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Chicago. Major League Baseball players from Asia receive superior treatment to those from Latin America, according to Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, a native of Venezuela, who spoke out on Sunday.

Guillen called it unfair that Japanese players who join major league clubs are assigned translators but Latin Americans receive no such help.

“[It’s] very bad,” Guillen said. “Why do we have Japanese interpreters and we don’t have a Spanish one? I always say that. Why do they have that privilege and we don’t? They take advantage of us.

“We bring Japanese players and they are very good and the [league] gives all these privileges to them. We bring a Dominican kid, and [they say], ‘Go to the minor leagues. Good luck.’ And it’s always going to be like that. It’s never going to change,” he said.

Guillen said he went to see his son Oney play for a minor league club, three levels below the majors, and that his son’s team had a translator for a South Korean player who “made more money than the [other] players.”

“We had 17 Latinos and you know who the interpreter was? Oney,” Guillen said. “Why is that? Because we have Latino coaches? Because here he is? Why? I don’t have the answer.”

The manager added: “We’re in the United States. We don’t have to bring any coaches who speak Spanish to help anybody. You choose to come to this country and you better speak English.”

Guillen also said Latin American potential recruits were being influenced to take performance-enhancing drugs and they often did it to try and escape poverty.

“It’s somebody behind the scene making money out of those kids and telling them to take something they’re not supposed to,” Guillen claimed.

“If you tell me to take this, you’re going to be this guy, I’ll do it. Because I have seven brothers that sleep in the same room. I have to take care of my mother and my dad. I’m going to make money to make them better,” the manager said.

Meanwhile, South Korea’s first MLB player, Park Chan-ho, said he would become a free agent rather than play in the minors after the New York Yankees designated him for assignment.

The 37-year-old pitcher was dropped minutes before the July 31 non-waiver deadline to make way for Kerry Wood, who was acquired from the Cleveland Indians, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported on Monday.

“I was informed just three minutes before the deadline,” Park said on his Web site. “If there is no interest, I will be a free agent and contact teams like [I did] three years ago.”

Park had been released from the New York Mets in 2007 but made a comeback with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2008 and went to the World Series with the Philadelphia Phillies last year.

“Thanks to those experiences, I was not so shocked [to be dropped] and could prepare for the challenge,” Park said. “I’ve gone through many things.”

Park joined the Yankees this year, posting a 2-1 record with a 5.60 earned run average in 29 games for the 2009 World Series champions, but this has failed to impress manager Joe Girardi.

The South Korean right-hander has recorded a total of 122 wins throughout his MLB career and needs one more to tie Japan’s Hideo Nomo for 123 wins — the most for an Asian pitcher.

Another option for Park would be to return to South Korea, but he has never played in the Korean Baseball Organization, as he moved to the United States straight out of college in 1994.

 
Reuters, AFP