Carlos Martí will be the manager for the Cuban representative in the upcoming Baseball Champions League to be held in Yucatán from September 28 to October 1, 2023. Sources close to the management of the Alazanes de Granma informed the Cuban Baseball Digest of the presence of the prominent manager at the event.
If he is not the manager because of any unforeseen events, he will attend as a guest with the team with which he won his fourth Serie Nacional crown laat year. Martí announced his retirement from baseball before the start of the current National Series in which the Alazanes failed to advance to the Play Offs.
☑️ Carlos Martí estará con Granma en la Champions League (28/09-01/10) que se celebrará en Yucatán, México.
👉🏻 De no ser considerado por su provincia como parte del colectivo de dirección, asistirá como invitado con el equipo con el cual logró su cuarta corona en la SNB. pic.twitter.com/7mxQNQAwfu
— Miguel Rodríguez Hernández (@MiguelRH98) July 23, 2023
Martí has been one of the best, if not the best, Cuban baseball managers in the last decade, winning four titles with the Granma team, being the first and only manager to lift the national championship crown with the eastern team. It should be noted that he was also the first manager to win the Cuban Baseball Elite League, crowning himself with the Agricultores team.
The last experience as a manager for Martí was in the Caribbean Series held in Venezuela last February, where the Agricultores team attended on behalf of Cuba. The Cubans only won the first game of the tournament, against the representative of Curaçao, finishing last in the event with a listless 1-6 record. The Baseball Champions League is a newly formed tournament that will bring together the champions of the Mexican Baseball League, the Cuban National Series, the Colombian baseball league and the champion of the American Association league of the United States.
For the baseball fans of Granma and throughout Cuba, it is uncertain which team the Alazanes will be present with in this tournament, taking into account that in the regular season of National Series they were ranked 12th out of 16 teams with a record of 35-39. To make the team competitive the team might be reinforced with some talented veterans such as Yurisbel Gracial, Frederich Cepeda and Erisbel Arruebarruena to name if a few, also granted they are not playing anywhere else at the time.