Before it ever got started, the so-called inaugural Latin American and Caribbean League Tournament proved to be something of a promotional and public relations disaster. And before it was over, the make-shift event nearly turned into an on-the-field embarrassment of gigantic proportions for the defending world champion Cuban national team. But after a much-delayed but nonetheless exciting week of spirited play, the Cubans reigned once more as expected champions of still another international baseball spectacle. And the Venezuelan national team, for its own part, saved some face for local organizers by proving to be a sharp thorn in the side of the heavily favored Cuban nine, and also by demonstrating that they might well be capable of a few surprises of their own in the upcoming November Taipei World Cup matches.

Alex Mayeta (l) and Yoandry Urgelles (r) paced the Cuban offense in Caracas

The tournament itself was surrounded by a dense cloud of mystery and an avalanche of disorganization. Initially it was announced as a showcase seven-team round robin match (including Panama, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Nicaragua among the eventual no-shows). Action was scheduled to open on October 2 and was billed as a possible long-term replacement for the traditional (but now troubled) professional winter league playoffs known as the Caribbean Series. It eventually sputtered open on October 10-11 as a much reduced three-team "friendship series" with only weak-sister Colombia joining the Cubans and the host-nation Venezuelans. Initially it was billed as I Liga Latinoamericana y Caribena de Beisbol (First Latin American and Caribbean League), then simply called the Primera Liga del ALBA (First ALBA League) in an embarrassed recognition of its reduced status. There was no website for the event (remarkable in today's cyber world), and once play began in stadiums in Caracas and nearby Maracay (the original site was supposed to be the city of Valencia) there was little press coverage and almost nothing reaching the outside world in the way of box scores, pitching match-ups, or even game summaries. Even the Cubans (who give such prominence to the games of the cherished national team) had to work exceedingly hard just to follow this under-promoted spectacle.

The much-troubled and over-hyped "tournament" eventually opened inauspiciously to little fanfare, with Venezuela coasting past Colombia 6-1 in caracas on Wednesday (October 10), and Cuba drubbing the Colombians 9-0 a day later, via a rain-shortened three-pitcher no hitter. Cuba's pitchers for the initial whitewash game were Elier Sanchez (who opened and hurled three frames), Jonder Martinez (two innings), and southpaw Norberto Gonzalez (who breezed through the final inning). The absence of electric lights at the Maracay Stadium combined with the rain to bring an early amd merciful end to the proceedings. Cuba's offense was paced by Ariel pestano (two hits, a double, and three RBI) and Yoandry Urgelles (who also contributed three runs-batted-home and an additional two-bagger). All seemed to be unfolding just about as expected when Cuba pounded Venezuela 10-3 in Caracas's Jose casanova Stadium on Day Three, mainly on the strength of a Pestano homer in the fifth, followed by a five-run game-deciding eighth-inning uprising. The heavy hitting compensated for a shaky outing by veteran lefty Adiel Palma, whose lack of control permitted an early Venezuelan 3-2 lead after only three frames. Cuba's bullpen-by-committee (Yunieski Maya, Arley Sanchez, Pedro Lazo and Jose Garcia) held Venezuelan hitting at bay after the early frames.

But things seemed to unravel for some surprisingly porous Cuban pitching over the next several days, resulting in a pair of shocking losses at the hands of the highly motivated Venezuelans. The sudden Cuban setbacks seemed to put the hosts on the doorstep of a remarkable tournament upset. The initial Venezuelan victory on Sunday (October 13) was a 7-2 drubbing keyed by Manuel Ramirez, who slugged a solo homer that opened the scoring in the second, then later contributed a two-run single in the fourth. National team rookie right-hander Vladimir Banos (Pinar del Rio) opened on the hill for Team Cuba, but the loss was suffered by replacement lefty Yulieski Gonzalez, the bullpen hero of the August Rotterdam tournament. A pair of Habana Province hurlers, Jonder Martinez and Jose garcia, also worked late-inning relief, and a two-run shot by Yoandry Urgelles provided the only two tallies for the losers. Venezuela again surprised the Cubans a day later by a comfortable 5-1 count, this time mainly on the strength of a Sal Torres homer stroked off a delivery from closer Pedro Lazo. Not only had the Cuban pitching gone quite sour, but in this second defeat the normally potent Red Machine lineup managed only four largely harmless base hits against right-hander Marcos Castillo. Had anyone been following these games from USA Baseball (the USA national team)--but most likely they were not--they had to be smiling, with the Cubans suddenly looking anything but invincible in front of a Venezuelan club that also notably handed the Americans their only setback in last summer's IBAF Americas Region Pre-Olympic Tournament in Havana.

At the end of a week the now-suddenly competitive ALBA tournament showed the following scoreboard. Games played: Venezuela defeated Colombia 6-1 (Oct. 10); Cuba defeated Colombia 9-0 in 6 innings (Oct. 11); Cuba defeated Venezuela 10-3 (Oct. 12); Venezuela defeated Colombia 15-7 (Oct. 13); Cuba defeated Colombia 21-0 in seven innings (Oct. 14); Venezuela defeated Cuba 7-2 in seven innings (Oct. 14); Venezuela defeated Colombia, with the final score never reported (Oct. 15); Venezuela defeated Cuba 5-1 in seven innings (Oct. 15). Standings: Venezuela (4 wins, 1 loss); Cuba (3 wins, 2 losses); Colombia (0 wins, 5 losses). The stage was now set for a final showdown in Caracas on Wednesday evening between the increasingly confident host Venezuelans and the seemingly dazed but still favored Cubans.

Jonder Martinez was the pitching hero of Cuba's ALBA championship victory over Venezuela

If history was any predictor (and in international baseball, "history" almost always means dominance by the usually invincible Cubans) the final match-up should not have been much of a contest, and in the end it certainly wasn't. With their pride seemingly a bit wounded, the rey Anglada-managed nine rolled over their opponents on Wednesday evening by a 9-1 coount that didn't tell the whole story. Venezuelan bats were shut down effectively by opener Elier Sanchez (three innings) and reliever Jonder Martinez (four innings). Pedro Lazo permitted his second homer of the week in the eighth (this time to Denis Torres) but that was only enough to ruin the shutout. The offensive charge for the revived Cuban forces was led by new national team second baseman Hector Olivera (with a solo homer in the fifth) and slugging first sacker Alex Mayeta (with a game-busting grand slam in the sixth. Much of the damage came against reliever Beiker Gratol, who pitched briefly in the majors (1999) with the Detroit Tigers. The lopsided game might have been even more one-sided had it not been for several questionable umpiring decisions (as reported by Havana's Radio Rebelde in its inning-by-inning updates on the game from Caracas), missed calls on an outfield catch (that wasn't) and a home-plate tag-out (that wasn't) that definitely robbed the Cubans of of a handful of additional tallies. In post-game ceremonies the honored top players were Venezuela's Manuel Ramirez (with two homers in the event) and Cuba's Yoandry Urgelles (who stole six bases and also contributed one of Cuba's four total long balls).

After a week of Caracas-based tune-ups for the Taipei World Cup (which opens November 6), a pair of intriguing questions now remain very much open. Were the two Cuban losses a mere aberration (part and parcel of a sport in which the Cuban winning skein featuring a nearly 90% success rate seems to defy all baseball logic?), or was this a needed wakeup call for a defending world champion Cuban club that may well have its hands full with the American, Dutch, and Japanese challengers at World Cup XXXVII? Also, will future editions of this disappointing inaugural ALBA tournament show enough improvement (especially in organization and scheduling) to become the important date on the international baseball calendar that it was originally announced to be? It does seem more likely that the Cuban national team will get its act together far more easily next month in Taiwan than the Venezuelan Baseball Federation will by next summer in Caracas. I am not willing to bet, at this point, that the Liga del ALBA will have a very bright immediate future in the over-crowded field of Olympic-style international events. But I would certainly still put my money on the Cubans next month in Taipei. The Cubans are uncanny when it comes to always winning big-time when the chips are down (as last night in Caracas). Cuban national teams have now reached the finals in every major international tournament they have entered since 1959; this string now numbers 48 events and includes the Olympics, MLB World Baseball Classic, World Cup, Intercontinental Cup and Pan American Games. In the World Cup alone the defending champions will be shooting for their tenth straight title dating back to 1984 (when the event was still called the Amateur World Series). This is a recorded unparalleled in the history of baseball or any other sport for that matter. In short, everyone should be prepared for those remarkable records to once more be extended in Asia newxt month. It seems like only one team can beat Team Cuba, and that is Team Cuba itself.

With the 2007 World Cup event on the horizon in Taiwan (November 6-18) and a new Cuban League season soon to start (National Series XLVII, opening December 2 and running through April), readers interested in Cuban baseball action can now follow the Cuban League scene on the USA-based "official" league website (the best available), found at www.baseballdecuba.com. My own columns (in English) appear regularly on this site and provide updated information and opinions on both the league pennant races and the international triumphs of the world champion Cuban national team. Some of my columns on that site have appeared first on this blog, yet others have not. The BASEBALLDECUBA website also provides a wealth of historical detail about the Cuban League and intriquing historical video clips for download. Last spring the site also offered live video feed from Cuban television of the league championship playoff games between Industriales (Havana's favorite team) and Santiago de Cuba (2007 champions). Spanish readers can also enjoy the insightful columns and news reports of webmaster Ray Otero, or pursue the special pages devoted on daily reports on this years Pan American Games in Rio (July), World Port Tournament XI in Rotterdam (August) and World Cup XXXVII in Chinese Taipei (November). The BASEBALLDECUBA site will also soon have a full English-language page up and running and linked to the main website.

If the original promise of an inaugural Latin American and Caribbean League pre-World Cup tournament proved a major disappointment--due to the organizational ineptitude of the Venezuelan Baseball Federation--the three-team round robin that finally replaced it has not offered much to crow about either. There has so far been little in the way of thrills for Cuban fans back on the island, or even much in the way of needed stiff competition for the Cuban team preparing to snag a tenth straight World Cup crown next month in Taiwan. In its opening three days the set of one-sided Caracas "friendship" games between the host Venezuelans and visiting Colombians and Cubans have resulted in a pair of Cuban romps notable only for a six-inning three-pitcher no-hit, no-run game on Thursday evening. In that lid-lifter a trio of Cuban hurlers--Elier Sanchez (3 innings), Jonder Martinez (2) and Norberto Gonzalez (1)--whitewashed an overmatched Colombian contingent 9-0 in a game mercifully shortened to six innings. The early ending came as a result of a stadium power outage, one more minor "disaster" surrounding an event that the Venezuelans were touting only a week or two ago as a potential replacement for the springtime winter league professional Caribbean Series (which has itself lately been threatened by the collapse of the Puerto Rican winter circuit). The hitting stars for the Cubans in their opener were numerous: veteran catcher Ariel Pestano smacked a double and knocked home three runs; multiple-year Cuban League batting champion Osmani Urrutia also doubled and accounted for a pair of RBIs, while center fielder Giorvis Duvergel registered three hits in four trips to the plate, and outfield mate Yoandry Urgelles also doubled and knocked home three.

The one-sided loss to Cuba was the second straight for the weak-sister Colombians, who also fell rudely to host Venezuela in the Wednesday opener by a 6-1 count. Cuba was again untested in Caracas on Friday evening, when they streaked past the host nation 10-3 on the strength of a solo homer by Ariel Pestano (which tied the game at three apiece in the fifth) and an outburst of three more markers in the same frame against Venezuelan reliever Ivan Campos. Venezuela used seven pitchers before the night was over in a futile attempt to shut down the Cuban attack; the defending world champions, in turn, opened with veteran southpaw Adiel Palma (whose shaky control allowed the Venezuelans to build their early and temporary 3-2 lead) and followed with a relief corps of Yuniesky Maya, Arley Sanchez, Pedro Luis Lazo and Jose A. Garcia. Manager Rey Anglada was obviously trying to give a number of his pitchers need tune-ups during a one-sided match that didn't require much bullpen aid. It so far seems that the Cuban fans and the Cuban national team forces would have been much better served to remain on home turf and stage more competitive tune-up games in Havana's Latin American Stadium, perhaps featuring a showdown between the two Cuban contingents that carried the nation's banner earlier in the summer: Cuban A managed by Anglada (winners of the gold medal in the Rio Pan American Games) and Cuba B under Victor Mesa (which a month later streaked through the competition undefeated at the World Port Tournament in Rotterdam).

After three days the hardly competitive Caracas-based round robin shows the following standings and results:

Team          Record     Runs Scored/Runs Permitted

Cuba           2-0          19 to 3

Venezuela   1-1           9 to 11

Colombia     0-2          1 to 15

Venezuela 6, Colombia 1

Cuba 9, Colombia 0 (6 innings)

Cuba 10, Venezuela 3      

My overly optimistic announcement last week about the forthcoming and so-promising inaugural Latin American and Caribbean League round robin tournament in Valencia (Venezuela) has been followed by days of complete silence. The reason has been a most-disappointing inability (or unwillingness) of the apparently chaotic and Quixotic Venezuelan Baseball Federation (the event sponsor) to provide even the slightest trickle of news. Venezuelan authorities have remained unconscionably silent concerning the numerous delays for a "world class" tournament that seemed to hold so much potential promise as a much needed replacement (or at least supplement) to the faltering annual professional winter leagues Caribbean Series scheduled this coming February for Santo Domingo. Even the Cuban press, which follows the movements of its national team with loving detail, could uncover almost no details or updates concerning what www.baseballdecuba.com eventually began labeling "The Secret Tournament" (Torneo Secreto). What little news that did leak out of both Venezuela and Cuba provided only further questions and growing doubts: the opening date of play (originally October 2) was several times pushed back, and then left completely in the dark; the Cuban team twice postponed its own departure for Valencia, then didn't finally leave Havana until October 6 (Saturday); the roster of expected teams kept changing, with Panama declining, then accepting, then declining once more. An immediate "red flag" of course was also the complete absence of any official website for the event. And this for an international baseball match that would be featuring the reigning world champion Cubans plus two additional teams (Venezuela and Panama) that were also headed next month for the World Cup event in Taipei. If the Venezuelan political scene has often been troubled by upheaval and confusion in recent years, the Venezuelan Baseball Federation has now proven itself to be an even more classic case of inexplicable chaos. As one Cuban friend (whose finger is always on the pulse of national baseball in Havana) emailed me this week, "our team is apparently now in Venezuela, but nobody here yet seems to know who will play who, or even when!"

Finally some light has been thrown on the LLCB with the late Monday announcement by Venezuelan national sports minister Eduardo Alvarez Camacho that there would indeed be a Venezuelan tournament, after all, beginning this Wednesday (October 10), and in the end involving but four teams: Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia and Nicaragua. In-again and out-again Panama would not be attending, nor would Puerto Rico, as originally announced. Whether the withdrawal of the latter two participants was the actual cause of the apparent confusion in launching the event, or whether it was merely the result of the total chaos in Venezuela, is a major question that remains completely open. Not only have the dates for the I LLCB now been drastically altered, as well as the roster of participants, but so has the originally announced format of competition, the venues for play, and even the precise name of the inaugural tournament.

What is now on tap (but stay tuned for further developments!) is a four-team round robin event (each team will play the others three times) that will stretch until October 23 and also involve semifinals (that is, no one will be eliminated in preliminary rounds) and a single-game championship finale. Valencia will not now host the games which will instead be played in Jose Antonio Casanova Stadium (in the capital city of Caracas) and Carabobo Stadium (Mariara). And the event has now been rechristened "Ligas del ALBA" in apparent recognition of its much-reduced field of Caribbean Basin participants. In the scheduled lid-lifters, Colombia and Venezuela with square off in Caracas on Wednesday and Cuba and Nicaragua will clash in Mariara on Thursday. What we now have, then, is a far reduced and less attractive if still intriguing tune-up exercise (for Cuba and Venezuela only) for the upcoming Taipei games of November, played against somewhat inferior opponents from Nicaragua (bronze medalist this summer at the Rio Pan Am Games) and Colombia (whose weak team was a tail ender in last summer's IBAF Pre-Olympic tournament in Havana). This is hardly any longer an event which promises to bury the tradition-rich February professional Caribbean Series, as this author prematurely speculated only a week ago.

The Venezuelan tournament now looks more and more like a one-time event that has been lucky even to get off the ground for its inaugural outing. The only hope for the future might be that the Cubans (with their vast experience, rich tradition, and thoroughly "professional" approach to international tournaments) might take over the "Ligas del ALBA" and free them from the hands of the seemingly incompetent Venezuelan Federation. Some entertaining on-field match-ups may still be in the offering (especially between Cuba and Venezuela) over the next two weeks and I will try to report on them here as information is available. The games will also be followed (when information permits) on the Cuban League websites (www.baseballdecuba.com and www.radiococo.cu) in coming days. Hopefully such a poor start might still result in a more inspiring conclusion.

As Major League Baseball prepares to launch its own marathon playoffs, scheduled to stretch into early November and culminating in what has long been inappropriately labeled as the "World" Series, a promising new diamond tournament--one worthy of considerable attention and far more reasonably viewed as something of a true "world" series--simultaneously unfolds on the Latin American baseball scene during the next two weeks. Scheduled for the city of Valencia, Venezuela, and officially designated as the I Liga Latinoamericana y Caribena (First Latin American and Caribbean League), the new championship series will run for ten days (October 3-12) and will match national squads representing six Latino nations: host Venezuela and world champion Cuba, plus Puerto Rico, Brazil, Colombia and Nicaragua. While Cuba alone has so far announced its 27-man roster of the event, Venezuela will most likely field a squad of former professsionals substantially mirroring its strong entrant in last September's Havana-based IBAF Americas Olympic Qualifier round robin. Nicaragua, in turn, will be represented by the Granada team that won this past winter's league championship. Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and Panama were also invited to Valencia, but all three declined to participate in this year's inaugural tournament event.

If nothing else, the premier edition of the LLCB will have a somewhat more legitimate claim to the title of "World Series" than the parallel MLB tournament. After all, these Venezuelan games will involve actual national squads competing in an "international atmosphere" and not merely hired guns representing exclusively USA-based corporations (what else are major league ball clubs?). And it will even more certainly take its claim as replacement for the recently emasculated annual February Caribbean Series winter league playoffs (this year to be staged between the Dominicans, Venezuelans and Mexicans in Santo Domingo) as an authentic Caribbean Basin championship series. For one thing, the entrants in annual playoffs between champions of the MLB-affiliated winter circuits are not true "national teams" since squads representing, say, Puerto Rico or Venezuela or Mexico often include Americans, Canadians and other non-nationals on their rosters. And the tournament that was once the jewel of Caribbean winter baseball has, over the past several decades, steadily diminished in stature, since so few top-level minor league stars or big league veterans any longer take part in the watered-down winter league circuits.

Panama, the fourth Americas region qualifier for the Taipei World Cup (alongside Cuba, Venezuela and the USA), had earlier accepted a LLCB invitation from Franz Weber, president of the Venezuelan Baseball Federation, yet announced only this weekend that it would withdraw due to lack of preparation for a tournament at this level. Perhaps tired of waiting for a long-rumored but never-forthcoming invitation to join the Latin American Baseball Alliance-sponsored professional winter league event, Cuba signed on earlier this summer as one of the major forces behind the promising new Valencia event, actually the fourth international tournament staged on Venezuelan soil during recent months (others included the second annual ALBA Games last spring, AA-level IBAF-sponsored World Championships, the little-known Simon Bolivar Cup invitational, and finally the IBAF Junior World Championships in August). The new series will also be staged on the heels of a most-disappointing Pan American Games held last July in Rio de Janeiro. Rio's disastrous tournament (won not surprisingly by Cuba) was wrecked by numerous postponements due to poor weather and inadequate facilities and ultimately even saw cancellation of its important bronze medal third-place game between Nicaragua and Mexico. This week's Valencia tournament thus hopes to resurrect the legitimacy and past glories of international competitions staged within the world's foremost baseball hotbed that comprises the Caribbean Basin.

One notable feature of the new LLCB will be the presence of a somewhat revamped and strengthened world champion Cuban national team that promises to be one of the most potent in many years. This evaluation of the current Team Cuba might indeed be hard to accept, in light of those Cuban juggernauts of the 1990s featuring Omar Linares, Orestes Kindelan, Antonio Pacheco and company, or the more recent powerhouse squads that dominated the Athens Olympics and shocked MLB-fans by reaching the finals of the 2006 World Baseball Classic in San Diego. This past summer, however, two nearly equal versions of "Team Cuba" dominated international competition in both Rio de Janeiro (Pan American Games) and Rotterdam (World Port Tournament). What was at the time assumed to be a backup squad sent to Rotterdam under manager Victor Mesa twice easily dispatched the USA squad (a group of talented university all-stars) that had two weeks earlier given Rey Anglada's Cuba A ball club a severe test during Rio's gold medal finale. The performance of Mesa's Cuba B squad in Rotterdam--with such formidable young stars as Alfredo Despaigne, Donald Duarte and Alexei Bell--caused this author to speculate that perhaps the most competitive World Cup gold medal game this coming November in Taipei would be an imagined contest staged between the two versions of the Cuban national team managed by Anglada and Mesa.

Journalist and Cubaball expert Ray Otero, in a column for his website at www.baseballdecuba.com has already observed that the composite Team Cuba now headed for Venezuela's LLCB may be in truth the best--certainly the most balanced--Cuban squad to take the field in a decade or more. As Otero argues, this version (a composite of the Rio and Rotterdam rosters) indisputably has a better balance between righty and lefty pitching, and also between run-producing offense and run-squelching defense, than some other Cuban nines of quite recent vintage (epscially the one sent to Rio, that was restricted to only six pitchers and unaccountably also did little timely hitting). The potent Cuba club earmarked for Venezuela will feature a half dozen southpaws on the mound corps, and all six have already earned their stripes in tough international competitions. Adiel Palma has been a national team mainstay for much of the decade (and held the Americans at bay in the Rio finals in July); Yulieski Gonzalez produced stellar back-to-back closing efforts (twice working out of bases-loaded threats with the games on the line) against Team USA and Chinese Taipei in Rotterdam.

I myself earlier suggested on the www.baseballdecuba.com website that the young Cuban team in Rotterdam might have been the undisputed equal of Anglada's Cuba A squad that had emerged victorious in Rio, despite any lack of name recognition among emerging players like Yosvani Peraza (pictured), Alexei Bell and Donald Duarte. I was most especially impressed firsthand in Rotterdam with the quartet of Vladimir Banos (a hard-throwing Pinar right hander who started both tight first-round victories over eventual finalist Chinese Taipei), Alfredo Despaigne (who is rapidly replacing Yulieski Gourriel as the island's stellar offensive weapon of the future), Hector Olivera (whose agility had USA pro scouts in Rotterdam buzzing about his impressive range and foot speed, and who has now made Alexei Ramirez suddenly very dispensable at the vital second base position), and Yosvani Peraza (a defensively unpolished but offensively potent backstop whose long-ball power dominated the Rotterdam field). What we will now see in Valencia is a "dream team" contingent composed of the very best of the two summer 2007 national squads, and also a power-packed roster selected with a clear eye to overall team strength. Team Cuba has already undergone nearly a forty percent overhaul (three of eight starters plus almost half of the pitching and a majority of the key reserves) from the WBC squad of March 2006.

The complete Cuba LLCB roster is as follows. Catchers are veterans Ariel Pestano (Villa Clara) and Eriel Sanchez (Sancti Spiritus), plus promising newcomer Yosvani Peraza (Pinar del Rio)--MVP of the August Rotterdam World Port Tournament. Infielders include Alex Mayeta (Industriales), Hector Olivera (Santiago de Cuba), Rudy Reyes (Industriales), Luis Miguel Navas (Santiago de Cuba), Eduardo Paret (Villa Clara), and Yulieski Gourriel (Sancti Spiritus). Olivera proved a "can't-miss" prospect in Rotterdam and now adequately replaces the departed Alexei Ramirez at second base, whereas team Paret and versatile slugger Gourriel have been mainstays of the Cuban infield in recent years. Outfielders number Freddie Cepeda (Sancti Spiritus), Osmani Urrutia (Las Tunas), Giorvis Duvergel (Guantanamo), Yoandry Urgelles (Industriales)--these were the four rotating starting outfielders in Rio--along with promising newcomers Yoennis Cespedes (Granma) and Alfredo Despaigne (Granma). The latter youngsters are the most promising prospects on Cuba's horizon in perhaps a full decade. Right-handed pitching features Pedro Luis Lazo (Pinar del Rio), Vladimir Banos (Pinar del Rio), Yunieski Maya (Pinar del Rio), Joder Martinez (Habana Province), Yadel Marti (Industriales) and national team rookie reliever Jose Angel Garcia (Habana Province). The left-handed mound corps consists of Arleys Sanchez (Habana Province), Aroldis Chapman (Holguin), Norberto Gonzalez (Cienfuegos), Adiel Palma (Cienfuegos), Elier Sanchez (Camaguey), and Yulieski Gonzalez (Habana Province). The mound staff, like the overall roster, is an ideal blend od seasoned veterans (Lazo, marti, Maya, Norberto and Yulieski Gonzalez) and promising young arms (Banos, Chapman, Garcia, Arleys and Elier Sanchez). The manager will again be Industriales skipper Rey Vicente Anglada, assited by coaches Arturo Hechevarria (Pinar del Rio), Orestes Kindelan (Santiago de Cuba), Luis Danilo Lardute (Santiago de Cuba), Rolando Verde (Habana Province), Jose Elosegui (veteran habana Province pitching coach), Omar Carrero (Habana Province), and former national team manager Jorge Fuentes (once again the skipper at Pinar del Rio). An additional eight national team prospects will not make the trip to Venezuela but will remain in training in Havana as possible replacements for the Taiwan World Cup in November. This number includes catcher Osdanis Montero (Las Tunas); utility infielder Donald Duarte (Pinar del Rio); power-hitting first sacker Jose Julio Ruiz (Santiago de Cuba); outfielders Carlos Tabares (Industriales) and Alexei Bell (Santiago de Cuba); and veteran pitchers Norge Luis Vera (Santiago), Vicyohandri Odelin (Camaguey) and Alberto Bicet (Santiago).

Cuba would seem the overwhelming favorite in Valencia, but there promises to be healthy competition from the host Venezuelans, if only enough to make the two-week round robin shootout somewhat entertaining. The event should be an intriguing preview of Latin America's prospects for the upcoming Taipei World Cup 37 now looming on the near horizon, as well as a stern test for promising future Cuban stars like Despaigne, Peraza and Banos. An especially intriguing aspect of the first LLCB is, of course, the presence of a national squad from Puerto Rico, the one-time Caribbean mainstay recently forced to cancel its upcoming Winter League season due to diminished fan interest (see my below posting on this topic). What level of team the Puerto Rican Federation will muster in Valencia is not at all clear, since no rosters have yet been provided. But with Puerto Rico as well as Venezuela and Cuba on board, this tournament will arguably have a much greater legitimacy than the stale pro winter league playoffs targeted for Santo Domingo in early February and now stripped down to only three countries after the unfortunate collapse of the historic Puerto Rican circuit. Last year's Caribbean Series was played to meager crowds in San Juan's Roberto Clemente Walker Stadium, and this year's Dominican-based event holds little promise for improvement, especially if rookie league circuits in Colombia and Nicaragua are invited to fill out the field. The freshly designed LLCB tournament is thus perfectly poised to seize attention among Caribbean fanatics and winter league watchers, and even to emerge as a truly legitimate Caribbean or Latin American championship--of the kind only briefly glimpsed 18 months ago in San Juan during the second round of March 2006 World Baseball Classic showdowns between Cuba and the major leaguers representing Venezuela, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.

What remains unclear on the eve of the much-anticipated event is the exact format for the Valencia-based competition. It has been widely rumored (and reasonably supposed) that the even will consist of an opening round with "everybody facing everybody" and then a final championship match between the first and second place finishers. But Venezuelan Federation officials have unfortunately not made this scenario transparent in advance; such uncertainty is perhaps only part of the growing pains that will have to be ironed out if the LLCB is to indeed become a respected annual event. But it seems hard to imagine that--with the presence of an obviously big-league-level Cuban squad--this will not be a far more entertaining spectacle--whatever the format--than the low-level competitions offered by last February's Alianza Latina winter league finale in San Juan, one featuring games between a smattering of AA league pro prospects and a handful of already-past-their-prime journeymen big leaguers.