SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) – Cuban pitcher Maels Rodriguez and second baseman Yobal Duenas worked out Thursday for major league scouts.

The players fled Cuba in October, arriving by boat in Mexico, They traveled to El Salvador at the end of last year.

“We’re going to start negotiations immediately,” agent Henry Vilar said. “The signings could be in a week or a month, but they’re going to come.”

Rodriguez, 24, was one of the best right-handed pitchers in Cuba and Duenas, 31 was a top base stealer.

Representatives of 15 teams, including the New York Yankees and Mets, and the Boston Red Sox, attended Thursday’s workout.

“Maels’ arm is healthy. Yobel doesn’t have injuries. They showed that today,” Vilar said.

Rodriguez did not top 90 mph during the workout.

“The important thing is to show that I am very well physically, that the arm is healthy,” he said.

Rodriguez said he and Duenas had been removed from the Cuban team because there was talk that they wanted to defect.

“Then they started saying there was a lack of discipline and injuries,” he said. “We have always dreamed of reaching the top, the big leagues.”