WBSC Premier 12: Bitter reflections

The 3rd WBSC Premier 12 ended with Cuba’s worst performance in these events: one win and four losses, which pushed the island down to the 11th position alongside Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Australia, the latter being the only team they could beat, and just by one run to boot.

Baseball is one of the most complex and difficult sports to interpret due to its multiple variants on the field and no end of statistics, which make it very easy to discuss a game or the performance of a given team after the 27th out.

A swing or a management decision can change everything in a matter of seconds; a number of subjective factors can affect a certain moment of a game; and victory is never guaranteed regardless of how many studies you conduct beforehand.

Therefore, I have always defended the thesis that in baseball there are no good or bad strategies: they just work out well or badly, often depending on elements that no one can control and that the most sophisticated computers cannot predict.

In sports, the only way to assess the work of a management team is by its results, especially if the players have the tools required to at least give a good image on the field.

Team Cuba was never a favorite to notch up on of the two tickets to the super round that the World Baseball and Softball Confederation assigned to each group. Not with rivals like South Korea (winners of the first edition), Japan (defending champions) and the hosts, Chinese Taipei, all three of which boast good professional leagues.

However, after a weeks-long training period and a fruitful tour of Asia where they were able to adapt to the time change and play several matches against teams of a certain level, there was hope for a decent performance.
It didn’t happen, though. In the end, most of the Cuban players fell far short of our expectations, an outcome worthy of several readings.

Broadly speaking, in a language that fans can understand, three doubts arise: was the training plan to get in top shape for the competition poorly designed? Was the roster wrongly selected? Or is it just that our players can’t hold a candle to their contenders?
I don’t think it’s the latter, since several team members have already proved their worth in other tournaments and professional leagues.

By way of example: overall, the four top-ranked men in the team (Yoan Moncada, Erisbel Arruebarrena, Alfredo Despaigne and Ariel Martinez) finished with barely two extra-base hits, three RBIs, and a batting average of only .203
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That's where we come back to the role of the managers. We will never know if they put together the wrong team and others would have done better, nor can we say that mistakes were made in the coaching strategy. And yet, the results are there.

They have come in for fierce criticism, and all they can do now is take the blame, as head coach Armando Johnson did in statements to the press.

Some will say that it’s pointless to tear them to shreds, but what can never happen from here on out is that life goes on as if nothing happened and we turn the page and start looking for sterile excuses, as in the recent past. It hurts to say this, especially because the management team featured baseball glories that our people love very much for what they did and for the joy they brought to this small island, but they must take responsibility.

In closing, let it be clear that Cuba's result in this Premier 12 is also a consequence of other "demons" long hovering over our national sports, mostly related to economic problems, but that’s a subject for future comments.