Pena, who is from Havana, was met by at least 20 family members. They laughed at stories of the catcher's life in America and handed him the phone to talk to relatives who hadn't been able to make it to the hotel.
The players will hold two days of youth clinics while league and Major League Baseball Players Association executives talk business with their Cuban counterparts, including former President Fidel Castro's son Tony, who is one of the most powerful men in Cuban baseball.
League officials said they were optimistic about sealing a deal by early next year for the Tampa Bay Rays to play two spring training games in Cuba. They also hope to make progress in one day creating a legal route for Cuban players to make their way to the major leagues.
"It's the goal of our commissioner and our owners to ultimately negotiate with the Cuban Baseball Federation, and with the cooperation of the U.S. government and the Cuban government, a safe and legal path for Cuban baseball players who desire to play Major League Baseball to reach the major leagues," Dan Halem, MLB's top lawyer, told a press conference covered by what appeared to be every state newspaper, radio and television station in Cuba.
Peter Bjarkman, author of the upcoming book "Cuba's Baseball Defectors: The Inside Story," said that he had counted 102 national-level players who had left Cuba this year, nearly a third of all those who have departed since 1980. The departures are part of a broader wave of Cuban emigration sparked by the fear that the U.S. will cancel special Cold War-era privileges for Cubans as part of the new relationship with the island.
"I got the distinct impression that right now the Cubans have absolutely no idea of what they're going to do. They're in total chaos in this right now," said Bjarkman, who spent much of the fall in Cuba speaking with people involved in the country's baseball league.
Cuban television avoids games featuring defectors but fans watch their idols' performances on pirated recordings distributed on computer USB drives. Most experts agree that the future does not look bright without a solution to the problem of talent fleeing the country. But a group of fans who gathered in the lobby of the Nacional said the defectors' return to Cuba filled them with optimism.
"I see it as a big step forward in baseball in general," said Gustavo Fernandez, a 21-year-old sculptor. "I think we'll see better facilities here, players' contracts with other leagues, particularly relations with Major League Baseball."
U.S. teams played spring training games in Cuba before Castro's revolution but none appeared here from March 1959 until the Baltimore Orioles faced Cuba's national team in Havana in March 1999. MLB has not returned since.
Under Castro, a passionate baseball fan who saw sports as an expression of national glory, defectors were banished from official memory, never mentioned on Cuban television even as they made headlines on U.S. sports pages.
Castro's brother and successor, President Raul Castro, has eased the treatment of players who leave as part of a broader easing of social controls. That included the 2013 removal of a required exit permit for all Cubans, except those considered essential to the country.
Some major league players have since been allowed back on low-key trips to see family. A few others, like star infielder Yoan Moncada, have received permission from Cuban authorities to depart legally to start careers in the United States. Moncada won a $31.5 million signing bonus with the Boston Red Sox in March.
Cuba also has been allowing some stars to legally play in countries such as Japan and Mexico during the offseason. Similar policies for the major leagues would be far more difficult due to the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba and Cuban fears that broad legalization of departures to the U.S. would make the talent drain even worse.
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Michael Weissenstein on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mweissenstein
