There was a lot of interest in the services of Liván Moinelo, Raidel Martínez and Frank Abel Álvarez this winter. Álvarez has to report to the offseason program with Chunichi by January 6th, so that took him off the table, while in the case of Martínez the Dragons simply did not grant him the permission to participate in any league. With Moinelo he was deemed unavailable by the Cuban Baseball Federation due to the fact that he is recovering from an injury, yet he will pitch in the Cuban Liga Élite this winter. This was confirmed by a source close to the FCB for the Cuban Baseball Digest.
The offers rained in from the Caribbean Winter League clubs, all except the ones in Puerto Rico, where the trio cannot participate due to the longstanding US embargo on the communist island. The most interested in the services of the hurlers was the Tiburones de La Guaira that offered between 30-40 grand a month for Moinelo or Martínez and offered between 20-30 thousand for acquiring Álvarez. The FCB gave their blessing except in the case of Moinelo, the NPB did not concur in anyone of these cases.
There was a lot of interest in the services of Liván Moinelo and Frank Abel Álvarez this winter. Álvarez has to report to @DragonsOfficial January 6th, while Moinelo was deemed unavailable by @CubanaBeisbol due to his recovery from injury.#CubanBaseballDigest #NPB pic.twitter.com/PcS1ZmxXUW
— Cuban Baseball Digest (@CBaseballDigest) January 1, 2024
Many experts categorize Frank Abel Álvarez as Cuba’s top pitching prospect in current day. Armed with a mid-90’s fastball, a sharp splitter and an array of breaking pitches the 25-year-old has an electric repertoire. Last year Álvarez caught the eye of the Nippon League’s Chunichi Dragons and the ball club signed him to a development contract. In his brief time with Chunichi’s top farm club he sports a record of 0-1, ERA of 4.86 and 10 strikeouts. This spring the right-hander was part of Cuba’s World Baseball Classic team that reached the semifinals of the tournament. In 2⅔ innings pitched in the WBC Álvarez allowed an earned run and struck out three hitters.
Moinelo is SoftBank’s setup man and the precursor to closer Roberto Osuna. Moinelo is only the 4th foreign reliever with more than 150 holds in Nippon League history. The diminutive antillean is arguably the best lefty reliever the Pacific League. Last season the season the southpaw had 3 wins, 13 holds and five saves all as the team’s eighth inning man. In 27 ⅔ innings pitched he has also fanned 37 batters. The left-hander will take the mound again very soon with Artemisa as part of his rehabilitation. Moinelo has been part of the Cuban National Team for close to a decade now and has also seen action in the Pan-American Games, Caribbean World Series and various World Baseball Classics.
Several teams in the Caribbean were interested in the services of Raidel Martínez for the Round Robin, but at the end of the day @DragonsOfficial denied the pitcher permission to pitch in a winter league. #CubanBaseballDigest #CPBC pic.twitter.com/6aUrSW2zVU
— Cuban Baseball Digest (@CBaseballDigest) December 27, 2023
This year Raidel Martínez finished with an ERA of 0.39 after only allowing two earned runs in 46 ⅔ of work. Out of the 31 hits he has allowed this season only two have left the yard. No pitcher has saved games in Japan over the last three years. The “flamethrower” from Pinar del Río, Cuba struck out 62 opposing batters last year which amounts to an average the of 11.96 strikeouts per nine-innings. To his credit, he only allowed four walks last season, demonstrating how much he has matured as a pitcher. During his time in the land of the rising sun Martínez has a record of 12-15, 1.85 ERA and has saved in 123 games in his six seasons in the Nippon League. In 252 ⅔ innings pitched in the Asian circuit the hurler has struck out 294 batters, has a 0.92 WHIP and a S0/9 10.5.