Cuban baseball is at a historic crossroads: the selection of the new manager of the national team. In a press conference, Juan Reinaldo Pérez Pardo, president of the FCBS, announced that Mandy Johnson will not continue leading the Cuban team in the wake of the 2026 World Baseball Classic. Johnson, who led the team to fourth place at the 2023 World Classic, captured a title at the Caribbean Cup, the silver medal at the Central American Games and finished disappointing sixth at the Pan American Games.
His last tournament in charge was the Premier 12, where Cuba finished in eleventh place, a performance that crudely exposed the crisis that baseball on the island is going through. The importance of this decision lies in the fact that Cuba cannot afford another international failure. If the team finishes last in its Classic pool, it will have to play a qualifying tournament in which its chances of success would be minimal. The reality is that the team that participated in the Premier 12 is the best that the Federation can currently put together without using MLB or MiLB players, and with that talent level it is practically impossible to compete against teams with players from the MLB system.
The problem with Cuban baseball is not a simple change of names in the technical direction. It is a problem of system, of structure, of policies imposed by a regime that has led to the decline of what was once a world power. As long as the Cuban dictatorship does not modify its positions and continues to suffocate the development of its national sport, baseball will continue in free fall. The new manager of the Cuban team must be a professional with experience in high-level baseball, someone who understands the evolution of the game and can manage a team with players from the Major Leagues.
His authority must be unquestionable and must generate respect among baseball players, especially among those who are active in professionalism. Furthermore, in Cuba the manager not only directs the team on the field, but also assumes the role of general manager, a critical responsibility to form a competitive team. With no general manager in the Federation structure, the task of persuading professional players to represent Cuba falls entirely on the manager.
I was able to learn via my sources that Michel Enríquez, a former third baseman for the national team and current coach in the Mexican league, is one of the names being considered as candidates. Personally, I don’t have a favorite, because those who should be in an ideal world are not even considered by the Federation, but I am clear about who should not be the manager, that man is named Germán Mesa. After interviews with several players and the analysis of multiple statements in various media outlets, the conclusion is clear: no Major League player would accept to play under his command. His personality and his connection with the political apparatus of the regime make him an unwanted addition by the players. In an interview with Cuba Grand Slam, left-hander Maicel Díaz described him as a “little dictator.”
In interview with that same media outlet, Eliu Torres, a former Industriales player who was under his direction, described him as arrogant. Yasser Gómez, in conversation with our sister page Pelota Cubana, stated that “many baseball players did not connect with him.” Those who think that these feelings by the players are things of the past are wrong. Eddy Díaz, a Cuban infielder who worked with Mesa in Nicaragua in 2023, was frank about his feelings toward Mesa: “That communist treated me very badly, he treated me very badly.”
With all this on the table and considering that Cuba went from being a baseball superpower to an ordinary team, the most important decision of this century for Cuban baseball is to look for a new manager. The future of the national team depends on it, but as long as the Federation continues to operate under the same guidelines and subordinated to the mabdates of a government that has demonstrated its incompetence to manage any sector of society, the decline will be irreversible.
The Cuban regime has demonstrated time and again its inability to manage sport. Its clad iron control of the sport and refusal to reform the structures have turned Cuban baseball into an increasingly depressing spectacle. Talent continues to escape, players continue to go into exile and the continues structure to crumble. There is no intention of reconstruction, because those in power only seek to perpetuate themselves, regardless of the cost. As long as Cuba continues to be governed under a repressive and obsolete model, its baseball, like the country, will remain in ruins.