Gourriel Defection Debunked

Updating a previous item, it appears El Nacional jumped the gun when it reported on Gourriel´s defection.

The story I´ve gotten from a couple of sources is as follows:

Baseball insiders had been speculating about a potential Gourriel defection throughout the Central-American games. One of the biggest reasons Gourriel was considered a low defection risk was the family connection. During the games in Cartagena, however, Lourdes Gourriel was with the University of Havana team competing at a tournament in Ecuador. With the possibility of the simultaneous defections of father and son, the rumor mill ran rampant.

At this point details are still unclear, but the consensus is that Gourriel did not defect, and has no plans to do so.