Baseball tournament hurting

[NewsWhore]

Dominican baseball could be suffering from the same symptoms that annihilated baseball in Puerto Rico. A decision of Major League Baseball to ban star Dominican players from playing in their home teams is affecting the quality of the games and fewer Dominican fans are showing up to watch the games. "What we are seeing in recent years is a matter of concern, especially because there is already a precedent in what happened in Puerto Rico," Mario Melvin Soto, president of the union of ballplayers told El Dia. He says he doesn't understand the agreement the Dominican Winter Baseball League signed with Major Baseball. He said the lack of respect from Major League Baseball towards the Caribbean Confederation of Baseball tournaments is such that at any time they call back a player, regardless of how important that player may be for a team. He said the agreement is only working for the Major League Baseball. He cited the case of Joel Peralta, of the Gigantes del Cibao, who was banned from playing by his team Tampa Bay that had signed him as a free agent. He also mentioned that Texas banned Nelson Cruz from playing, and the Washington Nationals also banned rookie Eury Perez from playing.

"Really, I don't know what is happening. When I was a star in the MLB I always played with the Escogido and I saw that Miguel Tejada, even when he was a MLB Most Valuable Player, played with the Aguilas and nothing happened," he commented.

El Dia reported that others who have been banned from playing are Pedro Figueroa (Oakland), Simon Castro (San Diego), Alexander Perez (Cleveland), Willy Peralta and Amaury Rivas (Milwaukee), Melky Mesa (Yankees) and Rubby de la Rosa (Dodgers).

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