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B a s e b a l l
M e x i c o
Monday,
July 12, 2021
MEXICAN
OLYMPIC TEAM SELECTED; CLARK STEAMED BY EXCLUSION
Players for Mexico's first-ever
Olympic baseball team have been selected, with 24 athletes slated to
make the
trip to Tokyo later this month along with manager Benji Gil and his
coaching
staff. Twelve are pitchers on the roster along with two catchers, six
infielders and four outfielders.
The two most
internationally-experienced members of the team are first baseman
Adrian
Gonzalez and relief pitcher Oliver Perez. The former major leaguers are
the
only two players to have represented Mexico in the first four editions
of the
World Baseball Classic. Both are currently in their first seasons
playing in
the Mexican League, with Gonzalez playing for Gil in Guadalajara and
Perez
coming out of the bullpen for Omar Vizquel in Tijuana.
In all, the Mexican roster includes
eight players of dual nationality while eleven belong to the Mexican
Pacific
League's Culiacan Tomateros, who've won two consecutive winterball
pennants
under Gil's management. That latter point has raised a few eyebrows
among the
country's baseball cognoscenti, many of whom have said that there were
better
choice available. That skepticism has extended into the playing ranks,
with one
ballplayer in particular being very vocal over being passed over by
selectors
from the Mexican Baseball Federation (FEMEBE).
Leon Bravos first baseman Matt Clark
represented the United States in the 2011 Baseball World Cup but
homered for
Mexico against the USA in the 2019 Premier12 tournament's third-place
game to
help the Verdes Grande win the contest, punching their ticket
to Tokyo
in the process. Clark was expecting to be rewarded for his
contributions during
the Qualifier and was outraged after Gonzalez and Efren Navarro, who
has played
the past two winters for Gil in Culiacan, were selected to play first
instead. Taking
to Twitter, Clark said, “What a
joke. Without my
homerun Mexico is not even in the Olympics. I wish the players the best
but
what an absolute sham by the LMB and the people that make the team.”
Clark hit .316 with 27 homers and 87
RBIs for Leon in 2019 but was traded to Monterrey in February as part
of a
five-player swap that netted the Bravos outfielders Felix Perex and
Chris
Roberson. Since returning to the Bravos from Monterrey on June 15 (when
the
Sultanes traded for outfielder Carlos Alvarez), the 34-year-old Clark
has hit
.337 for Leon with seven homers and 19 RBIs over 21 games. Gonzalez,
39, is
sixth in the LMB with a .375 average to go with five homers and 38 RBIs
(tied
for third) in 35 games after not playing since 2018. Navarro, 35, was
batting
.339 with no homers and 16 ribbies for Tijuana after 37 games.
Outfielders Joey
Meneses and Sebastian Elizalde can also play first if needed.
One of the players chosen to make
the trip to Japan was unsurprisingly sanguine about the Olympics.
Former
Yankees infielder Ramiro Pena, who has also played in Japan and is
currently
toiling for Monterrey. Pena told Thomas Lopez of Septima Entrada
that he
thinks Mexico stands a good chance of earning a medal. “I
think the team is
going to be very good,” Pena said. “It is very well formed. I think
that with
the names that are there, we can do a very good job...I think there
will be
very good results.” Pena, who turns 36 on July 18 and has played in
Culiacan
the past 13 winters, also expressed confidence in manager Gil:
“Obviously I
know Benjamin and I know how he is. I think he's a very good manager
and I
think he'll help us focus on bringing in the gold."
The Olympic baseball squad will
begin gathering in Mexico City on Saturday, with a July 21 evening
departure to
Tokyo. The Mexican League office has announced that the nine LMB teams
with a
total of 16 players going to Japan will be allowed to bring in players
of any
nationality to replace them on their rosters while the Summer Games are
going
on. The other eight players representing Mexico have been playing in
Japan,
Taiwan and MLB-affiliated minor leagues. One of them, former Red Sox
second-round draft pick Teddy Stankiewicz, earlier pitched in Taiwan
for the
Uni-President Lions this season (a 1.07 ERA over 50.1 innings) before
being
given his release July 1 so he could play in the Olympics. Stankiewicz
signed
with Tijuana one day later but has yet to pitch for the Toros.
Mexico's first Olympic baseball game
is scheduled for July 30, when they take on the Dominican Republic.
Their
second game will be one day later against host Japan, whose hoe-field
advantage
will not include a partisan crowd in the stands. It was announced last
week
that after a recent upsurge in Wuhan virus cases in the island nation,
no
spectators will be admitted to any Olympic event. Initially, limited
audiences
were to have been permitted, but with no cheering allowed from the
seats.
STREAKING
MARIACHIS CREATE BREATHING ROOM ATOP LMB NORTH
A week before he leads the Mexican
Olympic baseball team to Tokyo for the Summer Games, manager Benji Gil
and the
Guadalajara Mariachis reeled off a seven-game winning streak to open a
3.5-game
lead over Tijuana in the Mexican League's Northern Division standings.
The
first-year franchise posted a weekend road sweep in Mexico City and and
won two
games each against Puebla and the Toros to build their record up to an
LMB-best
30-9 before dropping a 6-4 decision Sunday in the border city.
The Guadalajara offense has been
firing on all cylinders the entire season, leading the Liga with a .339
team
batting average while scoring 7.77 runs per game. Infielder Niko
Vasquez second
behind Durango's Tito Polo with a .425 mark. The Mexican League isn't
seeing
the inflated averages this year that marked the 2019 campaign after
switching
back to a Rawlings baseball instead of the livelier Franklin ball used
that
season. Only three teams are averaging above .300 in 2021 compared with
ten in
2019 (Yucatan averaged .299 while three more teams were .294 or better).
Despite losing Sunday, Guadalajara's
30-10 mark leads Tijuana (29-16), defending champion Monclova (28-16)
and
Saltillo (26-18) in the LMB North standings while Union Laguna (19-22)
and
Aguascalientes (17-20) are in a virtual tie for fifth place. Despite
being
swept at home by the Mariachis early in the month, Mexico City (26-15)
is ahead
of Yucatan (23-19), Veracruz (23-21) and Puebla (21-21) in the LMB
South,
although the Pericos have stumbled to one win over their past ten games
after
starting July with a 20-12 record. Tabasco and Quintana Roo have
identical
21-23 records to tie for fifth in the division.
Colombian centerfielder Polo of
Durango took over the lead in the Mexican League batting race after
going
3-for-5 with a double and his fifth homer of the season during Friday's
7-3
Generales win at Dos Laredos and finished the weekend at .426, one
ahead of
Vasquez. Henry Urrutia of Saltillo is third with a .414 average. Leon's
Xavier
Batista continues to lead the circuit with 14 homers, one more than the
13 of
Rainel Rosario, a former teammate of Batista's on Japan's Hiroshima
Carp. Three
players have 12 dingers each and Urrutia is one of four players tied
for sixth
with 11 roundtrippers and is closing the gap on the LMB's RBI leader
Leandro
Castro of Tijuana, whose 50 ribbies are just three ahead of Urrutia's
47. Toros
second sacker Isaac Rodriguez, who'll be playing in the Olympics later
this month,
now has 17 stolen bases. Alonzo Harris of Oaxaca trails Rodriguez with
15
swipes.
Ageless wonder Bartolo Colon of
Monclova and longtime NPB hurler Masaru Nakamura of Guadalajara both
won games
last week, while Aguascalientes reliever Anthony Vizcaya somehow won
two
despite a 6.64 ERA to tie for the lead among Mexican League pitchers
with six
win apiece. Nakamura's ERA is a solid (for this league) 3.10 while
Colon is
right behind at 3.14 as both rank among the top ten in that category
behind
Veracruz' Dylan Unsworth's 2.57. Unsworth has walked just four batters
in 42
innings and tops the loop with an 0.98 WHIP. Puebla's Jose Valdez has
overtaken
Mexico City's Hector Hernandez for the Liga leadership in strikeouts,
52 to 50.
Tijuana's former MLB All-Star Fernando Rodney heads the list with 13
saves, one
more than closers Carlos Bustamante of Monclova and Union Laguna's
Jenrry
Mejia.
Looking ahead, Mexico City will host
defending champion Monclova from Tuesday through Thursday in an
important
matchup of two divisional contenders. Tijuana will play in Guadalajara
for trio
of games next weekend with the Toros minus infielders Efren Navarro and
Isaac
Rodriguez along with reliever Oliver Perez, who'll be heading to Tokyo
for the
Olympics along with first baseman Gonzalez and skipper Gil from the
Mariachis.
PURO
BEISBOL:
CHARROS FOR SALE, PERICOS OWNER A BUYER?
The ongoing battle between Jalisco Charros co-owners Armando Navarro and Salvador Quirarte has been well-chronicled in Baseball Mexico. The conflict between the two men, which led Quirarte being stripped of his duties as the Guadalajara team's president last winter, has gotten personal and nasty while seemingly destined to end up in a courtroom. And now there's another apparent twist in the saga: The Mexican Pacific League team may be up for sale to an outside owner.
Puro Beisbol editor Fernando
Ballesteros has been one of Mexican baseball's best-connected
columnists since
starting the social media outlet in 2004. The Culiacan-based scribe
reported in
his Zona de Contaco column last week that Navarro and Quirarte
may both
be willing to sell their respective shares in the Charros.
Jalisco has become one of the
MexPac's flagship clubs since the two men bought the Guasave
Algodoneros
following the 2013-14 season and moved the team to Guadalajara's
retrofitted
Estadio Panamerica, which had housed both baseball and track &
field events
during the 2011 Pan American Games. The 16,000-seat ballpark, now named
Estadio
Charros, is located in the Guadalajara suburb of Zapopan and has hosted
games
in the 2017 World Baseball Classic as well as the 2018 Caribbean Series.
While the Charros have become one of
the LMP's bright lights on the field and at the gate, the front office
has
degenerated into a proverbial dog's breakfast. Relations between
Navarro and
Quirarte have deteriorated over the past seven years, culminating in
Quirarte
being forced out of the team's day-to-day operations last year after
allegations of financial irregularities surfaced. The two have held
competing
press conferences hurling accusations at each other since then, and the
split
appears as permanent as it does severe.
Complicating matters is that there are two companies involved and potentially working at cross purposes. According to a Google translation of a January story in Milenio, “Quirarte explained that the Holding Deportiva de Jalisco, SA de CV company is the one that has shares in a series of operating companies, among which is Juegos y Espectáculos Beisbol Charros, SA de CV which operates the cash flow and has the concession of the stadium; Holding Deportiva is where the share percentages of the different team members are derived.
“According to Quirarte, Juegos y
Espectáculos is 99 percent owned by Holding Deportiva (in
which Quirarte
has 41.5 percent shares) while the other 1 percent belongs to Armando
Navarro,
who is the sole general administrator of Juegos y Espactaculos.”
Quirarte was quoted later in the story that “All I want is to reach a
fair
agreement for the good of the team, the fans and the league.”
The “fair agreement” may be the sale
of the Charros, something Quirarte says he's willing to do. Ballesteros
writes
that two sources from within the State of Jalisco government are saying
that
businessman Jose “Pepe” Miguel (aka The King of Beans) was interested
in
possibly purchasing the Charros, something that the owner of the
Mexican
League's Puebla Pericos denied in a letter to Puro Beisbol.
Miguel bought the Pericos franchise
in 2019 after it was one of four LMB franchises brought back from
contraction
on orders from newly-elected Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez
Obrador.
While the other three revived franchises (Aguascalientes, Laguna and
Leon) have
all resumed bleeding red ink, Miguel's Pericos drew well at the gate in
2019
and their resuscitation has been a success thus far, with Miguel's
proactive
approach in reaching out to fans in the colonial city deserving much of
the
credit.
The open conflict between the two men whose success in Guadalajara has been recognized by the international baseball community appears to be thankfully coming to an end. No matter how things play out, however, both Armando Navarro and Salvador Quirarte deserve much credit for bringing a tailender winterball franchise to a city that had never previously embraced baseball and making sure the team not only survives, but thrives.
