MLB notebook: As Obama visits, Cuban baseball is faltering – STLtoday.com

When President Barack Obama watches the Tampa Bay Rays play Cuba’s national team Tuesday in Havana, it will come at the deepest moment of crisis in more than 50 years for the island’s famed state-run baseball league.

A flood of high-profile defections to the U.S. has gutted the country’s teams. Stadiums and fields are run down, and experts and fans say quality of play is, too. The national team hasn’t won a major international tournament in nearly a decade.

“It’s going through a bad period,” said Ismael Sene, a Cuban baseball historian.

Now authorities are considering once-unimaginable changes to save the socialist country’s national game — reforms partly prompted by Obama’s detente.

Major League Baseball is in talks with both nations’ governments on a potential deal that could make it easier for Cuban ballplayers to play in the United States without having to sneak away at international tournaments or risk high-seas defections with human smugglers.

Last week the Obama administration implemented a policy to let Cubans earn salaries in the U.S. as long as they don’t pay special taxes back home. Those regulations specifically mention athletes, along with artists and performers.

Brewers’ Liriano recovering after being beaned • Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Rymer Liriano was released from the hospital and visited his teammates in the clubhouse Monday in Phoenix, a day after he was hit in the face by a pitch.

Liriano, 24, suffered multiple facial and nasal fractures. He will start the season on the disabled list, manager Craig Counsell said.

Counsell visited Liriano in the hospital. Later, Liriano joined the Brewers at the ballpark before they played the Los Angeles Angels.

“He got to see everybody,” Counsell said. “It was good, I’m glad everybody was able to say hi to him and see that he was OK.”

Counsell said it was too early to say how serious the injuries were and whether surgery would be required.

“Obviously, there’s a lot of swelling right now,” he said. “He’ll have more consults with doctors in the next two or three days.”

“Not everything is OK. We’re still less than 24 hours out, but it was great to see him. But he’s got a long road ahead of him still,” he said.

Liriano was carried off the field on a backboard after the pitch from Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Matt West hit him on the left side of the face in the eighth inning Sunday.

Liriano had been in the mix to start the season in center field for the rebuilding Brewers.

Meanwhile, Wily Peralta will be the Brewers’ starter on opening day April 4 against the San Francisco Giants based on his track record and not his recent struggles, Counsell said Monday.

Yanks name fields for legends • The New York Yankees have named the four fields at the team’s minor league complex in Tampa, Fla., to honor Billy Martin, Derek Jeter, Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. The Yankees have retired the uniform numbers of Martin (1) , Ruth (3) and Gehrig (4), with Jeter (2) expected to join the list.

Despite third Tommy John surgery, A’s pitcher optimistic • Oakland pitcher Jarrod Parker is set for his third Tommy John surgery in two weeks and refuses to believe anything but the best. He’s still a major league pitcher, though he last appeared in a major league game nearly three years ago.

The chance of returning from a pair of such operations is slim, and only former Cardinal Jason Isringhausen and Jose Rijo have come back from three or more. Rijo reportedly had three such surgeries over a five-year span between pitching jobs. Parker wants to join the short list. Parker, 27, will have to adhere to a longer time frame, perhaps missing two more years before being able to pitch again.

Rangers demote top prospects • The Texas Rangers optioned slugger Joey Gallo, infielder Jurickson Profar and outfielder Nomar Mazara — their three top position player prospects — to Triple-A Round Rock, Texas, on Monday.

Gallo, 22, hit .286 with a team-leading three home runs in 28 at-bats. The third baseman has led three different minor leagues in home runs, but his path is blocked by All-Star Adrian Beltre.

Profar, 23, the youngest player to appear in the majors in 2012 and 2013, had been limited to 12 games the past two years because of a shoulder injury that required surgery in February 2015.

Mazara, 20, hit .358 in 20 games last season after an August promotion. He hit .375 in 12 spring games.

Dodgers’ Ethier has bone scan • Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Andre Ethier was scheduled to have a bone scan Monday on his sore right shin.

Ethier has been on crutches since fouling a ball off his shin Friday during a spring game against the Arizona Diamondbacks. X-rays on Friday revealed no broken bones.

Ethier batted .294 with 14 homers and 53 RBIs in 395 at-bats last season. He also had seven triples and a .366 on-base percentage.

He is the Dodgers’ projected starter in left field.

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