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B a s e b a l l
M e x i c o
Monday,
April 5, 2021
GUADALAJARA SIGNS GIL AS SKIPPER, EL TITAN
AS PLAYER
After weeks of speculation among
Mexican baseball media that Guadalajara's new Mexican League team would hire
former MLB infielder Benji Gil as their first manager, the Mariachis finally
confirmed last week that Gil would indeed be the expansion team's dugout boss
for the 2021 season. He is the last manager named for the upcoming Liga season.
One day before that announcement, the team verified the signing of former MLB
all-star first baseman Adrian “El Titan” Gonzalez to a playing contract.
Gil, who was born in Tijuana in 1972,
went to high school in Chula Vista, California and was the Rangers' first round
draft pick in 1991. After only two years in the minors, Gil was Texas' Opening
Day shortstop in 1993, going 0-for-3 with a walk in a 7-4 win at Baltimore on
April 5 that year. Though the 20-year-old was sent down to the minors for more
seasoning after batting .123 in 22 games, he returned in 1995 and was a Rangers'
starter that year, batting .219 with nine homers in 130 games. Gil was
eventually traded away and spent time in the White Sox and Marlins systems
before landing in Anaheim in 2010. He was a top reserve and part-time starter
for the Angels for the next four years, playing for the Halos in their 2002
World Series win over San Francisco (batting 4-for-5 with a double in three
games).
Following his 2003 release from the
Angels, Gil spent time with five MLB organizations over the next two years but
never appeared in a big league game again. He then played in the Mexican League
between 2006 and 2011, suiting up for Monterrey, Chihuahua and Oaxaca (winning
the 2007 pennant with the Sultanes and representing the Dorados in the 2008 and
2009 LMB All-Star Games). After going
1-for-3 in one game for independent Fort Worth in 2012, Gil retired as a player
at age 39.
The Mariachis will mark Gil's first
shot as an LMB helmsman, but he is no stranger to running a professional team
in Guadalajara. The 48-year-old has spent three winterball seasons managing the
Mexican Pacific League's Jalisco Charros. Although his teams have won four LMP
titles in his six years, the volatile Gil's reign has rarely been quiet and
he's had run-ins with the LMP office, the Charros' front office and even his
own players, nearly getting into a fistfight with Jalisco centerfielder Rico
Noel in the middle of a game. He's come under some criticism for failing to win
a Caribbean Series title in his last three tries, but you still have to win your
league pennant to get that far and he DID lead Mexico to the 2015 Serie del
Caribe crown.
MEXICAN
LEAGUE 2021 MANAGERS
Northern Division: Aguascalientes-Luis Carlos Rivera,
Durango-Felix Fermin, Guadalajara-Benji Gil, Union Laguna-Omar Malaves, Dos Laredos-Pablo
Ortega, Monclova-Pat Listach, Monterrey-Homar Rojas, Saltillo-Roberto Vizcarra,
Tijuana-Omar Vizquel.
Southern Division: Campeche-Francisco Campos, Leon-Tim
Johnson, Mexico City-Miguel Ojeda, Oaxaca-Erick Rodriguez, Puebla-Carlos
Gastelum, Quintana Roo-Adan Munoz, Tabasco-Pedro Mere, Veracruz-Leo Rodriguez
III, Yucatan-Geronimo Gil.
One of Gil's main men in Guadalajara will be the aforementioned Gonzalez, a Tijuana-raised player who likewise attended high school in Chula Vista before becoming a first-round draft pick. “El Titan” has played for Mexico in every World Baseball Classic since its 2006 inception and is hoping his time with the Mariachis will be a springboard to a roster spot with the Verdes Grande in this summer's Olympic Games in Tokyo.
His resume as a major leaguer (317
homers and 1,220 RBIs over 15 seasons) after being the first pick of the 2001
MLB draft is probably more impressive than any player vying for a berth on
manager Juan Gabriel Castro's team. Gonzalez has also spent several Mexican
Pacific League seasons playing alongside older brother Edgar with the Mazatlan
Venados, though his last foray into winterball was more than a decade ago.
However, the five-time All-Star will
turn 39 next month and has not played in a competitive game since his release
from the New York Mets during the 2018 season. Castro himself has opined that
he already has plenty of qualified candidates at first base and designated
hitter for the six-team baseball Olympiad, and that “El Titan” should not look
at a place on the team as a given.
With a scheduled May 20 opening date
for the Mexican League this year and a July 28 first game in Olympic
competition, Gonzalez will not have much time to shake off nearly three years
of inactivity. Since Guadalajara also signed another veteran first baseman,
Saul Soto, last month, Gil will likely alternate the two between duties at DH
and the initial hassock because both are expected to bring potent bats with
power to the fledgling team's lineup this summer.
MONCLOVA BRINGS IN EX-CUBS SS ADDISON RUSSELL
The defending Mexican League champion
Monclova Acereros have strengthened their infield with the signing of former
Chicago Cubs all-star shortstop Addison Russell to a one-year contract for the
2021 season. The Steelers are hoping Russell will help fill the void in their
batting order created when catcher Bruce Maxwell signed a minor league contract
with the New York Mets last year.
Now 27, Russell was taken out of Pace
High School in Floriday by Oakland with the 11th overall pick of the
2012 draft. He was the 2013 Rookie of the Year in the Class A California League
and that year's Arizona Fall League All-Prospects team while considered one of
the top prospects in the A's system. However, with Oakland fighting for a
playoff berth down the stretch of the 2014 campaign, GM Billy Beane included
the rights to Russell in a multiplayer trade to the Cubs for pitchers Jason
Hammel and Jeff Samardzija.
Prior the 2015 season, Baseball
America listed Russell as the third-best prospect in MLB. He made his big
league debut with Chicago on April 21 of that year and went on to play 142
games at shortstop and second base for the Cubs, batting .242 with 13 homers
and 54 RBIs. He also appeared in the postseason, breaking up a no-hitter by St.
Louis' John Lackey with a sixth-inning single in Chicago's NLDS series with the
Cardinals.
Russell then stepped up the following
season by cracking 21 homers and driving in 95 runs as the Cubs won their first
pennant since 1945 and first World Series since 1908. Russell blasted a
third-inning grand slam off Cleveland's Dan Otero during Chicago's 9-3 Game Six
win on the road after slashing a two-run double in the top of the first. He
also started at shortstop for the National League in that year's All-Star Game,
going 0-for-2.
The 2016 season proved to be
Russell's highwater mark in the majors. He missed six weeks of the 2017
schedule with a strained right foot and finished with a .239 average, hitting
12 homers and 43 RBIs over 110 games. He had another disappointing year in
2018, turning in a .250 average with five roundtrippers and 38 RBIs before
being placed on administrative leave September 19 due to an an investigation
into domestic abuse allegations.
Russell's last season with the Cubs
in 2019 got off to a late start due to MLB's determination that he had abused
his wife. After completing a 40-game suspension that began the previous season,
he played for AAA Iowa before a May 8 callup to Chicago. Switched to second
base, he went 0-for-3 against Miami and was mostly booed by the Wrigley Field
faithful. He had another three-week stint at Iowa that summer and finished the
season with a .237 average, nine homers and 23 ribbies over 82 games. He was
non-tendered by the Cubs that December, becoming a free agent.
Russell then signed with the Kiwoom
Heroes of the Korea Baseball Organization on June 19 of last year. After a
quarantine period, he debuted on July 28 against the Doosan Bears and went on
to play 65 games for the Heroes, registering a .254 average with a pair of
homers and 31 RBIs. The team decided not to bring Russell back for 2021,
leaving him a free agent until last week's signing with Monclova.
Where Acereros manager Pat Listach
puts Russell in the field is a question. Second baseman Noah Perio, a
29-year-old former Marlins prospect, was MVP of the 2019 Serie del Rey
and later played that winter for Mexico's Premier12 team that qualified for the
Olympics. At shortstop, Erick Aybar is a 12-year MLB veteran who hit .319 and played
in the 2019 Mexican League All-Star game, but Aybar is ten years older than
Russell and spent time on both the Injured and Reserve lists for the Acereros
in 2019. Then there's middle infielder Oscar Sanay, a 5'7” former Cal
State-Bakersfield star who topped .300 four times between 2016 and 2018 and hit
.395 in 16 games for the Steelers in 2019 after coming over from Union Laguna
that July.
DIABLOS
INK 2020-21 CUBAN MVP LISBAN CORREA
The Mexico City Diablos Rojos are
bringing in the current Cuban National Series Most Valuable Player for the 2021
Mexican League season. First baseman Lisban Correa has agree to terms with the
capital city club and will play for manager Miguel Ojeda this summer.
Reportedly 32 years of age, Correa
had a breakout year for the Havana Industriales in 2020-21, batting .320 and
leading the CNS with 28 homers, 82 RBIs and a .692 slugging percentage. He
struck out just 34 times while drawing 63 walks. Correa finished nine homers
ahead of Las Tunas' Rafael Vinales in setting a CNS longball record for a
75-game season.
According to Diablos sports manager
Jorge del Valle, Correa's profile fits perfectly with what was being sought to
reinforce a team built around the Mexican talent forged in the Red Devils'
organization. “We were looking for a bat of power and experience, and that is
Lisbán Correa,” said del Valle. “He comes from a strong baseball league that is
played at sea level and that interests us, considering that we are going to
play in the South Zone. Today, Lisbán Correa is a benchmark in Cuban baseball
and we see him with a great opportunity to mark a great story in the ranks of
the Red Devils."
Correa's journey to Mexico is an
interesting one, to say the least. The 6'2” 192-pounder debuted in the CNS as a
16-year-old catcher with the Havana Metropolitanos in 2005-06, batting .281 in
55 games. He went on to spend ten years in the league, topping the .300 mark
three times and reaching double figures in homers three times as well.
Correa was caught up in controversy
during the 2009-10 season by chasing Sancti Spiritus pitcher Yanier Sosa into
center field after Sosa had intentionally thrown at him during a game. The
chase precipitated a bench-clearing brawl that eventually involved police in
what a writer for Cubalite.com terms “as one of the three most violent
of Cuban baseball.” While Sosa was suspended for three games, Correa was handed
a six-month sanction and had to watch his teammates win the pennant that season
from a distance.
Then, in 2015, Correa (whose father
Ivan had been a slugger in the CNS years before) had defected from Cuba for
Haiti, where he hoped to make contact and sign with an MLB organization. Before
leaving his homeland, he was told by smugglers that a big league team was ready
to sign him, which proved a lie after he spoke to a lawyer at the Dominican
consulate in Port-au-Prince.
Correa then made a rugged trip
across the island into the Dominican Republic, where an alleged “investor”
asked him to sign a contract in which the player would have to pay for his own
rent, food and gym privileges. Correa refused to sign and as an undocumented
alien without money or a place to live, he was in a tough spot. He was able to
cobble together the equivalent of US$100, which he used to travel much of the Dominican
Republic over two weeks searching for someone who would help him sign a playing
contract, but failed.
Correa didn't want to return to Cuba
and be seen as a failure, the Cubalite writer says, but he did go back as a
“visitor” for the 2019-20 season in the fading hope that returning to the
Industralies team he played for since 2009-10 after a trade with the
Metropolitanos would earn him notice from an MLB organization or another
foreign team.
Now, after a banner season that
earned him an MVP award, Correa will be crossing the Caribbean again, this time
to Mexico. While it's highly unlikely he'll be able to make the jump to MLB
from Mexico City, he'll be earning a far higher salary with the well-playing
Diablos Rojos than he would ever make in Cuba, where the best players in the
CNS might make US$300 a month during the season. As an import, Correa might
make at least ten times that amount in the LMB.
More to the point, Lisban Correa has a new lease on life in Mexico, something that can't always be quantified in dollars or pesos.