From some folks on LinkedIn:
From Larry:
“Well as they say in many circles Fidel is Fidel…there is no doubt that Cuban players are unbelievable students of the game, that the passion they exude is a thing of who they are as a people, and that they play the game hard each and every day. However, at the end of the day the WBC is not your typical international competition with its solid amateur players. The WBC brings to the diamond competitors who as the Cubans, live baseball, their passion borders national obsession AND they have been tried and proven in the arenas of the world’s pre-eminent league…Major League Baseball. In Latin America, we say that baseball is a game played with a round ball in a square box and that anything can happen. In short tournaments like the WBC we saw the round ball and square box reference on more than a few occasions. The Netherlands defeat of the Dominican twice; Puerto Rico’s humiliation of team USA followed up by their brutal loss to the same USA team they had manhandled a couple of days later. This is why baseball is such an amazing sport…it’s not how you predict what’s on paper…its how the game is played on any particular day. Cuba fielded a very strong team, but it was bested by strong Japanese pitching…that’s baseball…a game played with a round ball in a square box!”
From Ben:
“Castro is a brilliant thinker of stilted and politically obsessed thoughts.”
From Dean:
“Just read the article and I am curious if he (meaning Cuba and Castro) will change training styles to compete with Japan and Korean. After watching the US beaten with the problem being poor execution on the field, you wonder if MLB teams will learn it may be time to teach their players a more fundamental game.”