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B a s e b a l l
M e x i c o
Monday,
April 26, 2021
YASIEL
PUIG SIGNS WITH VERACRUZ AGUILAS
One-time major league All-Star
outfielder Yasiel Puig has signed a one-year contract with the Veracruz
Aguilas
of the Mexican League for the 2021 season. Puig verified the signing
via
Twitter last week and has already reported to the Aguilas' spring
training
camp. Terms were not disclosed, although it's believed the Cuban
product had
been seeking $25,000 per month in talks with LMB teams in Veracruz,
Guadalajara, Tijuana and Monclova. The maximum salary for Liga players
is said
to be $10,000 per month.
On his Twitter account, Puig's
translated statement read, “Thank you Mexico for being here once more
in my
life. Thank you Aguilas of Veracruz for this opportunity and for
opening your
arms to me. This wild horse is grateful and happy to play the field
once
again!” Puig was nicknamed Wild Horse by longtime Dodgers radio
announcer Vin
Scully during his time with the Los Angeles team.
Puig did not play in 2020 but had a
productive MLB season in 2019, when he swatted 24 homers and drove in
84 runs
while batting a combined .267 for Cincinnati and Cleveland (where he
landed in
a midseason three-way trade that netted the Reds future Cy Young Award
winner
Trevor Bauer). He was ready to sign a free agent deal with Atlanta last
year,
but a positive test for the Wuhan virus scuttled his 2020 season.
The 6'2” 240-pounder from Cienfuegos
has hit 132 homers and hit .277 over 861 MLB games in a career dating
to his
2013 debut with the Dodgers. He finished second to the late Jose
Fernandez of
the Marlins in Rookie of the Year balloting that season and appeared in
the
All-Star game in 2014.
Puig burst on the baseball scene as
a 17-year-old member of Cuba's bronze medal team at the 2008 World
Junior
Championships. After a couple winters playing with his hometown
Elefantes in
the Cuban National Series, he attempted to defect in the Netherlands
while
playing in the 2011 World Port Tournament. Instead, he was caught and
forced to
sit out the 2011-12 CNS season.
According to Wikipedia, Puig
attempted to defect to Mexico no fewer than 13 times between 2009 and
2012 in
order to become a legal resident and sign with an MLB organization.
That
journey included an arrest at a Cuban safe house, interception by a
U.S. Coast
Guard cutter near Haiti and one “successful” defection to Mexico that
resulted
in his detention there by the Zetas drug cartel. Puig was finally able
to stay
in Mexico long enough to be signed by the Dodgers as a free agent for
seven
years and $42 million in 2012.
The volatile 30-year-old has been as
controversial as he is talented since his arrival in the big leagues.
While
most involve actions on the playing field, his latest controversy is of
the
off-field variety. He's been accused of sexually assaulting a woman
during a
2018 Lakers basketball game in a Staples Center bathroom in Los
Angeles.
Although the alleged incident (after which the Dodgers traded Puig to
the Reds)
has been investigated by MLB, no police report was ever filed. The
woman in
question has subsequently filed a lawsuit against him in civil court
but Puig
is seeking to have the case thrown out. His attorneys claim she'd sent
him text
messages with heart emojis days after the encounter occurred, in which
Puig says
the two had a consensual sexual encounter.
Puig's legal issues have made him
radioactive among MLB teams and apparently no offer was made by any
team in
Asia, so now he's set to play with Veracruz as the latest in a number
of
relatively high-profile signings of former big leaguers by Mexican
League
teams. Prior to Puig, Monclova inked infielder Addison Russell and
pitcher
Bartolo Colon (for a second time), Tijuana agreed to terms with
reliever
Fernando Rodney and Guadalajara made a deal with first baseman Adrian
Gonzalez.
El Rincon Beisbolero's Jose Carlos Campos notes
that only
a handful of the LMB's wealthier clubs are bringing in big names,
highlighting
the gap between rich teams and underfinanced ones, and speculated that
they're
able to do so by using money not spent on salaries during last year's
canceled
season during the abbreviated, 66-game schedule to be used this summer.
LMB
TO USE “LUCKY LOSER” IN PLAYOFFS
The Mexican League announced its
playoff format for 2021 last week and it'll be one very familiar to
past
winterball fans of the Mexican Pacific League. The LMP's old “Lucky
Loser”
system, which was discarded when the Mex Pac postseason field was
expanded from
six to eight teams in 2019-20, will be used for the first time in the
summer
circuit.
With the LMB expanding to 18 teams
due to the additions of Guadalajara and Veracruz to the Liga lineup,
the number
of playoff qualifiers has been likewise increased from four to six
teams per
division. Rather than giving the top two regular season finishers a
first-round
bye while the next four teams played for advancement to their division
semifinals, all six clubs will take part in the opening stage. All
three series
winners will move on, as usual, and be joined by the team that won the
most games
in losing their opening-round series.
The shortened regular season will
open on May 20 when the defending champion Monclova Acereros host the
Monterrey
Sultanes in a single game, followed by a full slate of action on May
21. The
66-game schedule will conclude on August 6 with the post season
commencing one
night later. The playoff date parameters are as follows:
First
Round:
August 7-15
Division
Semifinals:
August
17-25
Division
Championships:
August
27-September 4
League
Championship (Serie del Rey):
September 6-14
Playoff teams will be seeded
according to their regular season won-lost percentage. In the case of a
tie in
the standings, records involving games between the teams involved will
be the
first tiebreaker, followed by runs differentials from their
head-to-head
matchups. The first round “Lucky Loser” will be determined by a similar
criterion, with regular season records and run differentials used as
tiebreakers.
The LMB office has also announced
pandemic-related health protocols to be used throughout the season by
its 18
clubs. The so-called Diamond Plan will involve the usual edicts of
constant
handwashing, use of alcohol gels and safe distancing but also add a few
wrinkles.
Each franchise will be required to
assign a “Covid-19 Officer” to ensure that the Diamond Plan is carried
out.
Players must have undergone related testing 48 hours prior to reporting
to
their respective teams, followed by isolation lasting 48-72 hours,
after which
they will undero another test.
In addition, the Diamond Plan
established three levels of ballpark access: Level 1 is for essential
tasks on
the field, Level 2 allows limited access to the playing field for
managers and
coaches while Level 3 allows media and staff members access to
ballparks but
not the playing surface.
Players may not use showers, saunas
or whirlpools without social distancing, two buses will be used on road
trips
instead of one and players will not be allowed to interact directly
with fans,
who will be required to wear masks at all times except while eating or
drinking. At those times, fans will be asked not to speak, sing or
shout
(breathing is optional under those circumstances, with inhaling the
preferred
choice).
MEX
PAC TO OPEN 2021-22 SEASON ON OCTOBER 5
The
Mexican Pacific League held a virtual Assembly of Presidents meeting
last week
and confirmed some dates for their upcoming 2021-22 schedule as well as
the
order of selection for July's drafts of non-reserved Mexican and import
players.
The
regular season is slated to open on October 5 with the return of the
popular
reciprocal two-game series in which rival teams host each other on
consecutive
nights before the usual three-game series formats for the rest of the
regular
season, which will conclude on December 23.
The
eight-team playoffs will open for the first time on Christmas Day and
be played
in three stages until no later than January 22, 2022. The LMP's
heavily-reinforced championship team will then head to Santo Domingo in
the
Dominican Republic for the 2022 Caribbean Series.
This
summer's draft of players not on reserve lists of the LMP's ten teams
will be
held on July 8 in Hermosillo. The draft will be held in two parts: One
for
Mexican players and one for foreign players. Here is the order of both
stages
as verified last week by league president Omar Canizalez:
MEXICAN
PLAYER DRAFT
1-Los
Mochis Caneros
2-Obregon Yaquis
3-Hermosillo Naranjeros
4-Monterrey Sultanes
5-Jalisco Charros
6-Guasave Algodoneros
7-Culiacan Tomateros
8-Navojoa Mayos
9-Mazatlan Venados
10-Mexicali Aguilas
FOREIGN
PLAYER DRAFT
1-Mexicali
Aguilas
2-Los Mochis Caneros
3-Monterrey Sultanes
4-Obregon Yaquis
5-Navojoa Mayos
6-Jalisco Charros
7-Hermosillo Naranjeros
8-Culiacan Tomateros
9-Mazatlan Venados
10-Guasave Algodoneros
Mexicali will have a new face
overseeing their draft picks this summer. The Aguilas last week
announced the
return of David “Chile” Cardenas to the franchise as “sports advisor”
to owner
Dio Alberto Murillo. “It is with pride to have David back home,”
Murillo is
quoted as saying, “a connoisseur of baseball on and off the field...we
are sure
that he will support us at all times to seek that fifth championship
for our
fans.”
Cardenas spent six winters as sports manager in Mexicali between 2010-16 after retiring as a pitcher in 2020 and will presumably assume duties previously held by Luis Alfonso Garcia, who was “separated from the position of Sports Manager” in February after two seasons (and two first-round playoff exits). Cardenas oversaw an Aguilas team that reached the second round of the playoffs all six seasons he worked for them while playing in two championship series.