Improved relations and a safer way for players to reach the majors will determine whether MLB's first visit to Cuba in 16 years "was a see-and-be-seen sightseeing tour or something more, something groundbreaking," according to Derrick Goold of the ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH. The largely symbolic gesture "was advertised as a 'goodwill tour,' but Cuban baseball officials and their U.S. counterparts all acknowledged it could become much more," as they "want a springboard." MLB Chief Legal Officer Dan Halem said that it "will take time." The tour, which included two clinics with players ages 5 to 12, "was laced with emotional reunions and fascinating contradictions, such as the U.S. flag flying over an image" of Fidel Castro. The largest advancement that both sides believe they can make "is how players get from Cuba to the majors, a system that now involves the murky, dangerous waters of human trafficking" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 12/20). Halem: "The trafficking issue has been very eye-opening. It's not transparent to us. And it's very troubling to our owners and our commissioner. That's why we're very focused on fixing this issue. It really is our top priority." In L.A., Kevin Baxter wrote it "won't be an easy fix," yet the will to address the problem "may open an avenue toward repairing three generations of bitterness and mistrust between Cuba and the U.S." Perhaps even more significantly, Halem "now has a willing ally" in Fidel's son, Cuba Baseball Federation VP Antonio Castro (L.A. TIMES, 12/20).
FORWARD PROGRESS: In Chicago, David Haugh wrote as Antonio Castro "charismatically worked the crowd like a trained politician, wearing Under Armour sunglasses and a Nike T-shirt, he would have blended in any corporate-fueled baseball stadium in America." In a week full of symbolism, Castro "connected as the handsome and charming face of Cuban baseball, a lively voice that offered hope that this landmark trip meant more than just a December getaway to a warm climate." Nothing ever "is that simple in Cuba, but Castro's actions and words presaged that one day it will be easier for the country's best baseball players to make a great living at the highest level in a way that benefits everybody." Castro "made a convincing case during a monumental week that the status quo was changing" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 12/20).
