MLB and the Cuban Baseball Federation last week struck a historic deal that would allow players to join MLB teams without defecting, but league officials were "stunned by the swift and vehement objections in a White House statement to a deal the league and the players' union had been working on for years," according to David Waldstein of the N.Y. TIMES. MLB thought it had been "operating on safe legal grounds when it made the agreement with Cuba, but it started receiving mixed signals from Washington toward the end of the process, especially in the 24 hours before the league's announcement." The U.S. government "could still quash the deal, and some in the administration appear strongly opposed to it." But MLB officials "remain optimistic." Sources said that no one in the federal government has "told the league to halt work on the deal, and MLB and the players' union are operating as if it will pass government scrutiny." MLB plans to "file a brief with the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control, asserting that the league was already granted legal approval to negotiate a deal to pay transfer fees to the Cuban federation for its players" (N.Y. TIMES, 12/22).
