John Rocker is not shy of making his social opinions known – but in one area, this notoriously conservative and iconoclastic ex-baseball player pundit is surprisingly liberal: his view on the impact of Barack Obama’s softening of Cuban embargo restrictions. He thinks that it’s going to be good for the game of baseball.
“Those guys can play,” Rocker said in a video interview obtained by TMZ Sports. “It’s very unfortunate that they’ve been sort of stuck behind the curtain down there and haven’t been able to come over here and play in a league where they certainly deserve to play in.”
Rocker named Yasiel Puig and former Mets fielding wizard Rey Ordonez as two former Cubans that have made the jump to America, and said it was his hope that more Cubans would make their way from the Central American island over to the United States to try their hands at America’s pastime.
“They can enter free agency like Dominican players, Mexican players, Puerto Rican players, Venezuelan players…Cuba would be a great breeding ground for Major League Baseball for sure,” Rocker said.
Rocker’s most recent exploits have been as an opinion columnist on The Daily Caller, a politically conservative website. He also finished in 16th place on the most recent season of the popular television show, Survivor.