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B a s e b a l l   M e x i c o

DECEMBER 11,  2 0 1 5

 

ESCALANTE TO STEP DOWN AS LIGA LEADER IN 2016

Mexican League president Plinio Escalante has announced his retirement following the 2016 LMB season.  Escalante made his statement at the Winter Meetings in Nashville.  A Yucatan native and Leones owner in the 1980's with an accounting background, Escalante became Liga president in 2007 after the post had been held by four different men since Pedro Treto Cisneros' 1999 retirement.  

The position of Mexican League president had been relatively stable after Antonio Ramirez Mura took the job in 1962.  Ramirez went on to serve 20 years at the big desk before stepping down following the 1981 season, a year after dealing with a crippling players strike that included a spinoff league of striking LMBers playing their own schedule the rest of the 1980 season in Liga cities and ballparks.  Cisneros Treto emerged in 1982 as president and held the office another 18 years before leaving in 1999, opening the revolving door that stopped when Escalante stepped up in 2007.

 According to Puro Beisbol's David Braverman, Escalante is already rumored to have three Liga teams offering a job after he exits the LMB office.

 

ZAZUETA SWATS SECOND SLAM IN JALISCO ROAD WIN

Amadeo Zazueta belted a grand slam in the top of the 12th inning as the Jalisco Charros copped a 10-7 win over the Culiacan Tomateros Tuesday night in front of 16,359 onlookers in Culiacan.  The four-bagger came off former Dodgers farmhand Jesus Castillo, who took the loss.

Zazueta also singled and came around to score on Edson Garcia's single in the second as the Culiacan native finished the night 2-for-5 and raised his batting average to .458 for December and .345 for the season.  The 11-year minor league veteran infielder is now just two points behind Mexicali's Welington Dotel in the Mexican Pacific League batting race.  Dotel has topped the toteboard most of the season.

It was Zazueta's second grand slam in 15 days.  The 29-year-old launched a bases-loaded bomb November 20 against Mexicali's Francisco Gil.  That one also came in extra innings, this time for the walkoff win in the 13th frame.  Tuesday's knock was only his second homer of the season, proving that sometimes, it really IS all about the timing.

 

OLMECAS DEAL KARIM GARCIA TO SALTILLO

Former major league outfielder Karim Garcia has been traded from the Tabasco Olmecas to the Saltillo Saraperos.  The 40-year-old Obregon native played all or part of ten seasons in MLB for seven teams between 1995 and 2004, batting .279 with 66 homers for his career.  His best season was in 2002, when he hit .292 and whacked 16 roundtrippers in 53 games for Cleveland and the New York Yankees.  Garcia batted .286 for the Yanks in their 2003 World Series loss to the Florida Marlins.

After his MLB playing days ended, Garcia toiled for Japan's Orix Blue Wave and the Mexican League's Monterrey Sultanes before embarking on a four-year run in Korea from 2008 and 2011.  He hit .264 with 103 homers for the Lotte Giants and Hanwha Eagles, including a .283/30/111 campaign for Lotte in 2008.  Garcia has played the last four years in the LMB for Monterrey, Quintana Roo and Tabasco, batting .230 with 4 homers as a part-timer with the Tigres and Olmecas in 2015.

To bring the former KBO All-Star to Saltillo, the Saraperos parted with veteran first baseman and DH Refugio Cervantes.  After breaking into the Liga as a teen with Nuevo Laredo in 1997, the 37-year-old Cervantes has appeared in 19 seasons in the LMB, batting .295 with 195 homers and 749 RBIs for six teams.  He's had three stints in Saltillo, including an eight-year stretch between 2006 and 2013.  In 91 games with the Saraperos last summer, he posted a .258/10/42 slash line.

 

SORIA RETURNS TO KANSAS CITY, SIGNS THREE-YEAR DEAL WITH ROYALS

After a four-year exile, relief pitcher Joakim Soria has rejoined the team for whom he was a two-time All-Star.  The 31-year-old righty from Monclova has inked a three-year, $25 million contact with the world champion Kansas City Royals.

Soria was taken by the Royals from the San Diego organization with the first pick of the January 2006 Rule V draft amid a standout winter with the Obregon Yaquis, for whom he went 9-1 (leading the Mexican Pacific League in wins) with a 2.41 ERA in 13 starts.  KC immediately moved him to the bullpen, where Soria went on to post save 160 games in 298 appearances for the Royals between 2007 and 2011, registering a 2.40 ERA and being selected for the 2008 and 2010 All-Star Games.

The road has been rockier since Soria missed the 2012 season following Tommy John surgery.  Since then, he's pitched for Texas, Detroit and Pittsburgh, going 6-5 with 42 saves and a 3.00 ERA over three seasons.  Soria tossed one scoreless inning with three strikeouts for the Pirates in this year's National League wild card playoff encounter against the Chicago Cubs. Closer Greg Holland was not offered a contract for 2016 after undergoing Tommy John surgery himself in October, and Wade Davis is expected to inherit Holland's former role with Soria envisioned as a setup man heading into Spring Training.

Shortly before the signing, Kansas City general manager Dayton Moore praised Soria: "He's very dedicated, has great control. pitches effectively and has a tremendous clubhouse presence." 



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