Baseball: Mayabeque and Las Tunas break home promises to two players

Havana/The launcher Yadián Martínez He gave an ultimatum to the Mayabeque board: either they give him the place they offered him to live in while they finish the house they promised him seven years ago for his individual performance, or he leaves. The main pitcher He said he was willing to wait until before the first day of October.

Martínez asked to leave the team in mid-September. “I’m leaving with a broken heart. I can’t take it anymore,” he told pro-government journalist Pavel Otero. The athlete got tired of unfulfilled promises. From a house that is still under construction and in which nothing has been done for three years.

“The case has remained only in words and meetings,” said the communicator. The athlete sees no intention of the officials to advance on those concrete blocks without a roof and in the middle of a weed that should be his home. “Everything has a limit,” Otero stressed.

According to the space on Facebook Cuba Grand Slamthe Matanzas club was interested in the player who between 2023 and 2025 recorded 190.1 innings and 213 strikeouts with the Canadian team Kitchener Panthers and who is coming from a stint with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

“According to Baseball Cuba Data, Martínez leads all Cuban pitchers in quality outings (36) during the last five National Series, considering only the regular stage,” recalled the specialized media Dporto Sports News. “That is, the housing situation corresponds to a 31-year-old pitcher who has been competing at the main level of Cuban baseball for more than a decade, who has been international and who still appears among the most consistent pitchers in the country.”

A National Series player must survive on a basic monthly salary of 3,725 pesos, in addition to some additional incentives.

“Lately we have seen several cases of disappointed players, demanding certain conditions or even moving away from their teams and the National Series itself. There are Luis González in Camagüey, Yadian Martínez with Mayabeque and Yunieski García in Artemisa,” he published Cuba Grand Slam. “Players who end up disillusioned and almost desperate after having given an important part of their career – and some practically all of it – to a league in which they had to live off of favors, when their talent could have allowed them to try their luck elsewhere,” he added.

A case similar to that of Martínez is that of Yordanis Alarcón with Las Tunas. Last Wednesday the Provincial Baseball Commission announced the team for the upcoming 65th National Series and the veteran did not appear.

“His departure responds to a personal decision, linked to disagreements with the provincial authorities over the exchange of his home. By not reaching a consensus, Yordanis decided to step aside and will not play with the green-red team,” published the portal Time 21.

According to Otero, Alarcón was offered a home, but the owner changed and the managers offered him “a place with four walls in very poor condition,” which he rejected.