MLB's four-month old deal with the Cuban Baseball Federation, allowing major-league teams to sign Cuban players, was canceled Monday by the Trump administration, which said the federation was part of Cuba's government and, thus, trade with it was illegal under current U.S. law.
The announcement, reported by multiple media outlets, came only days after the Cuban federation released a list of 34 players it said was eligible to sign with MLB teams.
Some of those players had been expected to be signed as soon as this season and playing in the U.S.
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The agreement between MLB and the Cuban Baseball Federation, first negotiated by the Obama administration, was aimed at preventing players in Cuba from embarking on risky escapes in their effort to make it to the U.S. and/or from having to relinquish their Cuban citizenship in order to play in America.
An unidentified senior Trump administration official cited by The Washington Post said that payments by MLB teams to the federation amounted to “human trafficking” by the Cuban government.
"We stand by the goal of the agreement," an MLB official wrote in a statement to Sporting News, "which is to end the human trafficking of baseball players from Cuba."
ESPN.com described the decision by the current administration as "disappointing" to MLB.
The thrust of the government's argument, as laid out in a letter from Treasury Dept. to MLB obtained by ESPN: "A payment to the Cuban Baseball Federation is a payment to the Cuban government." U.S. government sees the CBF as an arm of the Cuban government. Deal nixed accordingly. pic.twitter.com/oQhtn2R9gw
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) April 8, 2019
Under the agreement, not only were Cuban players allowed to receive 100 percent of any signing bonus, but also MLB clubs would pay an additional 25 percent of that amount to the federation as a so-called "release fee."
