Major League Baseball, its players and Cuba strike deal allowing Cubans to sign with big league teams without defecting

HAVANA (AP) — Major League Baseball, its players and Cuba strike deal allowing Cubans to sign with big league teams without defecting. FCB can choose to release players who haven’t met the age and service requirements, and MLB deputy commissioner Dan Halem explained to the Miami Herald that defectors can still make their way to MLB, but only in a way that is designed to be less desirable than just sticking in FCB for a few more seasons:

If a Cuban player under 25 years chooses to defect in the future, such a player could still sign with an MLB team but would be subject to a waiting period of one to two years. (Bloomberg) -- Cuba celebrated a game changing agreement with Major League Baseball that will give Cuban baseball players a legal path to sign with teams in the U.S.

“It’s a historic day,” Cuba’s ambassador to the U.S., Jose Ramon Cabanas, said in a post on his Twitter account, adding that the agreement showed the two countries could reach “meaningful deals” when they “negotiate as equals with respect.”

The Cuban Baseball Federation, or FCB, will become the fourth foreign professional baseball league to enter into a similar agreement, joining Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, the Korea Baseball Organization and the Chinese Professional Baseball League, Major League Baseball said in an emailed statement. We believe that this agreement accomplishes that objective and will allow the next generation of Cuban players to pursue their dream without enduring many of the hardships experienced by current and former Cuban players who have played Major League Baseball.”

Under the arrangement, Cuban players in the Cuban Baseball Federation (FCB) are broken down into two categories: FCB Professionals, and FCB Amateurs.
Cuba's baseball federation and Major League Baseball reach a deal that will allow Cuban players to compete in the USA without defecting.