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B a s e b a l l
M e x i c o
Monday,
February 22, 2021
GUASAVE
ALGODONEROS TO PLAY IN SPANISH TOURNAMENT
The Guasave Algodoneros are planning
to make a trip across the Atlantic Ocean this fall to play in a
tournament
involving European teams and perhaps an Asian squad as well. The
Cottoneers
announced last week that they'll be taking part in the Barcelona
Baseball Cup
between September 26 and October 3, thus making them the first
professional
team from Mexico to play on the European continent.
Taking part in the virtual press
conference were three event organizers (Catalan Federation of Baseball
and
Softball president Jordi Valles Mestres, Barcelona Baseball Cup CEO
Rafaael
Llames Cabrera and Base Internacional SA managing director Miguel
Pazcabrales)
along with Guasave general director Luis Fernando Garcia and team
sports
manager Alejandro Ahumada. According to a press release from the
Algodoneros,
Valles explained that the inclusion of a Mexican team in the tournament
will
cause a huge impact, since there is “a large Latino population that
likes
baseball.”
The Barcelona Baseball Cup will be
played in two venues: The first is Estadio Carlos Perez de Rozas (home
of the
Division of Honor's BC Barcelona), while other games will take place at
the
C.B. Viladecans' ballpark, which was used for baseball during the 1992
Summer
Olympics. Training will take place in Sant Boi, site of another Spanish
League
team.
Besides the Algodoneros, teams from
Italy, The Netherlands and host Spain will take part in the tournament,
while
efforts are being made to include at least one team from Asia.
Depending on
which (if any) team comes over from Asia, Guasave may be the tournament
favorite going in due to both Mexico's fifth-ranked status in the
latest World
Baseball Softball Confederation ratings as well as the comparatively
higher
level of play in the Mexican Pacific League.
The Netherlands (#9) and Italy (#17)
are long established as Europe's premier baseball-playing nations
(although the
#16 Czech Republic has passed Italy in the rankings) and both have
played in
multiple World Baseball Classics, but neither the Dutch Major League
nor
Italian Serie A1 are regarded as competitive as the LMP. Spain (#20) is
among
the second tier of European baseball countries along with Germany
(#19), France
(#25) and Belgium (#26). The Division of Honor is one of the top
leagues in
Europe but professional players are in the minority and the only
advantage any
chosen host team will have in the Barcelona Baseball Cup is home-field
advantage.
BORDER
BOUNCE: GARCIA OUT IN MEXICALI, ROMERO CANNED IN TIJUANA
For years, Baseball Mexico has
chronicled the so-called “Mexican managerial merry-go-round,” in which
field
managers are hired, fired and recycled at a rate unseen in professional
baseball north of the border. Case in point: The Quintana Roo Tigres
last week
parted ways with helmsman Adan Munoz and replaced him with another
ex-catcher,
Hector Paez. Munoz was hired to replace Jesus Sommers as skipper of the
Cancun
team on May 9, 2019 and led the Tigres to a 62-57 regular season record
and a
playoff berth. Paez had served as Munoz' bench coach.
While the revolving door may not
spin quite as fast in the front offices, being a general manager of a
Mexican
baseball franchise is still not the most stable way to warn a living.
Two of
the most difficult teams to work sit less that 100 miles from each
other on the
border with the United States in Baja California Norte and both are
seeking to
replace their respective GMs after departures of two respected former
players
last week.
Luis Alfonso Garcia's “separation
from the position of Sports Manager” was announced by the Mexicali
Aguilas of
the Mexican Pacific League. Garcia took over as GM in Mexicali in
February 2019
and while the team did reach the playoffs each of the past two seasons,
the
Aguilas failed to make it past the first round both times and that was
enough
for owner Dio Alberto Murillo to make a change.
Garcia, a 42-year-old Guadalajara
native who spent a couple seasons as a first baseman in Japan during a
21-year
career that saw him belt a combined 395 homers on both sides of the
Pacific,
released a statement thanking the Aguilas “for the opportunity they
gave me to
perform this role. It was a great experience where I was able to
develop in a
different and new facet for me, applying my knowledge within baseball.”
In a press release, the team said
they “appreciate the dedication and professionalism shown by Luis
Alfonso
García during the time he was in charge of this important position,
wishing
much success in his professional career and personal projects.” The
Aguilas
earlier announced that field manager Bronswell Patrick will be back for
the
2021-22 season, or at least the start of it.
Meanwhile, the Mexican League's
Tijuana Toros announced last week “that as of this date, Óscar Romero
will
leave the position of sports manager in the organization,” adding that
the move
“is generated by mutual agreement.” Romero was hired by the Toros in
September
2016, shortly after their loss to Puebla in the Serie del Rey
championships, 4
games to 2. Replacing former MLB pitcher Jorge Campillo, Romero served
as
Tijuana's sports manager for the next four-plus years, during which the
team
has had a quartet of managers (Pedro Mere, Lino Rivera, Oscar Robles
and now
Omar Vizquel) while winning the 2017 LMB pennant under Mere.
However, in the
“What-have-you-done-for-me-lately?” environment under the Uribe family
(who are
every bit as expectant of titles as Murillo in Mexicali), the Toros
have since
failed to reach the Serie del Rey in either of two truncated 2018
seasons or in
2019, which could not have made the job easier for Romero, who spent 13
years
in the Liga as an infielder for eight teams before retiring as a player
in
2003. His son, Oscar Junior, is a 19-year-old third baseman in the
Toros
organization who led the National League of Prospects (LNP) in 2019
with a .434
batting average.
The team released a standard
statement about Romero similar to the one above regarding Garcia: “The
board of
the Club de Beisbol Toros de Tijuana appreciates the effort, work and
professionalism of Óscar Romero Tirado throughout more than four years
and
wishes him the best of success in future projects.”
Before he left, Romero did sign
outfielder Johnny Davis as an import player for 2021. The 30-year-old
speedster
from California spent six years in the Brewers system before coming to
the
Mexican League for the Fall 2018 schedule. In two seasons, the Compton
Comet
hit over .300 and led the LMB in stolen bases both campaigns before he
was
signed by Tampa Bay and made his MLB debut later that year.
It's not known what effect the
ouster will have on current manager Vizquel, a Hall of Fame candidate
who
Romero brought in prior to the abandoned 2020 season but has since been
charged
with domestic violence by his second wife, which led to a drop in votes
among
baseball writers for enshrinement in Cooperstown this winter.
BEISBOL
PURO INTERVIEWS MARIACHIS' TEAM PRESIDENT
They have a shortlist of possible
managers but have never included names such as Benjamin Gil or Sergio
Gastélum;
Adrián “El Titán” González is someone they'd like to add as a player;
they're
looking for stellar players who enhance the arrival of the franchise to
the
Mexican League...these are some of the plans of the Mariachis de
Guadalajara.
In a telephone conversation with Beisbol Puro editor
Roberto
Espinosa, Mariachis president Rafael “Fayo” Tejeda points out that the
management is on the right track to make the Pan American Stadium (aka
Estadio
Charros) their home, and reveals that the Mariachis already have a
roster of
more than 30 players. On the other hand, Tejeda says that neither he
nor his
partner Carlos "Calo" Valenzuela had in mind to have a baseball
franchise in the summer, but was something that the LMB office offered
them and
that they did not hesitate to to accept.
Here is Beisbol Puro's translated
interview with Tejada:
Why
has so
little officially been known about the Mariachis?
“It's that just last month we
participated in the Assembly of Presidents with owners of the Mexican
League.
There we were officially accepted and from then on, we are already an
expansion
franchise in the league.
“We have not done many official
things for the same reason. We are very respectful of the times and had
not
wanted to give so many statements until we were authorized. It was one
thing
that the president of the republic (who loves baseball) had announced
us, and
another that the LMB would authorize us to enter, and that just
happened last
week in the Assembly.”
Pablo
Lemus, mayor of Zapopan, where the Pan American Baseball Stadium is
located,
declared in early December that the Guadalajara Mariachis should look
for a
stadium to play in Guadalajara and made it clear that the Mariachis
would not
be able to play there in the summer. what do you think of that?
“We are in a process so the
Mariachis have everything legal so that we can use the Pan American
Stadium.
That is an issue that our legal team is already addressing...we are
young
businessmen who somehow did not know the whole process to be able to
use the
stadium, so we have already been talking with them and everything is on
the
right track. We are trying to do everything necessary to legally comply
and be
able to use the stadium.”
How
ambitious is the Mariachis project?
“We have an important project not
only for the city, but for the entire metropolitan area of Guadalajara,
and
this project will benefit the entire state because there will be jobs
and
everything that generates a show.
“We come from an atypical year like
2020, and for young entrepreneurs to come to invest in this beautiful
sport, I
think it should be valued, and the government people have already told
us that
we have all their support, and they only asked us to do what pertinent
on the
legal issue so that everything works. We have really received a very
kind
treatment from all of them, always looking for a way to make everything
possible.”
What
can
your fans expect?
“We want Guadalajara to continue
with the quality it deserves in all aspects, so we seek to have an
office, a
technical body and a team that is in accordance with what the city
deserves.
“We seek to have an experienced
team, although we will also give young people the opportunity, but we
want
people who come to capitalize, to give us quality and experience.
“We are thinking that any type of
name can come to the Mariachis. We want great players, whatever their
names
are. We have foreign players on the table who have played in the Major
Leagues
and who want to play in the summer in Mexico, which we can probably
hire. We
are looking for a 'Ronaldinho' of baseball ”.
Adrián
'El
Titán' González has been mentioned as a probable contract to play with
Mariachis. How likely can it be that this is achieved, especially
considering
that the Veracruz Aguilas have announced him as a partner?
“What I can tell you is that in the
part that we learned about, Adrián was not coming with Veracruz as a
partner.
We would all love to have a figure with the stature of Adrián. I looked
for
Adrián to tell him that we have not announced anything about him and
that we
were not misusing his image. He told me that the only thing he could
tell me
was that he had prepared to play the 2020 Olympic Games but now with
this issue
of the pandemic, he no longer knows what is going to happen.”
We
learned
that you already have people working in the front office like Francisco
Minjárez and Luis Alonso Mendoza...
“Yes, in the office the sports
director is Francisco Minjárez and we
have Luis Alonso Mendoza as sports manager, who is already retiring as
a player
and is now undertaking a new role with us. It was not easy to offer him
the
position and ask him to retire, but he discussed it with his family and
decided
that it was a good option to stop playing and start another facet.
“As a hitting coach we will have
Wilie Romero, who is a very well-known person in Mexican baseball. For
now,
they are the people we have defined.”
What
about
the manager? Much has been said about Benjamín Gil and Sergio Omar
Gastélum as
options to direct the Mariachis...
“We haven't talked to Benji Gil at
all. Sergio is not an option. He has to digest this moment first (his
departure
from Diablos Rojos del México), and later he will be able to see his
work
options, but with us for now he is not contemplated.
"At the table we have Mexican
and foreign managers, but neither Benji nor Sergio Omar is there."
Do
you
already have players contemplated for your roster?
“We already have a base of more or
less 30 players, but it will be announced when the moment is right.”
Has
it
been difficult to negotiate to get players from the other teams?
“No, I would say that it is
something normal in the market of purchases, sale and trades. It was
just
knocking on the doors of the other teams and talking to them. The
owners have
been very accessible and inclusive.”
By
the
way, how did the idea of having a baseball franchise in the LMB come up?
“We did not seek the franchise, we
did not see this panorama. This opportunity opened up for us and we did
not
think twice about it, but this was in early December when we knew we
were going
to enter it.
“Neither I nor my partner (Carlos Valenzuela) had asked for a summer baseball franchise but when the opportunity arose, we entered it for the taste of baseball. The Liga looked for us. They told us that Guadalajara could not stay without summer baseball and, knowing that we are baseball people, they offered it to us and we joined them.”