Cubano

QUOTE (flavum @ Feb 21, 2009 -> 01:46 PM) Just happened to look at Joe Cowley's Twitter. Alexei hit DJ Carrasco in the forearm with a comebacker. http://twitter.com/cst_sox/status/1234856133 How is my boy looking? So far so good according to this. http://twitter.com/cst_sox

The article is in Spanish. I have translated the main thoughts. http://cubanballplayers.blogspot.com/2009/...-about-his.html

Viciedo http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/gallery#photoV...icago_white%3A1 Ramirez http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/gallery#photoV...icago_white%3A1 Contreras http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/gallery#photoV...icago_white%3A1

I spoke to a friend of mine that has some contacts in the Dominican R. today. He said that SS/2B Jose "Candelita" Iglesias may be drawing attention from the Tigers. Supposely, the Tigers are offering 3.5 millions. He defected in 2008 along side LHP Noel Arguelles and another pitcher in Canada while in the World Junior tournament. It is just a rumor. I do not think the Chi Sox will go after him bacause it does not make sense for them to do so.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Feb 20, 2009 -> 01:00 PM) Hey Cubano, how do you pronounce Dayan's name? is it..."DIE-yawn" "vi-SHEN-do"? It is hard for me to let you know this way because English is my second language. This is my guess: Di-yan Vi-see-a-do. The strengh in the pronunciation falls in yan for his name. In this video, they pronounce his last name at the begining and then later too. They pronounce his name twice too. http://cubanballplayers.blogspot.com/searc...;max-results=22 Here they say his full name right at the end.

He is 19. He will be 20 very soon. He has been competing in IBAF tournaments at age 15-16 (AA) and 17-18 (AAA). The White Sox can easily verify this. Older Cuban players may have had reasons to lie about their age in the past. Now, if you are caught, your contract may be voided.

It is quite a change from driving a chinese bicycle.

Now http://www.ustream.tv/channel/juego-de-beisbol

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Feb 17, 2009 -> 05:20 PM) Cubano, I watched a fair amount of it last night. Was that an all-star game? That Chapman is quite a big fellow. Got knocked around a bit early but then looked good. The feed was rather poor unfortunately, but hey, better than nuthin'. Intra squad game between 45-man roster.

QUOTE (That funky motion @ Feb 16, 2009 -> 07:03 PM) Contract year. Money talks! Of all Cuban defectors, Jose has banked the most money by far. Jose can buy his home town and more once the Cuban Talibans are gone.

At 7:00 EST P.M. the game starts. http://www.ustream.tv/channel/juego-de-beisbol

QUOTE (ozzfest @ Feb 15, 2009 -> 02:38 PM) They brought back Loaiza last year, so why not invite El Duque to spring training? No, pleaseeeeeeeee! Hire him as a pitching coach in the minors if he wants that. He will have injures real or not because his old body can not take it anymore.

Selig has zero credibility.

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Feb 12, 2009 -> 03:20 PM) So you're saying he doesn't really have all that much experience at SS? That's a little disconcerting. Was the guy who replaced him a superstar? Anyway, not too worried, cause the guy is smart, and he'll make the adjustments. I want to see him moved to the 2-hole, which will force a little patience on him, perhaps, if there's a base stealer at leadoff, especially. That Cuban Nat'l team must have been pretty smokin'. Alexei strikes me as a guy who has been improving his game over the past few years, figuring things out and getting better. He raked in his last year with Pinar, no? Alexei debuted in 2000. I do not have the Cuban Baseball Guide for that year. I have the 2001. In that year, he was a part- time player. The Cuban season consists of 90 games in addition to the playoffs. He played in 17 games during the regular season. He played 56.2 innings in SS/2B. He made 2 errors in 39 lances for a 949 fielding percentage. He intervined in 5 DP. There was another guy named Onel Olivera playing SS until last year. I do not what hapened to Olivera, but he is still young. He was good defensively, but not great with the bat. Alexei batted 421 (19 AB 8 H 1 2B 1 3B 0 HR 1 RBI 1 K 1 BB). Actually, this is Onel Olivera in action. If you go to 3:08 time in the first video clip, Olivera is in SS with the number 1. http://cubanballplayers.blogspot.com/2009/...is-gavilan.html The two new guys that replaced Olivera this year are David Castillo (good hands but questionable hitting) and Osniel Madera, son of another Pinar del Rio great Lazaro Madera. Madera was like Vlad Guerrero who swings at everything but somehow makes good contact. I have seen Osniel play at SS this season and I like what I saw. He is a good hitter too. If he comes to the States before it is too late for MLB, he may have a chance to play in the Majors. Somehow Castillo started as the regular though and Osniel began to play once Castillo got injured. The players from Pinar del Rio, Industriales/Metropolitanos (Havana City), Cowboys (Havana province) and Villa Clara have been defecting the most. It is always good to keep an eye on these teams.

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Feb 12, 2009 -> 03:20 PM) So you're saying he doesn't really have all that much experience at SS? That's a little disconcerting. Was the guy who replaced him a superstar? Anyway, not too worried, cause the guy is smart, and he'll make the adjustments. I want to see him moved to the 2-hole, which will force a little patience on him, perhaps, if there's a base stealer at leadoff, especially. That Cuban Nat'l team must have been pretty smokin'. Alexei strikes me as a guy who has been improving his game over the past few years, figuring things out and getting better. He raked in his last year with Pinar, no? Keep in mind that Cuban teams use players based on their needs obviously. I can not tell for sure who replaced him because in those years I was kind of busy and away from baseball. I also did not have Cuban TV in my home like I have now. I supposed that Pinar del Rio had a decent SS and there was not a good CF and they moved Alexei to CF. In Cuba, they usually value SS as a defense first and offense second like it used to be at the MLB level a few years back. I can find out for sure why he was moved to CF with a couple of friends form Miami that have had their Cuban TV prior than I have. My assumption is that he was not moved because he was bad or anything like that.

Those are big words for the former super sub and 8th place hitter in the Cuban National team when he was in the line up. This raise the expectations for him. I hope he does well which I think he will. He will also have some mental lapses while adapting to an everyday SS. He played SS in his first season with Pinar del Rio and began playing CF ever since. He played 2B for the Cuban National team in emergency basis.

QUOTE (Disco72 @ Feb 11, 2009 -> 10:11 AM) As long as he's buying healthy food at the supermarket... Yes, we do not want another Livan Hernandez who was a frequent Burger King customer once he arrived from Cuba. The Marlins sent him to the minors to drop some pounds.

QUOTE (knightni @ Feb 9, 2009 -> 08:37 PM) You don't think that the Cuban government wouldn't think about dosing their power hitters on their national team? International baseball is ruled by IBAF testing. Viciedo was in the junior team. Olympic sports are tested way better than MLB players. Viciedo will turn 20 soon. I do not remember by I think his birthday is in March.

QUOTE (BobDylan @ Feb 9, 2009 -> 12:42 AM) It's not a big deal, but I've come across one of his threads late and simply couldn't find the article that he was talking about because I got there too late. That is a problem. The easy solution is to give us a direct link to the article he's talking about. Since it's generally good information that most of us are reading, we'll go to the home page because we're interested to see what else is there. I enjoy the hell out of Cubano's posts, and I'm not trying to be a dick, but this is a simple solution to a simple problem. I took your suggestion and I will do just that. I am not mad or anything. Many thanks to all of you that appreciate my posts. As for Viciedo BP session, if he hits a bunch of fly balls and ground outs, then we would critize him. It is just BP and the real deal will be facing the wolves in March and April but at least he put a good BP display. When I went to see the Sox in Baltimore, I got there early. I spoke to Contreras and Alexei until Alexei had to take his BP session before the game. He was taking fly balls in CF and he was not the regular because Uribe was at the time. I am not BS here. Alexei put a display in BP. Line drives to CF, RF, LF. I mean solid connections. His BP was better than some stronger guys in the team. I realized this guy had some strength. Viciedo looked that way on this BP session. I still think Fields should be given the first shot because he is a hard worker and the Sox has invested money and time on him. If the White Sox promised him a real shot, their should keep their word. If he performs, then let him play 3B. If Viciedo does acceptable in ST, I prefer to see him in the big team playing some 3B, RF, DH as oppose as sending him down providing rest to the other guys. You take him slowly so you do not over expose him playing him everyday. I think he will adapt better with the big boys than in the minors. The comfort level will be better with the big boys. All of them know this kid is a newbie and he is very young. Many of the elder players will want to take this kid under their wing.

QUOTE (kyyle23 @ Feb 7, 2009 -> 08:51 PM) dont like the redirect through his homepage? LOL OK, guys. I certainly understand where are you coming from. Keep in mind that I do not come here every day to bombard you guys with my Cuban crap. I do not want you guys to hate us, but to love us. Ha, ha, ha. I only come every time something may interest you the most. Having said that, I spend lots of time updating my blog. Obviosuly, I am trying to raise the profile and knowledge of Cuban players for the better of them. Maybe, some of you do not relate to this, but I certainly do. The reason I started my blog is because we are treated different than the rest of the world for the bad. I hope to make a small difference, but sometimes I feel I am in a losing battle with the baseball establisment. I have seen improvements though. I have seen article with the correct info on defectors now. In the past, all Cuban players played in the National team. After they bombed, Cubans were bad. I have videos about other Cuban defectors there. If I inform you about Viciedo once, then I do not have to come back here and let you know I have videos about Yadel Marti and Yasser Gomez in my site because you probably see it once you went to see Viciedo. I have met baseball agents, historians, journalists, etc on these forums. I am trying to get their attention. I hope an extra click is not too much burden on some of you guys. You never know who is behind a computer. Maybe KW or one of his surrogates is a member of soxtalk. I appologize for any extra click I may cause in advance.

Looks like this video was produced by Kiria Cora. She should be related to Joey Cora.

QUOTE (tommy @ Feb 7, 2009 -> 02:33 PM) How recent is that video? 02/05/2009

I wonder what was so funny after the next to last swing. I like the sound of the bat. http://cubanballplayers.blogspot.com/

These are some videos from 2 seasons ago. As you can see, your Cuban Missile was an aggressive hitter back then. You also can see your new boy Viciedo. There is another video of him hitting a Home Run off and outside slider but is not in this set of clips. Some feature players are: Alexei Ramírez, 1B Luis Gavilan, LHP Maikel Folch, Yosvani Peraza, Utility Yorelvis Charles, LHP Irandy Castro RHP Yadel Martí, 3B José Pérez, SS Rudy Reyes, LF Lázaro Rodríguez, DH Yosvani Lazo 1B Alexander Martínez, 2B Pavel Quesada, OF Yasser Gómez, LHP Leovel Cardoso LF Yoandri Urgelles, 1B Alexander Mayeta, 2B Pavel Quesada, current BA leader Yusniel Ibañez 3B Dayan Viciedo, RHP Ifreidi Coss, SS/2B Orelvis Bernal, 2B Ixis Valle, CF Leonys Martin, RHP Vladimir Hernández, 3B Yuliesky Gourriel Don't forget to vote in the WBC poll! Time is running out! http://cubanballplayers.blogspot.com/

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Feb 3, 2009 -> 01:42 PM) I hope not. The kid looks "country strong". Cubano, I don't know if you saw my post from yesterday or so, but I was wondering if there was any news on LHP Noel Arguellez. I searched, but couldn't find anything. The Liriano comparison that I saw awhile back had me intrigued. BTW, I love your site. No, I have not heard anything knew. If I do, I will let you know. They are probably stuck in the D.R. waiting for their Dominican papers so Bud Selig can declare them free agents. That is the price to pay for being Cuban I guess.