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HAVANA, Cuba -- Could a new wave of Cuban baseball players be headed for the major leagues without having to defect from the communist island? Cuba announced Friday that athletes from all sports will soon be able to sign contracts with foreign leagues, a break with a decades-old policy that held pro sports to be anathema to socialist ideals. Its a step toward the day when the road from Havana to Yankee Stadium might mean simply hopping on a plane rather than attempting a perilous sea crossing or sneaking out of a hotel at midnight in a strange land. But American baseball fans shouldnt throw their Dodgers or Rockies caps in the air in celebration just yet. The Cold War-era embargo against Cuba means it may not happen anytime soon. If it does come to pass, it could increase -- astronomically, in some cases -- the amount of money Cuban baseball players can earn. Athletes wages are not made public in Cuba but are believed to be somewhere around the $20 a month that most other state employees earn -- a tiny fraction of the millions many U.S. big leaguers make. "Its the dream of many athletes to test themselves in other leagues -- the big leagues, if at some point my country would allow it," said Yasmani Tomas, who is one of Cubas top talents, batting .345 last season with the powerhouse Havana Industriales. Under the new policy, athletes will be eligible to play abroad as long as they fulfil their commitments at home, the Communist Party newspaper Granma reported. For baseball players, that means being available for international competitions as well as Cubas November-to-April league. "We have seen the press reports. This is an internal Cuban matter," Deputy State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said. "Generally speaking, the United States welcomes any reforms that allow Cubans to depart from and return to their country." Major League Baseball said the impact of Fridays announcement cant be predicted. "Given that we do not have any details of this change in policy, it would be premature for us to speculate what effect it may have," the commissioners office said in a statement. "There are no provisions in the major league rules or bylaws that make it more difficult for Cuban ballplayers to play Major League Baseball, but MLB and its clubs have and will continue to act in accordance with the laws and policies of the United States government." President Raul Castros government hopes the move will stem defections by athletes who are lured abroad by the possibility of lucrative contracts, a practice that saps talent from Cubas teams. "I think this could help stop the desertions a little bit," said Yulieski Gourriel, a talented 29-year-old third baseman who batted .314 last year for Sancti Spiritus. "I dont even want to talk about how much Ive been offered, because every time we leave the country, there are these offers. Ive never paid attention because Ive always said Im not interested." A number of his countrymen, however, are interested. Cuban defectors now in the major leagues include outfielder Yasiel Puig, who signed a $42 million, seven-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers in July 2012 and had a sensational rookie season, helping Los Angeles win its division. Hard-throwing reliever Aroldis Chapman signed a $30.25 million, six-year deal with Cincinnati before the 2010 season. If the policy change comes to pass, "its good for Cuba, for everybody, for the players -- more people in the big leagues, more experience for international tournaments," said Milwaukee Brewers infielder Yuniesky Betancourt, a Cuban defector who left his homeland aboard a speedboat in 2003. Texas Rangers outfielder Leoyns Martin was surprised Friday when told about the news "Really? Oh my gosh," said Martin, wearing his Cuba Baseball jacket from the 2009 World Baseball Classic. Martin defected after playing for Cubas national team in a 2010 tournament in Japan. "I dont want to talk about that," Martin said. "Thats a long history in my life." Professional sports were essentially done away with under Fidel Castro in 1961, two years after the Cuban revolution, and athletes became state employees just like factory workers and farmhands. Sport as private enterprise was deemed incompatible with the Marxist society Castro intended to create. In 2005, he railed against the "parasites that feed off the athletes hard work" in professional sports. Fridays announcement is part of a trend toward relaxing that stance under Castros brother, who became president in 2006. Earlier this year, Cuba ended a five-decade ban on professional boxing, joining an international semipro league where fighters compete for sponsored teams and earn $1,000 to $3,000 a month. Still, the biggest obstacle to, say, Tomas likeness showing up on a bobblehead doll in a major league park someday may lie not in Cuba, but in the U.S. Granma reported that Cuban athletes will have to pay taxes on any earnings from foreign clubs, an apparent conflict with the 51-year-old American embargo that outlaws nearly all U.S. transactions with Cuba unless they are specifically licensed by Washington. The economic restrictions were imposed after Cuba nationalized American businesses and aligned itself with the Soviet Union. They have been kept in place to try to pressure the authoritarian country to allow its people more freedom. "Our policy has not changed. Cuban players need to be unblocked by a license from the Office of Foreign Assets Control in order to play for the MLB," said John Sullivan, spokesman for the U.S. Treasury Departments Office of Foreign Assets Control. "In order to qualify, the players must prove that they have permanent residency outside of Cuba." Cuban players who defect establish residency in another country and become free agents, eligible for any major league organization to sign. While residents of the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada are the only ones currently subject to baseballs amateur draft, MLB management hopes to start an international draft in the next labour contract, which would start in 2017. In the interim, MLB and the union last year started a system of restraints on signing bonuses for international players. "The Basic Agreement is unclear as to whether theyd be subject to the international signing limits," said Jay Reisinger, an agent and lawyer for several major leaguers. Even if Cubans have trouble playing in the U.S., they might still be able to take the field in Mexico, Japan, Venezuela or other countries during their off-season, something that has happened in a few instances. Also Friday, Granma announced raises for island athletes, including bonuses for individual and team achievement. For example, in baseball, league leaders in hitting and other categories will get an extra $41. The team that wins the title will split $2,700. Thats small change by big-league standards, but sizeable in Cuba. "The pay raise is going to be a big help. It was time," Tomas said. "I think if wed done it even earlier, some athletes would not have left." Jerry Rice Raiders Jersey . -- Cam Newton pranced into the end zone, placed his hands over his chest and did his familiar Superman pose. Johnathan Abram Womens Jersey . The 49ers announced the deal Tuesday. San Francisco selected Lloyd in the fourth round of the 2003 draft. http://www.footballraidersmall.com/Youth-Antonio-Brown-Elite-Jersey/ . Sopoaga hit the upright with his first shot at goal from 15 metres. He then kicked nine goals in succession -- two conversions and seven penalties -- before being replaced in the 62nd minute, three points short of the Highlanders record for most points in a match. Howie Long Womens Jersey .6 seconds left to give the Toronto Raptors a 92-89 victory over the Boston Celtics in an exhibition game Wednesday night. Isaiah Johnson Womens Jersey . -- Jimmie Johnson has a sixth NASCAR championship in hand and two legends within reach.One of the more popular questions I get concerns how teams go about posting a great (or, poor) Corsi% -- a tabulation of shot-attempts at 5-on-5. We know Corsi% is meaningful because it virtually mirrors puck possession, and because shot-metrics like Corsi% predict future goal-scoring better than past goal-scoring does. But no two teams are exactly the same. Roster make-up plays an integral role in how a team is able to territorially control play. An example I always like to give compares that of the Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks -- two elite puck possession teams. Los Angeles can be a heavy dump-and-chase team at times. San Joses generally perceived as more of a finesse club, opting to rush through the neutral zone with control of the puck. The two teams look like theyre playing a different sport at times, but its a different means to the same-end – owning the shot-differential battle, and consequently, owning the long-term goal-differential battle. Ive always thought that the most terrifying of hockey teams are those that can create and sustain offensive zone pressure after gaining the blue-line. Unfortunately, the NHL play-by-play data doesnt give us this, so we have to get a bit creative with our criteria if we want to look at how each team does in this specific area. Ideally, we want to see a team generate two or more shot-attempts upon entering the zone. In order to pull this data out, we must have time constraints. Here, any instance in which two or more shot-attempts were recorded within 10-seconds of one another counts as a multi-shot shift. No neutral or defensive zone event must occur between these shot-attempts – if it does, we know the puck has left the offensive zone. Any data immediately following an offensive zone face-off must also be eliminated, as will any instance in which there is a stoppage of play following the first shot-attempt. Not only can we observe efficiency at generating multi-shot shifts upon entry, we can reverse it and see how well a team does at avoiding those multi-shot shifts against. First, lets look at the Eastern Conference. Ive sorted by best percentage of multi-shot shifts to worst, so the teams on the left side are getting the better end of things here. The fact that Floridas sporting the best differential of any team in the East is notable, but not surprising.dddddddddddd The Panthers are well-above break-even in raw puck-possession at 51.2%, and its certainly possible that their favorable percentage of multi-shot shifts is at least partially behind that run. Ottawas 28th in the league in control of play at 5-on-5 at 45.3%, but based on the above chart, we know the multi-shot shifts arent doing them in. It seems likely that Ottawas problem isnt tied up in a few ugly shifts per night, but rather losing the neutral zone with frequency. Detroit and Toronto also stand out, but for different reasons. The Red Wings, for whatever reason, are playing a super low-event style of hockey here. They dont generate much of anything in terms of sustained pressure, but they dont let other teams cycle on them, either. Toronto, a historically dreadful puck-possession team, actually generates the fourth-most multi-shot shifts in the East. Unfortunately, they are also tied for the second-most against. Now, lets look at the Western Conference through the same lens. The most surprising team here, without question, is Chicago. Despite controlling a league-best 55.0% of play at 5-on-5, they are well in the red here. To me, its the reverse of the Ottawa situation – the Blackhawks may not have a favorable amount of multi-shot shifts, but because the frequency in which they win the neutral zone is so high, the raw shot-differential numbers remain sterling. Winnipeg owns the best percentage of multi-shot shifts of any team in the league, and this falls right in line with the teams measurable 5-on-5 improvement. On the other hand, Colorados -35 differential is downright pitiful, comfortably dead last through the first third of the season. Lastly, San Jose – the team we talked about off the top. Its always nice when the data bears out what the eye sees, and Id say thats certainly true here. The Sharks have entered the offensive zone and generated multiple-shot shifts a league-high 107 times, nearly double that of 30th-place Detroit. This makes intuitive sense for myriad reasons: namely, the team is great at controlling play (52.1%) despite being a below-average neutral zone team. The key for San Jose is to get beyond the blueline. If they manage that, then the Sharks routinely run the opposition into the ground. ' ' '