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B a s e b a l l
M e x i c o
Monday,
June 8, 2020
DE
LA VEGA, CANIZALES: WE WILL LOSE MONEY
In recent interviews, presidents of
both the Mexican League and Mexican Pacific League said their
respective
circuits and teams WILL lose money in their coming seasons regardless
of how
their schedules work out. While there's nothing unusual about Mexican
professional baseball teams finishing in the red financially at the end
of a
season, it's unheard of for leaders of the country's top two leagues to
predict
such an outcome before a game is played.
However, due to the Wuhan virus, the
"unheard of" is becoming commonplace throughout the world of
baseball. It's no different in Mexico, where as of Sunday, over 113,000
people
had contracted the virus and total deaths were approaching the 14,000
mark. All
leagues south of the border have postponed their seasons indefinitely
and while
the Mexican League is hoping to play a shortened 48-game season plus
playoffs
beginning August 7, one call from a federal health authority could
scuttle that
plan.
Facing that uncertainly, both
Mexican League president Horacio de la Vega and his Mexican Pacific
League
counterpart, Omar Canizales, are already hoisting fiscal white flags
and hoping
to minimize the pending damage the Wuhan virus will cause their loops.
"We
are in a losing scenario," de la Vega told the El Jonronero website.
"The teams are not going to gain or break even. We are trying to
minimize
costs to the maximum." The LMB's proposed schedule would partly address
that by eliminating games outside a team's division in order to cut air
travel
costs while avoiding potential contagions.
De la Vega says the majority of
Mexican League teams can't afford to play games behind closed doors as
leagues
in Asia have done because they can't survive without gate receipts or
concessions and merchandise sales, but he admits they may have no
choice in
some places: "The entire league can't play behind closed doors, but if
in
a particular state the local authorities mandate that the only
possibility is to
play behind closed doors, we are considering that some places may start
behind
closed doors." The governor of Coahuila, where three LMB teams play
(including defending champion Monclova), has said that teams will have
to limit
the number of people admitted to ballparks in order to adhere to social
distancing policies.
Meanwhile, LMP president Canizales
echoes de la Vega's assessment that his league is likely going to come
up short
on the profit/loss statements in the 2020-21 season. One possible
result may be
Mex Pac teams relying on domestic talent more than players from the
United
States and elsewhere, who generally cost more money: "We would have to
wait and see what kind of players we have available when we start the
season so
as to make a decision if we are going to bring in foreigners or give
priority,
as we want to do, to Mexicans." Canizales notes that Major League
Baseball
has cut dozens of minor leaguers, including at least 14 Mexicans who
may be
home and available for Mex Pac training camps. "I think we would give
priority to our native Mexicans who've played in minor leagues than
foreigners," he said, "but the decision of how many foreigners we are
going to play with in the season has not yet been made."
Regardless of where players come
from, Canizales repeats de la Vega's refrain that his league and its
ten teams
will look to cut expenses wherever they can, including salaries on the
field
and in the front office. "It is very likely that we all have to
sacrifice
something in order to make the season feasible, trying to make the
players
least affected, but I think it will be necessary to make some
adjustments," he said by telephone to RG La Deportiva.
"Everything will depend on the level at which we are allowed to play in
terms of stadium occupancy," alluding to the possibility that the LMP
may
have to play in front of unoccupied stands.
Canizales says that the MexPac is
now penciling in November 15 as opening day, a month later than usual,
should
the Mexican League playoffs go into November for the first time ever.
He adds
that there are three more LMP league meetings between now and October.
"We
are not against the wall. There is time."
JUAN
NAVARRETE NAMED NEW HERMOSILLO MANAGER
After their somewhat convoluted
firing of Vinny Castilla last month, the Hermosillo Naranjeros have
named Juan
Navarrete as their manager for the upcoming 2020-21 Mexican Pacific
League
season. A former MLB All-Star, Castilla was reportedly let go by the
Orangemen
sometime in April, but no announcement was made of his firing until
last month
after some mixed signals from the team as to whether or not the Oaxaca
native
was still at the helm.
It will not be the first time
Navarrete has entered a confusing situation as an LMP manager. His
hiring as
the first dugout boss of the expansion Guasave Algodoneros was
announced at a
press conference last June, although his duties as an instructor in the
Oakland
A's minor league system prevented him from attending. However,
Navarette never
came to formal terms with new owner Alfredo Aramburo, who bought the
team after
the reported hiring in mid-July, and ex-MLB pitcher Rigo Beltran ended
up being
the Cottoneers new skipper instead. Beltran lasted less than a month
into last
season before he was fired.
Although he's been a manager, coach
and instructor in the Oakland system for over two decades after playing
minor
league ball for seven seasons for the Montreal Expos in the 1970's (he
was a
teammate of Hall of Famers Gary Carter and Andre Dawson), the Gomez
Palacio-born Navarrete spent most of his 21-year playing career as a
second
baseman in the Mexican League, where he hit .327 with 1,979 hits over
1,607 LMB
games before retiring in 1990. He also spent 19 winters playing in the
Mex Pac.
He was elected to the Salon de la Fama in 1998, by which time his
second
baseball career was already well underway. Navarrete has tutored such
future
MLB All-Stars as Miguel Tejada and Max Muncy and is currently a
defensive
coordinator in the Oakland system.
Navarrete had already been a Liga player-manager
for both Saltillo and the old Monterrey Industriales before he returned
to the
Saraperos in 1991 for two years as skipper. He then moved in 1993 to
Villahermosa, where he piloted the Tabasco Olmecas to their only Liga
championship in their 45-year history. Navarrete spent one more year
managing
the Olmecas before spending the next 25 summers north of the border
(although
he did return to Tabasco in 2004 and took the team to a 48-48 record
and a
first-round playoff exit). He's also managed A's farm teams in the
Arizona,
California and Northwest leagues, winning the 1996 AZL flag.
Besides playing nearly two decades
in winterball for Obregon, Navojoa, Mexicali and Guaymas, Navarrete has
managed
five teams in the LMP: Guasave, Jalisco, Obregon, Mexicali and Los
Mochis. He
was named Manager of the Year in 2014-15 after leading the Jalisco
Charros to a
46-26 record their first year in Guadalajara after moving from Guasave.
Now he'll put on a Naranjeros
uniform for the first time as a player or manager, replacing another
Mexican
baseball legend in Castilla, who took Hermosillo to a 38-27 record in
his first
year at the helm before falling to Mazatlan in six games in their
first-round
playoff series. In announcing the 66-year-old Navarrete's hiring,
Orangemen
general director Pablo de la Pena said about Castilla's ouster, "It was
considered that some things failed and the sporting goal was not
reached."
De la Pena then explained why Navarrete was chosen: "We sought
experience
and knowledge of the league. We believe that his knowledge and his way
of
communicating with the players will help us to achieve good results."
That
same experience and knowledge informs Navarrete what will happen if he
doesn't.
The hiring leaves Monterrey and
Mexicali as the last two LMP franchises with unsettled managerial
situations.
The Sultanes have not confirmed that Homar Rojas will be back with the
team
while the Aguilas have been mum about Pedro Mere's status. Otherwise,
besides
Navarrete in Hermosillo, the other seven Mex Pac skippers going into
the season
will be Roberto Vizcarra in Jalisco,
Juan José Pacho in Mazatlan, Benji Gil in Culiacán, Oscar Robles in
Guasave,
Victor Bojorquez in Los Mochis, Lorenzo Bundy in Navojoa, and Sergio
Gastelum
in Obregón.
TIJUANA
TO HOST TWO WSBC BASEBALL WORLD CUPS IN NOVEMBER
If the baseball season ever gets
started, 2020 will be a good year for international competition in
Mexico. On
the heels of both Obregon and Los Mochis being named co-hosts of the
World
Baseball Softball Confederation's U-23 Baseball World Cup between
September 30
and October 9, the organization has awarded two more similar
tournaments to
Tijuana in November (contingent on the Wuhan virus being abated or
eliminated
altogether in Mexico's sixth-largest city by then).
The fifth U-15 Baseball World Cup is
slated for the so-called "Heart Between Two Seas" between October 30
and November 8, with the ninth Women's Baseball World Cup to be played
from
November 12 to the 21st. Games for both tournaments will be played at
La Nida,
the 17,000-seat home of the Mexican League's Tijuana Toros, although
another
venue such as the smaller Estadio Angel Camarena may be pressed into
duty if
the need for another field arises, especially if the Toros make a
playoff run
into November. Estadio Camarena, which is being remodeled, was to be
the home
of the expansion Otay Inustriales of the Northern Mexico League, but
the LNM is
struggling for survival with an uncertain future. Another ballpark, the
5,000-seat Estadio Manuel Cecena, sits 30 miles to the east in Tecate
as a last
resort.
WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari
said, "Having Tijuana confirmed to host two major WBSC World Cup events
in
a row represents how much baseball means to the city. This is the first
time
we've had a city host two World Cups in our history, providing a
wonderful
opportunity to celebrate baseball and sport as we await the restart of
the
international calendar."
The U-15 Baseball World Cup had
originally been scheduled for August before the pandemic shut baseball
down in
most of the countries taking part. Of the twelve teams expected to take
part,
eight currently hold Top 12 status in the WBSC's latest rankings for
that
category: Japan (1), United States (2), Taiwan (4), Mexico (5), Cuba
(7),
Venezuela (8), Dominican Republic (10) and Panama (12). Rounding out
the field
will be Italy (17), Germany (19), So. Africa (24) and Guam (36).
This will mark the first time that
Guam has sent a contingent to any World Cup competition since being
admitted to
the International Baseball Federation (the WBSC's predecessor) in the
1980's
after winning the Oceania championship last year. Japan, the United
States and
Germany won their continental tournaments while South Africa was chosen
as
Africa's representative after no qualifier was held there. The USA
defeated
host Panama in the title game of the 2018 U-15 Baseball World Cup while
Taiwan
finished third.
The Women's Baseball World Cup will
likewise feature twelve nations, eight of them ranked in the WBSC's Top
12:
Japan (1), Canada (2), Taiwan (3), Venezuela (4), United States (5),
Australia
(6), Cuba (8) and the Dominican Republic (9). Also represented will be
The
Netherlands (11), host Mexico (14), the Philippines (15) and France
(18). The
latter three are making their first-ever appearance at the Women's
Baseball
World Cup. Like the U-15 tournament, this competition was postponed
after
originally being scheduled for September.
Japan defeated Taiwan in the 2018 championship game in Florida for their sixth straight World Cup title and will come to Tijuana riding a 30-game win streak. The USA won the first two World Cups in 2004 and 2006. Not only will this be Mexico's first time playing in a Baseball World Cup, last year marked their initial entry in women's baseball competition. Last August 19, in their opening game at the first Pan Am Women's Baseball Championship held in Aguascalientes, pitchers Rosy del Castillo and Veronica Romo combined on a no-hitter in a 16-0 win over fellow debutante Nicaragua. Mexico went on to finish fourth in the eight-team event, overseen by the Pan American Baseball Confederation (or COPABE).
