“They don’t care about principles, what matters is winning,” a source close to the FCB tells ‘Swing Completo’
14ymedio/Swing Completo, Havana, June 9, 2025 — Players who “do not have a political stance against the government” could be “eligible” for the Cuban national team to participate in the 2026 World Classic. According to a source close to the Cuban Baseball Federation, quoted by Swing Completo, “this is something to resolve” in order to have a competitive team.
The source revealed, at least to Swing Completo, that they lack the Government’s approval to make the official announcement. Article 1.6 of the regulations of the National Series states that “players who have not left delegations or contracts managed by the FCB, who are not sanctioned and who possess a Cuban passport or identity card, may be authorized to play, with the prior application of the athlete to the province with which he wants to play and with the approval of the CNB”.
FCB members are willing to renounce the principles that, in the past, were an impediment to calling for other players. “They don’t care about the principles; what matters is to win, or at least not make fools of themselves,” said the same source.
“However”, he stressed, “the players who have spoken ill of the government or take a political position against it would never be considered.”
One of the figures excluded and reviled by the Cuban authorities for defecting in 2009 in Rotterdam, Netherlands, is Aroldis Chapman, the “Cuban Missile.” The athlete does not forget that they called him “traitor, worm and sellout.” For this reason, he has rejected any possibility of defending Cuba in international events.
“I think all those people who are convening the players who are here and those going to the Classic are the first who should be respected and not everyone else,” he said last March.
The same position is taken by the exiled players who in 2023 formed the Cuban Professional Baseball Federation (Febcube). The group includes Yulieski Gurriel, Guillermo Heredia, Raisel Iglesias and José Abreu, among others.
Official journalist Pavel Otero said that the FCB has already contacted 10 players who play in the United States Major Leagues and several Minor Leagues. Yoan Moncada, Andy Ibáñez, Andy Pagés and Daysbel Hernández would be on that list, in addition to Yariel Rodríguez.
“We have already personally spoken to more than 10 active players in the 40-man Major League roster,” said Otero. “Almost all the headliners for most positions are already written down.”
Translated by Regina Anavy
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