Eight cubans where arrested near the Dominican Border with Haiti and three others, including two American citizens where also arrested for trying to introduce the players to the United States.
According to El Nacional Story they used mostly Haiti and the Dominican Republic as a bridge to introduce the players to the United States.
Thursday, February 24
Cuba, Cubans and Cubas
Cuban baseball players sometimes are over rated, as amateurs they have all the scouts all over them.
Kendry Morales was considered a national hero in cuba, as a rookie he set several records in 2002, playing for Industriales had 352 appearences at the plate, 60 runs, 114 hits, 21 hr's, 82 rbi's and 46 extra base hits, he also played at third, first, right field and pitched.
Now Kendry is a traitor in Cuba, all records he set have an asterisk, this according to some Cubans I talked with here.
Morales is stuck in the Dominican Republic with some visa problems, the Angels are making arrangements to make him a Dominican Citizen, but it seems that is a little hard due to the way he came to the DR.
But if you think Kendry is in some kind of trouble think twice, Alay Soler, a fellow cuban is here without a passport, his former agent, Joe Cubas was suspended by the players association for confiscating his passport.
According to three baseball sources who independently confirmed the information on condition their names not be used, shortly after Cubas negotiated a three-year, $2.8 million contract for the 25-year-old right-hander last summer, he confiscated Soler's immigration documents and refused to return them until the player paid money the agent said was owed him. Soler disputed the claim, saying Cubas was asking for 15 percent commission -- more than three times the normal rate, and contacted the union, which sided with Soler.
Kendry Morales was considered a national hero in cuba, as a rookie he set several records in 2002, playing for Industriales had 352 appearences at the plate, 60 runs, 114 hits, 21 hr's, 82 rbi's and 46 extra base hits, he also played at third, first, right field and pitched.
Now Kendry is a traitor in Cuba, all records he set have an asterisk, this according to some Cubans I talked with here.
Morales is stuck in the Dominican Republic with some visa problems, the Angels are making arrangements to make him a Dominican Citizen, but it seems that is a little hard due to the way he came to the DR.
But if you think Kendry is in some kind of trouble think twice, Alay Soler, a fellow cuban is here without a passport, his former agent, Joe Cubas was suspended by the players association for confiscating his passport.
According to three baseball sources who independently confirmed the information on condition their names not be used, shortly after Cubas negotiated a three-year, $2.8 million contract for the 25-year-old right-hander last summer, he confiscated Soler's immigration documents and refused to return them until the player paid money the agent said was owed him. Soler disputed the claim, saying Cubas was asking for 15 percent commission -- more than three times the normal rate, and contacted the union, which sided with Soler.
Sunday, February 13
A Dominican in Iraq
We always say that everywhere in the the world there is a Dominican, and Iraq is one if them.
99% of my readers, regulars or the one who came and never enter again are from the United States of America, and many of you have a relative or a friend fighting in Iraq, well i have one now, is Huascar Blanco, and he have a blog that he writes from somewhere in the middle of the desert.
He is a Yankee fan and came from the Dominican Republic as many Dominicans looking for a better life.
I read his blog everyday, and some days he don't post, and I get a little worried about him, I don't know him personally, and probabily will never meet him, he's a nice guy, a brave guy, just as any who's fighting in that war.
So please, even if you are against this war visit his blog and if you can drop him a e-mail.
And Huascar, be safe and go home soon...
99% of my readers, regulars or the one who came and never enter again are from the United States of America, and many of you have a relative or a friend fighting in Iraq, well i have one now, is Huascar Blanco, and he have a blog that he writes from somewhere in the middle of the desert.
He is a Yankee fan and came from the Dominican Republic as many Dominicans looking for a better life.
I read his blog everyday, and some days he don't post, and I get a little worried about him, I don't know him personally, and probabily will never meet him, he's a nice guy, a brave guy, just as any who's fighting in that war.
So please, even if you are against this war visit his blog and if you can drop him a e-mail.
And Huascar, be safe and go home soon...
Saturday, February 12
Odalis Perez wants a new team
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Odalis Perez wants a new team, but don't think
he wants out of LA, he wants to buy Estrellas Orientales in the Dominican
Republic.
According to some reports Odalis is offering US$ 2.5 millions for the team
and is seeking advice to get into the Baseball Business.
Estrellas has not won a championship in almost 40 years, the team is
located in San Pedro de Macoris, home of Sammy Sosa, Alfonzo Soriano and
former players George Bell and Alfredo Griffin among others.
Odalis is supposed to team with other people from San Pedro de Macoris to
buy the team, he plays with Estrellas in the winter, but he did not played
this season and stayed practicing and resting his left arm to be in shape
for spring training.
Dominican President got together with the players
Leonel Fernandez, Dominican president spent time with Dominican players to
wish them good luck in the upcoming season, among the players were Jose
Offerman, Julio Lugo, Octavio Dotel, Neifi Perez, Jose Guillen, Aramis
Ramirez, Guillermo Mota, Manny Mota, Albert Pujols, Alfredo Griffin,
D'Angelo Jimenez and Odalis Perez.
The President wants to use Baseball and the players as tool for tourism.
Estadio Quisquya to be renovated
Old Estadio Quisqueya will be renovated looking to host MLB games, the seat
will be upgraded from 20,000 to 33,000, the field will renovated, roof for
the bleachers and a hotel will be build around the stadium.
Angels owner talked to the president when Vladimir Guerrero won the MVP and
they talked about bringing the Angels here for practices next year, of
course, that's far away from happening.
he wants out of LA, he wants to buy Estrellas Orientales in the Dominican
Republic.
According to some reports Odalis is offering US$ 2.5 millions for the team
and is seeking advice to get into the Baseball Business.
Estrellas has not won a championship in almost 40 years, the team is
located in San Pedro de Macoris, home of Sammy Sosa, Alfonzo Soriano and
former players George Bell and Alfredo Griffin among others.
Odalis is supposed to team with other people from San Pedro de Macoris to
buy the team, he plays with Estrellas in the winter, but he did not played
this season and stayed practicing and resting his left arm to be in shape
for spring training.
Dominican President got together with the players
Leonel Fernandez, Dominican president spent time with Dominican players to
wish them good luck in the upcoming season, among the players were Jose
Offerman, Julio Lugo, Octavio Dotel, Neifi Perez, Jose Guillen, Aramis
Ramirez, Guillermo Mota, Manny Mota, Albert Pujols, Alfredo Griffin,
D'Angelo Jimenez and Odalis Perez.
The President wants to use Baseball and the players as tool for tourism.
Estadio Quisquya to be renovated
Old Estadio Quisqueya will be renovated looking to host MLB games, the seat
will be upgraded from 20,000 to 33,000, the field will renovated, roof for
the bleachers and a hotel will be build around the stadium.
Angels owner talked to the president when Vladimir Guerrero won the MVP and
they talked about bringing the Angels here for practices next year, of
course, that's far away from happening.
Wednesday, February 9
Happy first anniversary to me!
Today, Dominican Players the Blog is one year old, this blog started inspired by the work of Jon at Dodger thoughts, I have to thank him for his support and also Rob at 6-4-2, they helped me in the first days of this project.
I started to write by accident, creating the blog I did not know what name to give the project, I Finally named it Dominican Players.
Thru the season 2004 I tried to cover news and comments about Dominican Players in MLB, some days I only had a few visitors, but other days I had hundreds, specially when Rob or Jon linked to my blog.
receiving mails and comments had been a great experience, knowing that people read what you write is a very satisfying feeling.
When posting, I always make sure not to hurt my credibility, recently I posted about Bartolo Colon weight and I was the center of a controversy in the Angels Forum, Some questioned my credibility and even when posting in the forum they had doubts, It was and awkward feeling for me, It was the first time I saw my name and reputation in jeopardy in a public place.
I've received many satisfactions from this work, the biggest one was writing for Baseball America and Article about Angels prospect Erick Aybar, I had to go to Estadio Quisqueya and make an interview to him, I had butterflies in my stomach, it was my first interview, I was supposed to make a few more interviews but first the bureaucracy to obtain a press credential here and later getting sick prevented me to accomplish that, I thank Kris Kline for giving me the opportunity and for trusting me, the interview might never be published but I felt really good about it and I hope next winter season I can do some work for them as well.
Other satisfaction was to received mails from reporter of the LA Times (not Simers), the OC Register and MLB.COM about my work, knowing these guys read me is great.
Recently my work is on 360ThePitch, I'm covering the NL WEST with a weekly report.
I know I have to improve my English writing, so I'll take English writing and grammar classes soon, also I'm taking a web design class, and by Blog can be reach now in www.dominicanplayers.com, so soon you'll have a different web site.
Thanks you all for your support, I hope I'll improve everyday to make this site better.
I started to write by accident, creating the blog I did not know what name to give the project, I Finally named it Dominican Players.
Thru the season 2004 I tried to cover news and comments about Dominican Players in MLB, some days I only had a few visitors, but other days I had hundreds, specially when Rob or Jon linked to my blog.
receiving mails and comments had been a great experience, knowing that people read what you write is a very satisfying feeling.
When posting, I always make sure not to hurt my credibility, recently I posted about Bartolo Colon weight and I was the center of a controversy in the Angels Forum, Some questioned my credibility and even when posting in the forum they had doubts, It was and awkward feeling for me, It was the first time I saw my name and reputation in jeopardy in a public place.
I've received many satisfactions from this work, the biggest one was writing for Baseball America and Article about Angels prospect Erick Aybar, I had to go to Estadio Quisqueya and make an interview to him, I had butterflies in my stomach, it was my first interview, I was supposed to make a few more interviews but first the bureaucracy to obtain a press credential here and later getting sick prevented me to accomplish that, I thank Kris Kline for giving me the opportunity and for trusting me, the interview might never be published but I felt really good about it and I hope next winter season I can do some work for them as well.
Other satisfaction was to received mails from reporter of the LA Times (not Simers), the OC Register and MLB.COM about my work, knowing these guys read me is great.
Recently my work is on 360ThePitch, I'm covering the NL WEST with a weekly report.
I know I have to improve my English writing, so I'll take English writing and grammar classes soon, also I'm taking a web design class, and by Blog can be reach now in www.dominicanplayers.com, so soon you'll have a different web site.
Thanks you all for your support, I hope I'll improve everyday to make this site better.
Random Thoughts
It's been a while since my last post, between lack of time and computer/Internet problems had kept me away from posting.
- The Caribbean have new champions, Congratulations to Mexico, they played better and deserved the title.
- Spring Training is around the corner, here in the DR everyone is giving the Giants as favorites, good, will the same as 2004.
About the Dominican Winter League schedule...
The league have to change the schedule in a way that the final day is at least 3 or 4 days from the start of the Caribbean series, this year the DR had to make the team in just hours, that combined with the airport incident prevented the team to have a better series, not taking away any credit from Mexico.
This week I'll be away in some company projects, so don't expect any posts unless something really important happens.
Tuesday, February 1
Dominican team stuck in the Airport
The Dominican team that is supposed to play Puerto Rico today is still at
the airport waiting to a ride to Mazatlan, Mexico. Apparently the agency
overbooked the play or the players wanted to bring some relatives in the
plane, so the team as this moment is in the airport wainting to fly to
Mexico.
The agency sold 120 seats, the championship was decided on Sunday night,
and on Monday several fan and relatives call to make reservations, but
theplane was full, and at the airport they demanded to be included in the
plane, but regulations prohibited them to overcharge the plane.
Apparently the problem came when the team arrived and wanted to bring some
relatives and fans with them.
At this moment they are making arrangements for a new plane.
More to come later.... posted by e-mail
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