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Monday,
January 22, 2 0 1 8
January 10, 2018 - January 1, 2018 - December 25, 2017- December 18, 2017 - December 11, 2017- December 4, 2017 - December 1, 2017
Culiacan blanks
Mayos twice to take
2-0 LMP finals lead
The Culiacan
Tomateros earned a pair of 4-0 shutout wins in
Navojoa over the weekend to take a 2-games-to-0 lead in the 2018
Mexican
Pacific League championship series, with the next three games slated to
take
place at Estadio Tomateros. The winner
will advance to next month's Caribbean Series in Guadalajara.
The title series
opened Saturday when Anthony Vazquez tossed
a beautiful one-hitter for the visitors in their 4-0 conquest over the
Mayos. Joey Meneses belted a two-run
homer off Mayos starter Barry Enright in the top of the first inning to
give
Vazquez a 2-0 cushion to start with.
After allowing a leadoff Alejandro Gonzalez single in the bottom
of the
first inning and a walk to Max Ramirez in the second, Vazquez retired
the final
22 Navojoa batters of the game without allowing a baserunner after
Ramirez'
free pass (which was erased by Fernando Flores' 4-6-3 double-play
ground out to
end the frame. Andy Wilkins stroked a
two-run homer of his own in the third off Enright to put the Tomateros
up 4-0, but
the story of the game was Vazquez. The
31-year-old lefty, who had a combined 12-10 record last summer with AAA
Toledo
and AA Erie in the Tigers' system, struck out seven while throwing
strikes on
67 of his 95 pitches.
Game Two was
more of the same on Sunday, with Culiacan
winning another 4-0 contest while recording 11 hits for the second
night in a
row. The hometown Mayos batters fared a
little better by putting up seven hits for the game, but none of them
resulted
in a run as Navojoa ended up going scoreless over 18 innings in their
two home
games. Edgar Gonzalez pitched six
innings for the win, allowing four hits and striking out four. Gonzalez and Mayos knuckleballer Eddie Gamboa
locked up in a scoreless pitcher's duel through the first three innings
until
the dam burst on Gamboa in the top of the fourth, when Issmael Salas
and
Ronnier Mustelier each contributed two-run doubles to give Gonzalez all
the
runs he'd need. Gamboa was tagged for
the loss after lasting one out into the fifth inning, allowing those
four runs
on six hits and one walk with six strikeouts as a second consecutive
sellout
crowd of 11,500 at Estadio Manuel "Ciclon" Echeverria looked on.
Mayos first-year
skipper Willie Romero, a prime candidate for
Manager of the Year, now has a travel
day to figure out how to jump-start his offense before the series
resumes
Tuesday in Culiacan. The Mayos reached
the finals last Wednesday by beating Jalisco, 4-2, to knock out the
Charros in
six games in their semifinal set.
Ramirez socked his fourth homer of that series with a two-run
bomb to
aid starter Jaime Lugo, who got the win.
The 25-year-old Lugo was primarily a reliever for his five-year
Mexican
League career until after being shuttled from Monclova to Puebla last
summer,
starting all 13 of his appearance for the Pericos and 5-2 with a 3.92
ERA and
helping the defending champions reach their second straight title
series before
falling to Tijuana. He went 5-3 for the
Mayos during the LMP regular season with a 2.53 ERA.
However,
pitching isn't the Mayos' primary concern going into
Tuesday's Game Three in Culiacan.
Somehow, Romero and his coaches are going to have to figure out
how to
wake up his batting order after last weekend's slumber party and win at
least
twice to bring the series back to Navojoa.
For his part, Culiacan helmsman Roberto Vizcarra is halfway to
his goal
of winning a second consecutive pennant after winning the title last
winter
with Mexicali.
Roberto Kelly
named manager in
Monterrey, signs three-year contract
Former major
league outfielder Roberto Kelly is the Monterrey
Sultanes' new manager. The well-traveled
Panamanian played for eight teams in his 14-year MLB career (including
seven
seasons with the Yankees), compiling a career .290 batting average with
124 homers
and 235 stolen bases, making two All-Star Game appearances and reaching
the
playoffs four times. His most productive
season came in 1991 with the Yanks when he belted 20 homers, stole 32
bases and
drove in 69 runs to augment a .267 average.
Kelly topped the .300 mark five times.
Kelly is no
stranger to Mexican baseball. After his
MLB days were over, he spend two
summers with the Mexico City Diablos Rojos, batting .334 with 19 homers
in 2002
and .328 with 10 homers in 2003 before retiring as a player following
that
season at age 38. He went on to spend
several years in the Giants system, managing their Class A Augusta team
in the
South Atlantic League between 2005 and 2007.
He earned Manager of the Year honors in 2006 after leading the
GreenJackets to a Sally League-best 92-47 record and a berth in the
championship series. He was brought up
to San Francisco in 2008 and spent nine seasons coaching under manager
Bob
Brenly as the Giants won three World Series titles.
He was replaced as third base coach by Phil
Nevin after the 2016 season.
The Sultanes'
hiring of Kelly highlights an offseason during
which they thought they had ex-MLB catcher Miguel Ojeda lined up to
manage the
team in 2018, only to have Ojeda back out to take a similar position
with a
Durango club that endured endless problems during their first season in
the LMB
last summer. Although it was first
thought that Ojeda would manage the Generales this summer, indications
are that
he may instead end up working in the front office if that team's
ownership
situation is ever resolved. While
Monterrey doesn't have nearly the off-field issues that the Generales
do, they
are coming off a campaign in which they were eliminated in the playoffs
by
Tijuana a second straight time after finishing second to the Toros in
the LMB
North during the regular season with a 68-43 record under manager Felix
Fermin,
who was not rehired.
One of the
Sultanes' shortcomings was on the basepaths, where
they finished 14th in the Liga in stolen bases with 55 swipes. That should change under Kelly, who gained
notice while managing in Augusta for his team's aggressive baserunning
tactics
as the GreenJackets stole 624 bases in three years while putting
together an
aggregate 258-157 record.
With Kelly's
hiring in Monterrey and Tim Johnson being tabbed
as the new manager in Quintana Roo (more on that next week), that
leaves the
Saltillo Saraperos and Tabasco Olmecas as the remaining Mexican League
teams in
search of new pilots, although the perpetually uncertain situation in
Durango
regarding Ojeda (who is part of a group bidding to buy the team from
owner
Virgilio Ruiz) could make that three clubs.
MLB bans scouts
from working for
Mexican League teams
The fallout over
the Pittsburgh Pirates' firing of their
Latin America scouting director, Rene Gayo, after he reportedly gained
a
personal financial windfall in the Bucs' 2010 signing of Mazatlan teen
pitching
prospect Luis Heredia for a reported $2.6 million, has led to Major
League
Baseball issuing a decree that scouts working for MLB organizations
will not be
allowed to simultaneously work for Mexican League franchises.
Beatriz Pereyra
of Mexico City's Proceso writes that MLB's ruling
comes at the behest of new Mexican
League president Javier Salinas during last month's winter meetings in
Orlando,
according to a claim Salinas made in an interview.
"We told MLB that we want to prohibit
LMB executives from participating as scouts because there is a conflict
of
interest," says Salinas.
"Those scouts would not only be able to work for teams of the
LMB,
but for any league in the world."
The former Liga MX soccer commercial and marketing director, who
was
working for MedioTiempo website when he was picked to succeed Plinio
Escalante
as LMB presidente last year, added
that "you can't work buying and selling at the same time because there
is
no clarity when you are judge and party."
The Miami-born
Gayo spent five years as the Cleveland
Indians' Latin America scouting director before being hired by
Pittsburgh in
2004 to fill a similar position that had been vacant for five years. Among his signings over the years for both
teams were Danys Baez, Jhonny Peralta, Starling Marte and Willy Taveras
(who
now plays for Monclova). He was fired by
the Pirates in November after an MLB investigation found that Gayo
received a
kickback from the Veracruz Rojos del Aguila (who owned Heredia's LMB
rights,
which MLB organizations officially recognize) when Heredia signed his
2010 deal
with the Bucs. Team owner Jose Antonio
Mansur, who reportedly owns 16 mansions and is a close friend of
imprisoned
former Veracruz governor Javier Duarte, moved the franchise to Nuevo
Laredo
last fall. Mansur has owned Mexican
League teams in Aguascalientes, Poza Rica and Cancun as well as
Veracruz and
now Nuevo Laredo over the years. He was
named Executive of the Year in 2012 when Veracruz won the pennant under
current
Tijuana manager Pedro Mere, but Mansur's teams have typically not seen
success
either in the standings or at the box office.
Interestingly, MLB's edict does not extend to Mexican Pacific League teams like the Mazatlan Venados, whose general manager, Jesus "Chino" Valdez, is a Heredia family friend, also works as a Pirates scout and may have been key in Heredia's signing with Pittsburgh (although there have never been rumors of kickbacks to Valdez). Heredia, who is now 23, was released by the Pirates after last season and is once again a free agent after turning in a 26-26 record with a 3.88 ERA over seven years in the Pittsburgh organization. It was thought he might pitch for the Venados this season, but the 6'5" righty decided to rest for the winter instead while seeking employment for the coming season after being a Baseball America Top 100 prospect as recently as 2013. Mansur and the Tecolotes still own his LMB rights.
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