Jorge L. Ortiz

USA TODAY

HAVANA - Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred expressed confidence Monday that a system to govern the transfer of Cuban players can be arranged before the end of the year.

That optimistic outlook stood in contrast to remarks by Cuban baseball officials, who said at a joint news conference just minutes earlier that lifting the U.S. economic embargo was a requirement to a deal being worked out.

Paving the way for a new system that would allow Cuban players to offer their services to U.S. teams without abandoning their country is one of MLB’s goals during the current visit to this Communist island.

The trip, set in motion after President Obama announced a normalizing of relations between the countries in December 2014, will culminate with Tuesday’s game between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Cuban national team.

While MLB has benefited from a substantial influx of Cuban talent in recent years, those players have typically reached the U.S. after risking their lives by escaping on boats, often with the intervention of smugglers.

Both parties would like to put an end to that practice, but they don’t necessarily agree on how.

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“I think we will have a new system for the movement of Cuban players in the relatively near future,’’ Manfred told a group of U.S.-based news reporters, adding that it figures to come within the context of the new collective bargaining agreement, expected to be in place sometime in the fall.

“We do feel pressure to make a change as a result of some of the abuses of which we’ve become painfully aware the last few years.’’

Star players like Yasiel Puig, Jose Abreu and Yoenis Cespedes defected by boat in recent years and established residency in third countries, allowing them to become free agents and negotiate contracts worth upward of $35 million each.

But their harrowing tales brought to light the risky nature of their defections, which in Puig’s case included being held captive in Mexico by smugglers seeking a cut of his bonus money.

How the system is reformed will be decided in part through negotiations with the players association for the new CBA.

“We fundamentally agree that having everybody get here safely is paramount,’’ said union executive director Tony Clark, who also participated in the news conference. “But as to the process beyond that, there will be a lot of discussion about what that is.’’

Professional baseball in Cuba was abolished by Fidel Castro’s authoritarian regime more than five decades ago. Under the command of his brother and successor, Raul Castro, standouts such as Yulieski Gurriel, Frederich Cepeda and Alfredo Despaigne have been allowed to play in foreign leagues in the last few years, with the government keeping a percentage of their salary.

But until last week, when the Obama administration further eased restrictions, Cuban citizens could not earn a substantial U.S. salary unless they had started the process of emigrating. As it is, they can only receive a salary if they don’t pay special taxes in Cuba.

“Cuba is ready to have its players play in the major leagues,’’ said Higinio Velez, president of the Cuban baseball federation. “We don’t impose the limitations. The limitations are imposed by the embargo. Our federation is ready for our players to participate in the major leagues and anywhere else, under equal conditions. That means a player would not have to give up his residency and establish residency in another country to be able to play in the United States.’’

Manfred pointed out decisions regarding the embargo are out of his hands – they’re up to the Republican-controlled Congress, which has shown no inclination to lift it – but said that may not be an impediment to a deal.

He also indicated a desire to establish a system that doesn’t simply strip the talent from the Cuban league, which has been floundering with all the defections and depressed economic conditions. One possibility would be something similar to the posting system currently employed for the transfer of players from Japan and South Korea, which compensates the teams losing the players.

“I think it’s possible to make an agreement on players independent of the embargo being abolished,’’ Manfred said. “As long as the embargo is there, I think it’s our job to try to make an agreement within the context of the law as it exists.’’

Velez, his voice rising and his words becoming more pointed, said Cuba has demonstrated an ability to develop baseball talent and wouldn’t simply give it away.

In less heated or strident terms, Cuban baseball commissioner Heriberto Suarez expressed a desire for an agreement that would protect the players, still taking aim at what is commonly referred to here as the “blockade.’’

“We have started a process, and we want the embargo to be eliminated so what we’re doing in good faith for baseball and for our players is just, fair and rational,’’ Suarez said. “The idea is for our players to be able to go the United States with an equality of conditions and rights, just as the citizens of any other country.’’

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