Report: Yoan Moncada could be cleared to sign with MLB team soon

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Cuban star Yoan Moncada should officially become a free agent and be able to sign with a major league team within two weeks, Yahoo! Sports reported Tuesday.

Moncada, a 19-year-old infielder, is expected to draw a record bonus from whichever MLB team ulitmately signs him — hence the reports that the deep-pocketed Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers and Cubs are his primary suitors.

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Moncada has been awaiting clearance by the U.S. government and MLB for months now, and Baseball America reported earlier Tuesday that the onus was on baseball to move the process along.

Because of the ongoing U.S. embargo against Cuba, that country's citizens must be cleared by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) before being able to work for a U.S. company. In most cases, Cubans who can demonstrate that they have established permanent residency in a third country — Guatemala, in Moncada's case — qualify for a "general license" that allows the person to work in the U.S.

But, as Baseball America reported, MLB has in recent years required Cuban defectors to secure a "specific license" from OFAC, a written document that is more difficult to obtain and has led to delays in the process of getting Cuban players approved to sign with teams.

Yahoo! reported MLB is seeking a meeting with OFAC to clarify the current regulations.

“If OFAC confirms that the process for unblocking Cuban players is no longer to apply for a specific license,” a baseball official told Yahoo!, “MLB will conform to the law.”

In addition to Moncada, Baseball America reported fellow infielders Hector Olivera and Andy Ibanez are among those also awaiting clearance from OFAC. Their cases presumably would move forward, too, if MLB gets the answer it wants from the government.

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Marc Lancaster is a senior editor at The Sporting News