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B a s e b a l l
M e x i c o
Monday,
October 19, 2020
MEXICALI
MAYOR GIVES AGUILAS GREEN LIGHT FOR FANS IN STANDS
The number of Mexican Pacific League
teams allowed to open their home ballparks to limited fans at home
games is now
up to five. Rafael Martinez Barraza of AlBat.com reports that Mexicali
mayor
Marina del Pilar Avila has authorized the Aguilas to admit up to 30
percent of El
Nido's 17,000-seat capacity (or about 5,100 fans) during the
2020-21
season. The governor of Sinaloa gave the green light for four Mex Pac
teams to
open their stadiums for up to about 40 percent capacity this season.
The league
schedule will begin Thursday, October 15 while the Aguilas will host
Monterrey
in their home opener five nights later. Mexicali is the loop's lone
team in Baja
California.
Martinez says league security
protocols will be strictly adhered to during Aguilas home games this
winter. In
order to enter El Nido, fans will be required to have their
temperature
taken at the gate, use antibacterial gel and wear masks in the stands.
Mayor
del Pilar adds that if Mexicali experiences an outbreak of the Wuhan
virus
during the season, the stadium will be closed to the public and people
who
bought tickets in advance will “eventually” be given a refund.
The partial opening in Mexicali
leaves five LMP franchises still looking at playing behind closed doors
this
winter: Hermosillo, Navojoa and Obregon in Sonora, Monterrey in Nuevo
Leon and
Jalisco in that state. Martinez says the four Sinaloa teams allowed by
Governor
Quirino Ordaz Coppel have already begun to block off their ballpark
seating to
reflect social distancing requirements, including the Mazatlan Venados.
At Estadio Teodoro Mariscal, where
the 2021 Caribbean Series is scheduled to be held in late January and
early February,
Venados staff members are covering three seats in each row, with two
seats
being left open in alternating fashion for occupancy during games. The
scheme
is meant to provide a “cushion” of sorts in which pairs of fans will be
surrounded by empty seats to the front, rear and sides in a zig-zag
pattern.
All ballparks allowing fans to
attend games are expected to follow a similar format.
PLAYERS
REPORTING AS ALL MEX PAC CAMPS GET UNDERWAY
Ballplayers from across Mexico and
points elsewhere have been reporting to the Mexican Pacific League
teams as all
ten LMP training camps are now in full swing. Opening night is a little
over
two weeks away, with five games slated for Thursday, October 15.
Three players in particular are
considered vital for the upcoming season by their respective Mex Pac
squads,
including incoming Culiacan outfielder Johnny Davis.
The 30-year-old Davis had a very good year in
the Mexican League in 2019, batting an even .300 and leading the LMB
with 54
stolen bases for Dos Laredos and Oaxaca before his contract was sold to
the
Tampa Bay Rays in md-August. After spending a few days with the Rays'
AA
Montgomery affiliate, the Compton Comet was called up for his MLB debut
September 11. He played eight games for the Rays and had a triple in
four
at-bats, scoring five runs while being used primarily as a pinch-runner.
Davis, who did not play baseball in
high school, signed a minor league deal with Tampa Bay for 2020 but has
not
played this season. He's being brought to the defending champion
Tomateros to
replace centerfielder Rico Noel, who refused to sign a contract with
the team
at a lower salary. Culiacan sport manager Mario Valdez says, “We're
confident
he can help us very well by covering center field and being the team's
leadoff
hitter. He has excellent speed and that fits very well with the type of
game
that we've been playing in recent years.” Davis is expected to report
October
1. This will be the 5'10 switch-hitter's first season in the Mex Pac,
although
he has played winterball in Venezuela in the past.
One player who needs no introduction
to LMP fans is looking forward to his 13th season in the league.
Hulking first
baseman/designated hitter Japhet Amador has reported to the Jalisco
Charros
training camp in Guadalajara after missing all of last season to heal
an
Achilles tendon injury he'd suffered in late 2019 playing for Mexico
City in
the Mexican League. The 6'4” 310-pounder whose nickname is “The Mulege
Giant”
acknowledges that he has work to do after not playing baseball for over
13
months. “A year without playing is something difficult to come back
from,”
Amador says. “You have to be ready at the beginning of the season to do
well
all year long.”
When healthy, Amador may be the most
feared slugger in Mexican baseball. After his 2007 Mexican League debut
with
the Minatitlan Petroleros at age 20, Amador has hit .332 with 195
homers in 794
games over 10 LMB seasons while cracking another 96 roundtrippers to
augment a
.269 average in ten LMP winters. He also socked 56 homers over 242
games in
three seasons in Japan with the Rakuten Eagles before being sent
packing for
PED use in 2018. Amador had a .336/28/115 season for Mexico City in
2019 and is
expected to be one of the anchors of Jalisco's batting order this
winter along
with outfielder Dariel Alvarez and longtime third baseman Agustin
Murillo.
Alvarez and Murillo were expected to report to the team in Guadalajara
last
week and undergo testing for the Wuhan virus before integrating with
their
teammates.
A
top pitcher joined the Navojoa Mayos on Friday after a
sometimes-trying
summer during which he was a member of three MLB organizations without
entering
a single game after having spent parts of the previous three years with
Boston.
Hector Velazquez, a 31-year-old righty from Obregon who went 11-7 in
879
appearances (including 19 starts) between 2017 and 2019, opened the
year in the
Red Sox training camp hoping for a berth with a team rebuilding just
two years
after winning the World Series.
Instead, Velazquez was waived to Baltimore in early March shortly before the pandemic shut down baseball across the Western Hemisphere and then traded to Houston on July 29 for a player to be named later. A two-time LMP Pitcher of the Year with Navojoa, Velazquez went 1-1 with a 1.80 in ten innings over as many appearances last season for the Mayos. In nine Mex Pac seasons, the last ten with Navojoa, Velazquez has a 29-23 record with a 3.87 ERA. Over seven summers in the Mexican League, six of them for Campeche, he was 43-29 over 120 starts with a 3.76 ERA. His best year was in 2016-17, when he went a combined 15-4 for the Piratas and Mayos, turned in a 2.33 ERA and struck out 218 batters while walking only 35 overall in 227 innings.
BBM EDITORIAL: MEXICAN LEAGUE MUST CONTRACT TO SURVIVE
When I wrote my first column on Mexican baseball for the OurSports Central website in March 2005, it was a temporary creative outlet between radio jobs. I'd cover the Mexican League until September, when I'd hopefully be back in radio, and that would be it. I eventually did land a radio job that summer but a funny thing happened by the time manager Che Reyes had piloted the Angelopolis Tigres to the LMB pennant: I'd come to care about the Mexican League and baseball south of the border in general, so I kept on writing and fifteen years later, I'm still here. Radio? Haven't earned a living in it since 2012. Who knew?
In all this time, although I've thrown an occasional personal observation into a story, I've tried to maintain the role of objective reporter rather than biased commentator about baseball in Mexico. It hasn't always been easy but I think I've largely succeeded and can count the number of editorials I've written on this topic on one hand. This will be one of them because, journalistic detachment aside, I truly want the Mexican League to not only survive but flourish and the things we've all seen the past few years suggest the opposite is happening. Things HAVE to change or the LMB may collapse under its own weight.
The biggest threat to the survival of the Mexican League is that there are simply too many teams. While there are certainly a number of success stories among the LMB's 16 clubs (Tijuana, Monterrey, Monclova, Yucatan, etc.), there are far too many are underperforming franchises that are dragging the rest of the Liga down with them. For every team like the Tijuana Toros, who led all of Minor League Baseball by averaging 11,291 per night in attendance, there are two teams like the Leon Bravos (who averaged fewer than 3,500 a game) and the Campeche Piratas, whose 1,743 per opening ranked an embarrassing 146th among all Minor League Baseball teams, including every team in the short-season Class A Northwest League. What are the likes of Leon and Campeche doing in a AAA league in 2020?
The Mexican League was going to contract to 12 teams in 2019 by giving Aguascalientes, Laguna, Leon and Puebla the year off (ostensibly to reorganize their finances), but then-new Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador overruled the move and ordered all four team reinstated. While Puebla was somewhat resuscitated under wealthy new owner Jose “The King of Beans” Miguel, with the Pericos averaging 4,693 per game (seventh in the LMB), the other three continued continued to languish on and off the field.
So what to do? As a longtime believer than any league, like a chain, is only as strong as its weakest league, the Mexican League needs to say adios to its weakest links by contracting. There were still too many poor franchises even after the first contraction attempt so rather than dropping four teams, the LMB would be best served by cutting itself in half to eight teams. My observation (admittedly from a distance) is that those eight remaining teams should be the Mexico City Diablos Rojos, Monclova Acereros, Monterrey Sultanes, Puebla Pericos, Saltillo Saraperos, Tijuana Toros, Yucatan Leones and Mexico City Tigres.
Yes, the Tigres should return to the
city of their birth to revive their 65-year rivalry with the Diablos,
even
though that guarantees that Fernando Valenzuela will sell the team
rather than
co-exist with a rival that has been the bane of his existence since
buying the
legacy franchise in early 2018. The smaller Mexican League would
maintain
balance, with four teams in the LMB North (Monclova, Monterrey,
Saltillo,
Tijuana) and four in the LMB South (Diablos, Tigres, Puebla and
Yucatan).
Assuming the Tigres are sold to qualified buyers who could co-exist
with
Alfredo Harp Helu and the Red Devils (perhaps even as tenants in Harp's
namesake
ballpark), all eight franchises would have financially solid ownerships
in
cities that have all proven past support for baseball.
This is not to say that the eight
contracted franchises shouldn't have the chance to be part of future
LMB
expansions after the Liga stabilizes. They could even continue to serve
as AA
affiliates of remaining LMB teams for player development and call-ups,
much as
the Liga Norte has done in the past. A four-team Liga Centro could be
formed
with Aguascalientes, Dos Laredos, Durango and Laguna while a similar
Liga Sur
could be cobbled from Campeche, Leon, Oaxaca and Tabasco. Although
salaries
would be lower, such a move would save 200 playing jobs while teams
operating
on lower budgets would have a better chance of sustainability at the AA
level.
How likely is any of this? Frankly,
Don Quixote's dream was more realistic. Even owners in a league in dire
need of
change to survive in the future would find it too difficult to do, even
if it
meant strengthening their product in the process, and let's not forget
how AMLO
killed a contraction half the size of this one. Just as Major League
Baseball
and Rob Manfred are using the bizarre 2020 season to reshape all of
baseball
north of the border (with rumblings that MLB even has an eye on a
takeover of
Little League Baseball), the Mexican League has a similar opportunity
to take a
hard and honest look at how it might best continue operating without
drowning
in a sea of red ink. Right now, the LMB has eight underfinanced and
inadequately
supported franchises dragging down the other eight that appear to be
succeeding. They need to go, at least for now.
What appears to be a most radical change also seems to be the most obvious one. Even the strongest trees need pruning to remain healthy.
