Agent Gets Ballplayers To Defect From Cuba

Joe Cubas has ushered 23 players from Cuba to the United States. Utilizing third countries to circumvent the amateur draft, he's made his share of money and enemies - Fidel Castro included. This fall he helped Cuban defector Danys Baez sign with the Cleveland Indians, even as another client, Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez, pitched for the Yankees in the World Series. He discussed his life, business and aspirations in an interview with Baseball Weekly.

Question: How did you get started bringing Cuban defectors to the United States?

Answer: Given my roots, there was always this fascination about Cuba. In 1991, I saw the Cuban national team in Millington, Tenn., for the first time, and all of a sudden felt an immediate sense of connection. These ballplayers, wearing these red uniforms were, to a certain degree, my brothers on the Cuban side. Even so, I didn't know where they stood. I didn't know if they were Castro people or people like I was accustomed to here in Miami's exile community. I began establishing relationships with these guys. I had access to them because I was not a threat. No one knew who I was.

Q: What was your first obstacle?

A: The `trust' factor. The fact that they were brought up in a system which doesn't give them the opportunity to trust someone else for fear of retaliation, for fear that something might happen to them.

Q: When was the first defection orchestrated?

A: May of 1995, I think, was the trip that really impacted them. This trip was to Japan. That was the trip where Osvaldo (Fernandez) comes to me and says, `I want out. I need your help. I want to defect. I can't stand this system any more.' After his defection, it was a signal to the rest of the guys: Someone's done it successfully. Yes, there are risks, but you know what? There is a world out there better than the Cuban government portrays. All of a sudden, in September, Livan (Hernandez) defects. In October, Larry (Rodriguez) and Vladimir (Nunez) defect. And after that, it's been a constant flow.

Q: You said this year's home-and-home series against the Orioles backfired on Castro. Why?

A: Castro used it as political propaganda. It backfired because it gave those players an opportunity to prove that everything I've been telling them is the truth. When that Cuban team traveled to Baltimore, they were able to stay at the Sheraton Hotel. . . . They were able to see what a major league stadium is all about. They were able to see what a major league clubhouse is all about. They were able to see America, capitalism and the standards by which we treat our baseball players, and they had the opportunity to compare it to how the Cuban government treats its players.

Q: You have had some players leave you for other agents. There are accusations that you take more of a commission than the prescribed agent's share. How do you respond?

A: With regard to the accusations that I take more than the agent's share. . . . I think Livan (Hernandez) has been the only one who has made that accusation. He paid me with a check and that check is in the amount stipulated by the Players Association, which is five percent.

Q: How much direct contact do you have with the players and how much do you use intermediaries?

A: As far as speaking to the players, I can no longer physically get close when they go to Mexico or Canada because I am a threat to the Cuban government. Therefore, I need to surround myself with the proper individuals to be able to get close to these people and deliver messages. In the case of Rolando Arrojo in '96 . . . the only way I could communicate with him was to slip a cell phone into a towel and throw it into his bag. Then we asked him to turn the cell phone on at one or two o'clock in the morning, when he was back in his room with his roommate - if he trusted his roommate. It turned out his roommate was Alberto Hernandez, who subsequently defected.

Q: Do you not have methods of communicating on the island of Cuba?

A: I do, and a simple phone call will do. You have to understand that's it's not only the 25 players who want to come out. There are 11 million people in Cuba who want out. So, it's very easy to take a message to a certain individual. All I need to do is pick up a phone, make a phone call and speak to them in code with the code names we've got on the different players.

Q: You and a group of investors made an attempt to buy the Florida Marlins last year. Is that still a dream of yours, to own a major league franchise?

A: That's my dream in life - to some day be a part of an ownership group that buys a major league franchise. Everybody has aspirations . . . I just don't think we were in a position at the time to line up our ducks, per se. Part of it was dollars. Although we had the dollars set aside for the club, we certainly needed more dollars for the development of the stadium. And we needed more time.

Q: How would you market the Marlins differently, specifically to the Cuban population in Miami?

A: We've got approximately one million Cubans living in the South Florida area. For Cubans, baseball is the No. 1 sport. For Cubans, baseball is a passion. The Marlins have not had the proper marketing tools to bring in a larger percentage of that Cuban population. They attempted to do that in '95 with the signing of Livan Hernandez. They attempted to do that again with the signing of Alex Fernandez. But I don't think they've done enough. . . . One thing I would do - and I think (Chairman of the board) John Henry is trying to do this - would be to make myself immediately accessible to the Cuban people. (The problem is) the Cuban people can't relate to a John Henry. John Henry is a great human being. He is making a very diligent and strong effort to make this a better organization.

Q: How many Cubans do you think could step into the majors today and succeed?

A: I don't think anybody knows, and the reason is we're only privy to 25 players, those who travel on that Cuban National Team.

Q: How would the possible implementation of a world-wide draft affect you?

A: That's something we've continued to hear about for the past five or six years. Obviously, Major League Baseball is looking to put itself in a position of control. I, first of all, think it's illegal to have a world draft where you're going to control players from other countries who have nothing to do with us here (in the United States). I'm not sure the union is in a position to accept that. I think there are certain issues that are going to have to be clarified before anything like that is implemented. With regard to how it affects me, obviously, you'd like to see any player come in and be in a position to dictate or decide where he would like to play - what city he would like to play for and for what amount of money.