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B a s e b a l l
M e x i c o
Saturday,
April 13, 2020
ANOTHER
LMB DELAY, ESPN PREDICTS 30-GAME SEASON
The Mexican League is delaying the
opening of its 2020 season for a second time. LMB president Horacio de
la Vega
made the announcement last Thursday in an official statement issued
from the
league's Mexico City offices.
After
postponing the LMB's April 6 season opener in which the
defending champion Monclova Acereros were to host Monterrey, de la Vega
had set
a May 11 target date to start the season with hopes of playing a
102-game
schedule as originally intended. Instead, de la Vega said, "Clearly
we will not be in a position to
open on May 11, but we are prepared and coordinated to start the 2020
season
during the subsequent months and with as many games as
possible; contemplating
different game roles, which are feasible according to logistics,
operation,
competition and entertainment." No target date was given in the
statement.
De la Vega touched on a number
of other issues, including compensation for players, coaches and
umpires during
the inactivity. "The team owners have made significant efforts to
provide
short term support to the members of the respective rosters so they can
face
the waiting time in a dignified way to start the 2020 season," he said.
"At the same time, the LMB has arranged to support the umpires so that
together and as a team we all get ahead."
In hs Out 27 column, writer David Braverman said that de la Vega
was
long on words but lacking in details.
The LMB's new leader, entering
his first season at the helm after replacing Javier Salinas last
November, said
he's been maintaining contact with his Mexican Pacific League
counterpart, Omar
Canizales, to minimize overlapping schedules between the two leagues.
De la
Vega has likewise maintained communication with the federal Probeis organization, Major League
Baseball, Minor League Baseball and the World Baseball Softball
Confederation.
Baseball leagues around the globe attempt to deal with an uncertain
timeframe
regarding the Wuhan Virus, which as of Saturday had claimed 273 lives
among
4,219 confirmed cases across Mexico.
A reporter for ESPN Deportes says the
Mexican
League may scale back their regular season to just one month this
year. Jose Maria Garrido claims closes source to the LMB have told
him the
Liga is considering an option in which the season would begin August 1
and play
a 30-game schedule with no off days, followed by a full eight-team,
three-tier
playoff calendar with best-of-7 series throughout that could see a
seventh game
of the Serie del Rey played
on October 11 or 12. Speaking to the Septima Entrada website, de la
Vega said
that while the LMB is indeed looking at various scenarios for a shorter
season,
the 30-day schedule is not one of them.
DE
LA VEGA INVESTIGATED FOR PRIOR ROLE WITH INDEPORTE
The Infobae website reports that Mexican
League president Horacio de la
Vega is under investigation for actions taken when he was director of
the
Mexico City Sports Institute (aka Indeporte). The Infobae
story says both de la Vega and former Mexico City mayor
Miguel Angel Mancera are accused of steering contracts to the Mexico
City
Diablos Rojos baseball team and Ocesa, an entertainment promotion
company, that
allowed for the privatization of 70 percent of Mexico City's
government-owned
Magdalena Mixhuca Sports City with no benefit to the government that
owns it.
Mancera left office in 2018 but is still active in politics as a member
of the
Senate. De la Vega was backed by Diablos owner Alfredo Harp Helo when
the LMB
was searching for Salinas' replacement last fall and some Mexican
baseball
columnists expressed their misgivings even before he was hired.
The investigation is being conducted
by the mayor's office of Iztacalco, which is one of 16 boroughs in the
Federal
District where the Sports City complex is located. According to Infobae, current Sports City general
administrator Maximiliano Leon is helping lead the investigation into
the use
of public funds towards, among other things, a cycling track at the
complex
that was never completed due to legal conflicts between the companies
that were
constructing it. In addition, Leon says, the creation of an artificial
lake to
be used for water skiing, open swimming and diving came at the cost of
five
soccer fields and four basketball courts that made way for the 15
million peso
lake, paid for by the local government.
Representatives from the Sports City
are said to be contemplating filing a lawsuit against de la Vega and
Mancera.
Leon claims that de la Vega used his position as head of Indeporte
to
enable Harp to construct the ballpark that bears his name without
following
legal requirements or providing compensation to the government.
Likewise, Ocesa
was allowed to expand its physical presence within the complex, which
authorities claim is now about 60 percent of the total property (and
even more
when a Formula E electric car race in Mexico City required extra room
for heavy
machinery tourism buses and other related vehicles.
In replacing Salinas, who resigned
last October 8, De la Vega became the Mexican League's 26th president
but its
third since 2017, when Salinas was appointed to take the reins from
Plinio
Escalante, a Yucatan native who'd led the LMB since 2006 after working
in the
Yucatan Leones front office off and on since 1973. Salinas did not have
a
baseball background, coming to the LMB from soccer's Liga MX marketing
department, while de la Vega's experience in baseball had been mostly
limited
to arranging exhibition games in Mexico City when he headed Indeporte,
from which he stepped down after Mancera left his post as Mexico City
mayor to
enter the Senate.
The
investigation into de la Vega and Mancera officially began last month.
CITY
OF MAZATLAN SEIZES ESTADIO TEODORO MARISCAL IN DISPUTE WITH VENADOS
A District Court judge has granted
an injunction from the Mazatlan City Council allowing municipal
authorities to
seize Estadio Teodoro Mariscal, home of the Mexican Pacific League's
Venados.
According to the Mazatlan Post, the
Venados were evicted from the ballpark early last week for a series of
alleged
breaches of contract committed by the team, who leases the refurbished
facility
from the City.
The Post article says City Council
secretary Jose de Jesus Flores Segura led a group from the Mazatlan
Legal
Department in taking control of Estadio Teodoro Mariscal last Monday
morning,
ordering Venados employees at the site to clear out their personal
belongings
within six days before placing padlocks on the ballpark and placing
security
forces on duty to guard the 16,000-seat stadium. Mayor Luis Guillermo
Benitez
confirmed the actions one day later at a press conference.
Estadio Teodoro Mariscal underwent
an extensive renovation in 2018 for 416 million pesos (US$18 million),
but the
58-year-old stadium has been surrounded by controversy since its
official
reopening on Friday, October 13, 2018 when the Venados hosted the
Jalisco
Charros in the LMP season opener for both teams. One month later, the
City-owned Jumapam shut off drinking water to the ballpark,
asserting
the Venados owed a million pesos for water consumption over the past
several
months while also claiming they'd discovered a clandestine drinking
system at
the facility. Although that situation was eventually resolved, tensions
between
the City and team have remained.
The City has reportedly taken away
the stadium's concessions contract from Venados owner Jose Antonio
Toledo and
his family, who bought the team in 2015 from a brewery after managing
concessions at home games since 1980. The City claims Toledo failed to
fulfill
signed agreements in which the Venados were supposed to sponsor local
basketball players and boxers while delivering tickets to senior
citizens. The
team was also recently asked to let the City use the ballpark to
deliver
services to seniors in relation to the Wuhan Virus outbreak, but
refused the
request.
Now that the City has taken
possession of Estadio Teodoro Mariscal, the Toledo family is consulting
with
lawyers to seek the return of their concessions contract and regain
entry to
the ballpark. Venados sports manager Jesus "Chino" Valdez has said
only that the team continues to operate near the club's Academy near
the
Sinaloa coastal city. The imbroglio's timing could not have been worse
for the
Venados or the Mex Pac, since the 2021 Caribbean Series had been
awarded to
Mazatlan.
A rumor has been floated that Toledo is considering moving the Venados north to Tijuana, but at this point nobody appears to be taking that threat seriously. The border city has hosted Mex Pac teams in the past, with the old Potros holding the unique distinction of twice dropping out of the LMP after winning pennants and appearing the the Caribbean Series in both 1987-88 and 1990-91. The 1988 champion Potros were expelled after owner Jaime Bonilla allegedly bribed a number of Mexicali players to tank during their first round playoff series with Tijuana while the 1991 edition folded along with Guaymas, both citing financial difficulties. Bonilla was elected governor of Baja California Norte last year and said to be interested in seeing the LMP return to Tijuana despite being under a lifetime ban from the circuit.
