Cuban baseball defector, Yasiel Puig

[AlohaStyle]

Not sure how many of you pay attention to American baseball, but an interesting article was just recently released talking about details of Los Angeles Dodgers' Yasiel Puig's defection from Cuba to the US. There have been many Cuban baseball players that made the trek to the US to play baseball, but I don't recall seeing grim details for such a good player as Puig.

It's a long read, but talks of Cuban jails, fleeing in boats, kidnapping, extortion, money and murder...

http://www.lamag.com/features/2014/04/13/escape-from-cuba-yasiel-puigs-untold-journey-to-the-dodgers

I won't really talk about my opinions, but I do believe it's a shame that Cuban ball players cannot get some kind of reward for staying home knowing they literally could get millions just 90+ miles away.

[shlomo]

Puig's story is scary, sad and so on, but he makes it VERY hard to like him and cheer for him based on his actions and transgressions here.

[Chunks96ss]

There's two sides to every story to bad he's not sharing his side

[Jimmy2]

Great read!! Thanks

[AlohaStyle]

There's two sides to every story to bad he's not sharing his side

He has all to lose and nothing to gain for sharing his side of the story... for now anyway.

[Hugomarink]

Puig's story is scary, sad and so on, but he makes it VERY hard to like him and cheer for him based on his actions and transgressions here.

Plus he's a Dodger, which makes it extra hard to root for him!

[poisonowns]

Puig's story is scary, sad and so on, but he makes it VERY hard to like him and cheer for him based on his actions and transgressions here.

I felt the same way until I read this story:

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/10733609/let-cut-yasiel-puig-some-slack-young-man-antics

[coblos]

For me all the things people dislike about Puig are the same things that are quickly making him one of my favourite sports personalities.

The story of young Miami pitcher Jose Fernandez is also a very interesting one, from prison time in Cuba to diving into the sea in the middle of the night to save his mother as they escape from Cuba to the 2013 National League Rookie of the Year.