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B a s e b a l l
M e x i c o
Saturday,
April 6, 2020
MEXICAN
LEAGUE PLAYERS UNPAID DURING VIRUS SHUTDOWN
Professional baseball has shut down
almost everywhere around the world due to the Wuhan Virus, with only
Taiwan's
Chinese Professional Baseball League still planning to open their
season on
time when the CPBL commences their regular season on April 11 playing
in empty
stadiums. While major and minor league players in the USA are being
paid during
their indefinite stoppage of play, most of their counterparts south of
the
border have not been as fortunate.
According to the El Fildeo
website, players on 14 of the Mexican League's 16 franchises have gone
unpaid
since training camps were ordered shut down and the LMB season delayed
until at
least May 11, with members of the Mexico City Diablos Rojos and Oaxaca
Guerreros reportedly being given 20,000 pesos (US$800) apiece by
billionaire
Alfredo Harp Helu, who owns both teams.
The situation has not only created
financial hardships for Mexican League players, but also team owners
and the
league office. The regular season was originally scheduled to open
Monday,
April 6 in Monclova, where the Acereros were to host rival Monterrey,
with a
full slate of eight games slated for the next day. Instead, the
cash-strapped circuit
will miss a minimum of five weeks' worth of badly-needed ballpark
revenues.
Some owners of other Liga teams were
said to be considering measures similar to Harp's in helping their
players, but
the nationwide economic freeze due to the Wuhan Virus has affected most
of
their non-baseball businesses as well and in many cases, the money just
isn't
there. Supposedly some players were offered loans from their teams to
be
returned via paycheck deductions after the season finally opens, but
that
option was said to have been met with resistance by the players, many
of whom
have been calling for a union.
The Puro Beisbol website
reports that people with ties to the LMB have written letters to
Mexican
president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador seeking financial support for its
teams,
including former Quintana Roo state adviser Niza Puerto (who has served
a
similar role with the Tigres baseball team). There is no word whether
AMLO, a
noted baseball supporter, has responded, but Puerto was said to also be
seeking
a meeting with PROBEIS head Edgar Gonzalez to work on a solution.
Although the LMB has set May 11 for
opening play, the date is not set in stone given an order from the
nation's
Secretary of Health for a quarantine lasting until April 30 and the
possibility
exists that the season may be delayed further. LMB president
Horacio de
la Vega has stated that he'd be willing to extend a revised schedule
into
mid-October in order to play the planned 102-game regular season with
full
playoffs, but an even later start would seemingly make that all but
impossible.
Mexican Pacific League president
Omar Canizales has said that while his loop has set their own season
opener for
October 14, the LMP is waiting to see what the Mexican League does
first before
making it official.
THREE
MULTIPLAYER DEALS
SWUNG IN MEX PAC
While on-field action has ground to
a halt in the Mexican League due to the Wuhan Virus, the front offices
of the
Mexican Pacific League have taken up the slack. Over a four-day period
last
week, three multiplayer trades were swung involving four teams and a
total of
13 players, ten of them pitchers.
The first deal was on last Tuesday,
when the Obregon Yaquis sent the rights to third baseman Christian
Villanueva
and left-handed pitcher Alex Delgado to the Jalisco Charros for a trio
of
right-handed pitchers: Octavio Acosta, Felipe Gonzalez and Jesus
Camargo.
Villanueva is no stranger to LMP fans, having spent six winters in
Yaquis togs
including a banner 2015-16 season in which he hit .322 with nine homers
in 64
games. He spent last summer in Japan with the Yomiuri Giants, batting
.223 with
eight roundtrippers over 73 contests for the Central League team after
belting
20 homers with San Diego as an LMB rookie in 2018. Delgado went 6-4 for
the
Yaquis last winter after posting an 8-4 record with Oaxaca in Mexican
League in
2019, earning his first All-Star berth in the process. Though only 25,
Delgado
has pitched in the LMB for all or part of eight seasons (going 11-1 for
Mexico
City in 2016).
In return, Acosta gives the Yaquis a
pitcher who was 6-1 with a 4.16 ERA for Jalisco last winter. He was the
Mexican
League Pitcher of the Year in 2017 after turning in a 14-1 mark (2.99
ERA) for
Mexico City that year. A former Yankees prospect, Gonzalez was 2-1 with
a 3.23
ERA in eight starts for the Charros in 2019-20. Gonzalez went 3-0 and
had a
3.22 ERA in 52 relief appearances last summer for Monterrey and, like
Delgado,
was a first-time All-Star Gamer. While only pitching twice for Jalisco
two
years ago, Camargo has been a Cubs farmhand since 2015 and gone 13-7
for that
organization over four seasons, mostly as a starter, with a career 3.01
ERA
over 221.1 innings.
One day later, Mazatlan and
Monterrey swapped four pitchers as the Venados shipped Arturo Barradas
and
Jesus Alcantar to the Sultanes for Felipe Arredondo and Oscar Arzaga..
The most
recognizable may be lefty Barradas, a 14-year veteran who was 1-1 in 42
relief
outings for the Venados in 2019-20. Barradas appeared in the 2015 LMB
All-Star
Game while pitching for Quintana Roo and the 2016 Caribbean Series with
Mazatlan. Alcantar has gone 2-7 with a 7.02 ERA since 2017 with Durango
but the
Los Mochis native has never pitched in the Mex Pac.
A longtime veteran hurler like
Barradas, Arredondo was an Angels prospect for four years before
embarking on
his 13-year LMB career in 2008 with Quintana Roo and is likewise a
middleman
who was 0-0 with a 1.80 ERA in 14 outings on loan for Jalisco last
witner. The
21-year-old Arzaga signed with the Dodgers in 2016 and went 3-2 for
their
Arizona Rookie League affiliate that summer, but has been plagued by
injuries
and never pitched again before being released last May.
The week's final LMP trade was made
last Friday when Jalisco dealt shortstop Alberto Carreon and pitcher
Luis De
Luna to Monterrey for outfielder Sergio Perez and hurler Jose
Oyervides, who
has previously pitched for the Charros. A two-time All-Star Game
performer for
Puebla, the versatile Carreon has a career .300 batting average over
eleven
seasons with the Pericos and can also play second and third bases as
well as
both corner outfield positions. He hit .254 for the Charros last
season. De
Luna has made 19 relief appearances for the Charros over two seasons
with no
record but had a good 2.74 ERA for the Guadalajara team. He's also
pitched
sporadically for Saltillo, with 40 outings since 2017 for the Saraperos.
In return the Charros get a veteran
in Perez, who was a Puebla teammate of Carreon's for five years as a
reserve
outfielder before being sent to Aguascalientes by way of Monclova last
December. A career .307 batter in the LMB, Perez adds little power (25
homers
in 11 years) but can get on base and keep a rally going. He hit .260
for
Monterrey last season, his first LMP campaign in six years. The
38-year-old
Oyervides is a Texan who signed with the Angels in 2002 and has gone on
to be
one of the Mexican League's most effective pitchers, making five
All-Star
appearances between 2010 and 2017 and earning Comeback of the Year
honors with
Dos Laredos in 2018, leading to the question of what he was coming back
FROM
the year after pitching in an All-Star Game? At any rate, he has a
90-63 career
record over 11 LMB seasons and was 1-3 with a 4.12 ERA for the Sultanes
last
winter after going 9-9 with his hometown Tecolotes in 2019.
PADRES
SEND ESTEBAN
"EL PONY" QUIROZ TO TAMPA BAY
After spending seven years working
his way into stardom in the Mexican League before signing with Boston,
diminutive second baseman Esteban Quiroz will be playing for his third
major
league organization in as many years after the man called "El Pony"
was sent by San Diego to Tampa Bay to complete a five-player swap
between the
two clubs. The Padres traded rightfielder Hunter Renfroe and middle
infielder
Xavier Edwards to Tampa Bay on December 6 in exchange for outfielder
Tommy Pham
and infielder Jake Cronenworth, who also opened six games as a pitcher
for AAA
Durham last summer and gave up no earned runs. Quiroz was added to the
swap as
the proverbial "player to be named later" on March 26.
The 5'7" Quiroz, an Obregon
product who turned 28 in February, made his Mexican League debut with
Quintana
Roo as a teen in 2011. He was overmatched at first, hitting .120 with
one RBI
in 24 games for the Tigres, but showed his versatility by playing all
three
outfield slots as well as second base. Quiroz improved to .255 with
four homers
in 2012, playing every position but pitcher and catcher over 85
contests, but
he would struggle at the plate the next two seasons while being
shuttled around
defensively (when he got to play at all). Although Quiroz had been a
member of
two LMB championship teams under manager Roberto Vizcarra, he faced an
uncertain future at age 22.
Quiroz finally hit stride in 2015
for the Cancun team. Although he only spent eight games at second as
Vizcarra
played him at six positions that year, he hit .315 and knocked out
seven homers
over 96 games as the Tigres won their third title in five years as "El
Pony" filled a role similar to Gil McDougald's with the Yankees dynasty
of
the 1950's. Quiroz also took part in the Home Run Derby in that
summer's LMB
All-Star Game an reached the finals before losing to Tigres teammate
Alex Liddi
(who runs 6'4" and 225 pounds). He then had a banner 2015-16 winter for
his hometown Obregon Yaquis, batting .317 and winning the Mexican
Pacific
League's Rookie of the Year award, then hitting an even .400 while
scoring
seven runs in six errorless games at second as a reinforcement for
Mazatlan's
Caribbean Series champs.
Following a solid 2016 campaign for
Quintana Roo (with career highs of a .335 average, 15 homers and 63
RBIs),
Quiroz was traded to rival Yucatan. After being named Mexico's MVP in
the 2017
World Baseball Classic (hitting .400 for the Grandes Verde),
he rewarded the Leones with a .293 average, 11
homers and his first LMB All-Star game as a player. MLB scouts had
noticed
Quiroz during the WBC and Boston signed him at the conclusion of the
2017
season. The Red Sox invited him to their Florida training camp the
following
spring, assigning him to their AA Portland affiliate in the Eastern
League to
begin another odyssey.
After getting off to a great start
with the Sea Dogs, beginning the season with a nine-game hitting streak
and
batting .302 with four homers and 11 RBIs over his first 15 games,
Quiroz was
shelved with a sports hernia. He rehabbed with an eight-game stint for
the
Bosox' Gulf Cost League affiliate before returning to Portland on
August 24 and
finished what ended up being a "lost" season with a .299 average, seven
homers and 24 RBIs in 24 games. After the campaign, he was traded to
San Diego
for pitcher Colten Brewer.
The Padres brought Quiroz to their
major league camp as a non-roster invitee last spring and subsequently
assigned
him to El Paso of the AAA Pacific Coast League. Despite two stints on
the 7-day
disabled list, "El Pony" had a solid season for the Chihuahuas,
batting .271 with 19 homers while turning double plays with fellow
Sonoran Luis
Urias, who spent time in San Diego before the Padres dealt him to
Milwaukee
last November. Popular among fans in the border city, Quiroz hit .351
with 11
four-baggers over 47 home games, including a May 6 contest against Salt
Lake
during which he went 4-for-5 with two homers and four RBIs at Southwest
University Park.
After he hit .188 as a Padres
non-roster invitee at this season's aborted spring training, though,
Quiroz was
sent packing to the Rays and assigned to Montgomery of the AA Southern
League,
where (once the sesaon starts) he'll be starting over. Again.
Entering his tenth season of
pro ball, Esteban Quiroz has seemingly faced a litany of challenges all
along
the way. However, only someone who hasn't read the above seven
paragraphs will
doubt that he's up to facing this one.