March 8 at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The communist island nation is one of the world's top baseball playing countries and was expected to contend for the title.

Organizers said the Cuban team likely would likely have included only players currently residing in Cuba and not defectors such as Jose Contreras, Orlando Hernandez and Livan Hernandez, who have become major league stars.

It's not clear how the decision will affect the tournament's schedule.

[Yankee Legend]

The cuban government is not going to let a cuban citzen go to the United states for a week simply because they fear the players are not going to come back.

[BasEbaLlKnoItAll]

This stinks. I was really looking forward to Cuba participating in this thing.

[wilkerson_rulz-06]

Castro's Cuba

Well,well Mister FIDEL CASTRO...
what would you expect from a dictator:

[Captain Cold Nose]

Unless I'm reading the article wrong, I don't think Castro is to blame here.
This is a shame. Without Cuba, the WBC is just a nice tournament. It's almost like the 1984 Summer Olympics.

[efin98]

Unless I'm reading the article wrong, I don't think Castro is to blame here.

Castro won't allow the defectors to play so the Treasury Department said no to their request. Part of their agreement to be allowed to play in the latter part of the tournament is that they have to allow the defectors to play, but Cuba(really Castro) refuses. No defectors, no Cuba. Another national team will replace them.

This is a shame. Without Cuba, the WBC is just a nice tournament. It's almost like the 1984 Summer Olympics.

I think you really mean the 1980 Olympics. 1984 the USSR and Warsaw Pact countries chose not to send teams, in 1980 the President barred the US from competing.

[Captain Cold Nose]

I think you really mean the 1980 Olympics. 1984 the USSR and Warsaw Pact countries chose not to send teams, in 1980 the President barred the US from competing.

Both of them, actually, because the competition was lacking in both Moscow and Los Angeles. But, and forgive me for being ethnocentric (I don't think that's exactly the right term, but I can't think of what it is) here, 1984 was a bigger disappointment for me because I was so much more aware of it. The 1980 Summer Olympics weren't really discussed because the U.S wasn't in them.

[efin98]

Both of them, actually, because the competition was lacking in both Moscow and Los Angeles. But, and forgive me for being ethnocentric (I don't think that's exactly the right term, but I can't think of what it is) here, 1984 was a bigger disappointment for me because I was so much more aware of it. The 1980 Summer Olympics weren't really discussed because the U.S wasn't in them.

Both are pretty valid comparisons but I think it's more like 1980 for the very reason you stated: it's one country not in the tournament.

I think that is being overdone- just one major country will not participate. Meanwhile there is at least five other major countries in the tournament that are being forgotten about. On top of that the country that may replace Cuba could be just as good if not better than Cuba's team would have been.

[baseball junkie]

Why exactly is our Treasury Department deciding who's playing in the "World Baseball Classic"? Afterall, a goodly portion of the games are being played in Japan. We don't have any territorial claim over Japan do we? Or have I just been living on some alternate planet?

This is an outrage. Cuba should be allowed in the games. Frankly I think since Treasury is a cabinet office, I wouldn't be surprised if this decision didn't come from the Whitehouse. Somebody is scared of being beat by Cuba. Somebody named George.

But if we had let the Cubans bring their team on American or Japanese territory, then maybe some of the players would have decided they didn't want to live under a totalitarian communist regime and would have emigrated.

[Captain Cold Nose]

Why exactly is our Treasury Department deciding who's playing in the "World Baseball Classic"? Afterall, a goodly portion of the games are being played in Japan. We don't have any territorial claim over Japan do we? Or have I just been living on some alternate planet?

This is an outrage. Cuba should be allowed in the games. Frankly I think since Treasury is a cabinet office, I wouldn't be surprised if this decision didn't come from the Whitehouse. Somebody is scared of being beat by Cuba. Somebody named George.

But if we had let the Cubans bring their team on American or Japanese territory, then maybe some of the players would have decided they didn't want to live under a totalitarian communist regime and would have emigrated.

Japan only has a portion of the games. What's the point of participating if you can't take part in all of it?

Perhaps you should read the previous posts, especially efin's, before you make a ridiculous and unfounded comment.

[efin98]

Why exactly is our Treasury Department deciding who's playing in the "World Baseball Classic"? Afterall, a goodly portion of the games are being played in Japan. We don't have any territorial claim over Japan do we? Or have I just been living on some alternate planet?

Games to be played in Japan, Puerto Rico, and the USA. In the latter two the Treasury Department can bar Cuba from playing.

This is an outrage. Cuba should be allowed in the games. Frankly I think since Treasury is a cabinet office, I wouldn't be surprised if this decision didn't come from the Whitehouse. Somebody is scared of being beat by Cuba. Somebody named George.

I suggest getting a history boook and reading up on the US embargo- the same one that is still in place after 43 years. There is more at work than meets the eyes.

The President has nothing to do with this, a Congressional act is at work here. The Treasury Department has the right to refuse the team from coming, and they invoked that right. Just as they have to right to refuse US teams from playing there.

If the tournament was being held in Japan for the final two rounds there would be no "controversy" nor with Cuba being barred be a story.

[baseball junkie]

Oh I think Captain Cold Nose is a W fan. And yes I know all about the embargo. I also know the treasury department is a cabinet office putting it directly under the auspices of the President, not congress.

[Honus Wagner Rules]

Fricking U.S. government!! You suck!!!!! :grouchy :grouchy :grouchy :grouchy :grouchy

[Captain Cold Nose]

Oh I think Captain Cold Nose is a W fan. And yes I know all about the embargo. I also know the treasury department is a cabinet office putting it directly under the auspices of the President, not congress.

What my political allegiances are has nothing to do with making ridiculous and unfounded comments. If this had happened under the previous President, rest assuredly, I would have said the same thing.

[trosmok]

No Cuban Baseball Crisis

This is only the first salvo, gang. Rest assured the diplomatic spin machines will get to work and will arrive at a solution that will allow the best team invited, that has accepted, to participate. Fidel wanted assurances from San Juan and San Diego, where the Cuban National Team will play and win, that defections will not be tolerated. When he received those two weeks ago, he agreed to allow the CNT to participate, but not the MLB defectors from his island. The Treasury Department is a weak little urchin on foreign affairs matters; the State Department, the Secretary of State, and the Attorney General can all trump a permit denial with a few strokes of a pen. Dubya actually wants all invited to participate, and it wouldn't surprise me if he takes credit for, and makes political hay by reversing Treasury's initial insult.