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By EVAN PEREZ
.c The Associated Press
MIAMI (AP) -
Six Cuban baseball players, including Orlando "El Duque'' Hernandez, the
half-brother of World Series MVP Livan Hernandez, were cleared for free agency
by Major League Baseball, according to the players' agent said.
A spokesman for Miami sports agent Joe Cubas said the office of acting
baseball commissioner Bud Selig notified all 30 major league clubs Thursday they
were free to scout the players who have been training in Costa Rica.
Selig's office asked that no negotiations be held before Feb. 9 to allow all
teams a chance to hold workouts for the players, said Rene Guim, spokesman for
Cubas.
There was no answer late Thursday night at the commissioner's New York
office.
Orlando Hernandez, 28, a star pitcher on Cuba's national team, was banned
from baseball in his homeland after his younger brother defected while on a team
trip in Mexico in 1995. Livan Hernandez went on to stardom last season with the
World Series champion Florida Marlins.
The elder Hernandez, who had resisted defecting for years, escaped his
homeland Dec. 26 with seven others on a small boat. They were picked up a few
days later on a remote Bahamian island by the U.S. Coast Guard and handed over
to Bahamian authorities.
Hernandez was offered a U.S. visa, along with his common-law wife and Cuban
team catcher Alberto Hernandez, who is not related. But all except Hernandez's
wife ended up in Costa Rica when U.S. authorities refused visas to the others in
the group.
Alberto Hernandez, 27, who was banned from baseball on the island for
alleged contacts with Cubas, also received free agency clearance. Cubas has
helped several Cuban athletes defect in recent years.
The others approved for free agency were Joel Pedroso, 21, who played on a
Havana team; Juan Medina, 21, a right-handed pitcher allowed by the Cuban
government earlier this month to join his family in Costa Rica; Osmani Santana,
22, an infielder who defected last October while the Cuban national team toured
Mexico; and Francisco Santiesteban, 21, a catcher who defected last November
while the Cuban team toured Colombia.
AP-NY-01-23-98 0054EST |