WILL LMP PLAY IN FIVE CITIES, MEXICAN PLAYERS ONLY?

LMP may play with only Mexicanos in 2020-21

The Mexican Pacific League held a videoconference last week to discuss a number of issues related to their upcoming season. Reports say that the LMP is considering narrowing the number of ballparks used for games from the full ten venues to five while only Mexican players would suit up, both as cost-saving measures. The ongoing saga involving Mazatlan and the Caribbean Series was also taken up.

The El Fildeo website says that the Mex Pac's "extraordinary assembly" last Wednesday included discussion among league president Omar Canizales and representatives of the ten teams about whether to eliminate games in the circuit's more far-flung cities like Guadalajara, Monterrey and Mexicali while Mazatlan may be added to that list (more later). Such a move would greatly reduce travel costs by limiting games to within the states of Sinaloa and Sonora, although field surfaces in ballparks where games were played daily would be placed under extra stress without the usual amount of time between homestands available for groundskeepers to tend to them.

Discussion was also held on whether the season should open in mid-October (the traditional starting time for the Mex Pac) or the first games will be played one month later, as has been considered should the summer Mexican League's belated season stretch into early November. Unsurprisingly, no decision was made because LMP owners instead are taking a wait-and-see attitude about whether the LMB is able to even take the field on its desired August 7 opening date, which is no sure bet.

As with consolidating games to within five ballparks of reasonably close proximity, LMP owners were looking at their ledgers in regards to where their players will come from next winter. Foreign players have been a part of the Mex Pac landscape for decades, but the expected drop in revenues in 2020-21 means the possibility of teams suiting up all-Mexican rosters. It would not be the first time something like that has happened. Back in 1982-83, the LM featured only domestic players as a response to the devalued peso that winter. Culiacan won the pennant that season and imports were allowed to return the next campaign.

This time, the concern is not over the value of the peso, although that currency had fallen to 23.06 per US dollar as of last weekend after years with a ratio of less than 20:1. The larger worry is that extraneros historically take a chunk out of team payrolls, with foreigners drawing much higher salaries than their Mexican brethren. Patriotic pride and greater opportunities for homegrown products to play aside, it would simply cost teams less money to employ only Mexican players. According to Puro Beisbol editor Fernando Ballesteros, LMP owners were split 5-5 on the issue and nothing new emerged from last week's meeting.

2021 Serie del Caribe in Mazatlan still in doubt

One issue that many observers had mistakenly assumed was tentatively been settled was brought back up. It has been reported (including here) that the Mazatlan City Council extended an olive branch of sorts in their ongoing dispute with the LMP Venados with a letter that expressed their desire to work out differences in order for the 2021 Caribbean Series to be played at Estadio Teodoro Mariscal next January as planned. However (as also reported here), the letter included nothing definite and as of last week, no signed agreement had been reached between the City and the Venados allowing the team to regain possession of the ballpark.

The lack of resolution has had an effect that goes well beyond the Pearl of the Pacific. The Pan American Baseball Confederation (or COPABE) has given the Mex Pac a deadline of Tuesday, June 30 for the Venados to have regained control of Estadio Teodoro Mariscal for the upcoming season. Failure to do so could mean the Serie del Caribe might be moved out of Mazatlan and perhaps even the country, although the latter seems less likely given that Mexico now draws the highest attendance by far of the countries involved in the Crown Jewel of Latin Baseball. COPABE president Juan Francisco Puello says the event may be canceled entirely if the Wuhan virus has taken too much of a toll by November.

Of more immediate concern, the imbroglio might mean that Mazatlan would be one of the five teams forced to play the 2020-21 season on the road in the five-ballpark scenario outlined above, if the Wuhan virus lessens enough by then for a winterball schedule to be played.

PEDRO MERE TO RETURN AS SKIPPER IN MEXICALI

All smiles for Pedro Mere and friends

Following weeks of speculation as to whether he'd be back, Pedro Mere's return as manager of the Mexican Pacific League's Mexicali Aguilas in 2020-21 has been confirmed.

Eagles sports manager Luis Alfonso Garcia made the announcement at a virtual press conference on June 18. "It's a pleasure for the Mexicali Aguilas club to work again with a leader on and off the field of play," Garcia said. "We are convinced that Pedro Mere will be an important piece to fly towards the goal that we have year after year: the championship."

Mere's history with the Aguilas dates back to November 2017, when he took the reins of the club from Roberto Vizcarra, who was fired after leading Mexicali to a 16-19 first-half record. Vizcarra had led the Aguilas to the Mex Pac pennant and the Caribbean Series title game in Mexicali the previous winter, but memories are short in the front offices of Mexican teams. Mere turned the team's fortunes around in the second half as the Aguilas went 26-7 (setting a franchise record for wins in one half) and reached the playoff semifinals, where they were swept by eventual champion Culiacan. That was enough for owner Dio Alberto Murillo to send the Veracruz native packing.

Act II for Mere in Mexicali opened last November after he replaced Bobby Dickerson, who was 9-16 when Murillo decided to make a change less than a month into the season. The Aguilas went 25-17 the rest of the way before losing in the first round to Culiacan, who again went on to the LMP pennant under Benji Gil. Given how things ended his first time in the border city, Mere express gratitude that he will be able to open a season with the team. "Mexicali is my team, my home and a great institution where I have had the fortune to work," he deadpanned during the press conference. "I feel very identified with the team and with the fans."

Born in 1970, Mere broke into the Mexican League as a 17-year-old infielder with Dos Laredos in 1988 and went on to a 22-year playing career before retiring in 2009 as a member of the Minatitlan Petroleros after batting .280 with 186 homers. His managerial career began three years later when he took over for Orlando Merced at the helm of the Veracruz Rojos del Aguila on June 10, 2012 after Merced was ejected from a game. The move became permanent two days later when Merced was suspended for the year after an altercation with LMB orations director Nestor Alva Brito, and Mere took Veracruz to the pennant with a thrilling seven-game win over Aguascalientes in the Serie del Rey.

He has since led Tijuana to the 2017 LMB title after a dominant regular season before being fired after the Spring 2018 season when the Toros only finished second with a 33-23 record and lost to Monterrey in the LMB North final. Mere was eventually signed by Monclova and while the Acereros lost to the Sultanes again in the Fall 2018 LMB North title series after a resounding 42-14 regular season record (in what seemed a bizare move at the time, Mere replaced former Pittsburgh All-Star Carlos Garcia with the Acereos in first place at 14-5),

Mission Impossible? Mere to manage Tabasco in LMB

Monclova owner Gerardo Benavides brought Mere back for 2019 but apparently thought the Acereros' 44-25 record at the end of June wasn't sufficient, so he fired Mere and brought in former American League Rookie of the Year Pat Listach as new manager. The move worked, as Listach went on to lead Monclova to its first pennant. 

Mere was hired last October to run the Tabasco Olmecas, a perpetual also-ran who present the biggest challenge of his managerial career. The Villahermosa team has some recognizable veterans on the roster like Ronnier Mustelier, Jesus Arredondo, Paul Leon, Andres Meza, Juan Pablo Oramas and Derrick Loop but a lack of offensive firepower doomed the Olmecas to an LMB South-worst 45-72 record.

Prior to his LMP experience as a dugout boss, Mere had a remarkable winterball run as manager of the Las Tuxtlas Brujos, winning five Veracruz Winter League pennants and a Latin American Series crown in seven seasons between 2008-09 and 2014-15.

JORGE CANTU'S LMP RIGHTS ACQUIRED BY MONTERREY

Cantu homered in his first game for Mexico City

The Mexican Pacific League last week held a player exchange of sorts in which the loop's two 2019 expansion teams, Monterrey and Guasave, were able to select three unprotected players apiece from rosters of the eight remaining established teams. A similar process is planned for July 7. While five of the chosen players are not well-known even within Mexico, Monterrey picked a familiar name among followers of Major League Baseball.

Although he hasn't played winterball in four seasons, the Sultane plucked 38-year-old infielder Jorge Cantu from the Culiacan Tomateros. Cantu played all or parts of eight MLB seasons, mostly with Tampa Bay and Florida, between 2004 and 2011. After laboring six years in the Rays minor league system, he broke in with the big club in 2004 before a breakthrough season a year later, when he belted 28 homers and drove in 117 runs for Tampa Bay in 2005. Cantu cooled down after that, spending time in the minors and with the Cincinnati Reds, he returned to Florida in 2008 and put up two strong campaigns for the Marlins with 45 homers and 195 RBIs in 2008 and 2009. As before, he lost his mojo in 2010 and went on to spend time with Texas and San Diego, where he played his last MLB game in 2011 to finish with a .271 batting average, 105 homers and 471 RBIs over 847 career games. He's also appeared in three World Baseball Classics for Mexico.

Cantu, who was born in McAllen, Texas but grew up across the border in Reynosa, made his Mexican League debut in 2013 with the Quintana Roo Tigres, belting 31 homers and 71 ribbies over 83 games. That was good enough to earn a one-year contract with the Doosan Bears of the Korea Baseball Organization, where the 6'3" first baseman hit .309 with 18 longballs in 111 contests. He returned to the Tigres in 2015 and has remained in the Liga since. "El Bronco" has played for two pennant-winning teams in Cancun and one in Tijuana, and is currently on the Mexico City roster after hitting .283 with 12 roundtrippers for the Diablos Rojos in 2019. He's also spent five winters in the Mex Pac, most recently with Culiacan in 2015-16 when he batted .232 with one homer for the Tomateros in 27 games.

Monterrey's two other selections were catcher Carlos Rodriguez and right-handed pitcher Alejandro Barraza. Chosen from Mexicali, the Hermosillo-born Rodriguez is a longtime veteran receiver who has spent his entire 15-year professional career south of the border. He's played the last eight summers in Aguascalientes, representing the Rieleros in two LMB All-Star Games, for whom he cracked 32 homers and drove in 94 runs in 2012 en route to 172 four-baggers to augment a .272 career average in the LMB. He's also played 15 winters in the LMP, including nine for his hometown Naranjeros before he began bouncing the circuit a bit the past few seasons. He hit .256 in 25 games for the Aguilas in 2019-20.

Taken from Navojoa, Barraza spent three years with the Casper Rockies from 2009-11, going 6-8 with a 6.14 ERA as both a starter and reliever. He's played the last eight summers in the LMB, mostly with Mexico City and Oaxaca as a middle reliever. The Guaymas product has a lifetime Liga record of 24-21 record and a 4.94 ERA after pitching for Dos Laredos last year, where he had a sparkling 1.89 ERA in 22 trips from the bullpen. The 29-year-old has been a reliever in five LMP seasons, showing a 4-7 record and 5.62 ERA in 64 games.

New Guasave P Rafael Cordova with Laguna in 2017

For their part, Guasave took three younger players: Right-handed pitchers Rafael Cordova and Nestor Anguamea plus utilityman Miguel Guzman. Despite only being 25, Cordova has played eight years of minor league ball (three in the Rays system, five in the LMB). Born in Yuma, Arizona, the 6'2" righty has come out of the bullpen in all of his 189 professional appearances, although he did start one Arizona Fall League game for Mexicali last year, giving up two runs in four innings. He's spent the past three summers with Tabasco and is 9-6 lifetime in the Liga with a 4.30 ERA. He last played in the LMP with Hermosillo in 2016-17.

Anguamea hails from Obregon and turned 20 in March. His professional experience is limited to six innings over five relief appearances for Union Laguna last summer, giving up two earned runs for a 4.50 ERA. He did win his lone decision, striking out Aguascalientes' Carlos Rodriguez for the final out in the top of the 12th before the Algodoneros scored twice in the bottom of the frame for a 7-6 triumph.

At 24, Guzman is another experienced youngster with seven years in the LMB behind him. The Leon product has played all infield and outfield positions and has a deceptive career batting average of .323 after batting .412 for Puebla last summer in 178 plate appearances after fewer than 100 opportunities over the previous six years and never hitting over .250.

Algodoneros sports manager Alejandro Ahumada was pleased with his three newest players: "All three are talented young players who are distinguished by their work ethic and who will surely come with all the desire and attitude to earn a place in our organization."

CHITO RODRIGUEZ URGES LMB TO CANCEL SEASON

Cuauhtémoc “Chito” Rodríguez

A widely-respected Salon de la Fama member with over four decades of Mexican League front office experience is calling on the LMB to cancel the 2020 season due to ongoing uncertainty regarding the Wuhan virus outbreak in Mexico.

Cuauhtémoc “Chito” Rodríguez was inducted last year in Monterrey after an executive career during which his Dos Laredos Tecolotes reached the playoffs 15 times (winning two pennants) before taking over as president of the flagship Tigres franchise in 1994 and overseeing six title-winning teams in Mexico City, Puebla and Quintana Roo before his 2018 retirement after Fernando Valenzuela purchased the team from Carlos Peralta. He was recognized as "King of Baseball" at the Baseball Winter Meetings in 2011.

When asked by writer Angel Villegas last week about the upcoming Mexican League season, Rodriguez was quoted as saying, "cancel it," in Puro Beisbol. "I don't think baseball being played in the LMB is possible this year. The country is immersed in the virus and we don't know when it will be solved."

Rodriguez elaborated that the Liga's plan to play games with people in the stands is impractical: “The situation in the country and in the world is very complex regarding the virus. I would not recommend playing with the public in the stands in the Mexican League. It will not be controllable until you have a vaccine to counteract this evil. Therefore, it is not practical for anyone to be in a sport that people go to the stadiums and I do not only mean baseball but also others such as soccer, basketball and American football."

Rodriguez at the 2011 Baseball Winter Meetings

He echoed LMB president Horacio de la Vegas by saying that teams can't afford to play behind closed doors either. “Doing it without an audience in the stadiums as the United States plans, if it takes shape, is very different," Rodriguez explains. "MLB has very strong television income. In this case, they'll try to get their season off for television rights and sponsors are not interested in whether or not there are people. It's a situation very different from that in Mexico."

Rodriguez suggests that calling off the season gives the Mexican League an opportunity to create peace with the winter Mexican Pacific League, who would not have to shorten their season to accomodate a Mexican League schedule stretching into November. "It is time for the two leagues to make amends," he says. "I would go with the LMB Board of Directors and would do the same with the Winter Council and tell them, 'Look, we must make peace. We did not do it for many years because there are difficulties between us so there was no approach. We've criticized each other, but now it's time to lean on each other.'

“It's a complicated situation so it would be best if the Mexican League told the winter league that they can start as usual in October, finish it and play their Caribbean Series. Everyone in peace."

DE LA VEGA: LMB WILL NOT PLAY GAMES IN EMPTY BALLPARKS

Mexican League president Horacio de la Vega

Although the 2020 Mexican League season is tentatively scheduled to open August 7, it's with the full knowledge that the Wuhan virus pandemic makes everything a fluid situation and that the season may not be played at all. One thing that isn't going to change, according to LMB president Horacio de la Vega, is that the Liga will NOT play games in front of occupied stands in 2020.

"We are not going to play behind closed doors. That is our determination. The only possibility is to do it with the capacity allowed," de la Vega said.

According to the Hitazo website, de la Vega explained that he expects to start the season on August 7 to end on November 10 with a 48-game campaign for each team in the regular season, but that will depend on how the pandemic plays out over the next few weeks.

Unlike leagues elsewhere, the Mexican League is not in the financial position to play without people in the stands because the LMB does not have deals with sponsors similar to those found in the United States, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan while the majority of its 16 teams are dependent on revenue from ticket, merchandise and concession sales to meet payroll and cover their other expenses. Games behind closed doors would almost certainly lead to franchises folding, perhaps even during the season.

Tabasco Olmecas will need fan in the seats 

As a case in point, the Korea Baseball Organization (where Hermosillo-born Roberto Ramos has become a star in his first season in Asia) has played in front of empty stands since opening their season on May 5. Although the KBO is in better financial shape than the LMB and has had their games beamed to a North American TV audience on ESPN, SportBusiness.com reports that some teams are reportedly beginning to struggle without ballpark revenues and corporate team owners may be forced to take out bank loans to meet front office and team payrolls. One KBO club official said, "We've been paying our players and employees in full but if we keep playing without fans in July, a lot of teams will run into extremely serious trouble.

The leader of Mexico's summer baseball circuit accepted that after the Wuhan virus, it will be necessary to change uses and customs of the game, such as spitting on the ground (something usual between pitches) or eating sunflower seeds.

"It will radically change the behavior of the players," de la Vega stated. "There is a protocol that will imply changes, not only for the players, but also for the fans."

BANUELOS CUT BY MARINERS, SIGNS WITH TEAM IN TAIWAN

Manny Banuelos with Culiacan in 2019-20

If nothing else, Manny Banuelos' passport has been getting a good workout this year.

The 29-year-old lefty will be playing in his fourth country since January after the 5'10" Laguna native signed a one-year contract with the Fubon Guardians of Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League last week. Banuelos will report this week to the team in New Taipei City, where the Guardians roster includes fellow moundsmen Henry Sosa, Mike Loree, Bryan Woodall and Ryan Bollinger.

Banuelos was once a highly-regarded prospect after signing a free-agent contract with the New York Yankees in 2008 at age 17. He rose as high as AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in seven years as a farmhand in pinstripes, but never appeared in the majors until after he was traded to Atlanta following the 2014 season. He made an impressive MLB debut for the Braves on July 2 against Washington at home, shutting out the Nats over 5.2 innings and striking out seven batters in a no-decision 2-1 win. Banuelos followed that outing with another good start five nights later in Milwaukee by holding the Brewers to one run in 5.1 frames and was credited with a 4-3 victory. Although he mostly pitched creditably the rest of the season, he lost his final four decisions, including an 8-4 shelling at Washington on September 6 in which he allowed six runs over two innings in his final outing. That was enough to raise his overall ERA from 3.33 to 5.13 to augment a 1-4 record.

After that, Banuelos was returned to the minors and bounced from the Braves to the Dodgers and White Sox organizations before returning to MLB in 2019 with Chicago, going 3-4 with a 6.93 ERA in 16 appearances, including eight starts. He had a great April for the Chisox, finishing the month with a 2-0 record and 2.70 ERA in six appearances (including four shutout innings on April 22 at Baltimore in a 12-2 laugher), but he allowed 27 earned runs in 20.1 entradas in May to lose four of five decisions and pitched sparingly for manager Rick Renteria after that. A Mexican-American, Renteria led the Mexican League in batting with a .442 average for Jalisco in 1991.

Banuelos spent last winter pitching in the Mexican Pacific League for Culiacan, going 1-1 with a 5.40 ERA in four starts. He began the year helping the Tomateros win the LMP title in the January playoffs, traveled with the team to Puerto Rico in February for the Caribbean Series (where Culiacan reached the semifinals, then went to Arizona for MLB spring training after signing a free-agent contract with the Seattle Mariners.

Banuelos made MLB debut in 2015

Banuelos made one Cactus League appearance with the M's, allowing two runs in as many innings on two hits, two wild pitches and a hit bastman. He appeared ticketed to AAA Tacoma when the Wuhan virus halted camps across MLB, but was among about 50 minor leaguers purged from the Seattle organization on June 2 in order to save the organization $400 a week per player.

Now, Banuelos will resume his career on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. He'll join a Fubon team that has made nine playoff appearances and won three pennants since their 1993 debut as the Jungo Bears, but currently sits third in the four-team CPBL with a 17-23 record after absorbing a 13-4 loss Sunday to the Uni-President Lions, whose roster features former MLB pitchers Ryan Feieraband and Josh Roenicke.

While Taiwan is not where he expected to be when the year began, Manny Banuelos will have one decided advantage over the 750 major leaguers and thousands of remaining minor leaguers he left behind when he departed from North America last week: He'll be playing baseball.

CITY OF MAZATLAN OKAYS 2021 SERIE DEL CARIBE

Estadio Teodoro Mariscal, Mazatlan

Several weeks after evicting the Mazatlan Venados from Estadio Teodoro Mariscal for violations of their lease, the City of Mazatlan has announced that the Mexican Pacific League team will be allowed to use the ballpark for the upcoming 2020-21 season, including hosting the 2021 Caribbean Series in early February.

The City physically escorted Venados front office employees out the stadium in early April, locking the facility up after it had been cleared out. The government claims the team had violated a number of conditions of their ballpark lease, including sponsorship of local basketball players and boxers and delivering Venados game tickets to senior citizens. The team was also asked to let the City use the ballpark to deliver services to seniors in relation to the Wuhan Virus outbreak, but refused the request.

The imbroglio led to concerns that the Caribbean Series would be moved out of Mazatlan if things were not resolved soon, with the Pan American Baseball Confederation (COPABE) giving the Mex Pac until the end of this month to broker a truce between the warring sides.

On Saturday, the Mazatlan City Council released this (translated) statement promising cooperation in allowing the Venados to return for the LMP season and that the Caribbean Series, which brings tourism money to host cities, may go ahead as planned:

The Municipal Government and Mayor Luis Benitez Torres express their commitment to guarantee all the facilities and the granting of permits for the 2020-2021 season of the Mexican Pacific League and the Caribbean Series 2021 at Estadio Teodoro Mariscal.

The City Council and the Mayor know the importance of sports culture and the economic and tourist impact that both baseball tournaments represent for the Mazatlan fans and for the municipality itself.

For this reason, this Government is open to communication with the company "Espectaculos Costa del Pacifico" and with the Caribbean Professional Baseball Confederation to reach agreements for the holding of the two sporting events here in Mazatlán.

The Municipal President expresses our will to grant the right to use, enjoy and enjoy the facilities of Estadio Teodoro Mariscal as well as any authorization for local activities, thereby guaranteeing that there is no impediment to holding such tournaments.

These measures are considered convenient for the benefit of society between the exploitation of a property in the public domain and the social, sports and tourist benefit of Mazatlecos.

Although the statement appears to give the go-ahead for business as usual at the ballpark, it's also notable for what it DOESN'T say. There is no mention of resumption of the lease between the Venados and the City, nor is anything said about a contract pulled by the City from team owner Jose Antonio Toledo that has allowed his family control of ballpark concessions since 1980 before purchasing the team 25 years later. While there does seem to be a truce, it promises to be an uneasy one.

Relations between the Venados and Mazatlan leaders soured quickly after Estadio Teodoro Mariscal reopened in October 2018 following a US$18 million renovation, when drinking water to the facility was shut off in the wake of a discovery that the team had created a clandestine drinking system there.


TOROS PLAN TO RE-OPEN CAMP JULY 15 IN OAXACA

Tijuana Toros to resume training next month

With an August 7 date tentatively set for finally beginning the 2020 Mexican League season, the Tijuana Toros were planning to re-open their training camp on July 15 in the southern state of Oaxaca. The Toros were training in Tempe, Arizona in mid-March when the LMB office ordered all 16 teams to close their camps and put the regular season on hold after the Wuhan virus appeared in Mexico and started claiming lives. As of last weekend, the number of confirmed cases of the Wuhan virus topped 139,000 nationwide, with over 16,000 deaths attributed to it (over 4,000 of them in Mexico City alone).

Toros sports director Oscar Romero, a former LMB pitcher whose son (Oscar Junior) is an 18-year-old third baseman in the Tijuana organization, said that Oaxaca was the most logical place for the team to spend three weeks prepping for the delayed season.

"This is more or less how the panorama is and all the teams are making the maximum effort so that we have the season with the necessary protocols," the elder Romero was quoted as saying on the El Fildeo website. "Our number one option is to train in the city of Oaxaca and it's for several reasons. The first is that they have the proper facilities there to do a good workout."

Besides being home to the Guerreros of the LMB, Oaxaca is also the site of a baseball academy owned and operated by Alfredo Harp Helu, who owns both the Guerreros and Mexico City Diablos Rojos. All three teams are expected to use the facility for training and warmup games until the regular season opens.

Tijuana is considered one of the preseason favorites to win the LMB North Division championship and a contender for copping the Serie de Rey. First-year manager Omar Vizquel will field a veteran outfit including everyday players like first baseman Ricky Alvarez, second baseman Isaac Rodriguez and outfielder Jesus "Cacao" Valdez with catching tandem Xorge Carrillo and Gabriel Gutierrez receiving pitches from Yoanys Quiala, Manny

Academia de Beisbol Alfredo Harp Helu, Oaxaca

Barreda, James Russell and closer Jake Sanchez.

Vizquel takes the reins in Tijuana from Oscar Robles, who managed the Toros to a 75-45 record in 2019 to tie Monclova for the LMB's best regular season record before falling to the Acereros in the LMB North Championship Series in seven games. Monclova went on to win their first pennant by beating Yucatan in the Serie del Rey. After a playing career likely to land him in Cooperstown as a sweet-fielding shortstop and timely batter, Vizquel managed two seasons in the Chicago White Sox system before parting ways with the Chisox after serving as dugout boss in AA Birmingham last year and is no doubt aware that Tijuana ownership will likely not accept anything short of the city's first pennant since 2017.

Meanwhile, Romero allows that the August 7 target for inaugural Liga games is a tentative one. "The first days of July are contemplated approximately to define whether or not there will be a 2020 season," he told El Fildeo, "and all this is conditioned on improving the difficult situation that we are going through with this pandemic."

KBO HOMER LEADER RAMOS SHELVED WITH ANKLE, BACK PAIN

Roberto Ramos raising eyes (and arms) in Korea

Hermosillo native Roberto Ramos' sensational debut season in the Korea Baseball Organization has been placed on hold after the LG Twins slugger was placed on the injured list last week with ankle and back problems. Ramos had played both games of a doubleheader on Thursday before the decision was made to sit him down for at least a three-game home series last weekend with the Busan Lotte Giants.

At the time he was shelved by the Seoul-based team last Friday, Ramos was leading the KBO with 13 homers while sitting in third place in both batting average (.391) and runs batted in (31). His .777 slugging percentage and 1.226 on-base plus slugging percentage both ranked second as Ramos was a prime reason the Twins were tied for second with the defending champion Doosan Bears in the standings at 21-12, four games behind the 25-8 NC Dinos.

"He had some discomfort in his right ankle after the double header, and he woke up this morning with a sore back," Twins manager Ryu Jong-Il said about Ramos in his pregame media availability Friday. "He took an injection in his back. We'll see how his recovery goes, but it looks like he won't be available this weekend." In Ramos' absence, the Twins called up first baseman Kim Ho-Eun from the minors. A 2016 sixth round draft pick, Kim made his KBO debut over the weekend.

Ramos going deep for LG Twins

The KBO has instituted a new procedure for injuries in 2020. Previously, whenever the league removed a player from their active roster due to an injury, they were required to sit for at least ten days before being reactivated. Now, there is no minimum number of days to remain out of the lineup, theoretically allowing a player placed on the IL on Friday night to sit one one game on Saturday before returning to the lineup Sunday afternoon.

Born in Hermosillo, the 25-year-old Ramos was a 2014 draft pick of the Colorado Rockies out of College of the Canyons in California. He spent six years in the Rockies farm system, socking 98 homers and batting .292 (including 30 longballs and 105 RBIs with a .309 average last season for AAA Albuquerque in the Pacific Coast League). Ramos signed a one-year free agent contract with the Twins in the offseason for $400,000 with a $50,000 signing bonus.

Ramos has played parts of six winterball seasons with his hometown Hermosillo Naranjeros, but without the same level of success that he's seen during the summer. Over 175 Mexican Pacific League games, he's hit .253 with 26 roundtrippers and 88 ribbies.

DE LA VEGA, CANIZALES: WE WILL LOSE MONEY

In recent interviews, presidents of both the Mexican League and Mexican Pacific League said their respective circuits and teams WILL lose money in their coming seasons regardless of how their schedules work out. While there's nothing unusual about Mexican professional baseball teams finishing in the red financially at the end of a season, it's unheard of for leaders of the country's top two leagues to predict such an outcome before a game is played.

However, due to the Wuhan virus, the "unheard of" is becoming commonplace throughout the world of baseball. It's no different in Mexico, where as of Sunday, over 113,000 people had contracted the virus and total deaths were approaching the 14,000 mark. All leagues south of the border have postponed their seasons indefinitely and while the Mexican League is hoping to play a shortened 48-game season plus playoffs beginning August 7, one call from a federal health authority could scuttle that plan.

Facing that uncertainly, both Mexican League president Horacio de la Vega and his Mexican Pacific League counterpart, Omar Canizales, are already hoisting fiscal white flags and hoping to minimize the pending damage the Wuhan virus will cause their loops. "We are in a losing scenario," de la Vega told the El Jonronero website. "The teams are not going to gain or break even. We are trying to minimize costs to the maximum." The LMB's proposed schedule would partly address that by eliminating games outside a team's division in order to cut air travel costs while avoiding potential contagions.

De la Vega, who noted his 45th birthday last week, says the majority of Mexican League teams can't afford to play games behind closed doors as leagues in Asia have done because they can't survive without gate receipts or concessions and merchandise sales, but he admits they may have no choice in some places: "The entire league can't play behind closed doors, but if in a particular state the local authorities mandate that the only possibility is to play behind closed doors, we are considering that some places may start behind closed doors." The governor of Coahuila, where three LMB teams play (including defending champion Monclova), has said that teams will have to limit the number of people admitted to ballparks in order to adhere to social distancing policies.

Mexican Pacific League president Omar Canizales

Meanwhile, LMP president Canizales echoes de la Vega's assessment that his league is likely going to come up short on the profit/loss statements in the 2020-21 season. One possible result may be Mex Pac teams relying on domestic talent more than players from the United States and elsewhere, who generally cost more money: "We would have to wait and see what kind of players we have available when we start the season so as to make a decision if we are going to bring in foreigners or give priority, as we want to do, to Mexicans." Canizales notes that Major League Baseball has cut dozens of minor leaguers, including at least 14 Mexicans who may be home and available for Mex Pac training camps. "I think we would give priority to our native Mexicans who've played in minor leagues than foreigners," he said, "but the decision of how many foreigners we are going to play with in the season has not yet been made."

Regardless of where players come from, Canizales repeats de la Vega's refrain that his league and its ten teams will look to cut expenses wherever they can, including salaries on the field and in the front office. "It is very likely that we all have to sacrifice something in order to make the season feasible, trying to make the players least affected, but I think it will be necessary to make some adjustments," he said by telephone to RG La Deportiva. "Everything will depend on the level at which we are allowed to play in terms of stadium occupancy," alluding to the possibility that the LMP may have to play in front of unoccupied stands.

Canizales says that the MexPac is now penciling in November 15 as opening day, a month later than usual, should the Mexican League playoffs go into November for the first time ever. He adds that there are three more LMP league meetings between now and October. "We are not against the wall. There is time."

JUAN NAVARRETE NAMED NEW HERMOSILLO MANAGER

After their somewhat convoluted firing of Vinny Castilla last month, the Hermosillo Naranjeros have named Juan Navarrete as their manager for the upcoming 2020-21 Mexican Pacific League season. A former MLB All-Star, Castilla was reportedly let go by the Orangemen sometime in April, but no announcement was made of his firing until last month after some mixed signals from the team as to whether or not the Oaxaca native was still at the helm.

It will not be the first time Navarrete has entered a confusing situation as an LMP manager. His hiring as the first dugout boss of the expansion Guasave Algodoneros was announced at a press conference last June, although his duties as an instructor in the Oakland A's minor league system prevented him from attending. However, Navarette never came to formal terms with new owner Alfredo Aramburo, who bought the team after the reported hiring in mid-July, and ex-MLB pitcher Rigo Beltran ended up being the Cottoneers new skipper instead. Beltran lasted less than a month into last season before he was fired.

Although he's been a manager, coach and instructor in the Oakland system for over two decades after playing minor league ball for seven seasons for the Montreal Expos in the 1970's (he was a teammate of Hall of Famers Gary Carter and Andre Dawson), the Gomez Palacio-born Navarrete spent most of his 21-year playing career as a second baseman in the Mexican League, where he hit .327 with 1,979 hits over 1,607 LMB games before retiring in 1990. He also spent 19 winters playing in the Mex Pac. He was elected to the Salon de la Fama in 1998, by which time his second baseball career was already well underway. Navarrete has tutored such future MLB All-Stars as Miguel Tejada and Max Muncy and is currently a defensive coordinator in the Oakland system.

Monterrey Industriales player-manager Juan Navarrete

Navarrete had already been a Liga player-manager for both Saltillo and the old Monterrey Industriales before he returned to the Saraperos in 1991 for two years as skipper. He then moved in 1993 to Villahermosa, where he piloted the Tabasco Olmecas to their only Liga championship in their 45-year history. Navarrete spent one more year managing the Olmecas before spending the next 25 summers north of the border (although he did return to Tabasco in 2004 and took the team to a 48-48 record and a first-round playoff exit). He's also managed A's farm teams in the Arizona, California and Northwest leagues, winning the 1996 AZL flag.

Besides playing nearly two decades in winterball for Obregon, Navojoa, Mexicali and Guaymas, Navarrete has managed five teams in the LMP: Guasave, Jalisco, Obregon, Mexicali and Los Mochis. He was named Manager of the Year in 2014-15 after leading the Jalisco Charros to a 46-26 record their first year in Guadalajara after moving from Guasave.

Now he'll put on a Naranjeros uniform for the first time as a player or manager, replacing another Mexican baseball legend in Castilla, who took Hermosillo to a 38-27 record in his first year at the helm before falling to Mazatlan in six games in their first-round playoff series. In announcing the 66-year-old Navarrete's hiring, Orangemen general director Pablo de la Pena said about Castilla's ouster, "It was considered that some things failed and the sporting goal was not reached." De la Pena then explained why Navarrete was chosen: "We sought experience and knowledge of the league. We believe that his knowledge and his way of communicating with the players will help us to achieve good results." That same experience and knowledge informs Navarrete what will happen if he doesn't.

The hiring leaves Monterrey and Mexicali as the last two LMP franchises with unsettled managerial situations. The Sultanes have not confirmed that Homar Rojas will be back with the team while the Aguilas have been mum about Pedro Mere's status. Otherwise, besides Navarrete in Hermosillo, the other seven Mex Pac skippers going into the season will be Roberto Vizcarra in Jalisco, Juan José Pacho in Mazatlan, Benji Gil in Culiacán, Oscar Robles in Guasave, Victor Bojorquez in Los Mochis, Lorenzo Bundy in Navojoa, and Sergio Gastelum in Obregón.

TIJUANA TO HOST TWO BASEBALL WORLD CUPS IN NOVEMBER

Two WBSC Baseball World Cups awarded to Tijuana

If the baseball season ever gets started, 2020 will be a good year for international competition in Mexico. On the heels of both Obregon and Los Mochis being named co-hosts of the World Baseball Softball Confederation's U-23 Baseball World Cup between September 30 and October 9, the organization has awarded two more similar tournaments to Tijuana in November (contingent on the Wuhan virus being abated or eliminated altogether in Mexico's sixth-largest city by then).

The fifth U-15 Baseball World Cup is slated for the so-called "Heart Between Two Seas" between October 30 and November 8, with the ninth Women's Baseball World Cup to be played from November 12 to the 21st. Games for both tournaments will be played at La Nida, the 17,000-seat home of the Mexican League's Tijuana Toros, although another venue such as the smaller Estadio Angel Camarena may be pressed into duty if the need for another field arises, especially if the Toros make a playoff run into November. Estadio Camarena, which is being remodeled, was to be the home of the expansion Otay Inustriales of the Northern Mexico League, but the LNM is struggling for survival with an uncertain future. Another ballpark, the 5,000-seat Estadio Manuel Cecena, sits 30 miles to the east in Tecate as a last resort.

WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari said, "Having Tijuana confirmed to host two major WBSC World Cup events in a row represents how much baseball means to the city. This is the first time we've had a city host two World Cups in our history, providing a wonderful opportunity to celebrate baseball and sport as we await the restart of the international calendar."

The U-15 Baseball World Cup had originally been scheduled for August before the pandemic shut baseball down in most of the countries taking part. Of the twelve teams expected to take part, eight currently hold Top 12 status in the WBSC's latest rankings for that category: Japan (1), United States (2), Taiwan (4), Mexico (5), Cuba (7), Venezuela (8), Dominican Republic (10) and Panama (12). Rounding out the field will be Italy (17), Germany (19), So. Africa (24) and Guam (36).

This will mark the first time that Guam has sent a contingent to any World Cup competition since being admitted to the International Baseball Federation (the WBSC's predecessor) in the 1980's after winning the Oceania championship last year. Japan, the United States and Germany won their continental tournaments while South Africa was chosen as Africa's representative after no qualifier was held there. The USA defeated host Panama in the title game of the 2018 U-15 Baseball World Cup while Taiwan finished third.

Mexico pitcher Rosy del Castillo

The Women's Baseball World Cup will likewise feature twelve nations, eight of them ranked in the WBSC's Top 12: Japan (1), Canada (2), Taiwan (3), Venezuela (4), United States (5), Australia (6), Cuba (8) and the Dominican Republic (9). Also represented will be The Netherlands (11), host Mexico (14), the Philippines (15) and France (18). The latter three are making their first-ever appearance at the Women's Baseball World Cup. Like the U-15 tournament, this competition was postponed after originally being scheduled for September.

Japan defeated Taiwan in the 2018 championship game in Florida for their sixth straight World Cup title and will come to Tijuana riding a 30-game win streak. The USA won the first two World Cups in 2004 and 2006. Not only will this be Mexico's first time playing in a Baseball World Cup, last year marked their initial entry in women's baseball competition. Last August 19, in their opening game at the first Pan Am Women's Baseball Championship held in Aguascalientes, pitchers Rosy del Castillo and Veronica Romo combined on a no-hitter in a 16-0 win over fellow debutante Nicaragua. Mexico went on to finish fourth in the eight-team event, overseen by the Pan American Baseball Confederation (or COPABE).

MEXICAN LEAGUE: AUGUST 7 OPENER, 12-TEAM PLAYOFF

Baseball to return to Uni-Trade Stadium, Laredo

The Mexican League announced last week that they will play a shortened season of 48 games per team beginning Friday, August 7, followed by a postseason in October and November that will include a record 12 teams. Unlike other leagues, LMB teams will not play behind closed doors.

The decision, which was unanimous among the LMB's 16 teams, was released by the Liga's Mexico City office last Thursday. After the August 8 openers, teams will play six games per week for eight weeks before concluding the regular season on Thursday, October 1. Games will be limited to teams within their respective eight-team divisions, meaning no LMB North teams will face their LMB South counterparts until the Serie del Rey. Since a 48-game schedule does not balance out among seven competitors, it may be assumed that each team will face one "rival" two extra series for a total of 12 games over four series, as opposed to six games over home-and-away series with the remaining divisional opponents. There will be no All-Star Game, which had originally been schedule for June 14 in Monclova.

The Mexican League playoffs will commence Saturday, October 3, two days after the regular season concludes with six of eight teams in each division being given a berth. The LMB has not announced a format for their postseason. There may be a possibility that the Liga could adopt the Mexican Pacific League's old "Lucky Loser" system, in which the first round loser with the most wins in their series advances to the second round along with the three winners. That system was discarded after several seasons by the LMP last winter after the loop expanded to ten teams with eight advancing to the playoffs. Another possibility is that the top two teams in each division earn a first-round bye with the remaining four teams playing for the two remaining slots in the division semifinals, but it's all speculation at this point.

Estadio Monterrey could be crowded in October

However the format turns out, the Serie del Rey is scheduled to begin on Monday, November 2, with Game Seven (if needed) slated for Tuesday, November 10 in what will be the latest season in LMB history. The Mexican Pacific League announced Saturday that if the LMB ends up canceling their season, which is still possible, they would go ahead with their planned season opener on Monday, October 13. If the LMB does play into November, however, the Mex Pac will delay their season opener several weeks for THEIR latest start ever. In announcing his league's options, LMP president Omar Canizales did not outline how their regular season and playoff schedules would be altered.

The situation could create an even tighter player crunch than had been anticipated due to the Wuhan virus. Concerns are that players in the United States might take the winter off instead of venture south of the border, where the virus is still very much a concern. A real scheduling logjam may occur in Monterrey, where the MLB Sultanes may still be playing in the postseason at the same time their LMP namesake begins their regular season, with only one ballpark between them.

The two leagues appear to be taking different courses as to whether they will play in empty ballparks. Canizales has said the Mex Pac is considering going that route in response to safety concerns, but the LMB announced they WILL open their stadia to fans. The latter decision is economically based, since many financially-struggling Liga teams are dependent on revenue from ticket sales, concessions, merchandise and ballpark display ads to survive because the LMB has no large media contracts to share among its member franchises. The league has developed a so-called "Diamond Plan," based on WBSC guidelines and administered by federal health authorities, to maximize safety among players, coaches, umpires and fans during games.

HERMOSILLO NATIVE RAMOS TEARING UP LOOP IN KBO DEBUT

Roberto Ramos is the talk of Korean baseball

After six years of slowly working his way up the ladder in the Colorado Rockies system, including a big season for Albuquerque during his AAA debut in 2019, Roberto Ramos is making the most of his first year playing ball in South Korea, where his bat has attracted more attention than usual due to the paucity of baseball outside Asia.

A 25-year-old native of Hermosillo, Sonora, Ramos has worn Korea Baseball Organization pitchers out to the tune of a .375 batting average with 10 homers and 21 RBIs over his first 23 games with the LG Twins of Seoul. He stroked two doubles and drawing a walk over four plate appearances in his May 5 KBO debut against their in-house rivals Doosan Bears (the two teams share the 25,553-seat Jamsil Stadium) to begin an eight-game-hitting streak. Ramos had a two-homer game May 10 against the NC Dinos and a walkoff grand slam May 24 to defeat the KT Wiz, drawing global attention as the KBO and Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League are the only two circuits in the world currently playing regular season games. Through Sunday, Ramos led the KBO in homers by three longballs, was tied for fourth in RBIs and stood fourth in batting average.

The 6'3" 220-pounder was Colorado's 16th Round draft pick in 2014 out of College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita, California. He struggled that summer while splitting time with the Rockies' Class A Tri-Cities and Rookie Grand Junction farm teams, hitting a combined .213 with three homers in 39 games. However, he started regaining his stroke with Class A Asheville (.341 with 10 homers in 42 games) in 2015 and began climbing the organization's ladder. Ramos socked 32 homers playing for both Class A Lancaster and Class AA Hartford affiliates in 2018, but he really found his groove last summer with Albuquerque in the Pacific Coast League, abusing pitchers to the tune of a .309 average with 30 homers and 105 RBIs in 122 games for the Dukes.

After six years in the minors, Ramos accrued 98 roundtrippers and 349 ribbies to augment a .292 average in 496 outings, playing in All-Star Games in both the California League and PCL. Even so, he was released by the Rockies off the Albuquerque roster in January and sold his contract to the Twins, who gave him $300,000 (including a $50,000 signing bonus) for 2020. Thus far, he's been worth every won LG has paid him.

Ramos hits a grand slam for Hermosillo in 2016

Interestingly, while he's shown a potent bat in the American minor leagues and the KBO, Ramos has not enjoyed a lot of success at the plate playing winterball with his hometown Hermosillo Naranjeros. The lefty slugger, who plays both first base and the outfield, has batted just .220 in five Mexican Pacific League campaigns with the Orangemen, including a .230 average last winter under then-manager Vinny Castilla (himself a longtime Rockies star who still works in Colorado's front office). In fairness, Ramos has seen limited action in the Mex Pac (his 48 games in 2019-20 the most he's played in the circuit's 68-game regular season) and he has knocked out 14 homers over 145 contests in the pitching-dominated league.

Now Ramos is drawing notice for his bat work in South Korea, including among Rockies fans he left behind. One of them is Noah Yingling, who wrote on the Roxpile.com website, "While he was never a top prospect in the Colorado Rockies organization, they should have held on to Roberto Ramos." Yingling posted those now-prophetic words on May 6, the morning after Ramos' KBO debut.

MONCLOVA SIGNEE COLON WANTS BACK IN MLB, EVEN AS BATBOY

Bartolo Colon (c) at Monclova press conference

Although he is under contract to pitch for the Mexican League Monclova Acereros should their season start on August 7 as planned, Bartolo Colon told an ESPN reporter that he wants to return to Major League Baseball, even as a batboy. "If any major league team wants an old man," Colon told Marly Rivera in May, "I'm available." Colon turned 47 on May 24.

A native of the Dominican Republic, Colon posted a career 247-188 record over 21 MLB seasons, pitching in four All-Star Games and one World Series while winning the American League's Cy Young Award in 2005 after going 21-8 for the Los Angeles Angels, who copped the AL West title and reached the second round of the playoffs that year. Colon finished among the top six in CYA balloting three other seasons. His last year in MLB was in 2018, when he went 7-12 with a 5.78 ERA in 28 games (24 starts) for the Texas Rangers, who finished last in the AL West and granted Colon free agency after the season. He did not pitch in 2019.

Amid great fanfare, Colon signed a one-year deal in February with Monclova and was expected to be in the starting rotation for manager Pat Listach's defending LMB champions, who also signed former Cleveland outfielder Rajai Davis the same week. The man nicknamed "Big Sexy" by former New York Mets teammate Noah Syndergaard reported for training camp in early March, telling gathered media, "I feel very happy and thank the organization for calling me." At the same press conference, Listach (a former American League Rookie of the Year) remarked, "Bartolo brings a lot of experience and a lot of victories. He knows how to win and he'll bring more wins to the Acereros."

Instead, training camps were halted weeks later by the Mexican League, who postponed their regular season after the Wuhan virus landed in the country after it looked for a while that the LMB might be able to play as scheduled. Colon, like all ballplayers, has been in a state of limbo ever since. "This situation with the pandemic is very difficult for everyone," he told Rivera. "I left all my stuff in Monclova and I told them I wanted to come back to play this season. But we'll all see what happens with the virus because it doesn't seem like this is going to end anytime soon."

Colon poses in t-shirt as a Mets pitcher

Colon did allow as how he would love to return to MLB one more time, with one team in particular. "If it was up to me, I would retire with the Mets," he said. "I would like my career to end in New York. I've played with eleven teams but with the Mets, the way all those players treated me, how that entire franchise treated me, from the front office to the kitchen staff, was amazing. I felt like all the players were a family and the support that the team and the fans gave me was great."

Although it's fairly likely the Acereros would prefer that Colon fulfill his contract with him, the corpulent right-hander says he's hoping to be back in the majors, even if it means a role outside pitching.

"I just want to go back to the big leagues," he maintains, "even if I'm just picking up bats."