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B a s e b a l l
M e x i c o
Saturday,
March 9, 2020
WILL
PROBEIS TAKE OVER ACADEMY FROM LIGA?
According to Hector Bencomo of the Hitazo website,
a proposal has been made
to the organization charged by Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez
Obrador
with building baseball interest and participation throughout the
country,
asking that organization (known by the acronym Probeis) to take the
reins of
the Mexican League's academy in El Carmen, Nuevo Laredo (near
Monterrey) from
the LMB.
Bencomo reports that rumors of the
academy's "disappearance" have grown stronger since the last LMB
Assembly of Presidents Meeting. The
facility was the brainchild of Mexico City Tigres owner Alejo Peralta,
Mexico
City Diablos Rojos team president Roberto Mansur and Mexican League
president Petro
Treto Cisneros and inaugurated on March 25, 1996.
Since then literally thousands of
homegrown prospects have lived in the dormitories and played on the
academy's
diamonds, many of whom moved on to long careers in Major League
Baseball or the
Mexican League, including current Houston Astros closer Roberto Osuna,
longtime
MLB reliever Joakim Soria, Monterrey infielder Ramiro Pena (who spent
time in
both MLB and Japan), Diablos Rojos slugger Japhet Amador and shortstop
Heber
Gomez, who parlayed his academy stint that first year into a 22-year
Liga
career, mostly with Monterrey.
The Mexican League's 16 franchises
have traditionally shared the costs of housing and development of
academy
prospects, typically with eight teams supplied with players from two
LMB teams
each playing a spring schedule after months of on-site training. Since the fine print in a new agreement
between MLB and the Liga agreed to last year all but ended the past
practice of
big league organizations compensating LMB teams for the rights to young
players, the expense of keeping the academy operational has become too
burdensome on cash-strapped Liga clubs with little to no prospect of
recouping
some of those costs through player sales.
Annual expenses are between 8 to 12 million pesos
(US$400,000-US$600,000) per LMB franchise, bearable for wealthier
organizations
like Mexico City or Monterrey but a real burden for the likes of
Aguascalientes
and Campeche.
A team of Tijuana prospects ran away
with last year's Academy League title, sporting a 42-16 record to
finish 8.5
games ahead of a squad of teenagers owned by Monclova and Saltillo. Unsurprisingly, two top Liga Academia players
to emerge were both Toros property: Jared Serna hit .367 with seven
homers and
52 RBIs in 52 games while pitcher Victor Sepulveda went 5-1 over seven
starts
(saving two more games) with a 2.31 ERA and 54 strikeouts in 39 innings
pitched).
What happens now is anyone's guess.
Bencomo says sources have told him a formal proposal has been made to
former
MLB and NPB infielder Edgar Gonzalez, now director of Probeis, asking
that the
AMLO-created agency take over operation of the academy.
In return for expenses related to housing,
feeding and developing top young Mexican ballplayers, Probeis would
have the
authority to sell them to MLB organizations and keep the proceeds. Whether the same conditions preventing LMB
teams from selling players with less than one year on a Liga roster
would apply
to Probeis because they were not a party to the agreement may be a
legal gray
area that would have to be addressed.
Bencomo says another suggestion was
that Probeis broker a deal in which MLB itself takes over the El Carmen
facility, which includes four baseball fields with adjacent batting
cages and
practice pitcher's mounds, a 79-room dormitory for players and coaches,
a
kitchen and dining room, separate housing for umpires (who also train
for
future LMB work), two meeting rooms, an administrative offices and a
guardhouse
at the entry.
The LMB is hoping for a response
from Probeis by no later than the April 6 Liga regular season opener. A later answer would likely mean a delay in
reporting to El Carmen by young players for this year's session.
MLB,
UNION TO ALLOW SOME
40-MAN ROSTER PLAYERS IN OLYMPICS
The World Baseball and Softball
Confederation (WBSC) has reached an agreement with Major League
Baseball and
its players union allowing players on MLB 40-man rosters to participate
in this
summer's Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Previously, nobody on a 40-man roster was eligible for Olympic
baseball
but the new deal allows such players to take part as long as they are
not on
their big league team's 26-man active roster.
The change means up to 420 more players belonging to an MLB
organization
will be eligible to play in Japan this July and August.
After an absence of twelve years
from Olympic competition (South Korea beat out seven other national
teams to
win the 2008 gold medal in Beijing), baseball is returning as a
demonstration
sport with six teams competing. Japan is
an automatic entrant as host nation and will be joined by Mexico, South
Korea,
Israel and two undetermined teams in Yokohama and Fukushima Azuma
stadiums. Mexico qualified as the
highest-finishing Americas team in last winter's Premier12 tournament,
South
Korea was the highest-placed Asian team not named Japan in the same
competition
and Israel was the surprise winner of last fall's Africa/Europe
qualifying
tournament. The final two teams will be
determined at an Americas qualifier tourney in Arizona later this month
and a
Final qualifier in Taiwan in June. Both
events will feature teams that didn't make it past either the Premier12
or
Africa/Aurope tournaments last year.
Of course, the breakout of the
coronavirus has put many public events either on hold, in doubt or on
the
cancellation list because of public health concerns.
Since the virus first appeared in Wuhan,
China and has begun to spread across borders, NPB exhibition games in
Japan
have been held virtually behind closed doors. The New York
Times reports the World Health Organization held a
discussion with doctors from various sports federations recently about
continuing the policy during the Olympics as a precautionary measure.
If Olympic baseball is played with
or without fans, the El Fildeo website
claims a preliminary 24-man Mexican team roster has been discovered. Without attributing a source, El
Fildeo says the following is the
so-called "shortlist" of 24 eligible players targeted to play for the
Verdes Grande this summer (with two
more players allowed for Tokyo):
PITCHERS (11): Manny
Barreda (Tijuana),
Brennan Bernardino (Tijuana), Jordan Guerrero (Tijuana), Carlos
Hernandez
(Tijuana), Kyle Lobstein (Tijuana), Vidal Nuno (Tijuana), Juan Pablo
Oramas
(Tabasco), Jose Samayoa (Tijuana), Gerardo Sanchez (Tijuana), Teddy
Stankiewic
(Tijuana), Edgar Torres (Durango).
CATCHERS (2): Xorge
Carrillo
(Tijuana), Gabriel Gutierrez (Tijuana).
INFIELDERS (6): Japhet
Amador (Mexico
City), Daniel Castro (Tijuana), Luis Alfonso Cruz (Tijuana), Philip
Evans (Pittsburgh),
David Jack Mayfield (Houston), Isaac Rodriguez (Tijuana).
OUTFIELDERS
(5): Carlos
Figueroa (Mexico
City), Fabricio Macias (Pittsburgh), Efren Navarro (Tijuana), Juan
Perez
(Saltillo), Nick Torres (Tijuana).
Nothing against any of the players listed
above, who are no doubt good ballplayers and fine fellows one and all,
but the
presence of nine pitchers and seven position players from Tijuana on
this
24-man roster but nobody from Mexican League champions Monclova makes
it appear
dubious at best. Just because Baseball
Mexico is reporting this
doesn't mean you should buy it...or even rent it.
PROCESO'S
PEREYRA TALKS
WITH NEW LMB PRESIDENT DE LA VEGA
One of Mexico's best sportswriters,
Beatriz Pereyra of Proceso, recently sat down with new Mexican League
president
Horacio de la Vega and talked about some of the problems he inherited
when he
was hired by the LMB last November to replace Javier Salinas.
It's a very long read (the original
is posted at www.proceso.com.mx) and BBM is
posting it in
excerpted form with as little editing as possible, but the issues
discussed are
vital as the Mexican League approaches its 96th season of operation
with a
myriad of issues that De La Vega and the Liga's 16 owners will face in
2020:
Horacio
de la Vega will begin his tenure as president of the Mexican Baseball
League
(LMB) with empty coffers, which means that the owners of the 16 clubs
will once
again have to solve - temporarily at least - the operating expenses
while
signing trade agreements that allow for the consolidation of finances.
In
addition to payroll, the owners of the teams will be responsible again
for the
payment of baseballs with which the 2020 season will be played, the
operating
expenses of the Academy of El Carmen, and the air tickets, lodging and
travel
expenses of the umpires.
In
a January interview, de la Vega explains that he had no room to operate
because
his appointment was at the end of the year (last November 26), when
there was
no time to manage sponsorships.
“We
have guaranteed the operation of the LMB the first three months of the
year. We
have no risk of stopping but we definitely have to look for trade
agreements
soon. I trust that we will not stop operating because I have other
types of
agreements that are not sponsorships to get resources and free the
teams from
those expenses,” he says. “Javier Salinas did a great job in the
commercial end
because the LMB for years generated nothing. He started very well, had
ups and
downs, but failed to make commercial projects that integrated with
those of the
teams. That did not allow for growth.”
De
la Vega says that in the desire for clubs to stop making economic
contributions
and the LMB to become self-sustaining, former president Salinas took
away the
commercial assets from the teams and was in charge of selling them to
raise
that money. This means that, for example, in a baseball stadium there
are
spaces that can be marketed, such as the mound. Before Salinas was
president,
each team sold those spaces.
“When
you take away the commercial assets, you harm them,” said de la Vega.
“On the
other hand, if you do not do so, then the LMB does not have to sell and
they
have to contribute the money to operate the league.
“The
question is how do we make it so that the clubs do not continue
financing the
LMB, it is strengthened, collects more money and can be
self-sufficient. Right
now there are few commercial assets. If the LMB had five spaces per
team, the
dugout or the mound in the fences, I would have more to sell. Right now
I can't
do it.”
One
of the most urgent issues to address is the famous clause of the
agreement for
the sale of Mexican baseball players that the MLB office signed in
March 2019,
with the LMB teams receiving an additional bonus equivalent at 35% of
the
amount each player will receive. The objective of that percentage was
to
financially compensate the clubs that invested in the development of
the
prospects, but Clause III.C contravenes the nature of the agreement
and,
because of its deceptive wording, refuses to hand over compensation to
Mexican
teams. The signing of this agreement, among other factors, triggered
the
departure of Salinas as president.
“I
do not rule out making a renegotiation specifically of that clause so
as not to
have to give away to our players,” states de la Vega. “The agreement is
in
force for this year and we must comply with it, but I don't see it as a
one
hundred percent loss. I will travel to New York (headquarters of the
MLB office)
to make a proposal. The position of club owners is that you have to
unlock
this,” he says.
Horacio
de la Vega details that he wants to improve that agreement because
there is a
legitimate interest to continue exporting players to the majors.
However, that
cannot undermine the finances of the teams. He says he intends to reach
a
broader agreement that allows more regular season games to be held in
Mexico
and for the fan base to grow.
The
president of the LMB was asked whether in this scheme the only winner
is the
Big Leagues, a business that generates around 10 billion dollars
annually, and
that has no interest in helping the development of Mexican baseball or
in
growing the LMB, but it is obvious that there can be no distancing or
conflict
with such a powerful entity?
"I
agree,” de la Vega replied. “The autonomy of the Mexican League must be
protected. You're right: Here there are no options of where to sell
players,
the most viable is the MLB. It is monopolistic. The strategy cannot be
such a
negotiation. You have to understand that they are a business and have
their
interests. The LMB wants more Mexicans in the majors.”
It
is abusive that there is a clause that goes against the payment of a
percentage
for the clubs that develop the players. Should we make MLB see what
they are
doing?
“Totally.
You have to face it like this. It is not a subject of interpretation of
the
clause. The international players' signature is a business for them.
Period.
“We
cannot fight with a giant of that size. That is why the negotiation
will be
interesting. We aim to sell, not to give players away. We are in a
position of
openness and understanding.”
If
you fail to cancel that current agreement, and MLB offers to pay less
than 35%,
as they did at the beginning, would you accept it?
“When
you have nothing, to rescue something is a breakthrough. That contract
has a
direct impact on the teams and that cannot happen again.”
The
most important project that de la Vega says he will promote will be to
standardize the production of baseball games, in order to sell them to
all
those interested in transmitting them, insisting that it is essential
to
improve the lighting in the stadiums. All parks must have the same
light
intensity. In addition, he will generate a production notebook that
clubs must
agree on together, such as how many cameras there should be, where they
should
be placed and what angles or shots they should cover.
“I
am very clear that it is urgent to achieve the standardization of
production,”
de la Vega insists. “If we don't have a homogeneous product, I can't
sell it.”
How
can it be achieved if not all teams have money to invest in that facet?
“It
is part of my job to see how to get public resources.
Most of the stadiums are owned by state or
private governments with local or foreign entities. I have to generate
that
system.
“I
am not convinced to sell it to a single television station. I am
skeptical of
that. I prefer a model with many outputs for content distribution. You
will
remember that last year Facebook had a contract (the social network
paid 500
thousand dollars and not the 2 million dollars that were announced),
made its
selection of games and stayed with the best. That type of system must
be
changed. I don't know, give Facebook one day and that day only they
broadcast.
”
Can
you confirm that 2020 will see continued transmissions on Facebook?
“The
contract is not signed yet, but we are very advanced. This year will be
trial
and error. There are also Twitter, Twitch and other social networks. We
are
going to analyze what suits the league in economic terms, scope and
penetration.
“We
must also insist that people go to the stadiums and have the best
experience.
We have to turn out children and young people, because we are
interested in them
being fans of the LMB clubs. We have to provoke that. How do we do it?
By
massing baseball with the children in the schools. One strategy is the
world
championships that we will have in Mexico this year, one of them is
Baseball 5,
and baseball being promoted in schools.”
The
president of the league sets out the example of skateboarding as an
Olympic
sport: “I would never have imagined seeing skateboarding as an official
sport
in the Olympic Games, but I understand that it is a youth sport, which
is very
attractive for television coverage and there are a lot of people who
consume
that product.
“You have to turn into that or you die.”