Baseball Unites Havana-Miami

Creating Cuban-USA Millionaires!!
{For: Monday, October 22nd, 2018}

   In baseball-mad Cuba, Victor Mesa was Fidel Castro's favorite player and later the Manager of Cuban national teams that, for a while, dominated international competition, including the Olympics, the World Baseball Classic, and Latin American championships. But that domination faded because of vast defections fueled by a lucrative Cuba-to-USA baseball pipeline that made instant millionaires out of players as well as agents and others. Today -- October 22nd, 2018 -- Victor Mesa's two sons will become millionaires when they sign with the Miami Marlins.

   Victor Mesa's two sons are 22-year-old Victor Mesa, shown on the left-above in this Jesse Sanchez/MLB photo, and his younger brother Victor Mesa Jr., who is 17-years-old. Today the Miami Marlins will sign Victor Mesa to a contract guaranteeing him about $5 million and Victor Mesa Jr. will be guaranteed about $1 million. Victor Mesa is currently rated MLB's #One international prospect, which is saying a lot considering how dependent all 30 USA Major league teams are on foreign players -- especially from the Dominion Republic where all 30 MLB teams have state-of-the-art, year-around baseball facilities staffed with high-priced coaches, trainers, scouts, etc. But MLB teams are also crowded with Superstar players from Cuba, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and even the Netherlands. Because U.S.-Cuban relations are unique, at one point all 30 teams could bid on Cuban stars, resulting in guaranteed contracts up to $72 million. The Boston Red Sox player from Cuba who got the $72 million turned out to not be a Major League-caliber talent but all the money was guaranteed. Now MLB tries to get even the Cuban contracts more realistic, resulting in Victor Mesa, the top prospect in the world, having to settle for about a $5 million guarantee tomorrow in Miami while the Marlins guarantee the teenage Victor Mesa Jr., a switch-hitting outfielder, about $1 million. Of course, if they turn out to be Major Leaguers, they can earn $30 million-A-YEAR like the New York Mets' Cuban outfielder Yoenis Cespedes.

     Prior to the Mesa brothers signing with the Miami Marlins today, the previous high-profile Cuban brothers who landed huge guaranteed contracts in the U. S. were Yuri Gurriel, on the left above, and his younger brother Lourdes. Last year as a rookie Yuri massively helped the Houston Astros win the 2017 World Series. And this year Lourdes became an instant MLB star with the Toronto Blue Jays. Like the Mesa brothers, Yuri and Lourdes Gurriel are the sons of a former Cuban baseball icon, Lourdes Gurriel Sr., who was extremely close to Fidel Castro and, like the Gurriel and Mesa brothers, beloved by the baseball-loving fans in Cuba.

     Last year the moment after he helped the Houston Astros win the World Series, Yuri Gurriel was shown on television wrapping himself in a huge Cuban flag and, in interviews, reminding Cubans on the island that his heart is still with them. But his family is growing up now very rich in the USA. He is shown above with his wife Lianet and their first son.

     And now Yuli and Lionet have a second son, which Yuli is tenderly holding above.

      The two Mesa brothers, both outfielders, will sign with the Miami Marlins today but the above 16-year-old right-handed pitcher Sandy Gaston is another Cuban about to become a USA millionaire. Both the Tampa Bay Rays and the Baltimore Orioles are anxious to sign him. Sandy Gaston is only 16-years-old but he already has a 97-MPH fastball. A 17-year-old Cuban right-handed pitcher named Asvani Gulierrez recently signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers. To prevent rich teams like the Dodgers from buying all the best international players, Major League Baseball now has a limit on the amount of money each team can spend, with the poorer and weaker teams being allowed to spend the most to purchase Cubans like the three above.

    Earlier this year an All-Star team of top USA college baseball players went to Cuba and played a 4-game series against a comparable Cuban team in Havana.

    Born 33 years ago in Campechuela, Cuba, Yoenis Cespedes broke into the U. S. Major Leagues in 2011 with the Oakland A's. He is now an outfielder with the New York Mets. According to the definitive baseball reference.com, the exact salaries for Cespedes in just the last three years as an outfielder with the New York Mets are: $27,500,000 in 2016; $$22,500,000 in 2017; and $29,000,000 in 2018. Because of injuries, Cespedes played in only 38 games this season for the Mets, but every dime of his $29 million was guaranteed...and some athletes in the USA make more money from endorsements than they make in salaries.

    When baseball headlines are made in the USA, it's often Cubans who make them. The photo above, courtesy of NBC Sports, shows Yasiel Puig on his joyous home-run trot last night -- October 20th, 2018. Puig's 3-run homer was the decisive blow that propelled the Los Angeles Dodgers into the World Series, which starts in Boston Tuesday night. It helped eliminate the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 7 of the Best-of-Seven for the National League title.

    Born 27-years-old ago in Cienfuegos, Cuba, Yusiel Puig signed a 7-year, $42 million contract with the LA Dodgers on June 28th, 2012, and in 2013 he was quickly a sensational Major League rookie with the ultra-rich Dodgers. But Yusiel also personifies the dark side of such instantly available enormous wealth in the USA. On his way from Cuba to the USA, smugglers kidnapped Yusiel and held him for ransom, threatening to give him the "Machelazo Treatment," which is well-known in Latin America as using a machete to chop off fingers, toes, etc., if ransom is not paid. Yasiel's Wikipedia bio explains it this way: "The smugglers offered to sell Puig for $250,000 to a rich Miamian Raul Pacheco. Puig paid Pacheco over $1.3 million; $400,000 to $500,000 to Alberto Farinas, the President of a company Pacheco owned; and $600,000 to a Miami lawyer. He also paid an undisclosed amount to Gilberto Suarez, founder of a start-up company called Miami Sport Management." So, the unique U.S.-Cuba relationship even when it comes to baseball continues to create all kinds of extreme wealth, especially in Miami. All of those Wikipedia-described payments, of course, still leaves Puig a millionaire many times over, and at age 27, after his headline-grabbing homer last night, more millions will follow in rich, celebrity-obsessed LA.

     And, uh, Yasiel Puig -- one of many Cuban contributions to the Los Angeles Dodgers -- is somewhat controversial. Yasiel has twice been charged with speeding -- 97 MPH in Tennesse and 110 MPH in Florida. He has three sons -- Daniel, Diego, and Damian born in 2013, 2017, and 2018. The above photo thrilled his Twitter fans.

      And, of course, so did this Yasiel Puig gem, which is courtesy of Dodgers Digest.

 The vast Cuba-to-the-USA Baseball Pipeline features, left to right above, Yoenis Cespedes, Yasiel Puig, and Jose Abreu AND DOZENS MORE, with dozens of others back on the front end of the pipeline and still in Cuba. Tomorrow -- October 22nd, 2018 -- when the Mesa brothers sign with the Miami Marlins, the trend merely gets another big jolt. And it's an unending trend. Boys as young as 4-years-old in the Dominion Republic, Cuba, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, etc., are now being trained to one day play baseball in the USA, creating massively lucrative Pipelines.

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