Highlander said:
I'm sure the owners are using Hispanic players as salary leverage against paying Whites what they are worth, basically saying, without speaking, "well, we know you guys can play ball...most of you better than these other guys...but if you start asking too much, these other guys are more than ready to take your position."
MLB is in need of a real, neutral and apolitical commissioner again, instead of an owner's lackey like Selig.
The real problem starts in the minors. American, Canadian and Puerto Rican players are the only ones eligible for the MLB draft. And in recent years, American kids (white and black) have asked for money to skip college and jump straight to pro ball as teens. So what winds up happening, is most teams do their best to sign their US born picks, but don't fret it if they can't sign a significant percentage of their draftees, because they know theycan simply sign a bunch of 16 year olds from 3rd world countries at dirt cheap rates and stack their minor league teams that way. Ex-Yankees GM Bob Watson, who is black, once went on record saying American kids are at a huge disadvantage because this.
Another thing to keep in mind, is major league baseball teams could only get like 24 visa's each year for foreign born players during most of the 2000's. That was just 24 for the majors and minors combined. That was still a lot, but kept the numbers down a little bit....However, ex-US Presidente Jorge Arbusto (aka GW Bush), who once "owned" the Texas Rangers, changed the rules -- now MLB teams can get visa's for a larger group (perhaps there is no limit anymore?).
So it stands to reason, that with more foreigners (and less draft picks) being signed, the number of Latin and Asian born playerscould rise.
One thing to keep in mind, however: If baseball really cleans up the steriod mess, don't expect as many of these Latin rags-to-riches stories, like Sammy Sosa, who went from a weak hitting speedester in his early 20's to HR monster by the age of 27! There are dozens more like him, perhaps even Albert Pujols, who no one really wanted to sign coming out of a small Missouri JUCO in the 1990's, then became a "legend' almost overnight?
I remember back in like 2000, ultra-liberal Bob Costas on NBC was wetting his pants, because he was so happy that a All-Star game he was announcing had so many Latin stars. If steriods are truly out of the picture, that will not happen as easily, as the 'roids sort of made up for the lack of strength these players had growing up in 3rd world nations.....So instead of teams having a roster with a full ofLatin stars (in the 1990's), it will be more like the 1980's -- there will be fewer Latin stars, but a lot of weak hitting infielders and marginal defensive outfielders from Latin America and Asia.
Actually, expect to seemore of what the Mets have down the line -- aton of marginal Latin players taking jobs from competent American born players. The Mets, for example, have talented former Clemson star/1st round pick Russ Adams wilting awayin Buffalo (AAA), while their 3 Latin born second baseman (Cora, Castillo and Tejada) are collectively hitting like .230, with 0 HR's. And the idiot fans in NYC/and trolls doing mid-day NYC radiothat openly root for this teamcan't get enough of these scrubs
..... Also, don't forget, the Mets have washed (ex-roid abuser?) Fernando Tatis in the majors, while Mike Jacobs -- who hit over 30 HR's recently -- iswasting awayin the minors....How about Henry Blanco (aka Hank White), at 38, over a young, rising Josh Thole behind the plate