Fate and destiny came together perfectly to give the reins of the Cuba baseball team to the Third World Baseball Classic to Victor Mesa. Hailed by many and criticized by many others, the former Cuban star in the centerfield, made an electrifying revolution with his selection of a team to this major tournament, which, beyond its successes, drove him to commit various sins.
I am not referring to the seven deadly sins of Catholic Christianity (pride, greed, gluttony, lust, sloth, envy and anger), but a number of obvious, unforgivable mistakes, which undoubtedly will leave the Cuban team at the mercy of the luck in the top moments of the Classic.
His most questionable mistake was the exclusion of right-hander Yadier Pedroso, by far the best pitcher in the country, the only one able to offer good performance both as a closer or as opener, a kind of pitcher almost nonexistent today because the logical canons of modern baseball, but quite common in all Cuban teams.
Pedroso, 26, is fully recovered from an injury to the throwing arm, which he suffered last November when the Cuban team toured Asia. According to Pedroso, his coaches recently recorded him pitches up to 94 miles per hour and his physical condition is very good.
But apparently none of this reached the ears of Victor Mesa, who seems determined to keep him out of the staff to maintain hurlers as Vicyohandri Odelin, Yulieski Gonzalez or Alexander Rodriguez, all with remarkable experience but far from their moments of stardom.
Mesa also gave more importance to fast players over sluggers, a gross violation of the very essence of baseball, which is simply to make runs to win games, and the fastest way, has always been, though a homer.
In this regard, for example, he called in Luis Felipe Rivera, 35, an eternal Nobody, ahead of experienced slugger Alexander Malleta, of great his history and excellent performance in the Asian tour. He also preferred Yadiel Hernandez, a medium talented player, over Yasmani Thomas, the more illustrious prospect in today’s Cuban baseball, a remarkably hard hitter and with privileged arm.
Clearly the Cuba team will have a balanced starting offensive lineup, but the bench will be filled with only "Roadrunner", I mean, fast players (though no natural base stealer) incapable of hitting homers, as the one pinch hitter Yosvani Peraza hit against Australia in the World II Baseball Classic, in 2009, which gave victory to Cuba and, in turn, secured us the berth to the next round.
Victor Mesa sinned also by applying different selection criteria. Sometimes he stuck to performance at all costs and in others he preferred his judgment, although on several occasions he reiterated that the team was formed by a group of specialists.
So, he left out catcher Ariel Pestano, a perennial fixture in all Cuban teams during the last decade, and chose Yulexis La Rosa, who batting barely .214 at the time of the selection last January 16. He then picked prospect Raicel Iglesias instead of Carlos Juan Viera, another prospect, currently second with more saves in the national series and team member in 2012.
The Cuban team’s manager chose to have three catchers and take only a natural third baseman and a shortstop. If third baseman Yulieski Gourriel (All Star at the First World Classic) or shortstop Erisbel Arruebarrena gets injured during the tournament then last minute improvisations will begin, something unheard of at this level, especially if we consider that the would-be utility is Jose Miguel Fernandez, with good offensive skills but not so good when defending.
On top of that, Mesa announced the lineup will be almost the same as in recent years, with Gourriel as third batter, causing negative vibrations in Cuba because the fans remember that his performance in that place in international championships are mediocre to say the least, for but now he is the best player in the country, with five well-developed tools.
Some people argue that the solution could be to place Gourriel in the fifth or sixth spot in the batting lineup, others ask to move him up to second, but never offensive third (certainly in the current National Series is the clean-up hitter of Sancti Spiritus and is having an awesome season with .440 OBP and an OPS of .957, in addition to its 29 RBIs and 30 runs scored in 40 games).
The atmosphere is rarefied regarding this team, even Victor Mesa made statements about the physical form of certain player, and a day later, publicly, that player bluntly denied the allegations of his manager, I mean, the situation is not calm there is not total unity, and that is rare in Cuba, where always these bickering is at close doors.
Now we just have to wait for a change before February 20, the last day allowed by the organizers to, exceptional, make last-minute changes, because on March 2 the Classic begins. Cuba there will be part of Group A, along with Brazil, China and hosts Japan.
Victor Mesa hastime, still has room, only a fool never changes his mind, we will have to wait to see if drinks from the fountain of wisdom.
