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B a s e b a l l
M e x i c o
Monday,
November 9, 2020
LMP SHUTS DOWN FOR 11 DAYS TO BATTLE VIRUS SURGE
Following an uptick of Wuhan virus
cases that led to series delays and postponements or cancellations of
games
(including two entire series), the Mexican Pacific League held an
emergency
Assembly of Presidents meeting late last week, where it was decided to
close
the season down for eleven days, beginning Friday, November 6. Games
are slated
to resume on Tuesday, November 17.
Things began to unravel Tuesday,
October 27, when a scheduled series opener in Hermosillo between the
Naranjeros
and visiting Culiacan was delayed one day "in order to maintain the
logistical protocols," according to a press release from the LMP
office.
The series instead started Wednesday, October 28 with two seven-inning
games,
the adjusted format for doubleheaders this winter.
It was determined Monday of last
week that two Los Mochis players, pitcher Santiago Gutierrez and
outfielder
Leandro Castro, were shown to have the virus in a second round of
testing after
general tests had indicated six "suspicious" results among Caneros
players and coaches. Sports manager Carlos Soto said both Gutierrez and
Castro
had been sequestered in Mexicali hotel rooms and were to be transferred
back to
Los Mochis while the team awaited further results. A third Caneros
player,
infielder Isaac Rodriguez, also initially tested positive and was being
quarantined in his hotel room until secondary test results on the
defending Mex
Pac batting champion were received. Rodriguez was eventually cleared
and back
in the lineup Wednesday night as the Caneros continued playing.
The pandemic trickle then became a
river, with the league office cancelling a midweek series between
Hermosillo
and Monterrey. The floodgates opened with the cancellation last
Thursday of a
weekend series between the Sultanes and Venados in Mazatlan while the
LMP also
postponed the third game of a midweek set that night between Mazatlan
and
Guasave until mid-November with the entire weekend triad of games
between
Hermosillo and Guasave called off.
At that point, Mex Pac president
Omar Canizales convened the emergency Assembly meeting on Friday, which
led to
the cessation of all games for eleven days, starting that evening. A
press
release from the LMP office in Guadalajara states the stoppage, the
first in
the loop's 76-year history, will be used to intensify testing of all
players,
coaching staffs and "collaborators" who have contact with them. All
team members will need to present negative virus tests before they'll
be
allowed on the field when play resumes November 17. Lost games will not
be made
up while the first half will be extended until Thursday, November 26,
four days
after its original conclusion on Sunday, November 22. The adjusted
schedule
will mean a reduction of nine games, with a first half of 29 games
followed by
a second half with a 30-game calendar.
YAQUIS
STILL ON TOP, SWING 4-FOR-1 TRADE WITH MAYOS
Amid an ongoing flurry of player
movement, the Obregon Yaquis continued their red-hot play into the
unscheduled
work stoppage, maintaining first place in the Mexican Pacific League
standings
when the league office halted games for eleven days. Culiacan thwarted
the
Yaquis' attempt to complete a road sweep by topping Obregon, 14-4,
Thursday night
as Sebastian Elizalde's seventh inning grand slam capped a six-RBI
night for
the Tomateros rightfielder, but the loss only dropped the Yaquis'
record to
17-3 for the season, good enough for a three-and-a-half-game lead over
second-place Hermosillo (12-5). The win lifted fourth-place Culiacan to
11-9, a
game-and-a-half behind idle Monterrey (11-6).
Earlier in the week, Obregon
completed a blockbuster trade with last-place Navojoa (6-14) by trading
four
players to the Mayos for first baseman Victor Mendoza, who was in his
fifth
winterball seasons in Navojoa but was also a two-time playoff
reinforcement for
the Yaquis. A hometown boy who turns 30 later this month, the Yaquis
had sought
to get Mendoza from Navojoa for some time, but the price they paid for
the
6'2" 205-pounder raised eyebrows among observers throughout the Mex Pac.
To acquire Mendoza, who was batting
.209 with no homers and eight RBIs in 13 games, Obregon gave the Mayos
starting
pitcher Octavio Acosta (3-0 with a league-leading 2.12 ERA), outfielder
Tirso
Ornelas (a highly-regarded 20-year-old San Diego Padres prospect
batting .267
in part-time duty), infielder Moises Gutierrez (a .250 hitter in his
fourth LMP
season) and veteran pitcher Francisco Moreno, who had yet to pitch for
Obregon
after being acquired from Mazatlan in yet another trade. The
lefty-batting
Mendoza had not suited up for the Yaquis before play was halted but
manager
Sergio Gastelum will count on him to augment his 19 career homers in
226 games
over seven winters when he returns while sports manager Manuel Velez
may have
even more riding on Mendoza's success.
Navojoa also helped themselves last
week by adding a former Major league Baseball first-round draft pick to
their
roster. D.J. Peterson was selected out of the Unversity of New Mexico
by
Seattle with the 12th pick of the 2013 draft and went on to play in the
Mariners system until the White Sox picked him up on waivers in 2017.
He also
spent time in the Cincinnati organization before playing the last two
summers
with the independent Sugar Land Skeeters in the Houston area. Able to
play
third and first base, Peterson hit .264 with 108 homers in 673 games
over seven
minor league campaigns before batting .293 with 12 homers over 63 games
the
past two years. He hit .236 with two roundtrippers for Mexicali last
winter and
was due to play for Quintana Roo this year before the Mexican League
canceled
its season, returning to Sugar Land instead.
Speaking of Mexicali, the Aguilas
removed the "interim" part of Bronswell Patrick's title as manager of
the team. Patrick replaced Pedro Mere on October 23 after the Eagles
started
the season by losing their first eight games. Since then Patrick led
Mexicali
to six wins in his first ten games at the helm, including a 4-0 triumph
over Los
Mochis last Wednesday in which starter David Reyes, a Los Mochis
native, tossed
both his first complete game and shutout in nine Mex Pac seasons. The
Aguilas
told Patrick the dugout boss job was his after that game and Mexicali
topped
the Caneros, 5-4, the next night before the season was halted. It's
worth
remembering that while the interim status was taken away from Patrick,
this is
Mexican baseball, where all managers work on an interim basis, one way
or
another.
CHRIS
ROBERSON STEPS DOWN AFTER 16 YEARS OF WINTERBALL
One of the most popular ballplayers
south of the border and a fixture in the Mexican Pacific League for
years may
be calling it good after 16 years of winterball. Outfielder Chris
Roberson, who
broke into the Mex Pac with Hermosillo in 2005-06 and also performed
with
Mexicali for nine years before being loaned by the Aguilas to Mazatlan
last
season, parted company with the Venados last Friday. After 15 games,
the
Californian was batting .170 with one double and eight RBIs and had
expressed
his desire to leave the club for personal reasons. The LMP's
pandemic-driven
work stoppage created an opening and Roberson was granted a release
last Friday
and went home.
Born in Oakland in 1979, Roberson
was picked from Feather River College north of Sacramento on the ninth
round of
the 2001 draft by Philadelphia. He spent seven years in the Phillies
system,
earning AA Eastern League MVP and Rookie of the Year honors in 2005 on
the
heels of a .311 season at the plate with 15 homers and 34 steals for
Reading.
After making his LMP debut with Hermosillo later that year, Roberson
played his
first MLB game on May 12, 2006 during an 8-4 Philadelphia win in
Cincinnati. He
went on to appear in 85 big league games, mostly as a defensive
replacement,
and hit .232 in 72 plate appearances. The Phils sold Roberson to the
Orioles in
2008 and he spend that season with Norfolk of the AAA International
League
before signing as a free agent with the Diamondbacks and playing for
Reno in
the AAA Pacific Coast League in 2009.
Roberson spent his fifth winter in
Hermosillo in 2009-10 and appeared in his first Caribbean Series, then
made his
move to Mexico permanent by signing with Monterrey of the Mexican
League for
the 2010 campaign. He's patrolled the Sultanes outfield ever since,
batting
.333 (topping .300 nine of ten seasons) with 112 homers and 160 steals
while
scoring 657 runs from his customary leadoff spot in the batting order
while
performing in six All-Star Games and playing for the Fall 2018
champions.
While his .285 average with 68
homers, 168 steals and 548 runs in 16 seasons of winterball mostly
don't match
his Mexican League marks, Roberson has been a distinctive Mex Pac
performer
over the years. He played in seven Caribbean Series between 2011 and
2018 and was
named MVP of the 2014 Crown Jewel of Latin Baseball after leading
Hermosillo to
the title while leading all batters with ten hits (including the
event's lone
triple), six runs, two steals and 19 stolen bases over six games.
Whether Roberson, who turned 41 in
August, has retired is partly his choice. While he's now a free agent
in the
LMP, he's still on Monterrey's Mexican League roster and the Sultanes
fan
favorite did hit .338 with eight homers and five steals in 72 games for
manager
Roberto Kelly in 2019. If he decides he's done with Mexican baseball,
he's
certainly not done with Mexico. Married to Monterrey native Yaneth and
father
to two daughters, Roberson became a Mexican citizen in 2016 and played
for
Mexico in the 2017 World Baseball Classic under skipper Edgar Gonzalez.
Although Chris Roberson may have been born and raised in California, his heart and soul now appear to be firmly planted in Mexico.
