SPORTS AGENT IS A THORN IN THE SIDE OF CASTRO.

Byline: Ira Berkow The New York Times

Joe Cubas called a news conference here earlier this week to introduce his latest Cuban defector - a star 16-year-old pitcher named Osmani Fernandez - whom Cubas was able, as he put it, ``to pull out'' from under the noses of Cuban security officials.

The escape took place in the early hours of this past Sunday morning as Fernandez, who had kept in touch with Cubas through a small cellular phone supplied by his rescuer, was whisked away in a car after slipping from a hotel room in Fairview Heights, Ill., while the Cuban junior baseball team was on tour, and officials and teammates were asleep.

Cubas, a bearded, husky, 35-year-old Cuban-American in a dark suit, began the news conference by asking for a moment of silence. This was in memory of the four ``Rafters,'' or Cuban refugees, seeking asylum in the United States, including a 16-month-old baby, who had drowned when their small wooden boat capsized trying to cross the Florida Straits on Monday.

The spiritual connection between the new young defector and those Rafters, as they are called here, is significant, Cubas believes. ``Both were risking a lot to seek freedom and a dream,'' he said.

Cubas is a sports agent and, by the nature of his business, a political thorn in the side of the Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Cubas was born in Miami of Cuban emigre parents and inherited, as he says, ``an emotional feeling'' about the island 90 miles off the coast of Key West. It is also an undisguised business venture for Cubas, which seems appropriate for a community sympathetic with the joys of capitalism as opposed to Castro's idea of socialism.

In the last year, Cubas has been the conduit and guiding light for the defection of seven Cuban baseball players. One of them, Osvaldo Fernandez, is pitching for the San Francisco Giants. Another, Livan Hernandez, signed a $4.5 million contract with the Florida Marlins and is pitching in their farm system. A third, Rolando Arrojo, the former ace pitcher of the Cuban national team, was the object of a clandestine getaway from his hotel last month that was as neatly plotted by Cubas as a bank heist. Arrojo defected a week before the team was about to begin play in the Olympics in Atlanta, in which it went on to win the gold medal.

``What he does is like being a vulture,'' Evaristo Ruiz, chief of Cuba's Olympic baseball delegation, said of Cubas. ``He has no talents of his own, so he feeds off those who do.''

A not unexpected response. But walk with Cubas down a street in Miami, like busy Eighth Street on the southwest side, and one finds a completely different reaction. Some who recognize him shout encouragement, as to a conquering hero.

``Keep up the good work,'' one said.

``We're proud of you,'' called another.

Another shook his hand. ``Way to stick it to Castro,'' the well-wisher said.

So, has Cubas heard from Castro himself?

``Indirectly,'' Cubas said. ``I get phone calls. Some may be pranks, some may not be. I don't know. But I got one recently and the caller said, `Are you Joe Cubas?' I said, `Yes.' He said, `We're going to chop your legs off.' I said, `Chop my heart out, it's bigger.' And I hung up. But when I drive my car, I'm always looking in the rearview mirror to see if I'm being followed. And I have a sophisticated alarm system around my house, and I always keep it well-lighted.'' When he enrolled one of his two young daughters in a summer camp, he did so under an assumed name.

``It all scares me,'' said his wife, who asked that her name not be used. ``We know there are a lot of Castro's agents around. And some people will do anything for money. But what can I do? The work makes Joe very happy. He loves baseball, and he loves doing what he feels is helping people, in this case, helping Cubans to gain freedom.''

Miami being a hotbed of Cuban exiles antagonistic to Castro, it is not unusual to come across such signs as the billboard downtown on Biscayne Boulevard, which reads: ``This Is How America Looks From Cuba's Prisons.'' And beside that is a picture of the Statue of Liberty. And the added line: ``Stop Supporting Castro.''

And the community of anti-Castro adherents will sometimes give Cubas more than encouragement. The news conference for Osmani Fernandez was held at the prominent Victor's Cafe on 32nd Ave., and the room was provided free of charge by the management - though Cubas was obligated to tip the help.

Passing out cash is no longer quite the problem it had been for Cubas, who for over three years had not signed a single defector, though he had tried zealously. He was nearly broke, and his wife, disgusted with his nearly quixotic enterprise, had separated from him. But in the last year, he got seven - and for four of them he negotiated a total of nearly $11.4 million in major league contracts.