… is that since many of the Latin American countries are impoverished (i.e. Dominican Republic, many parts of Venezuela), the people there will do almost ANYTHING they could to get a big payday – there was an article (I forgot the link) that discussed many poor families using their teenage sons as “meal tickets” for these paydays, and they would do anything to improve their performance enough to get signed, get a signing bonus (~$90,000+) and hopefully, performance bonuses and a shot at the majors for big time $$$. The players would channel these funds to their families to greatly increase their quality of life and support them. The AVERAGE salary in many of these countries range anywhere from $9,000 – $12,000, which here in the U.S. would qualify as being below the poverty line. In the Dominican Republic, steroids/PEDs are still widely readily available in pharmacies for cheap and “budding” talent there have a strong, inseparable link to these because of the allure of all the money involved. Basically, and I hate to say this, many of these young players from these other countries are basically no more than prostitutes. But, I really do sympathize for them because the pressure is just overwhelming.

Here’s a link to an article (not the one I was referring to) that is equally informative about this, from ESPN – http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2763194