St. Louis Cardinals: The Cuba Situation Benefits Baseball

Yesterday saw something that could be a course for change in the world. The United States and Cuba are repairing things, what does this mean for the St. Louis Cardinals and baseball?

There’s not a whole lot of action with our St. Louis Cardinals and players from Cuba, however, that could be changing quickly. Yesterday, President Obama made the trip down to Cuba for a historic visit, as a continued effort to bridge the gap between the two countries, What does this mean for baseball?

The idea is that baseball paves the way for Cubans to have the opportunity to work and live in America and flee the still Communist regime.

The stories of players fleeing via makeshift boats, running for their lives for the chance to live freely is growing by the day. Players are so desperate to come and play in the major leagues, that they go AWOL during international tournaments, much like Aledmys Diaz of the Cardinals did.

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A potential deal between the United States and Cuba would end that. It would also make the system a lot more fair, as currently Cubans are fetching massive major league bonuses and contracts while others have to wait for the draft or sign for much lower numbers.

I understand how backwards it feels for Cuban Americans to see America reaching it’s hand out to Cuba, most importantly seeing an American President shake the hand of a Castro. I can’t imagine the hurt this has for Dan Lebetard, I don’t know that pain.

But, much like his ESPN colleague Jorge Sedano, I believe it is time for the United States to be the leader in this. It may just start with baseball, but the only way we are going to be able to help these struggling people is being involved.

We all know baseball is like a religion in these Latin American countries, and if the United States can simply start there, and work their way through negotiations to get the human rights issues on track, things could get a lot better for Cubans.

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There really is only one way to move right now, and that is forward. We can’t simply sit on the sidelines and not work to make things better. It’s time to put an end to the fleeing and the Cuban players being taken advantage of. Hopefully, this is a launching pad for more change in Cuba.