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B a s e b a l l
M e x i c o
Monday,
June 29, 2020
WILL
LMP PLAY IN FIVE CITIES, MEXICAN PLAYERS ONLY?
The Mexican Pacific League held a
videoconference last week to discuss a number of issues related to
their
upcoming season. Reports say that the LMP is considering narrowing the
number
of ballparks used for games from the full ten venues to five while only
Mexican
players would suit up, both as cost-saving measures. The ongoing saga
involving
Mazatlan and the Caribbean Series was also taken up.
The El Fildeo website says
that the Mex Pac's "extraordinary assembly" last Wednesday included
discussion among league president Omar Canizales and representatives of
the ten
teams about whether to eliminate games in the circuit's more far-flung
cities
like Guadalajara, Monterrey and Mexicali while Mazatlan may be added to
that
list (more later). Such a move would greatly reduce travel costs by
limiting
games to within the states of Sinaloa and Sonora, although field
surfaces in
ballparks where games were played daily would be placed under extra
stress
without the usual amount of time between homestands available for
groundskeepers to tend to them.
Discussion was also held on whether
the season should open in mid-October (the traditional starting time
for the
Mex Pac) or the first games will be played one month later, as has been
considered should the summer Mexican League's belated season stretch
into early
November. Unsurprisingly, no decision was made because LMP owners
instead are
taking a wait-and-see attitude about whether the LMB is able to even
take the
field on its desired August 7 opening date, which is no sure bet.
As with consolidating games to
within five ballparks of reasonably close proximity, LMP owners were
looking at
their ledgers in regards to where their players will come from next
winter.
Foreign players have been a part of the Mex Pac landscape for decades,
but the
expected drop in revenues in 2020-21 means the possibility of teams
suiting up
all-Mexican rosters. It would not be the first time something like that
has
happened. Back in 1982-83, the LM featured only domestic players as a
response
to the devalued peso that winter. Culiacan won the pennant that season
and
imports were allowed to return the next campaign.
This time, the concern is not over the
value of the peso, although that currency had fallen to 23.06 per US
dollar as
of last weekend after years with a ratio of less than 20:1. The larger
worry is
that extraneros historically take a chunk out of team payrolls,
with
foreigners drawing much higher salaries than their Mexican brethren.
Patriotic
pride and greater opportunities for homegrown products to play aside,
it would
simply cost teams less money to employ only Mexican players. According
to Puro
Beisbol editor Fernando Ballesteros, LMP owners were split 5-5 on
the issue
and nothing new emerged from last week's meeting.
One issue that many observers had
mistakenly assumed was tentatively been settled was brought back up. It
has
been reported (including here) that the Mazatlan City Council extended
an olive
branch of sorts in their ongoing dispute with the LMP Venados with a
letter
that expressed their desire to work out differences in order for the
2021
Caribbean Series to be played at Estadio Teodoro Mariscal next January
as
planned. However (as also reported here), the letter included nothing
definite
and as of last week, no signed agreement had been reached between the
City and
the Venados allowing the team to regain possession of the ballpark.
The lack of resolution has had an
effect that goes well beyond the Pearl of the Pacific. The Pan American
Baseball Confederation (or COPABE) has given the Mex Pac a deadline of
Tuesday,
June 30 for the Venados to have regained control of Estadio Teodoro
Mariscal
for the upcoming season. Failure to do so could mean the Serie del
Caribe might
be moved out of Mazatlan and perhaps even the country, although the
latter
seems less likely given that Mexico now draws the highest attendance by
far of
the countries involved in the Crown Jewel of Latin Baseball. COPABE president Juan Francisco Puello says the
event may
be canceled entirely if the Wuhan virus has taken too much of a toll by
November.
Of more immediate concern, the
imbroglio might mean that Mazatlan would be one of the five teams
forced to play
the 2020-21 season on the road in the five-ballpark scenario outlined
above, if
the Wuhan virus lessens enough by then for a winterball schedule to be
played.
PEDRO
MERE TO RETURN AS SKIPPER IN MEXICALI
Following weeks of speculation as to
whether he'd be back, Pedro Mere's return as manager of the Mexican
Pacific
League's Mexicali Aguilas in 2020-21 has been confirmed.
Eagles sports manager Luis Alfonso
Garcia made the announcement at a virtual press conference on June 18.
"It's a pleasure for the Mexicali Aguilas club to work again with a
leader
on and off the field of play," Garcia said. "We are convinced that
Pedro Mere will be an important piece to fly towards the goal that we
have year
after year: the championship."
Mere's history with the Aguilas
dates back to November 2017, when he took the reins of the club from
Roberto
Vizcarra, who was fired after leading Mexicali to a 16-19 first-half
record.
Vizcarra had led the Aguilas to the Mex Pac pennant and the Caribbean
Series
title game in Mexicali the previous winter, but memories are short in
the front
offices of Mexican teams. Mere turned the team's fortunes around in the
second
half as the Aguilas went 26-7 (setting a franchise record for wins in
one half)
and reached the playoff semifinals, where they were swept by eventual
champion
Culiacan. That was enough for owner Dio Alberto Murillo to send the
Veracruz
native packing.
Act II for Mere in Mexicali opened
last November after he replaced Bobby Dickerson, who was 9-16 when
Murillo
decided to make a change less than a month into the season. The Aguilas
went
25-17 the rest of the way before losing in the first round to Culiacan,
who
again went on to the LMP pennant under Benji Gil. Given how things
ended his
first time in the border city, Mere express gratitude that he will be
able to
open a season with the team. "Mexicali is my team, my home and a great
institution where I have had the fortune to work," he deadpanned during
the press conference. "I feel very identified with the team and with
the
fans."
Born in 1970, Mere broke into the
Mexican League as a 17-year-old infielder with Dos Laredos in 1988 and
went on
to a 22-year playing career before retiring in 2009 as a member of the
Minatitlan Petroleros after batting .280 with 186 homers. His
managerial career
began three years later when he took over for Orlando Merced at the
helm of the
Veracruz Rojos del Aguila on June 10, 2012 after Merced was ejected
from a
game. The move became permanent two days later when Merced was
suspended for the
year after an altercation with LMB orations director Nestor Alva Brito,
and
Mere took Veracruz to the pennant with a thrilling seven-game win over
Aguascalientes in the Serie del Rey.
He has since led Tijuana to the 2017
LMB title after a dominant regular season before being fired after the
Spring
2018 season when the Toros only finished second with a 33-23 record and
lost to
Monterrey in the LMB North final. Mere was eventually signed by
Monclova and
while the Acereros lost to the Sultanes again in the Fall 2018 LMB
North title
series after a resounding 42-14 regular season record (in what seemed a
bizare
move at the time, Mere replaced former Pittsburgh All-Star Carlos
Garcia with
the Acereos in first place at 14-5),
Monclova owner Gerardo Benavides
brought Mere back for 2019 but apparently thought the Acereros' 44-25
record at
the end of June wasn't sufficient, so he fired Mere and brought in
former
American League Rookie of the Year Pat Listach as new manager. The move
worked,
as Listach went on to lead Monclova to its first pennant.
Mere was hired last October to run
the Tabasco Olmecas, a perpetual also-ran who present the biggest
challenge of
his managerial career. The Villahermosa team has some recognizable
veterans on
the roster like Ronnier Mustelier, Jesus Arredondo, Paul Leon, Andres
Meza,
Juan Pablo Oramas and Derrick Loop but a lack of offensive firepower
doomed the
Olmecas to an LMB South-worst 45-72 record.
Prior to his LMP experience as a
dugout boss, Mere had a remarkable winterball run as manager of the Las
Tuxtlas
Brujos, winning five Veracruz Winter League pennants and a Latin
American
Series crown in seven seasons between 2008-09 and 2014-15.
JORGE
CANTU'S LMP RIGHTS ACQUIRED BY MONTERREY
The Mexican Pacific League last week
held a player exchange of sorts in which the loop's two 2019 expansion
teams,
Monterrey and Guasave, were able to select three unprotected players
apiece
from rosters of the eight remaining established teams. A similar
process is
planned for July 7. While five of the chosen players are not well-known
even
within Mexico, Monterrey picked a familiar name among followers of
Major League
Baseball.
Although he hasn't played winterball
in four seasons, the Sultane plucked 38-year-old infielder Jorge Cantu
from the
Culiacan Tomateros. Cantu played all or parts of eight MLB seasons,
mostly with
Tampa Bay and Florida, between 2004 and 2011. After laboring six years
in the
Rays minor league system, he broke in with the big club in 2004 before
a
breakthrough season a year later, when he belted 28 homers and drove in
117
runs for Tampa Bay in 2005. Cantu cooled down after that, spending time
in the
minors and with the Cincinnati Reds, he returned to Florida in 2008 and
put up
two strong campaigns for the Marlins with 45 homers and 195 RBIs in
2008 and
2009. As before, he lost his mojo in 2010 and went on to spend time
with Texas
and San Diego, where he played his last MLB game in 2011 to finish with
a .271
batting average, 105 homers and 471 RBIs over 847 career games. He's
also
appeared in three World Baseball Classics for Mexico.
Cantu, who was born in McAllen,
Texas but grew up across the border in Reynosa, made his Mexican League
debut
in 2013 with the Quintana Roo Tigres, belting 31 homers and 71 ribbies
over 83 games.
That was good enough to earn a one-year contract with the Doosan Bears
of the
Korea Baseball Organization, where the 6'3" first baseman hit .309 with
18
longballs in 111 contests. He returned to the Tigres in 2015 and has
remained
in the Liga since. "El Bronco" has played for two pennant-winning
teams in Cancun and one in Tijuana, and is currently on the Mexico City
roster
after hitting .283 with 12 roundtrippers for the Diablos Rojos in 2019.
He's
also spent five winters in the Mex Pac, most recently with Culiacan in
2015-16
when he batted .232 with one homer for the Tomateros in 27 games.
Monterrey's two other selections
were catcher Carlos Rodriguez and right-handed pitcher Alejandro
Barraza.
Chosen from Mexicali, the Hermosillo-born Rodriguez is a longtime
veteran
receiver who has spent his entire 15-year professional career south of
the
border. He's played the last eight summers in Aguascalientes,
representing the
Rieleros in two LMB All-Star Games, for whom he cracked 32 homers and
drove in
94 runs in 2012 en route to 172 four-baggers to augment a .272 career
average
in the LMB. He's also played 15 winters in the LMP, including nine for
his
hometown Naranjeros before he began bouncing the circuit a bit the past
few
seasons. He hit .256 in 25 games for the Aguilas in 2019-20.
Taken from Navojoa, Barraza spent
three years with the Casper Rockies from 2009-11, going 6-8 with a 6.14
ERA as
both a starter and reliever. He's played the last eight summers in the
LMB,
mostly with Mexico City and Oaxaca as a middle reliever. The Guaymas
product
has a lifetime Liga record of 24-21 record and a 4.94 ERA after
pitching for
Dos Laredos last year, where he had a sparkling 1.89 ERA in 22 trips
from the
bullpen. The 29-year-old has been a reliever in five LMP seasons,
showing a 4-7
record and 5.62 ERA in 64 games.
For their part, Guasave took three
younger players: Right-handed pitchers Rafael Cordova and Nestor
Anguamea plus
utilityman Miguel Guzman. Despite only being 25, Cordova has played
eight years
of minor league ball (three in the Rays system, five in the LMB). Born
in Yuma,
Arizona, the 6'2" righty has come out of the bullpen in all of his 189
professional appearances, although he did start one Arizona Fall League
game
for Mexicali last year, giving up two runs in four innings. He's spent
the past
three summers with Tabasco and is 9-6 lifetime in the Liga with a 4.30
ERA. He
last played in the LMP with Hermosillo in 2016-17.
Anguamea hails from Obregon and
turned 20 in March. His professional experience is limited to six
innings over
five relief appearances for Union Laguna last summer, giving up two
earned runs
for a 4.50 ERA. He did win his lone decision, striking out
Aguascalientes'
Carlos Rodriguez for the final out in the top of the 12th before the
Algodoneros scored twice in the bottom of the frame for a 7-6 triumph.
At 24, Guzman is another experienced
youngster with seven years in the LMB behind him. The Leon product has
played
all infield and outfield positions and has a deceptive career batting
average
of .323 after batting .412 for Puebla last summer in 178 plate
appearances
after fewer than 100 opportunities over the previous six years and
never
hitting over .250.
Algodoneros sports manager Alejandro Ahumada was pleased with his three newest players: "All three are talented young players who are distinguished by their work ethic and who will surely come with all the desire and attitude to earn a place in our organization."
