The Cuban Controversies

While refusing to discuss details of an investigation into allegations by two Cuban minor leaguers that they were signed illegally by the Dodgers, a leading baseball official said Monday that the industry has to be increasingly vigilant in signing foreign players and recommended a worldwide draft as a way to curb possible abuses.

Sandy Alderson, baseball’s executive vice president, was careful not to suggest there were abuses in the Dodgers’ signing of first baseman Juan Carlos Diaz and outfielder Josue Perez. However, he described the climate in the Dominican Republic, where at times some defecting Cuban players have set up residency, hoping to sign with major league teams, as “chaotic” and said the combination of scouts and agents there have tended to turn a complex process into one of “marketeering and profiteering.”

With 21% of major leaguers having been born outside the United States and the 30 clubs turning increasingly to foreign markets for players generally less costly to sign, Alderson said a worldwide draft--of which he has been an advocate--would reduce abuses and potential subterfuge by eliminating the bidding between clubs for high-profile foreign players--improving the distribution of talent in the process.

The best foreign players would then have to sign with the teams that drafted them.

As it is, Alderson said, the bidding for foreign players has tended to exacerbate the disparity between the haves and have-nots.

“Money is now the only determinant in the agent promoting his player,” Alderson said. “It’s not a case of good scouting and talent. It’s a case of good credit.”

Baseball’s amateur draft, held each June, includes only players from the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico.

A player basically has to be a high school senior or college junior to be eligible, but non-drafted foreign players only have to be 16.

An inexact science has become even more inexact--at a high price.

The New York Yankees, for example, signed 16-year-old Venezuelan outfielder Jackson Melian for a $1.6-million bonus in 1996, and 16-year-old Dominican pitcher Ricardo Aramboles for a $1.52-million bonus in 1998.

The Angels jumped into the market recently, giving $900,000 to pitcher Francisco Rodriguez, 17, of Venezuela.

A growing number of defections among Cuban players has added to the expanding Asian and Latin American markets, prompting agents to establish residency for the defecting player in either the Dominican or Costa Rica. Scouts are then invited to view the player in a tryout, a prelude to the often high-priced bidding.

There are four Cubans in the major leagues who basically went straight from their homeland to U.S. riches: Orlando Hernandez of the Yankees, Livan Hernandez of the Florida Marlins, Rolando Arrojo of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Rey Ordonez of the New York Mets.

Orlando Hernandez signed a four-year, $6.6-million contract, and Livan Hernandez, his half-brother, got a four-year, $4.49-million deal.

The Devil Rays gave Arrojo a $7-million signing bonus.

While Alderson and others in management will be lobbying for the worldwide draft, it is not yet on the bargaining table and will be a hard sell to the players’ union and the agents, who believe that the foreign signing bonuses escalate domestic bonuses.

Gus Dominguez, who represents the two Cuban players who have filed a grievance against the Dodgers, put it this way when contacted Monday in Baltimore, where he was attending the exhibition game between the Orioles and Cuban national team:

“I’m not in favor of any draft at all. I like the idea of free agents across the board. That the clubs are willing to pay big bonuses is a sign that baseball is healthy.”

Neither Dominguez nor partner Steve Schneider would discuss the allegations raised in a letter from Dominguez to the commissioner’s office on behalf of Diaz and Perez, saying any comments could jeopardize the resulting investigation.

Alderson said his review of the allegations was in a preliminary stage and that he could not put a timetable on it.

One high-ranking baseball official termed the allegations serious and said the consequences for the Dodgers could be severe.

Diaz, 23, with the Dodgers’ double-A team in San Antonio, and Perez, 21, a member of the Class-A Vero Beach team, have asked to be declared free agents, saying they were signed illegally. They claim the Dodgers held secret tryouts for them in their homeland, arranged their escapes and then ordered them to lie about it.

If true, the Dodgers were in violation of baseball rules prohibiting scouting in Cuba and the club could face fines, suspensions or loss of draft choices. The Dodgers could also be found to have violated a 36-year-old trade embargo prohibiting U.S. companies from conducting business in Cuba.

Individuals can be fined up to $55,000 for violations, and corporations up to $250,000.

Fred Claire, who was the Dodgers’ general manager when Diaz was signed for a $65,000 bonus by the club’s Dominican vice president, Ralph Avila, in 1995 and when Perez received a $40,000 bonus from Avila in 1996, said Monday that he knew of nothing improper in the signings.

“As far as signings in the Dominican, I placed my trust and confidence [in Avila],” he said. “No one is more aware of the governing rules than Ralph. I don’t recall much about Perez, but I know that Diaz [who hit 30 homers last year in Class A and double-A] was considered to be a very talented player when he started out. I recall having a discussion with Ralph about his bonus.”

The Boston Globe reported Sunday that Pablo Peguero, the scout accused of arranging the defections, said he hadn’t been to Cuba in 10 years. The story quoted Avila as saying that although he understood nobody should go to Cuba, “If someone went . . . it’s not my business.”

Neither Peguero nor Avila could be reached Monday, when the Dodgers, in a statement, said they had not received a copy of the allegations but had begun their own review, based on the Globe article. Might the Dodgers have lacked a strong-enough system of checks and balances at the time of the Diaz and Perez signings?

While declining to discuss the allegations, Dodger General Manager Kevin Malone said from Montreal, “That’s not the way the system is now. There’s a chain of command now, a hierarchy. We have a system in place now where there are directors and supervisors.”

Although some other clubs are believed to have skirted the Cuba regulations at times, Alderson said that he notified the 30 clubs when hired in November that he would be more vigilant.

Would free agency lead to improved bonuses for Diaz and Perez, which is basically what this is all about? Are they prospects?

“I just saw a little bit of them in spring training,” Malone said. “I guess they’re prospects.”