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B a s e b a l l
M e x i c o
Monday,
August 24, 2020
RIELEROS
PLAYERS ASK LMB FOR FINANCIAL HELP
Mexican
baseball
players are waiting out their summer of pandemic-induced inactivity due
to the
canceled Mexican league season until they're able to suit up for the
anticipated Mexican Pacific League season openers in mid-October. A
number of
them, however, are reaching the financial breaking point while trying
to feed,
clothe and house themselves and their families. While many, if not
most,
players are still waiting for promised assistance from the LMB
franchises, one
group has tired of empty promises and are appealing to the Liga office
in
Mexico City directly for help.
According to PuroBeisbol.com editor Fernando Ballesteros, players and
coaches
for the Aguascalientes Rieleros have written a letter to LMB president
Horacio
de la Vega seeking aid from the league office because the Railroaders
has
failed to do so. When the Liga announced on July 2 that they were
cancelling
their season for the first time in the loop's 95-year history, players
and
umpires were promised by de la Vega and the 16 LMB franchises that they
would
receive financial support throughout the summer. Instead, the only
teams that
have reportedly followed through are the Mexico City Diablos Rojos and
Oaxaca
Guerreros (both owned by billionaire Alfredo Harp Helu), although there
may be
others helping their players.
At the time of the announcement, the player assistance seemed a tall
order for
many of the LMB teams that typically operate on a proverbial wing and a
prayer.
One of the reasons the 2020 schedule was called off was the likelihood
that
fans would not be allowed inside ballparks to watch games, taking away
the
primary source of revenue in a circuit lacking large-scale sponsorships
that
bring in enough money to at least partially fill the monetary void that
would
be created by empty ballparks. While a handful of Mexican League teams
like the
Diablos, Monterrey, Monclova and Yucatan might have enough cash
reserves to
help their players, the majority of franchises like Aguascalientes
simply lack
the funds to do so.
When calls have been made in the past for LMB contraction, the Rieleros
are
usually one of the teams mentioned. Ever since Aguascalientes was first
awarded
a Liga franchise in 1975 (the current team marks the Railroaders' third
incarnation), the city of 832,712 residents has only hoisted one
pennant (1978)
and more often resides near the bottom of both the standings and
attendance
tables.
Last year was no different, as the Rieleros finished 12 games out of
the
playoffs, coming in sixth in the eight-team LMB North with a 54-65
record,
while drawing 2,001 fans per game in 56 dates at 74-year-old Parque
Alberto
Romo Chavez for a total attendance of 112,077 on the season, 15th in
the league
(only Campeche attracted fewer patrons). Aguascalientes has averaged
3,000 or
better in attendance twice since making their latest return to the Liga
in
2012.
Aguascalientes does have some well-respected veterans on their roster
like
third baseman Michael Wing, catcher Carlos Rodriguez, 2017 LMB Pitcher
of the
Year Nestor Molina and future Salon de la Fama slugger Saul Soto, but
the club
is traditionally one of the most undercapitalized in the Mexican League
and low
revenues prevent bringing in top talent needed for a contending team.
While expectations the Rieleros were low even before the pandemic
crossed the
Pacific Ocean and scuttled the season, things are reaching critical
mass with
the team. Ballesteros quotes the letter, which was leaked to Puro
Beisbol,
as telling de la Vega "We are aware of the serious situation the world
is
going through, but we appeal to your support so that in some way we can
be
creditors of a loan or salary advance in order to be able to
financially solve
the needs of our families before everything returns to normality.”
The letter was signed by all the Aguascalientes players and coaches,
including
new manager Luis Carlos Rivera, who pitched for both Atlanta and
Baltimore in
2000. Rivera managed Leon in 2018, turning in a 53-57 combined record
for the
LMB's two abbreviated seasons that year and reaching the playoffs in
the Spring
campaign.
MAYOS
HOPING TO BRING BACK TAIWANESE PITCHER
Like
every other
team in the Mexican Pacific League, the Navojoa Mayos are figuring out
who will
comprise the three foreign players they're allowed for the upcoming
2020-21
season. Although team owner Victor Cuevas has confirmed that the Mayos
will
open the schedule with returnees Juan Perez (a ex-reds minor league who
hit 23
homers for Saltillo in 2019) and former White Sox first base prospect
Keon
Barnum joining a newcomer, left-handed pitcher Mitch Lambson, who has
been a
starter the past four summers with Winnipeg of the independent American
Association after being a reliever in the Astros system).
A
fourth import
listed as a reserve for Lorenzo Bundy's team will be coming the
farthest to
play for Navojoa if he gets the call. Taiwanese pitcher Hu Chih-Wei
impressed
the Mayos last winter in a short spell despite losing his only
decision,
turning in a 1.50 ERA with 13 strikeouts while walking only two batters
over 18
innings in three starts. The 26-year-old righty is staying home for the
time
being after testing positive for the virus but the team has remained in
close
contact with him.
Although
he is a
native of Taichung, home of the Chinese Professional Baseball League's
Chinatrust
Brothers, Hu has never pitched professionally in his homeland (although
he did
help Taiwan to a Silver medal at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South
Korea.
By then, he was already pitching in the Twins system after signing with
Minnesota in August 2012 as an international free agent at age 18.
Midway
through
the 2015 season, Hu was dealt to Tampa Bay and he went on to represent
the Rays
as the only Asian product on the World roster at the 2016 All-Star
Futures Game
in San Diego. That year, he went on to lead the AA Southern League with
a 2.59
ERA pitching for Montgomery and was named a postseason All-Star.
Hu
made his MLB
debut with Tampa Bay on April 24, 2017 by tossing a perfect eighth
inning
during a 6-3 loss at Baltimore. He went on to finish with six
appearances for
the Rays, all in relief, and won his first big league game on the road
over the
Yankees on September 28, hurling a frame in the Ray's 9-6 triumph as
Tampa Bay
scored seven times in the fifth inning. The 6'0" 243-pounder finished
2017
with a 1-1 record and a 2.70 ERA in ten MLB innings, spending most of
the year
with AAA Durham.
After
a 2018
campaign in which he was primarily a starter at Durham (although he did
pitch
five more times for the Rays, going 0-0 and 4.15 while striking out 12
over 13
innings), Hu was traded to Cleveland for second baseman Gionti Turner.
His
experience with Tampa Bay personified the capricious nature of
baseball, as Hu
was recalled to the Rays no fewer than eleven times in 2017 and 2018
while
being optioned back to AAA an equal number of times before he was
shipped to
the Tribe.
That
began
another odyssey of sorts for Hu, who spent time in both the Indians and
Cubs
organizations last summer (going 3-7 with a 7.74 ERA for four teams at
the AAA
and AA levels) prior to signing a free agent contract last December
with San
Diego, who assigned him to AAA El Paso with a slot at the Padres'
training camp
as a non-roster invitee. Hu returned to Taiwan when he wasn't named to
the
Padres' taxi squad after training camp was halted, the minor league
season
suspended and MLB schedule delayed due to the virus.
PROSPECT
LEAGUE OPENS SECOND SEASON
As we saw last month in a translated Proceso article, it's
been a trying
couple of years for Mexico's Probeis and director Edgar Gonzales. The
former
MLB and NPB infielder was building a successful post-playing career as
a
Mexican Pacific League manager and team executive before getting tabbed
by
Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to head the
federally-funded
Probeis program to build baseball from the grass-roots level up.
However, as
Gonzalez told Proceso's Beatriz Pereyra, much of the funding
has not
been made available due to Mexico's legendary bureaucracy and the San
Diego
native (who grew up in Tijuana) been forced to fly by the seat of his
pants
ever since.
Which has to make the opening of a second season for the Mexican
Prospect
League (or LPM) that much sweeter for Gonzalez, who's seen enough go
wrong since
last year to have a heightened appreciation for when things go RIGHT.
The four-team LPM kicked off its 30-day schedule last Thursday with a
doubleheader at Estadio Charros in Guadalajara, where the loop will
play all
games in 2020. The teams are named after four contemporary Mexican
baseball
figures: Juan Gabriel Castro, Jorge Cantu, Oliver Perez and Joakim
Soria.
The
LPM is
designed to attract the attention of talent-seekers from colleges, MLB
and
other baseball organizations, dozens of whom were on hand last week.
Organizers
held a Showcase last Wednesday, a day before the one-month season
began. It put
120 players between the ages of 14 and 18 from across Mexico on the
field
displaying their physical skills through on-field testing and drills.
Play
opened the
next day as the Cantus topped the Castros, 8-6, in the first game
behind the
two hits, two RBIs and one run scored by Heber Villalobos. Tadeo
Alejandro
Osuna, younger brother of Houston Astros closer Roberto, had three hits
for the
Castros, scoring one run and driving in another. In the nightcap, the
Sorias
shut out the Perezes, 9-0, with starter Roque Gutierrez earning the win
in the
two-hitter.
Teams
will play
15-game regular season schedules through Saturday, September 12, with
daily doubleheaders
Thursdays through Sundays followed by instruction sessions Mondays
through
Wednesdays. After an All-Star Game on Sunday, September 13, the LPM
will hold
three days of playoff semifinal doubleheaders from Tuesday, September
15
through Thursday, September 17. A two-day Final will be held Friday,
September
18 and Saturday, September 19, followed by closing ceremonies on
Sunday,
September 20.
All
LPM games
will be streamed live and archived free of charge through the World
Baseball
Softball Confederation's channel on the GameTime website.
According
to a
story on SeptimaEntrada.com, the LPM "intends to build a
successful
platform for young baseball players with professional prospects to
represent
Mexico with dignity. The aim is for this development system to be the
most
effective in Mexican baseball and to become a benchmark model at the
national
and international level.
"The
mission
is to produce a summer league with a professional environment, which
brings
together the best prospects in the country to transmit academic-sports
knowledge that decisively contributes to their personal and
professional
development."
