The Puerto Rico Baseball League desists from asking two Dominican teams to be punished for acts of piracy

The Roberto Clemente Professional Baseball League (LBPRC) chose not to continue with its piracy claims against two teams from the Professional Baseball League of the Dominican Republic (Lidom), after improper approaches against two imported players who belonged to the reserves of the Ponce Lions.

The Estrellas Orientales and the Aguilas Cibaenas were the two Dominican clubs accused of having tried to negotiate to hire the Cubans Dairon Blanco and JC Escarra, who participated in the 2022-2023 winter baseball campaign with the Lions on their return as a franchise to the league. Puerto Rican winter.

But after the local circuit let it be known that it had submitted a formal complaint to the Caribbean Professional Baseball Confederation (CBPC) chaired by the Dominican Juan Francisco Puello Herrera, the president of the LBPRC, Juan Antonio Flores Galarza, indicated this Tuesday to The new day that the board of directors of the organization decided not to continue with the case because they did not seek to enter into controversy with “sister leagues.”

According to Flores Galarza, what the LBPRC will insist on is that the Confederation amend its regulations so that it is expressly clear to what consequences and sanctions a club that engages in said practice again in the future is exposed to.

Currently, the CBPC statutes only indicate that the commissioner, in this case Puello Herrera, may at his discretion set a sanction. But that didn’t happen on this occasion. On the contrary, what Puello Herrera did was delegate to the Puerto Rican winter league to submit all the amendment proposals that are of interest to be discussed and considered.

“The confederation had expressed itself and had determined that both players were Ponce’s reserves, properly speaking. And they had determined that the Dominican Republic teams had acted outside the regulations,” Flores Galarza told this medium.

“We, in an extraordinary meeting that was held to discuss this issue, said that we do not want to get into a fight with sister leagues. What we want is for there to be rules that are clear, that are not susceptible to ridicule and that are uniform. And everyone respects them. And if someone does not comply with them, in the same rule they should say the steps to follow.”

When The new day argued that the lack of a sanction by the Confederation is precisely giving way to continuing to flout the regulations, Flores Galarza insisted that this will be addressed with some amendments to the regulations. However, he accepted that there will be no sanction on this occasion, although the Confederation itself confirmed that both Dominican teams had engaged in improper conduct.

“We don’t want them to fine the leagues, the teams, the agents, much less the players. We said, what we want is this. And they gave us an assignment to present all the amendments that we are demanding,” added Flores Galarza, who said that last Saturday the board of directors of the LBPRC already discussed a first draft with amendments.

“We are in the process of continuing to refine them because we also have to meet with the Baseball Players Association,” he said.

Once the local league concludes its proposals, these will be discussed with the CBPC at its assembly to be held during the Caribbean Series in February in Miami.

Blanco, at the moment, does not have permission to play in the Dominican Republic – according to Flores Galarza – because he is on the Miami Marlins’ list of extreme fatigue players. In the case of Escarra, he has already signed with Ponce, but is currently playing in Mexico with the Algodoneros de Guasave on loan until October 31, confirmed the general manager and leader of the Leones, Edwin Rodriguez. However, the agreement was that he would report to Ponce for the start of the season the first weekend of November.

Why doesn’t the Confederation work on its own regulations? Flores Galarza was asked.

“They have it, but it doesn’t work,” responded the president of the LBPRC.

“Puerto Rico gave up continuing because our intention is not confrontational. It is to create awareness that there is an (incorrect) situation,” he added to questions about why the CBPC did not impose a punishment if it confirmed that the teams engaged in piracy.

Flores Galarza specified that among the measures they want to establish in the amendments, is that if a team from a league is interested in a player who is in the reserve of another club, it has to obtain a permit, and if it manages to hire the player, it must financially compensate its original franchise.