On March 3 the first WBC (World Baseball Classic)will begin in the Tokyo Dome in Japan.Since at the present time Major League Baseball still trying to get Visas for the Cubans of Cuba.
Here I give you the “Free Cuba” team, made
of Cuban players living here in the United States
or in other free nations.

By Amaury Pi-González

Click below for Amaury’s team plus his comments on why this team is the proper one to represent Cuba in the tournament.

Manager, Octavio (Cookie)Rojas
Pitching coach: Camilo Pascual
First Base coach: Carlos Tosca
Third Base coach: Tony Pérez
Bench coach: Carlos Alfonso

Honorary Captain
Preston Gómez

Catchers
Bryant Peña, Atlanta Braves
Eli Marrero, Baltimore Orioles

First Base
Constantino(Tino)Martínez, New York Yankees
Rafael Palmeiro (no team currently)

Second Base
Fernando Viña, Detroit Tigers
Eddy Pérez, Tampa Bay Devil Rays

Shortstop
Yuniesky Betancourt, Seattle Mariners
Rey Ordoñez (no team this year)

Third Base
Kendry Morales, Los Angeles Angels
Alex González, Tampa Bay Devil Rays

Left Field
Luis González, Arizona Diamondbacks
Orlando Palmeiro, Houston Astros

Center Field
Alex Sánchez (no team)
Yobal Duenas AAA

Right Field
Raúl Ibañez, Seattle Mariners
Osmani Estrada AAA
Amaury Casañas AAA

Designated Hitter
Jorge Luis Toca, AAA

Pitchers
José Contreras
Liván Hernández, Washington Nationals
Orlando (El Duque)Hernández, Arizona D-Backs
Danys Baéz. Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Michael Tejera, Texas Rangers
Vladimir Nuñez, Colorado Rockies
Iván Alavarez, AAA
Adrián Hernández, AAA
Osvaldo Fernández AAA
Alain Soler AAA
Eddie Oropesa AAA

You might say, why not alloud the Cuban team
from Cuba into the United States ?

In 1961 the Cuban government disbanded the
Cuban Professional Baseball League and only
amateurs are playing in Cuba since 1961.

All participants in this first World Baseball Classic
are made up of professional baseball players
many from the Major Leagues.

All the countries participating in this 2006 WBC
are represented by Professional Baseball Players
Federations, while Cuba has an Amateur
Players Federation.

The idea of Cuban born players or players
from Cuban parents all living outside Cuba
making up my Cuban team will probably
not happen.

If the US denies the Cuban players Visa to come to the US (like they did the first time they applied) then either Nicaragua or Colombia will have to replace the Cuban team.

Some political figures like (R)Lincoln Díaz-Balart
of Florida and others sent baseball Commissioner
Bud Selig a letter urging Major League Baseball
to let the Cubans in the USA make the Cuban team for this tournament. To this day there has been
no answer.

People say this is political. Of course and there is no
more political country in this hemisphere than
Cuba.

There are around 40 Cuban players here in the
United States as we speak in the major and minor leagues, a lot of them are above on my team
that I have suggested. A lot of these players
arrived here in the US in “balsas”(rubber tires)
and small home-made boats and asked for
political asylum as refugee because the Cuban government never autorizes their players to come to the US freely and individually.

That is my argument for the day. Remember,
agree or disagree we can do that here in this
country and we should respect each other, however,if I wrote this column in Cuba, first
it will not be published and second they will
come to my house to pick me up and put me
in what Castro calls “mental institution”because
if you disagree with Castro’s paradise that is
were you go, you do not have the rights to an attorney in Cuba, there is no Miranda Rights,
the only Miranda in Cuba was shortstop
(Willie Miranda who played in the Major Leagues from 1951 to 1959) there is no ‘Bill of Rights’
and there is only one law in Cuba, the
‘Bill of Castro’.
It is Fidel versus you and who do you think
wins ?

Adios.