U.S. Team Pegs Gold-Medal Chances To Better Players, Wooden Bats .
By Ed Sherman. Tribune Olympic Bureau. Chicago Tribune. September 18, 2000
SYDNEY -- After winning the Olympic baseball gold medal in 1996, Cuba manager Jorge Fuentes was asked how the tournament would be different if the United States used its major-league stars. Fuentes had the perfect retort.
"They can have theirs if I can have mine back," Fuentes said.
While some teams worry about injuries, for Cuba the fear is defections.
Cuba still is favored to win a third straight gold medal. The Cubans have never lost in Olympic competition, running their streak to 20 in a row Monday with a 13-5 victory over Italy.
The Cubans also beat South Africa 16-0 Sunday in a game called after 61/2 innings because of the mercy rule.
And yet the team is viewed as vulnerable, thanks in large part to several top stars declaring themselves free agents, albeit without Fidel Castro's permission.
Cuba would have a formidable pitching staff if Livan Hernandez of the San Francisco Giants, Orlando Hernandez of the New York Yankees and Rolando Arrojo of the Boston Red Sox still were throwing for the team.
But each pursued democracy and money fleeing Cuba to play in the major leagues. The defections could lead to defeat in Sydney.
Cuba proved to be beatable in last year's Pan American Games, the qualifying event for the Olympics.
The Cubans lost twice--to the United States and Canada--in the preliminary round before rallying to defeat the U.S. in the final. Australia also downed Cuba 4-3 in the final of the 1999 Intercontinental Cup.
"Cuba is not that much above everyone else," U.S. outfielder Mike Neill said. "There's a lot more parity this year. We showed in the Pan Am Games that they can be beaten."
U.S. pitcher Todd Williams said he believes there are two major differences since the 1996 Olympics that come into play. The Americans now are using professional players, mostly a mix of top prospects to go along with some seasoned career minor-leaguers as opposed to raw college players in
Atlanta. Also wood bats, not aluminum, are being used this year.
"They're going to see a different team from us," Williams said. "They're not going to be playing against a bunch of college kids."
And the Cubans likely never have encountered anybody like U.S. manager Tommy Lasorda. After spending a career battling the Giants and Yankees, Lasorda isn't going to concede anything to the Cubans.
"They've been beaten before," Lasorda said. "They can be beaten again."
Still, the challenge will be tough. Even with the defections, the Cubans have plenty of talent on that small island 90 miles from Florida.
"If we had a big national team and Mark McGwire went down, the U.S. would have plenty of guys to replace him," Williams said. "They've got a whole country to find players."
Many of them can still play in the big leagues. A slew of major leaguers were on hand to watch Monday's game.
Former White Sox pitcher Bart Johnson, who is serving as an advance scout for the U.S. team, said the Cubans have four or five players who could be regulars on major-league teams and three pitchers who could crack starting rotations.
"Their middle infield (second baseman Antonio Pacheco and shortstop German Mesa) is acrobatic," said Johnson, now a scout for Tampa Bay. "They remind me of [Cleveland defensive wizard] Omar Vizquel."
Cuba also has star pitchers in Jose Contreras and Pedro Luis Lazo. Third baseman Omar Linares comes into the Games with an Olympic batting average of .488. First baseman Orestes Kindelan hit nine homers in Atlanta in 1996.
Cuba has five players who will be going for their third gold medal.
Obviously experience won't be a problem. Linares is 33; Kindelan and Pacheco are 36.
Even with the defections, the pitching staff is deeper than in 1996, according to new manager Silvio Borges.
"We're here to defend the title we've won," Borges said.
Johnson said the Cubans aren't going to be intimidated.
"They're 20-0 in the Olympics," Johnson said. "That counts as a trend." | 