CARIBBEAN SERIES TO MOVE TO JANUARY?

CBPC president Juan Francisco Puello

The president of the Caribbean Professional Baseball Confederation is floating the idea of moving the Caribbean Series one week ahead to the end of January and the leader of the Mexican Pacific League, whose Mazatlan franchise will host the Serie del Caribe in 2021, is receptive to the idea.

According to the Septima Entrada website, CBPC head Juan Francisco Puello says that one reason for an earlier start is so more national winterball champions can take part in the event "as long as they meet the requirements and that we have the time for that...time is very important." Puello also told Septima Entrada that "we have a term according to the agreement with Major League Baseball, a limited period, so I have always insisted that this series should start at the end of January and conclude at the latest, in my opinion, on February 1."

Mexico's Caribbean Series team in 2017

Six nations sent their winter league champions to San Juan, Puerto Rico earlier this month for the Caribbean Series, including the Dominican Republic (home of the CS winner Este Toros), Venezuela, Mexico, Panama, first-timers Colombia and host Puerto Rico. Cuba was scheduled to send their CNS champion for the seventh consecutive year but backed out a month before the tournament, stating visa problems. Puello has disqualified Cuba from sending their pennant-winner to Mazatlan next January but is said to be interested in bringing new entries, perhaps from Nicaragua, Curacao or Argentina.

Such a move would almost guarantee the demise of the Latin American Series, a second-tier competition that was scheduled for January but cancelled after Panama and Colombia both took part in the CS instead while the Veracruz Winter League in Mexico went dark, leaving Nicaragua and Argentina as the sole LAS nations free to participate. Curacao was set to send champions Santa Maria to the 2019 LAS in Veracruz last winter but pulled out of the tournament, leading to the host LIV to be represented by two teams, Acayucan and Xalapa.

Mazatlan will host 2021 Serie del Caribe

Puello added that another consideration in proposing an earlier Caribbean Series is so it won't have to compete with the NFL's Super Bowl championship game, which also happens in early February. The CPBC will take up the matter at their next plenary session, ahead of which, Puello says, "We are working to see what the leagues think and hopefully, God willing, that can be confirmed to give a 180-degree turn to the Caribbean Series."

For his part, Mexican Pacific League president Omar Canizales is open to the idea of his league concluding its season earlier to accommodate the Caribbean Series in late January. "We have to analyze the schedule we assembled this last season with ten teams," said Canizales. "This forces us to put together a mirror calendar so teams can have road trips, home games, weekends...it can be a bit complicated. However, we are always in the best position to find formulas that help the Caribbean Series.

"At the same time, we have to take care of our local championship, without a doubt. Our local championship is very important."

16 CANDIDATES NAMED ON 2020 SALON DE LA FAMA BALLOT

Ex-Tigres OF Matias Carrillo

Former Mexican League slugger and Florida Marlins Matias Carrillo topped a list of ten new Salon de la Fama candidates that will join six existing nominees on the ballot to be sent out voters later this winter. Carrillo received 53 nominations from the 54 journalists and broadcasters who filled out their preliminary votes earlier this year. Ballots were counted by Mexican League president Horacio De La Vega, his Mexican Pacific League counterpart, Omar Canizales, Salon de la Fama director Francisco Padilla and Salon historian Horacio Ibarra.

Here's a list of the top ten vote-getters: Matias Carrillo (53 votes), Isidro Marquez (48), Vinny Castilla (43), Jose Luis Sandoval (43), Eduardo Jimenez (37), Luis Arredondo (29), Erubiel Durazo (22), Juan Manuel Palafox (21), Roberto Vizcarra (21) and Cecilio Ruiz (18).

A native of Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Carrillo batted .251 over 107 Major League games for Milwaukee and Florida spread over three seasons between 1991 and 1994 but by far had his greatest success in the LMB. In 22 Liga seasons, El Coyote hit .336 with 2,531 hits, including 330 homers, 420 doubles, 1,631 RBIs and 276 stolen bases. He is the only player in Mexican League history to top the 250 mark in both homers and steals and has gone on to become a successful, if well-traveled, manager.

LMB all-time saves leader Isidro Marquez

Marquez was a top reliever with a similarly long career, coming out of retirement at age 54 to make six scoreless appearances with his hometown Navojoa Mayos of the Mexican Pacific League this winter. He is the Mexican League's all-time saves leader with 301, nearly 100 more than his nearest competitor, Sixto Baez (who had 210), and earned saves in all three games of a series three times for Campeche in 2003.

The ten aforementioned players will be on the ballot with holdovers Nick Castaneda, Alex Trevino, Antonio Pulido, Francisco Garcia, Homar Rojas and Pablo Gutierrez, who've all been up for election in years past. From the

Salon de la Fama in Monterrey

ballot of 16 nominees, voters will determine the next five new members of the Salon de la Fama. Results will be announced in April and induction ceremonies held n November.

The Salon de la Fama spent seven years in limbo after the Cuauhtemoc brewery in Monterrey shut down the building where the museum had been housed in 2012. A new hall of fame in Monterrey was paid for by Mexico City Diablos Rojos owner Alfredo Harp Helu and formally opened February 20, 2019. In its first year, the Salon welcomed nearly 65,000 visitors from 27 countries.

"PANCHO PONCHES" NAMED NEW CAMPECHE MANAGER

Francisco Campos is new Piratas skipper

One of the Mexican League's most venerable and beloved pitchers will remain in Campeche as Francisco "Pancho Ponches" Campos has been named manager of the Piratas for 2020. A 15-time All-Star who spent nearly all of his 27-year LMB career pitching in the Walled City, Campos retired as an active player following the 2019 season. The Guaymas native has served as a bullpen and pitching coach over the past three winters for the Culiacan Tomateros of the Mexican Pacific League, but this will be his first manager's job.

Campos made his professional baseball debut in 1991 with Houston's Gulf Coast League affiliate as a catcher after wowing scouts at a tryout in Hermosillo. However, the 18-year-old hit just .147 for an Astros' rookie league squad that included future MLB star Bobby Abreu, then a 17-year-old outfielder. Campos also struggled defensively committing four errors and waving at nine passed balls, although the strong-armed backstop nailed 15 baserunners over his 21 outings. Campos' switch to the pitcher's mound following his release proved to be a prescient move.

Originally a Monclova property, Campos was sent to Campeche in 1993 and, except for stints in the Brewers and White Sox organizations and a late-season loan in 2006 to Monterrey (where he went 5-0 for the LMB North champ Sultanes), the man eventually known throughout Mexico as "Pancho Ponches" remained a Piratas mound mainstay for 27 seasons. After coming into the 2016 with 192 career wins, Campos struggled for four years to record his 200th victory, finally doing do last July 2 at home against Union Laguna and immediately going on the reserve list following what proved to be his last game. His 2,181 strikeouts place him fourth on the LMB's all-time list and he holds the record with five ponches titles. Campos also won the Pitching Triple Crown in 2004 with a 12-2 record, 99 K's and a 1.47 ERA, becoming the only hurler since Reynosa's Jim Horsford in 1968 to turn the hat trick. He tossed a no-hitter against Puebla in 2008, the year before he won his third ERA title.

New Rieleros manager Luis Carlos Rivera

Francisco Campos is arguably Mexican baseball's best pitcher of the 21st century and a sure bet for the Salon de la Fama, but now he'll take over from Jesus Sommers (a Salon member himself) to manage a team that finished 47-68 in 2019 and missed the playoffs for the third straight year. He becomes the LMB's latest managerial hire after Aguascalientes replaced Felix Fermin (gone to Durango) with Luis Carlos Rivera, who was canned in Yucatan last season after a previous stint in Leon.

Campos and Rivera bring the total number of Mexican-born managers in the LMB to ten (seven in the South Division) as teams open training camps. Campos is one of three homegrown skippers making their managerial debuts in 2020, joining Erick Rodriguez in Oaxaca and Dos Laredo's Pablo Ortega. Rodriguez, who played in his seventh All-Star Game of the decade last season, will become the LMB's first player/manager since Saul Soto performed double-duty on an interim basis with Aguascalientes in 2016. Tim Johnson, who'll make his Leon debut this spring, is the only extranero helmsman in the LMB South.

The following is a list of current Mexican League managers (as of February 23) and their countries of origin:

NORTH DIVISION

Aguascalientes - Luis Carlos Rivera (Mexico)

Dos Laredos - Pablo Ortega (Mexico)

Durango - Felix Fermin (Dominican Republic)

Monclova - Pat Listach (United States)

Monterrey - Roberto Kelly (Panama)

Saltillo - Roberto Vizcarra (Mexico)

Tijuana - Omar Vizquel (Venezuela)

Union Laguna - Omar Malave (Venezuela)

SOUTH DIVISION

Campeche - Francisco Campos (Mexico)

Leon - Tim Johnson (United States)

Mexico City - Sergio Gastelum (Mexico)

Oaxaca - Erick Rodriguez (Mexico)

Puebla - Carlos Gastelum (Mexico)

Quintana Roo - Adan Munoz (Mexico)

Tabasco - Pedro Mere (Mexico)

Yucatan - Geronimo Gil (Mexico)

BARTOLO COLON, RAJAI DAVIS TO PLAY IN MONCLOVA

Cleveland's young fireballer Bartolo Colon

If there was any doubt whether Monclova Acereros owner Gerardo Benavides was going to take a breather after his team won their first Mexican League pennant last year, the signing of four-time MLB All-Star pitcher Bartolo Colon and longtime big league outfielder Rajai Davis should prove that the hard-driving Benavides wants his club to become the first team to repeat as LMB champions since the Saltillo Saraperos won titles in 2009 and 2010.  The signings were announced last week by Monclova's President of Baseball Operations, Jose Melendez.

The 46-year-old Colon, who grew up in the Dominican Republic harvesting fruit and coffee beans alongside his father, spent 21 seasons in the majors after debuting with the Cleveland Indians in 1997.  The 5'11" righthander made his first All-Star Game appearance one year later en route to a 14-9 record and 3.71 ERA before tossing a four-hit complete game win over the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series that October.  Colon went on to pitch a no-hitter against the Yanks in 2000 and lead the AL in wins with 21 victories for the Los Angeles Angels in 2005 (winning the Cy Young Award that season) before arm miseries plagued him between 2006 and 2010, missing the latter season entirely after stem cell transplant surgery on his right shoulder that spring.

Texas' wily vet Bartolo Colon

Colon reinvented himself from a hard-thrower once capable of hitting triple-digits on the radar gun into a 38-year-old finesse control pitcher with the Yankees in 2011.  He was able to spend eight more MLB seasons as a starter, pitching in two more All-Star Games and his first World Series (in 2016 for the Mets after going 15-8 that year) before his most recent campaign with Texas in 2018, during which he went 7-12 with a 5.78 ERA in 24 starts.  With a career MLB record of 247-188, Colon is the winningest Latin American pitcher in big league history.  The well-traveled hurler, who pitched four eleven teams between 1997 and 2018, picked up 2,535 strikeouts while whiffing 100 or more batsmen 13 times.  His 4.12 ERA is nothing to write home about, although he did finish in his league's Top Ten in that category six times.  Colon signed a one-year contract with the Acereros and is expected to contend for a starting rotation berth under manager Pat Listach.

Listach will also have the speedy Davis patrolling the outfield in 2020 after the former American League stolen bases champion inked a one-year deal with Monclova.  Davis played with eight teams for all or part of 14 MLB seasons, batting .262 with 62 homers and 415 steals.  The Pirates' 38th round draft pick out of the University of Connecticut in 2001 (after borrowing gas money to drive from UConn to Pittsburgh for a pre-draft workout), the 5'10" Davis made his MLB debut with the Bucs in 2006.  He was traded to San Francisco one year later but it wasn't until after he was picked up on waivers by Oakland in 2008 that he had the chance to see significant action. 

Rajai Davis homering in 2016 World Series

Davis hit .305 with 41 steals in 2009 for the A's but was dealt to Toronto after the 2010 season and later suited up for Detroit, Cleveland, Boston and the New York Mets (for whom he hit .200 in 29 games last year).  While never a power hitter, Davis was generally a solid baserunner who averaged over 34 steals a year between 2008 and 2018, leading the American League with 43 for Cleveland as a 35-year-old in 2016.  He appeared in the postseason three times for as many teams, reaching the World Series in 2016 and batting .227 with three steals and a two-run homer off Aroldis Chapman in the deciding contest as the Indians lost to the Chicago Cubs in seven games.  Davis is being penciled in as Monclova's starting centerfielder this season.

JESSE CASTILLO TO RETURN TO LMB WITH LEON IN 2020

Jesse Castillo celebrates 2006 LMB pennant

Two-time Mexican League Most Valuable Player Jesse Castillo will be returning to action this year after signing a contract with the Leon Bravos for 2020.  While playing for 82Monclova, Castillo blew out his left knee while stepping on first base to make a run for second during a Fall 2018 LMB North final playoff game against Monterrey.  Teammates had to carry him into the locker room, from which he was taken to the hospital by an ambulance.  Up to that point, Castillo had become arguably the best batter in the Mexican League but he hasn't played an LMB game since.

Of course, this story begins long before 2018.  Born in Mexicali on March 3, 1983, Jesus Castillo made his Liga debut with Yucatan in 2004 and played sparingly for the Leones for the next three years, although the third baseman did bat .321 in 69 games as a part-timer for Yucatan's 2006 LMB champions under manager Lino Rivera, cracking a walkoff homer in the 14th inning of the fifth and deciding game of the Serie del Rey against Monterrey.  Castillo ended up playing for the Lions through 2009, playing in the 2007 and 2008 All-Star Games, before signing as a free agent with Veracruz for 2010.  He hit .293 with five homers and represented the Rojos del Aguila in his third All-Star Game before moving into free agency again, this time joining the Tabasco Olmecas.  Castillo topped the .300 mark twice and played in two more All-Star Games between 2011 and 2013, when the Villahermosa team dealt him late in the season to Aguascalientes for outfielder Ricardo Gastelum.  While Gastelum only hit .194 in 37 games for the Olmecas and was out of the Liga within two years, the trade turned Castillo from a respected batter into a feared one even though he only hit .182 himself over 17 games for the Rieleros over the rest of the 2013 campaign.

Castillo during his 2017 MVP season

Castillo had never hit more than nine homers or driven in more than 64 runs n a single season before 2014, although he did bat .300 or better four times.  However, his move to Aguascalientes did wonders for his power numbers after nearly a decade playing in more humid climates where the ball didn't carry as well.  Playing in the dry desert air in a city over 6,000 feet above sea level, Castillo hit .335 for the Rieleros in 2014 with 17 homers and 94 RBIs, all career highs.  That began a string of four seasons in Aguascalientes in which he batted between .335 and .361 while belting a total of 66 homers, bringing home 306 runs and stealing 52 bases over 440 games, playing in two more All-Star Games along the way.  Castillo, who was playing mostly first base by then, earned his first MVP trophy in 2017 when he battered Liga pitchers for a .342 average with 20 homers and 82 RBIs, winning the All-Star Game MVP award that summer.

Although he was clearly the best player in Rieleros togs, the perpetually cash-strapped team traded him to Monclova after the 2017 for Tim Torres, a serviceable utilityman from California on loan from Oaxaca who'd ironically hit over .300 with 11 homers for Aguascalientes in 2016 before beginning a somewhat remarkable tour of Mexican baseball by first being returned to the Guerreros after the season and later being loaned to Tabasco, who then traded him to Monclova, all in an eight-month span.  Torres had hit 307 for the Acereros in limited action during 2017 but never suited up for Aguascalientes after the trade. Instead, he was assigned to Tijuana, where he doubled and scored in one at-bat in one Spring 2018 game before being placed on reserve and has not played since. 

"El Jesse" played for Zulia ths winter

On the other hand, Castillo won his second straight Liga MVP award in Spring 2018 with Monclova, raking for a .378 average with 13 homers and 57 RBIs over 56 games in the short season to tie Yucatan's Luis Juarez for the longball title and leading the loop in ribbies.  He put in a solid Fall 2018 regular season as well by hitting .324, socking four homers and driving in 43 runs in 51 contests.  

Over 15 seasons between 2005 and 2018, Castillo batted .322 with 115 homers and 732 RBIs in 1,258 LMB regular season games. He'd been a Mexican Pacific League fixture between 2006-07 and 2017-18, batting above .280 with 45 homer over 599 games and playing in two Caribbean Series.  This winter, in his return after his 2018 injury, Castillo hit .301 in 35 games for Zulia in the Venezuelan League with no homers and 17 RBIs.  He'll be joining a Leon team that finished sixth in the Mexican League with a .306 average and a lineup with such returnees as Matt Clark, Felix Pie and Carlos Rivero under new manager Tim Johnson, who was hired in November.  The Bravos have reached the postseason three of the past four seasons, but have yet to get past the first round. 

LMB DROPS FRANKLIN BASEBALLS,  REVERTS TO RAWLINGS

Rawlings balls will return to LMB in 2020

After seeing the number of home runs jump precipitously in 2019 (while pitchers' nerves also jumped accordingly), the Mexican League has reportedly ended the use of Franklin baseballs after one season and will go back to using the Rawlings ball previously used.  However, according to an interview with Beatriz Pereyra of Proceso, new LMB president Horacio De La Vega said it was the increase in costs and not in roundrippers that led to the change in a deal put together by former Liga leader Javier Salinas.

De La Vega explained that Salinas worked out a deal with Franklin's representative for Mexico, Roberto Contreras, to supply the LMB with 11,000 boxes containing a dozen baseballs each for the 2019 season to be delivered to the Mexican League office in Mexico City.  Previously, the Rawlings balls were imported from China and delivered to the border crossing customs office in Nuevo Laredo, from where they were distributed to each of the 16 LMB teams. In addition to the lower cost per ball, to be bought in bulk by the Liga and not by individual franchises, the article states that the LMB (as partners with Franklin) would be able to make a profit reselling them to its teams.

Mexican League president Horacio De La Vega

Instead, Contreras was detained at the customs office in Mexico City because he lacked the funds on hand to pay for a 3 million peso (about US$150,000) shipment, even though the Liga had previously sent him the money.  As a result, the LMB had to pay that amount a second time to get them out of customs and is currently in litigation to recover it.  De La Vega says that while the financial imbroglio actually increased the cost of baseballs in 2019, the silver lining is that Rawlings came back with a better offer this year of US$64.40 per dozen balls that includes the cost of importing them, which was not the case in the past.

LMB pitchers' impression of Franklin ball

The sighs of relief at the league office will no doubt be echoed on pitcher's mounds throughout the LMB.  In 2017, the last full season using the Rawlings ball before 2018's two-schedule format, three teams batted over .300, five teams topped 100 homers and only two mound staffs had ERAs above 5.50 (Saltillo at 5.70 and Durango at 6.01).  In 2019, using the Franklin ball, ten teams topped the .300 mark (Yucatan just missed at .299), fifteen teams hit 108 or more homers and nine pitching staffs had ERAs above 5.50, with Laguna the worst at 8.05.  Ten batters in 2019 belted 30 or more home runs, with Monclova's Chris Carter knocking out 49 four-baggers.  Conversely, Rainel Rosario of Saltillo led the loop with 26 longballs in 2017 as only five hitters reached 20 for the season.

TOMATEROS FALL SHORT IN CARIBBEAN SERIES SEMIS

Tomateros arrive at Estadio Hiram Bithorn

After arriving in San Juan, Puerto Rico on the heels of their seven-game Mexican Pacific League championship series win over Mazatlan, the Culiacan Tomateros hoped to keep their momentum going entering the first round of the 2020 Caribbean Series.  After narrowly dropping a 2-1 decision to the Dominican champion Este Toros in their February 1 opening game, the Tomateros reeled off four consecutive wins to advance to the semifinals before losing a 1-0 knucklebiter to Venezuela's Lara Cardenales on February 6 despite outhitting the Cardenales by a 9-2 margin.

The following is a recap of each Tomateros CS game at Estadio Hiram Bithorn: 

February 1: Este (DR) 2, Culiacan 1

The Toros got on the scoreboard when Abraham Almonte doubled off Culiacan's Manny Banuelos to bring Peter O'Brien and Diego Goris home, giving Este starter Yunesky Maya and two relievers all the support they'd need. The Tomateros averted the shutout in the ninth when Joey Meneses doubled and scored from second on a Juan Carlos Gamboa single before Este's Wirfin Obispo closed the door for the save.  Maya tossed five innings of two-hit ball for the win while Banuelos took the loss after allowing two runs on four hits and four walks over 3.2 frames. 

February 2: Culiacan 4, Santurce (PR) 2

Another Tomateros pitcher named Manny (Barreda) had a strong start and Sebastian Elizalde cranked a homer as Culiacan bounced back from their opening day defeat to top host Santuce, 4-2.  Barreda served up a Jan Hernandez homer in the second for the only run he allowed over five four-hit innings while Elizalde's three-run bomb off Cangrejeros starter Giovanni Soto in the fifth broke open a 1-1 contest.  From that point, five relievers held Santurce to one run the rest of the way for the win, with Alberto Baldonado earning the save for manager Benji Gil's team.

Culiacan second baseman Ramiro Pena

February 3: Culiacan 6, Chiriqui (PAN) 1

The LMP's Pitcher of the Year for 2019-20, Yoanys Quiala, showed how he earned the hardware by giving up just one run to the Panamanian titlists over seven innings in Culiacan's 6-1 win over the Astronautas. Joey Meneses led off the bottom of the second with a double, followed by Dariel Alvarez' RBI single up the middle.  Two outs later, Jose Guadalupe Chavez tripled in both Alvarez and Ramon Rios (who'd singled) for all the scoring the MexPac champs would need. Meneses, who also singled Ramiro Pena home in the fifth, finished with three hits while Chavez had three ribbies.  

February 4: Culiacan 7, Lara (VZ) 6

Joey Meneses drove in four runs in Culiacan's third consecutive win as the Tomateros built a 7-0 lead, then hung on for a one-run win over Lara to clinch a berth in the Caribbean Series semifinals.  Meneses went 2-for-4 with a homer while Rico "Nitroman" Noel contributed a pair of hits, including a two-run double. Anthony Vasquez got the win despite dishing up a three-run homer to the Cardenales' Carlos Rivero. Alberto Baldonado came in from the bullpen with a runner on second in the ninth and struck out the last Lara batter to save the victory.

February 5: Culiacan 4, Monteria (COL) 0

The Tomateros closed out the first round with their fourth straight triumph in a 4-0 win over Colombian CS debutant Monteria. Culiacan starter Edgar Torres put in 7.2 shutout innings on the mound, with a Brallan Perez single in the first being the Vaqueros' lone hit off the lefty. Torres didn't have a win or save as a middleman in 55 appearances for Durango in the Mexican League last summer.  Ramiro Pena, who didn't play in the Tomateros' first game after missing his flight to San Juan, swatted a two-run homer for the winners while Rico Noel and Juan Carlos Gamboa each had two hits. 

February 6:  Lara (VZ) 1, Culiacan 0 (semifinal)

The Cardenales earned revenge while punching their ticket to the title game by squeaking out a 1-0 win to knock Culiacan out.  The only run of the contest came in the bottom of the third when Lara's Welington Dotel, who has peviously played in both the LMP and LMB, stroked a double off lefthander Zack Dodson to drive in Gorkys Hernandez with what eventually proved to be the game-winner.  Dodson otherwise had a great six-inning performance but the Tomateros left 16 baserunners stranded while being whitewashed. Lara went on to lose to Este, 9-3, in the final game.

Celebrating a win over Panama

Despite falling short of winning the team's third Serie del Caribe championship (Culiacan won in 1996 and 2002, both times under late manager Francisco "Paquin" Estrada), the Tomateros placed five players on this year's Dream Team: Starting pitcher Edgar Torres, catcher Ali Solis, first baseman Joey Meneses, second baseman Ramiro Pena and centerfielder Rico Noel.  Rounding out the Dream team were third baseman Emmanuel Rivera (Santurce), shortstop Ali Castillo (Lara), leftfielder Ruben Sosa (Este), rightfielder Henry Sosa (Santurce), designated hitter Jordany Valdespin (Este), relief pitcher Ramon Ramirez (Este) and manager Lino Rivera (Este).  Culiacan has the most players named to the Dream Team but both Chiriqui and Monteria were shut out.

The 2021 Caribbean Series will be held in Mazatlan and the refurbished Estadio Teodoro Mariscal, which now seats 16,000 spectators.  National champions from both Colombia and Panama will return to the competition on a provisional basis but, according to the Hitazo website, Caribbean Professional Baseball Confederation president Juan Francisco Puello has issued a statement that Cuba is not being invited to Mazatlan next year.  The first-time Cuban National Series champion Matanzas Cocodrilos had been scheduled to participate in San Juan last week before backing out of the event in early January, citing "pressure" from the U.S. government and an inability to obtain visas for the trip to Puerto Rico.

MENESES SIGNS WITH BOSOX, ELIZALDE INKS PACT WITH METS

Although the Caribbean Series is still considered the Crown Jewel of Latin Baseball, its focus among players has shifted from being an opportunity for some Major League Baseball stars to play winterball representing their home nations into a showcase for younger players hoping to exhibit their talent to prospective MLB employers.  The tournament has lost some of its luster among baseball fans no longer likely to see legends like David Ortiz, Roberto Alomar, Miguel Cabrera or Juan Marichal, but a number of current players filling the void will catch the eye of big league scouts every February and sometimes that's enough to create a chance to move up in the baseball world.

New Boston Red Sox signee Joey Meneses

In that vein, no fewer than three members of the Culiacan Tomateros signed free agent contracts with MLB organizations last week while the Serie del Caribe was ongoing. Perhaps the most prominent among them was first baseman Joey Meneses, who signed a minor league contract with the Boston Red Sox.  The 27-year-old Meneses spent seven years in the Atlanta system before signing a minor league deal with Phladelphia prior to the 2018 season.  The 6'3" Culiacan native was assigned to the Phillies' AAA Lehigh Valley affiliate and proceeded to tear up International League pitchers to the tune of a ..311 batting average with 23 homers and 82 RBIs over 130 games, being named the IL's Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player for his effort.  That led to a contract with Japan's Orix Buffaloes, for whom Meneses struggled mightily in a 2019 that ended with a .206 average and four homers in just 29 NPB games.  The Red Sox are expected to assign Meneses to their AAA Pawtucket.  His Mexican rights are currently held by the Monclova Acereros.

Sebastian Elizalde goes to the New York Mets

Another Tomateros player who made the most of his time in the Mexican Pacific League and Caribbean Series this winter is outfielder Sebastian Elizalde, who parlayed a strong regular season for the Tomateros (.308 with 10 homers and 21 stolen bases in 60 games) and appearance at the Caribbean Series into a minor league contract with the New York Mets. The Guaymas-born Elizalde spent four years as a Monterey Sultanes prospect prior to being sold to the Cincinnati Reds in 2012 as a 21-year-old.  He went on to spend five years in the Reds organization, earning a berth in the 2015 Florida State League All-Star Game, before being returned to the Sultanes in 2018.  Elizalde batted .319 in limited action for Monterrey last summer and may be ticketed for the Mets' AAA Syracuse team in the International League, although his rights in Mexico still belong to Monterrey.

Manny Banuelos signs pact with Seattle Mariners

Despite an often-rocky regular season and losing the first game of the Caribbean Series to eventual champion Este, pitcher Manny Banuelos did well enough to earn a minor league contract with the Seattle Mariners for 2020 and will report to the team's Arizona training camp ths week.  Unlike either Meneses or Elizalde, the 5'10" lefty from Gomez Palacios has appeared in the majors for Atlanta in 2015 and the Chicago White Sox in 2019.  Banuelos went 3-4 with a 6.93 ERA for the Chisox, including an April 22, 2019 start at Baltimore during which he held the Orioles scoreless with four strikeouts over four innings of a 12-2 win.  A free agent signee with the Yankees at age 17 in 2008, Banuelos was a 2018 postseason All-Star in the AAA Pacific Coast League after pitching for the Dodgers' Oklahoma City affiliate that year, and is perhaps bound for the Mariners' AAA Tacoma farm team.  He was 1-1 with a 5.40 ERA in four starts for Culiacan during the regular season.  He has never pitched in the Mexican League over 12 professional seasons, including a 2013 campaign he took off after having Tommy John surgery.


LAGUNA TABS LONGTIME JAYS MiLB SKIPPER MALAVE AS MANAGER

Omar Malave to manage in Union Laguna

During the 2020 season, the Union Laguna Algodoneros will celebrate the 80th anniversary of the region's debut in the Mexican League. The original Union Laguna team needed just two years to cop their first LMB pennant under Hall of Famer Martin Dihigo in 1942.  A second Liga flag was won in 1950 with Memo Garibay at the helm and, seventy years later, it's the last pennant to have been raised at Estadio Revolucion, the team's 87-year-old home ballpark.  Laguna has been in and out of the LMB since that initial 1940 season, with the current incarnation of the Cottoneers (established in 1985) representing the fifth LMB go-round for Torreon, Coahuila and Gomez Palacio, Nuevo Leon, the two cities at the center of the agriculuture-based Laguna region of 1.3 million residents.

Into this scenario steps new Algodoneros manager Omar Malave, who spent nearly 40 consecutive years in the Toronto Blue Jays organization as a player, manager, coach and administrator before making his first foray into Mexican baseball.  The 57-year-old Malave will replace former Union Laguna manager Jonathan Aceves, who piloted the team to an LMB-worst 37-79 record in 2019 for his managerial debut after spending 22 seasons as a catcher on both sides of the border.

A native of Cumana, Venezuela, Malave made his professional baseball debut as a utility infielder for the Blue Jays' Gulf Coast League team in 1981 along with his older brother Benito, a pitcher (younger brother Jose spent time as an outfielder for Boston in 1996-97 and also had a stint in Japan with Yokohama).   Omar went on to spend the rest of the Eighties playing in the Toronto system, mostly at the Class A level, although he did play eight games with AAA Syracuse in 1989, his last season as an active player.  By 1991 he was back in the GCL, this time as manager the Jays' rookie league team.

Malave coached with Toronto in 2010

Malave worked his way up the minor league managerial ladder until he reached Syracuse in 2000, beginning a four-year run with the Chiefs.  Malave's teams posted winning records in each of his first ten years as a manager and while his on-field fortunes waxed and waned for most of the next 15 years, he had an overall record of 1,455-1,352 over 22 years as an MiLB skipper after spending the 2015 season as helmsman with Dunedin of the Class A Florida State League.  He was named to the FSL Hall of Fame that year.  In addition to his long career as a minor league manager, Malave coached in Toronto with the MLB club under Clarence "Cito" Gaston in 2010 and served as the franchise's minor league coordinator in 2013. 

Malave will have a handful of decent everyday players at his disposal with the Algodoneros.  Outfielder Michael Choice .(398 with 13 homers and 54 RBIs in just 51 games) may be the best of them, along with ex-MLB and Dutch National Team outfielder Roger Bernardina (.336 in 34 games) and another outfielder, Francisco Ferreira (.307), who appeared in the 2019 LMB All-Star Game.  Pitching is another story, however, as Union Laguna had only two regular hurlers with an ERA under 5.00 last year: Middleman Roman Pena (3-2/4.03 in 70 trips from the bullpen) and starter Frankie De La Cruz (6-6, 4.91), who started strongly and was picked for the All-Star Game before fading at the end of the long season.  With a Liga-worst 8.05 team ERA, it's little wonder how the Cottoneers finished more than 40 games below .500 in a 120-game season.

Estadio Revolucion has hosted games since 1932

While the Algodoneros will play in the Mexican League's oldest ballpark (and one of the most ancient in all of the minors), Estadio Revolucion is getting a makeover prior to the 2020 season. The 9,935-seat venue was first opened in 1932 and underwent a renovation in 2002.  Noted for its art deco facade and the widest foul territory in Mexican baseball, thanks to a since-removed running track, Estadio Revolucion has hosted LMB All-Star games in 1995 and 2004.

CULIACAN WINS LMP FINALS IN 7, ON TO PUERTO RICO

Ramiro Pena was named Finals MVP

Former Yankees infielder Ramiro Pena belted a pair of homers and drove in five runs while starter Anthony Vazquez combined with four relievers to toss a shutout as the Culiacan Tomateros blasted the Mazatlan Venados, 11-0, on January 30 in Game Seven of the Mexican Pacific League Championship Series.  An overflow crowd of 20,000 looked on at Estadio Tomateros as Culiacan ran away with the deciding game to win the set, 4 games to 3, to win their second pennant in three seasons and 12th LMP flag overall while punching their ticket to the Caribbean Series, which was scheduled to open February 1 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The Tomateros finished the regular season with a 37-29 overall record, fourth-best in the MexPac, but put together a playoff run during which they eliminated Mexicali in five games in the first round and outlasted Los Mochis in seven games before meeting Mazatlan in the title series.  The Venados opened with a six-game win over Hermosillo and knocked out top seed Obregon in seven games to reach the championship series, which began January 22 in Culiacan.

The Tomateros drew first blood in the series opener by bopping the Venados, 6-2, thanks in part to fifth-inning homers from Pena, Dariel Alvarez (a two-run shot) and Efren Navarro, the first two coming off Mazatlan starter Irwin Delgado.  Delgado also served up a third-inning roundtripper to Joey Meneses but was deadlocked in a 1-1 game with Culiacan starter Manny Barreda until the roof fell in for the visitors with the Tomateros' four-run outburst in the fifth. Barreda earned the win while Delgado was tagged with the defeat.

Game Two on January 23 didn't go any better for the Venados, as Culiacan held on for a 4-3 win to go up 2 games to 0.  Meneses whacked his second homer in as many nights in the bottom of the second to put the Tomateros up, 1-0, but the two teams jousted all the way into the seventh frame, when Sebastian Valle socked a four-bagger for Mazatlan in the top of the inning to pull the Deer into a 3-3 tie.  However, in the bottom of the seventh, Pena ripped a two-out double to left off Venados reliever Mitch Lively, who was then replaced by Roman Pena. The next batter, Sebastian Elizalde, then lined a 1-1 pitch to right, scoring Ramiro Pena to give the Tomateros a 4-3 lead they would maintain the final two innings for the victory.

The series shifted to Mazatlan for the next trio of games, with Game Three on January 25 resulting in a 7-0 Venados win as Juan Pablo Oramas scattered five hits and striking out seven Culiacan batsmen in seven innings to earn the win.  The batting star for the home team was Ricky Alvarez, whose two-run homer in the bottom of the third gave the Venados a 3-0 lead and bases-loaded bloop single to left one frame later plated two more runs made it a 6-0 Mazatlan advantage, leaving it to Oramas and four relievers to carry the shutout to its conclusion.  Tomateros starter Anthony Vasquez, who dished up Alvarez' longball, was saddled with the defeat.

Mazatlan evened things up at two games apiece on January 26 with their second whitewash in as many nights (and the third such game of the series), 3-0, behind a strong Game Four outing by Edgar Torres.  The 23-year-old Puebla native was a middleman for Durango during the 2019 Mexican League season before going 4-6 as a starter with the Venados. He went 6.1 scoreless innings and allowed just three hits while walking none before giving way to Daniel Guerrero and two other relievers as Tiago da Silva nailed down the save in the ninth.  The game was scoreless until the bottom of the sixth, when Mazatlan cobbled together three runs on two singles, three walks and two wild pitches off Culiacan starter Manny Banuelos (who took the loss) and two relievers.

The Tomateros bounced back on January 27 to pick up the first win by a visiting team in a 3-2 Game Five win over the Venados in ten innings.  Mazatlan's Jorge Flores led off the bottom of the first with a walk and later came around to score on a Carlos Munoz single to give the Deer an early 1-0 lead. The score held until a sloppy top of the eighth, when Culiacan tied the game on an RBI single by Rico Noel, who advanced to second on the play.  Noel subsequently stole third and then scored the go-ahead run on a Ramiro Pena sacrifice fly. The Venados knotted the game at 2-2 when Alberto Baldonado gave up a bases-loaded walk that pushed Anthony Giansanti in from third, but Culiacan went ahead for good in the top of the tenth when another Noel single (this one off da Silva) brought in Christian Zazueta with the eventual game-winner. Derrick Loop tossed a scoreless tenth to save the win for Baldonado.

Culiacan's Rico Noel was clutch in the LMP finals

The series resumed with a January 29 Game Six in Culiacan.  Mazatlan earned THEIR first road win by topping the Tomateros, 6-2, tying the finals in a game that was closer than the score indicated.  The Venados went up 1-0 in the top of the first when Edson Garcia scored on Ricky Alvarez' bases-loaded dribbler off Culiacan starter Zack Dodson to third, where Zazueta chose to throw to Pena at second to force Carlos Munoz.  A Ramon Rios homer off reliever Loop in the top of the seventh gave the Deer a 2-0 lead but the game was blown open in the top of the eighth, when the visitors scored four more times (with veteran Chris Roberson clubbing a three-run homer) to make it 6-0.  A two-run Efren Navarro double in the bottom of the ninth put the Tomateros on the board but it was too little, too late. Mitch Lively got the win after pitching eight shutout innings of five-hit ball, striking out seven. Dodson took the loss despite giving up only one run on four hits in five entradas.

That led to a deciding Game Seven on January 30, a contest that was basically over by the end of the first inning when Culiacan scored four runs and never looked back.  The damage was done when Meneses and Alvarez poked back-to-back RBI doubles, followed by an Elizade homer that scored Alvarez. All came off Mazatlan starter Oramas, who showed none of his Game Three magic (although he did last into the third.  The Venados did not lack for baserunners, gathering eleven hits and three walks off Tomateros starter Vasquez. However, they went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position en route to leaving 13 runners stranded on bases in what was a less-than-artistic shutout for Culiacan manager Benji Gil's team (but one they gladly took as a pennant-clincher).

The Tomateros had precious little time to celebrate their win and Ramiro Pena's selection as Finals MVP.  The team immediately packed their gear and headed out to San Juan, Puerto Rico for the Caribbean Series.  Culiacan's first Serie del Caribe game was scheduled less than two day days after clinching the LMP pennant with a Saturday afternoon game against the Dominican League champion Este Toros at 2:30PM in Estadio Hiram Bithorn.

CUBA NO, COLOMBIA SI IN SIX-TEAM CARIBBEAN SERIES FIELD

The Caribbean Series will feature a six-team field for the second year in a row, but there will be a first-time entrant in Puerto Rico after another country bowed out of the competition.

Cuba, a charter member of the original Caribbean Series from 1949 until it was halted after the 1960 tournament, when Cuban dictator Fidel Castro (ironically a lifelong baseball fan and former player) ended professionalism in his county and withdrew seven-time CS winners Cuba from the competition.  The tournament was resumed in 1970, with Mexico and the Dominican Republic replacing Cuba and Panama in the four-nation lineup that also included Venezuela and Puerto Rico. Panama returned on an emergency basis last winter, hosting the event in the nation's capital and stunning the baseball world by winning it.

Cuba had returned to the CS lineup on a conditional basis in 2014 and their National Series champions Pinar de Rio winning the event one year later in San Juan.  The island nation even altered their National Series schedule so their champion could participate in the Serie del Caribe (the 2019-20 CNS championship was won by Matanzas), but the Cuban Baseball Federation pulled out of the Caribbean Series for this year, citing difficulty in obtaining travel visas to Puerto Rico in time for the event, leaving the tournament with only five national winterball champions.

Enter Colombia.

Pro baseball in the South American nation dates back to at least 1948.  Since 2013, the champion of the Colombia Professional Baseball League has taken part in the Latin American Series, a lower-tier competition similar to the CS won by LCBP champions twice (in 2014 and 2015) that had been scheduled to take place in Panama City last month but ended up being cancelled due to CS "call-ups" to Panama and Colombia plus the apparent demise of the Veracruz Winter League in Mexico, leaving Nicaragua as the only nation able to send a team to the competition.

Like Panama, Colombia is playing in the CS on a provisional basis until it can prove capable of competing with existing Serie del Caribe nations both on the field and in the ability to host the event in the future.  The LCBP is headed by former MLB shortstop Edgar Renteria, who has a 12,000-seat ballpark named after him in Barranquilla.  While the LCBP pennant-winning Monteria Vaqueros are not expected to contend for a Caribbean Series title this year, expectations were similarly low for the Panamanian champion Herrera Toros last February and all they did was win the tournament.  This year, the Panamanian Professional Baseball League (Probeis) will send the expansion Chiriqui Astronautas to San Juan hoping the Cinderella slipper still fits.

While the CS will feature relative newcomers from Panama and Colombia, four mainstays will be back in the lineup.  The Lara Cardenales will represent Venezuela for the second year in a row and sixth time overall. The Cardenales began playing in 1942 and have at times featured players like Cecil Fielder, Shawn Green, Felix Hernandez and late Hall of Famer Roy Halladay.  The Lara roster this winter included some players familiar to fans of Mexican baseball: 2017 LMB Pitcher of the Year Nestor Molina, Leon Bravos third baseman Carlos Rivero and outfielder Yordanys Linares, who has played in both the LMB and LMP. Lara is managed by former infielder Luis Ugueto, who spent parts of two seasons with the Seattle Mariners.

The Dominican champion Este Toros, formerly known as the Este Azucareros, are one of the younger teams in the Caribbean Series, having only played since 1983.  Based in La Romana, the Toros are playing in their third CS (and first since 2011). Este has a distinctly Mexican flavor to their roster, starting with manager Lino Rivera, who pitched for Monclova in the early 2000's before taking over as Acereros manager in 2004.  He went on to manage in Yucatan for several years, including the 2006 Mexican League champion Leones. Among Rivera's Toros players are current Monterrey closer Wirfin Obispo, Aguascalientes reliever Anthony Carter, Unon Lagna starter Frankie de la Cruz and a quartet of outfielders who've played in Mexico: Felix Pie, Junior Lake, Jordany Valdespin and Ruben Sosa.

The host Santurce Cangrejeros need no introduction to Latin baseball fans.  The team goes back to 1939 and has over the years featured Hall of Famers Willie Mays, Willard Brown, Roberto Clemente, Satchel Paige, Monte Irvin, Orlando Cepeda, Tony Perez and Reggie Jackson. Santurce has won 16 league championships over the years and copped five Serie del Caribe titles.  While the current incarnation of the Cangrejeros don't have any Cooperstown-bound players on their roster, manager Jose Valentin does have a solid crew of ballplayers including 2017 Caribbean Series MVP David Vidal (who plays for the Mexico City Diablos in the summer), former Cleveland pitcher and two-time WBC hurler Giovanni Soto, ex-MLB infielder Ivan DeJesus Jr. and onetime MLB outfielder Ray Fuentes.  Playing in their home ballpark, Santurce should be one of the favorites going into the CS.

The Culiacan Tomateros arrived in San Juan on the heels of their 12th Mexican Pacific League pennants, eight of them under the late Francisco "Paquin" Estrada and three more under current skipper Benji Gil.  Estrada led Culiacan to two Caribbean Series titles. While pro baseball in the Sinaloa city dates as far back as 1945, the current Tomateros franchise was founded in 1975 and has consistently contended tor championships ever since.  Although Culiacan hasn't had the list of Hall of Fame players Santurce has, they've had contributions over the years from such Mexican baseball stalwarts as Nelson Barrera, Francisco Campos, Karim Garcia, Luis Alfonso Cruz, Cy Acosta, Sid Monge, Luis Ayala and Salome Barojas.  This winter's edition has been led offensively by Joey Meneses, Christian Zazueta, Rico Noel, Sebastian Elizalde and MexPac MVP Dariel Alvarez while the pitching has been paced by closer Alberto Baldonado, starters Manny Barreda and J.C. Ramirez and swingman Aldo Montes.

This year's Caribbean Series will consist of five tripleheaders between February 1-5 at Hiram Bithorn Stadium for the first round of games in which teams will meet each other once, followed by a semifinal doubleheader on February 6 and the championship game on February 7 at 8:00PM.

2020 CARIBBEAN SERIES SCHEDULE

First Round

Saturday, February 1: Monteria (COL) at Lara (VEN) 10AM, Culiacan (MEX) at Este (DOM) 2:30PM, Chiriqui (PAN) at Santurce (PR) 8PM.

Sunday, February 2: Monteria (COL) at Chiriqui (PAN) 10AM, Santurce (PR) at Culiacan (MEX) 2:30PM, Lara (VEN) at Este (DOM) 8PM.

Monday, February 3: Chiriqui (PAN) at Culiacan (MEX) 10AM, Este (DOM) at Monteria (COL) 2:30PM, Santurce (PR) at Lara (VEN) 8PM.

Tuesday, February 4: Chiriqui (PAN) at Este (DOM) 10AM, Culiacan (MEX) at Lara (VEN) 2:30PM, Monteria (COL) at Santurce (PR) 8:00PM.

Wednesday,  February 5: Lara (VEN) at Chiriqui (PAN) 10AM, Monteria (COL) at Culiacan (MEX) 2:30PM, Este (DOM) at Santurce (PR) 8PM.

Semifinals

Thursday, February 6: Fourth Place at First Place 2:30PM, Third Place at Second Place 8PM.

Championship Game

Friday, February 7: Winner Semi One vs. Winner Semi Two 8PM.

DARIEL ALVAREZ NAMED MEXPAC MVP FOR 2019-20

Jalisco Charros OF Dariel Alvarez

Jalisco Charros outfielder Dariel Alvarez has been named the Most Valuable Player of the Mexican Pacific League for the 2019-20 season.  The native of Camaguey, Cuba received 71.1 percent of ballots cast for the award, beating out Jesus "Cacao" Valdez of Obregon, Culiacan's Sebastian Elizalde and Yadiel Hernandez of Hermosillo.

Alvarez, who is a reinforcement with Culiacan in Puerto Rico for the Caribbean Series, had a banner year with the Charros.  He led the MexPac with 16 homers (the most for a single LMP season since Obregon's Jesse Gutierrez whacked 20 longballs in 2011-12) and 56 RBIs while compiling a .301 batting average.  Alvarez also led the Mex Pac in total bases (135) and slugging percentage (.527) while striking out just 35 times in 281 plate appearances. His MVP season comes on the heels of a Mexican League campaign split in which he hit .288 with 18 homers and 80 RBIs in 117 games for Tijuana and Saltillo.

The 31-year-old Alvarez had quite a journey before coming to Mexico.  He debuted at 17 with his hometown Camaguey Ganaderos of the Cuban National Series in 2006-07 and went on to play six winters with the Ranchers, including a huge 2010-11 campaign that saw him bat .363 with 20 homers and 81 ribbies in 90 games.  One year later, Alvarez defected to Mexico and played one season in the Veracruz Winter League, batting .354 for the Tuxpan Tigres in 2012-13. Scouts from seven MLB organizations attended a 2013 workout in Fort Lauderdale, Florida but it was the Baltimore Orioles (who did not have a representative at the Florida workout) who outbid everyone to sign him.

Dariel Alvarez during his Camaguey days in Cuba

That began a quick rise for Alvarez through the Baltimore system, beginning with the Orioles' Gulf Coast League Rookie team for three games in August 2013 (he hit .444) and two weeks at Class A Frederick of the Carolina League (.436 in ten games), nine games at Bowie of the Class AA Eastern League (a wall-hitting .194) and a month with Surprise of the Arizona Fall League (.239 in 19 games) before presumably collapsing from exhaustion.  Alvarez spent the next three seasons bouncing between Bowie and Norfolk of the AAA International League, generally batting between .275 with occasional power and earning midsummer call-ups to Baltimore in 2015 and 2016 (hitting a combined .250 with a solo homer off Kansas City's Danny Duffy over 14 games).

However, things went south in 2017 when the Orioles attempted to convert Alvarez into a pitcher.  He'd tossed a few innings in relief for Camaguey before defecting, but the experiment resulted in Tommy John surgery that caused him to miss the entire 2017 season and his 2018 release after struggling in two appearances out of the bullpen for the O's GCL affiliate.  Alvarez spent last winter in Guadalajara with the Charros, returning to the outfield and hitting .315 with 14 homers (second to Navojoa's Jovan Rosa) before signing with Tijuana prior to the 2019 LMB season.

Other postseason award-winners in the LMP are Los Mochis righthander Yoanys Quiala as Pitcher of the Year, Obregon skipper Sergio Gastelum copped his second consecutive Manager of the Year trophy, Hermosillo infielder Alex Robles was tabbed Rookie of the Year, Obregon pitcher Samuel Zazueta for Reliever of the Year,

EX-MLB P, VERACRUZ STATE LEAGUE FOUNDER ELVIRA MURDERED

Narciso Elvira pitching for Mexico's National Team

A former Milwaukee Brewers pitcher and the only Mexican to pitch a no-hitter in Japan before founding a winter league in his home state of Veracruz after his retirement has been murdered, along with his 20-year-old son.  Narcisco Elvira and his son were reportedly driving on a road outside the town of Paso del Toro on January 28 when armed men ambushed their car. Eyewitnesses to the attack said the two victims tried to flee the scene on foot but were gunned down after the assailants opened fire. The elder Elvira was 52 years old while son Gustavo was 20.

The incident marks a tragic end to what had been a fascinating life inside and outside baseball for Elvira, who was born October 29, 1967 in Tlalixcoyan, Veracruz.  As a 19-year-old lefthander, his rights were sold by Mexican League Leon Bravos to the Milwaukee Brewers in December 1986. The Brewers assigned Elvira to Beloit of the Class A Midwest League in 1987 and he went 3-0 with a 1.67 ERA in four starts for the Snappers that year.  Elvira was called up to the big club late in the 1990 season and made his debut on September 9, giving up a run on two hits with a strikeout pitching the ninth inning of a home loss to Detroit. Elvira made three more relief appearances that month, including 2.1 scoreless innings against the Yankees in what would be his last MLB game on September 28, finishing his abbreviated major league career with an 0-0 record and a 5.40 ERA over five innings with six strikeouts and five walks.

After spending the 1990's bouncing between MiLB and the Mexican League (mostly with Monterrey), Elvira was signed by the Kintetsu Buffaloes of Japan's Pacific League in 2000 at age 32.  In two years with the Osaka club, primarily as a starter, he was a combined 7-8 with a 4.79 ERA but made history as the first Latin American pitcher to toss a no-hitter when he banked the Seibu Lions on June 20, 2000.  Elvira was no stranger to no-nos, having hurled TWO of them for Monterrey in 1999. He later pitched two years in South Korea with the Samsung Lions, going 13-6 with a 2.50 ERA in 2002, before returning to Mexico for good to pitch for Campeche.  Elvira's last full season with the Piratas was in 2006, although he did come out of retirement at 41 to make two appearances (one of them a start) for Minatitlan in 2009 before hanging up his spikes for good.

Elvira celebrating his no-hitter in Japan

After his playing career concluded, Elvira went into ranching at home in Veracruz, employing about 100 people.  He made headlines in 2015 when he was kidnapped by men who claimed they were with the Gulf drug cartel, and was held captive for 23 days until police found him chained to a tree.  He said that the time that he had given up hope when his captors told him the ransom hadn't been paid. Despite that incident, Elvira stayed in Veracruz. "I like it here," he once said, "to be with my people, those who saw me grow up.  I wanted to be back here with them."

Even though he was no longer a pitcher, Elvira was never far from baseball.  When the original Veracruz Winter League folded after the 2015-16 season, he stepped up and organized the four-team Veracruz State Baseball League for the 2016-17 winterball campaign.  The LBEV did not operate at the same level as its predecessors, relying on homegrown prospects playing a weekend-only schedule in front of sparse crowds, but Elvira was able to bankroll them through two seasons with the Xalapa Chileros and Acayucan Tobis, respectively, winning pennants and competing in the Latin American Series.  The LBEV shut down after sisters Regina and Fabiola Vazquez Saut, co-owners of the Acayucan team and politicians affiliated with the PRI, restarted the LIV in 2018 for one season before that circuit apparently closed down this winter due to financial instability.

FERMIN COMMISSIONED AS NEW FIELD GENERAL IN DURANGO

Felix Fermin managed Aguascalientes in 2019

While most North American baseball fans remember Felix Fermin as a smooth-fielding shortstop who was once traded for a future Hall of Fame shortstop, their counterparts in Mexico think of Fermin as a former big leaguer who's gone on to be a pretty good manager capable of putting together winning teams under sometimes less then ideal conditions.  The 56-year-old Dominican well get another chance to spin silk out of a cow's ear after being picked as the Durango Generales' new helmsman.

Durango will be Fermin's sixth managerial stop in the Mexican League since he began as Monterrey's dugout boss in 2007.  That would turn out to be El Gato's longest tenure leading an LMB team, as he spent four mostly-successful seasons directing the Sultanes' on-field fortunes.  His first season was his best as Fermin managed Monterrey to a Liga-best 69-39 record and the Liga pennant. Fermin had a solid second year in 2008 as the Sultanes won their second consecutive LMB North title (after coming in third at 64-46) and reaching the Serie del Rey, where they lost to the Mexico City Diablos Rojos in five games,  but the team struggled to a 51-56 season in 2009 and missed the postseason altogether. Despite a 2010 rebound that saw Monterrey finish second in the North at 58-49 and winning their first round playoff series before falling to Saltillo in the division championship series, Fermin was fired after the season. Despite that setback, managers with 242-188 records and one pennant at their last stop usually find work in Mexico and it only took Fermin a year to land his next job.  

Instead of working for an established team with a storied past in a city that has historically supported its team, however, he took the reins of the Carmen Delfines, a 2012 LMB expansion team in a resort city with no history of baseball beyond four years in the late 1960's when the Cameroneros played in the long-forgotten Class A Mexican Southeast League.  Although Fermin had a handful of decent players like ex-Rangers outfielder Ruben Mateo and former Rays starting pitcher Tim Corcoran, the Delfines stumbled to a 51-60 record and a fifth-place finish in the LMB South. Things went much better in Carmen's second year as the Delfines finished first in the LMB South at 63-46, thanks in part to Mateo's .322/37/119 season and the addition of ex-Yankee outfielder Ruben Rivera (.313/22/80 with 23 steals), but lost to fourth-place Veracruz in the first playoff round.  Carmen reached the playoffs again in 2014 with a 57-54 regular season and a play-in win over Oaxaca, but the Delfines were bounced in the first round by Quintana Roo and after a 51-59 season in 2015, Fermin was bounced to the unemployment line. Ironically, the Delfines lasted one more season in Carmen until the team itself was bounced to (wait for it) Durango, where they became the Generales in 2017.

Fermin's 1991 Upper Deck card

Fermin has since managed in Monterrey (again) in 2016 and 2017, leading the Sultanes to an aggregate record of 140-80 but losing to archrival Tijuana in the MLB North finals both years, which led to owner Jose Maiz firing him a second time.  El Gato then led Dos Laredos to a 33-24 record in the Fall 2018 season before losing to Monclova in five games in their first-round series. Despite a respectable 21-15 record six weeks into the 2019 season, Tecos owner Jose Antonio Mansur replaced Fermin with Alfonso "Houston" Jimenez, yet another former MLB shortstop who led Dos Laredos to a 39-45 mark the rest of the way.  Fermin didn't stay jobless long, however. Two days later, he was brought to Aguascalientes to take over for the deposed Joe Alvarez, who left the Rieleros at 17-22. Despite toiling for one of the LMB's most perpetually-underfunded franchises, Fermin was able to coax the Railroaders to a 17-8 record in August (best in the Liga that month), including a six-game winning streak to salvage an otherwise lost 54-64 season, with a 37-42 register under Fermin.

And now it's on to Durango for the peripatetic Fermin, who will be replaced in the Aguascalientes dugout by former Baltimore pitcher Luis Carlos Rivera. Oh, that shortstop that the Seattle Mariners traded to Cleveland (along with designated hitter Reggie Jefferson) so they could install El Gato at the same position in the Kingdome?  A 26-year-old career .252 hitter named Omar Vizquel, Tijuana's new manager and someone who'll likely be selected to Cooperstown before his ten years of BBWA eligibility are over.