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B a s e b a l l
M e x i c o
Monday,
October 31, 2022
ROMERO OUT AS YAQUIS HELMSMAN AFTER 14 GAMES
Seventeen days into the 2022-23
Mexican Pacific League season, the Obregon Yaquis board of directors
fired
manager Willie Romero last Friday. Bench coach Russel Vasquez was also
sent
packing after the Yaquis had posted a 5-9 record and were one game
ahead of
last-place Jalisco when the axe fell a little over two weeks into the
schedule.
The Mexican managerial
merry-go-round (and the accompanying lack of job security running a
baseball
team south of the border) has been chronicled here for years, but few
helmsmen
have been given the pink slip as soon into their first season as
Romero. The
48-year-old Venezuelan was spirited away by Obregon last spring from
the
Magallanes Navegantes, who he'd led to the Venezuelan League title last
winter,
to replace Sergio Gastelum, the 2020-21 LMP manager of the year.
Replacing Romero at the helm of the
Yaquis will be Luis Carlos Rivera, a former Atlanta and Baltimore
pitcher who
had been serving as Mazatlan's pitching coach after ironically coaching
Romero's mound staff in Magallanes last season. The 44-year-old Rivera
has
managed Yucatan, Leon and Aguascalientes in the Mexican League but this
will be
the first time he's run a team in the Mex Pac. If history is any
indication, it
won't be the last.
The Hermosillo Naranjeros have
lifted their record to 12-5 and opened a three-game lead over six teams
tied
for second place with identical 9-8 records: Culiacan, Guasave, Los
Mochis,
Mazatlan, Mexicali and Navojoa. Monterrey and Obregon are tied for
eighth at
7-10 while defending champion Jalisco brings up the rear at 5-12.
One of players Rivera inherited from
Romero in Obregon, outfielder Yadir Drake, leads the LMP in batting
with a .365
average, ahead of Culiacan's Ramiro Pena (.359) and Leo Heras of
Mexicali
(.351). Monterrey slugger Fernando Perez, who's batting .323 for the
Sultanes
is the co-leader with four homers (matched in roundtrippers by Niko
Vasquez of
Mexicali, Hermosillo's Nick Torres and Sebastian Valle of Obregon).
Perez also
leads the Mex Pac with 18 RBIs, two ahead of Jalisco's Christian
Villanueva.
Hermosillo outfielder Jose Cardona has eight steals, topping Randy
Romero of
Mazatlan by one on the swipes chart.
Three pitchers are tied at the top
of the wins list with three victories apiece: Jalisco's Tyler
Alexander, Juan
Paul Oramas of Hermosillo and Mexicali's Davis Reyes. The veteran
Oramas is
third in ERA at 1.10, trailing only Los Mochis' Luis Miranda's 0.00 and
Nico
Tellache's 1.07 ERA for Guasave. The 2-0 Miranda, a former Atlanta
farmhand who
was 1-8 with a 9.64 ERA for Guadalajara last summer in the Mexican
League, has
allowed just seven hits over 13 scoreless innings in three starts for
the
Caneros. Guasave's Jeff Kinley and Javier Solano of Jalisco are tied
for the
lead in strikeouts with 21 apiece while Elkin Alcala of Mazatlan and
Guasave's
Brandon Koch each have eight saves to split the lead in that category.
2023 CARIBBEAN SERIES SCHEDULE RELEASED; CUBA RETURNS
In conjunction with the Caribbean
Professional Baseball Confederation, the Caribbean Series organizing
committee
has released the nine-day schedule for the 2023 version of the Crown
Jewel of
Latin Baseball, to be held between Thursday, February 2 through Friday,
February 10 in Caracas, Venezuela.
The 65th Serie del Caribe
will feature eight national champions for the first time as Cuba
returns
following a two-year absence while Curacao makes its initial entry into
the
competition. Longtime combatants Puerto Rico, Mexico, host Venezuela
and the
Dominican Republic have taken part almost every winter since the
Caribbean
Series was revived in 1970 after an 11-year layoff while Panama and
Colombia
have joined the fray on a conditional basis in recent years.
Panama hosted the event in an
emergency capacity in 2019 after political and economic turmoil forced
Venezuela to back out of hosting the tournament weeks before it took
place,
with the Panamanians surprising the baseball world by winning the CS.
Colombia
joined the roster of nations in 2020 and after going winless their
first two
years, they won the championship last February in Santo Domingo,
Dominican
Republic.
With eight teams competing in Gran Caracas 2023, four games will be played daily over the first seven dates of round-robin competition. The newer Estadio Rinaconda will host three games per day while venerable Estadio La Guaira will feature one game. On the Thursday, February 2 Opening Day, Cuba and Curaçao will meet at Rinconada Stadium at 10:30 AM. Colombia and Puerto Rico will do battle at La Guaira Stadium at 2:00PM. The final two contests of the day will take place at Estadio Rinconada as Mexico and the Dominican Republic will face each other at 3:00PM and in the official opening match after opening ceremonies, Panama and Venezuela will square off at 8:15PM.
Game times and venues will remain
the same throughout seven days of first-round action, with Venezuela
playing in
each nightcap as the host team. One semifinal on Thursday, February 9
will be
played at Estadio La Guaira while the other semi is slated for Estadio
Rinaconda. The following day, both games will take place at Rinaconda
with the
third-place game scheduled for 2:30PM and the title contest set for
7:30PM.
The calendar proposed by the
Organizing Committee was approved by the CBPC Assembly and endorsed by
the
Confederation of Professional Players of the Caribbean (CONPEPROCA).
CBPC
commissioner Juan Francisco Puello Herrera said, "We want to
congratulate
the members of the Organizing Committee and the Venezuelan Baseball
League for
the tremendous work they have been doing to set up a great Caribbean
Series in
February 2023."
The Organizing Committee is also
preparing the start of ticket sales for the first days of November.
MLBers LINING UP TO PLAY FOR MEXICO IN WBC NEXT YEAR
The countdown to the 2023 World
Baseball Classic has already begun and with it, the assembling of the
20 teams
that will play the tournament next March also began. Mexico has not
been left
behind and some of the names that will see action on the field of play
during
the international event are already known. Los Angeles Dodgers starting
pitcher
Julio Urías, Tampa Bay Rays infielder Randy Arozarena and Houston
Astros hurler
Jose Urquidy were all confirmed earlier in October.
Urías is coming off a historic
season in the Major Leagues with the Dodgers, finishing as the National
League's ERA leader with a 2.16 mark (becoming the first player born in
Mexico
to do so) while finishing with a record of 17-7 and an 0.96 WHIP in 175
innings
pitched and recording 166 strikeouts in 31 starts.
Arozarena played 153 games with
Tampa Bay, posting a .263 batting average with 20 home runs, 72 runs
scored,
and 89 RBIs. In April of this year, the man born in Havana, Cuba but
now a
resident of Merida, Yucatan in the off-season received his Mexican
citizenship
and reiterated his desire to represent the Verdes Grande in the World
Baseball
Classic.
Urquidy was announced as the third
member of Mexico's WBC team. The 27-year-old Mazatlan product is
currently
pithing for Houston in the World Series after going 13-8 wth a 3.94 ERA
over 28
starts for the Astros in 2022. Urquidy, who has yet to pitch in the
current
postseason, won both his starts against Atlanta in last year's World
Series.
Three
more major league players join the list of players who have confirmed
their
interest in participating with Mexico: Boston Red Sox outfielder Alex
Verdugo,
New York Mets starter Taijuan Walker and St. Louis Cardinals
reliever Giovanny
Gallegos, reported the Mexican National Team Commission.
Verdugo has six seasons of
experience in the Major Leagues and is currently with the Red Sox. For
his
career, he boasts a .286 batting average, 44 home runs and 210 RBIs. He
began
his big league career as a Dodgers outfielder.
Walker is a starter for the New York
Mets and has 10 years of experience in the Major Leagues, where he has
an
overall record of 54-50 with a 3.89 ERA and 806 strikeouts. In 2021 he
was
chosen to participate in the All Star Game as a Mets representative.
Gallegos has built a six-year MLB
career in which he's also worn a Yankees jersey. The 31-year-old
Obregon native
had 57 appearances in 2022 for the Cards, registering an ERA of 3.05
with 73
strikeouts, a 1.02 WHIP and 14 saves in 20 opportunities.
Mexico is part of Group C of the
World Baseball Classic alongside the United States, Colombia, Canada
and Great
Britain. The Mexican squad will begin play on Sunday, March 11 against
the
Colombians at noon local time, followed by games against the USA on
March 12,
Great Britain on March 14 and Canada on March 15.
All Group C contests will take place in Phoenix at the Arizona Diamondbacks home ballpark. The top two teams from each of four groups will advance to the quarterfinals in Miami on March 17 and 18 while the final four will continue play at Marlins Park for the semifinals and championship game March 19-21.