When Yeonis Cespedes fled Castro’s Cuba for an opportunity to play MLB is America, he was fortunate to have signed a four-year, $36 million contract as a free agent with the Oakland Athletics. When he left, Cespedes was able to bring with him his mother, aunt and three cousins. However, his 2-year-old son, Yeonis Jr. stayed behind with his mother, who is not married to Cespedes. And according to an article in USA Today, since arriving in America, “Cespedes is batting .212 with three homers and seven RBI. He has reached base safely in nine of 10 games but also has struck out in all but one game, for an alarming 15 times in 33 at-bats.” In my opinion, this is another example of how off-field issues affect on-field performance. If I were advising the Oakland front office, I would recommend they do everything in their power to bring Cespedes’ son and the mother of his child to America ASAP.