Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
February 27, 2007
Not Everywhere You Want To Be

Visa problems may keep Sidney Ponson from making the Twins opening day roster:

For a guy who admittedly is down to his last chance in baseball, Sidney Ponson hasn't shown his new team a sense of urgency.

And that is hurting the oft-troubled veteran pitcher's chances of winning a job with the Twins.

Ponson will not be permitted to pitch in an official spring training exhibition game for almost two weeks because the native of Aruba has not obtained the proper work visa. He is scheduled to obtain that visa March 9, Twins general manager Terry Ryan said Monday.

Ryan said Ponson and his agent, Barry Praver, should have taken care of the visa issue before camp started last week. But Praver said his client was approved for a visa in January but later was told it wasn't the proper one needed to pitch in the majors.

A player without the proper visa is prohibited from playing in a game in which admission is charged.

You would think that after a long major league career, Ponson would apply for the correct visa.


Posted by David Pinto at 05:38 PM | Pitchers | TrackBack (0)
Comments

Ponson signed a non guaranteed minor league contract. Perhaps he needs a different visa than when he was on a MLB roster. This could be the case with the 2006 law - "A bill to authorize certain athletes to be admitted temporarily into the United States to compete or perform in an athletic league, competition, or performance. "
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:SN03821:@@@L&summ2=m&

Posted by: Brian at February 27, 2007 07:55 PM

Good. Matt Garza should get that rotation spot anyway.

Posted by: josh at February 28, 2007 12:07 PM

I don't think these things are cut and dry. Do you always get the correct information when dealing with someone in a government office?


Anyway, another visa issue impacting a player in spring training, this time with Chan Ho Park and the Mets.

From
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/03/sports/baseball/03mets.html?_r=1&ref=sports&oref=slogin

"Because his work visa has not arrived, Park, who is South Korean, cannot pitch anyplace in the United States where an admission is charged. The Mets applied for the visa on Park's behalf after they signed him Feb. 9 and expected to have it by now."

Posted by: Brian at March 3, 2007 02:39 PM

Oh yeah, and Ponson hustled and got his visa earlier than expected.

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/sports/baseball/16823495.htm

Ponson obtained the proper work visa Thursday at the U.S. consul in the Bahamas, more than a week before he originally was scheduled to.

Ponson, from Aruba, originally was scheduled to obtain his visa on March 9 in the Dominican Republic, meaning he would have missed almost the first two weeks of Grapefruit League play. But Praver worked feverishly to find an earlier appointment, Ryan said. It is uncertain when Ponson will make his spring debut.

Posted by: Brian at March 3, 2007 02:45 PM
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