T.R. Sullivan. Knight Ridder. National Post. Monday, March 20, 2000
PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. - Jorge Diaz took 15 minutes of batting practice with Rafael Palmeiro and Ivan Rodriguez, spent another 15 minutes taking ground balls from Bucky Dent and seemed thrilled with every second of it.
Afterward, Diaz proclaimed the experience a dream come true, which is understandable considering he is the only known former Cuban national player to defect not once but twice from that country's Communist regime.
"Sometimes I didn't think it would happen," Diaz said Saturday after his first workout with the Texas Rangers. "Thank God it did."
Diaz, a second baseman who arrived in Florida on Thursday after signing with the Rangers on Feb. 28, now faces the challenge of making it to the majors. He hasn't played in an organized game in almost three years and general manager Doug Melvin said getting Diaz into an exhibition game will be
difficult with only two weeks left in spring training.
Diaz most likely will start the season in Triple-A where he will have to prove he belongs in the majors.
Known as "The Spider" because of his defensive reputation, Diaz played four years with Villa Clara during Cuba's regular season and another three years for Centrales in their All-Star Series. But his life was changed forever in July, 1997, when he was suspended indefinitely from
baseball.
Diaz's crime was talking by telephone to former Villa Clara teammate Rolando Arrojo, who had defected earlier that year and signed with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
"They considered him a security risk," his agent Joe Kehoskie said.
Hoping to play baseball again, Diaz attempted to defect in March of the following year. He and several others, including Mets infielder Jorge Toca, floated off the island in a 12-foot boat.
The currents took them to the Bahamas where they were picked up, detained and, with the exception of Toca, returned to Cuba. Diaz was not treated kindly.
"He just couldn't disappear like a lot of people disappear. He was brought in for interrogation by the state security people every three days," Kehoskie said. "He was just hanging on with his family. Sometimes friends gave him meals. When we first met him he was all skin and
bones."
Diaz decided to defect again, but he refuses to speak out against Cuban dictator Fidel Castro because he has family on the island.
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