SALTILLO P MITRE CHARGED WITH RAPE, MURDER

Sergio Mitre went 9-3 for Saltillo in 2019

Saltillo Saraperos pitcher Sergio Mitre, a California native who spent all or part of eight seasons in Major League Baseball, was arrested and jailed earlier this month on suspicion of the rape and murder of the 2-year-old daughter of his teenage live-in girlfriend. Mitre was initially arrested in downtown Saltillo early Monday, July 13 by members of the Criminal Investigation Agency, who booked him into the Strategic Operations Center for possession of two bags of marijuana, according to Saltillo's El Zocalo newspaper. The rape and murder charges were brought forth two days later.

The 39-year-old Mitre had been romantically involved for three months with with a 19-year-old woman, who had a two-year-old daughter from a prior relationship. Fansided's David Hill reports that the toddler was taken to a doctor due to excessive vomiting. She continued vomiting throughout the day, when it was discovered during an examination that she also had a rupture of her renal artery. The rupture caused the toddler to go into shock before she died on July 12, one day before Mitre was first arrested. A subsequent investigation by authorities resulted in the added charges on July 15.

Hill adds that this was not the first time Mitre (who was born in Los Angeles and raised in the San Diego area) has run afoul of the law. In August 2019, while pitching for the Saraperos, Mitre was arrested on an attempted femicide charge after allegedly trying to kill a former girlfriend in a hotel. He was suspended by the team, who'd signed Mitre three months earlier following his release from the Dos Laredos Tecolotes. Local law enforcement authorities eventually set him free with orders to wear an electronic tracking bracelet after Mitre paid a fine of 20,000 pesos (about US$1,000).

Mitre pitched for the Yankees in 2010 ALCS

The Saraperos issued an official statement at the time of Mitre's release decrying domestic violence, but the team brought him back for 2020 and had the 6'3" righthander making autograph-signing appearances and even a promotional video as one of their "faces" before his July 13 arrest. This time, both the Saraperos and Mexican League suspended Mitre shortly after the rape and murder charges were filed. The Septima Entrada website says "the Mexican League sent a statement explaining that 'based on the current regulations of the Mexican Baseball League, the pitcher Sergio Mitre is suspended indefinitely while he is under investigation for his alleged involvement in a serious crime.' In addition to that, in a brief statement the squad from Saltillo explained that they disapprove of any act of violence and atypical and unacceptable conduct against the values and principles of society."

Mitre pitched scholastically for Chula Vista's Montgomery High School (which also produced future MLB infielder Oscar Robles, who'll manage Guasave for a second Mexican Pacific League season this winter) and San Diego City College before being a seventh round draft choice by the Chicago Cubs in 2001. He debuted in MLB two years later and went on to post a 13-30 record with a 5.21 ERA in 143 outings (including 64 starts) for the Cubs, Marlins, Yankees and Brewers between 2003 and 2011. He appeared in the 2010 playoffs for New York, pitching in three ALCS games against eventual champions Texas and turned in a 10.13 ERA over 2.2 innings of relief work.

Mitre made his LMB debut with Leon in 2017 and subsequently bounced to Tijuana and Dos Laredos before landing in Saltillo in May 2019. He had an impressive combined record of 12-5 in 19 starts last year, going 9-3 for manager Roberto Vizcarra's playoff-bound Saraperos, but only had a 6.10 ERA to go along with it.

SULTANES TO PLAY IN MAZATLAN, PEREZ WANTS RELEASE

Mazatlan's ballpark will be busy in 2020-21

After weeks of speculation whether more far-flung Mexican Pacific League teams would choose to play designated "home" games closer to the LMP's traditional base near the Sea of California as a response to expected financial losses due to the Wuhan virus, the Monterrey Sultanes announced that they will indeed play half their 2020-21 games in Mazatlan's Estadio Teodoro Mariscal. And they may not be the last team to share a ballpark this winter. Monterrey is located in the northeastern state of Nuevo Leo, 446 miles by air to Culiacan, the Sultanes' closest Mex Pac rival.

The El Jonronero website reports that the Sultanes stand to save 4,000,000 pesos (US$179,488) in air travel expenses alone by setting up their winterball shop in the Pearl of the Pacific, where the hometown Venados only recently put their ongoing dispute with the City of Mazatlan on hold in order to use the 16,000-seat ballpark for the upcoming Mex Pac season and 2021 Caribbean Series. Monterrey's front office determined they would be better off cutting down travel costs should they only be allowed to play home games in front of 30% of Estadio Monterrey's 22,000-seat capacity, let alone if no fans will be let into ballparks this winter.

Estadio Teorodo Mariscal will get quite a workout with the Sultanes and Venados combing to use it six days a week throughout the regular season. A schedule is reportedly being worked out to avoid any conflicts on dates from the October 13 LMP opener through the end of December, but things could get interesting if the two teams qualify to play on the same side of the bracket for the January playoffs (e.g., both teams gain home-field advantage during simultaneous series).

According to Puro Beisbol editor Fernando Ballesteros, the Mexicali Aguilas may try to move home games from the border city to Hermosillo and share Estadio Sonora with the Naranjeros while the Guadalajara-based Jalisco Charros may attempt the same and shift home dates to Culiacan, splitting dates at that ballpark with the defending champion Tomateros. Ballesteros adds that Charros ownership is less likely to seek such a move, given their commitments to Guadalajara and support the team has already received from the state in order to stay put.

Felix Perez has asked for his release from Sultanes

Like all LMP franchises, the Sultanes are looking to save money where they can, and that includes on player payroll. One of Monterrey's best hitters from last winter's inaugural Mex Pac season, outfielder Felix Perez, is already balking at a pay cut for 2020-21 and has asked the team to release his rights so he might be able to seek a better deal somewhere else. Perez, who hit .270 with 10 homers and 48 RBIs in 69 games last winter, may have a hard time doing that in Mexico since most teams are hoping to slash salaries from 40 to 60 percent this season to help make up for the expected revenue shortfall. "Unfortunately, we are not on the same page," Perez told the Monterrey Board of Directors. "My family comes before money. If you don't respect that, I'm sorry to tell you that I decline the offer you made to me and await my release. You can find another player. Blessings."

A former Cincinnati Reds farmhand who played for the NPB Rakuten Golden Eagles in 2016, Perez may not have many options after originally accepting the Sultanes offer. The 35-year-old veteran is a native of Cuba, where salaries are guaranteed to not be on a par with even a slashed LMP paycheck, and other winter leagues in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and especially Venezuela were dealing with their own financial struggles and declining attendance even before the panicdemic began earlier this year.

ALONZO HARRIS TO OBREGON AS LMP TRADING HEATS UP

Navojoa has traded Alonzo Harris to Obregon

As Mexican Pacific League teams gear up for an anticipated 2020-21 season set to open October 13, the reigning Mexican League Most Valuable Player was one of four recognizable names involved in trades last week. Outfielder Alonzo Harris, who had a 2019 season for the ages with Oaxaca, was shipped by the Navojoa Mayos to Obregon for first baseman Xavier Scruggs, who can also play outfielder.

The 31-year-old Harris was named MVP for the LMB after batting .343 for the Guerreros with 39 homers, 45 stolen bases, scoring 135 times and driving in 117 runs over 119 games, narrowly failing to become the first player in Liga history with 40 homers and 40 steals in the same season. Harris did not do nearly as well for the Mayos last winter, posting a .237 average with four homers and 14 RBIs in 67 contests, although he did score 37 runs and swipe 19 bases. He's currently playing for St. Paul in the American Association, which just got its season underway last week.

Scruggs, 32, spent parts of three MLB seasons with St. Louis and Miami between 2014-16, batting .227 with one homer in 50 games. He had much more success in the Cardinals and Marlins minor league systems, belting a career 169 homers over nine seasons, topping 20 homers six times in seven years. Scruggs also played two seasons in South Korea with the NC Dinos, averaging 30 homers and 104 ribbies between 2017 and 2018 before joining the Mexican League's Yucatan Leones last year, posting .262/11/31 numbers over 57 games. Last winter, playing for both Mexicali and Obregon, Scruggs hit .208 with 8 homers and 18 RBIs in 45 outings.

Michael Wing, Romario Gil to swap places

In the other high-profile Mex Pac swap last week, the Monterrey Sultanes dealt infielder Michael Wing to Culiacan for left-handed pitcher Romario Gil. A 31-year-old Californian, Wing played with the Angels and Padres systems between 2007 and 2012 before spending another three summers playing independent ball in Frontier League and American Association. He was out of organized basaeball in 2016 before heading south of the border and hitting stride with the Mexican League's Aguascalientes Rieleros. In three years as the Railroaders' third baseman, Wing has hit .368 with 51 homers and 211 RBIs in 217 games while playing in last year's LMB All-Star Game. He struggled with the Sultanes last winter, batting .223 with four homers, and will go to Culiacan on loan while his rights are retained by Monterrey. Wing can also play second base and shortstop.

The only "youngster" involved in the two swaps, the 25-year-old Gil was traded by his hometown Tomateros after a disappointing 2019-20 season during which he only won one of six starts with an ERA of 5.92. He did not pitch for the LMP champions during the Caribbean Series in Puerto Rico, completing a remarkable drop in effectiveness after having been the Mexican League's 2018 Rookie of the Year for the Puebla Pericos. Gil was a combined 4-2 for the Parakeets over two short seasons that year. As happened with so many Pericos players when Gerardo Benavides owned both the Puebla and Monclova teams, Gil found himself with the Acereros last year. He had a winning record at 5-1 for Monclova and was named to the All-Star Game, but his ERA ballooned to 5.86 after being under 3.00 in 2018, he was placed on the Steelers' reserve list four times during the season and was dealt to Campeche during the offseason.

PROBEIS IS NOT BEING GIVEN PROMISED MONEY

Writer Beatriz Pereyra of Mexico City's Proceso magazine recently produced a special report detailing the travails undergone with a federal program designed to develop Mexican baseball at the grassroots level, particularly in prospect development. The largest problem appears to be funding. A translated version of Pereyra's report follows:

Everything indicates that for the second time, the program for the Promotion and Development of Baseball in Mexico (Probeis), whose funds are managed by the Secretary of Public Education (SEP), will not be fully implemented. Édgar González, director of that office, assures that the pandemic paralyzed everything and although he strives to forge alliances, prepare plans and enable sports centers to apply the 290 million pesos (US$12.8 million) assigned for this fiscal year, the authorities tell him that "when it is the right time, they will speak to me. There is nothing left but to wait."

The Covid-19 pandemic has paralyzed Probeis, which to date has not spent even one of the 290 million pesos assigned for 2020, so for the second consecutive year it will have a shortage of resources.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador also did not authorize the creation of a trust so that public money can be exercised by this means and not through the SEP Senior Office.

“This year we have not exercised anything,” González says. “The SEP has made it difficult to get the money out and now, with the coronavirus, it is more complicated. No bids have been made. I wanted to get ahead in the administrative area so that once we return to work we will use the money. They have not wanted to do them (the bidding rules) and that causes me a lot of problems because when the confinement ends, I will have three months to operate.

“There is no way I will spend 290 million pesos in that time. Then they will tell me that the only way is through direct adjudication. I do not want to make direct awards, but it is the only thing that will be possible,” regrets González.

The difficulties to operate the program began since the director of the National Commission for Physical Culture and Sport (CONADE), Ana Gabriela Guevara, refused to distribute Probeis resources in 2019.

For this year, when he was willing, the president did not want the money to reach this dependency that the SEP pointed out because he detected acts of corruption that in just the first half of 2019 left a loss of 50.8 million pesos (US$2.2 million).

For months, González tried to persuade López Obrador of the need to create a public trust to streamline the Probeis operation. Even the Legal Department of the Presidency designed the document –of which Proceso has a copy– which also considered the marching and boxing commissions, sports that operate with programs outside of CONADE.

However, López Obrador did not authorize it. During his campaign, he promoted the eradication of public trusts, considering them opaque and nests of corruption. With the presidential decree to extinguish those that do not have an organic structure and, later, with the reform initiative that Morena promoted in the Chamber of Deputies to eliminate 44 others, it became clear to González that Probeis will not operate with this scheme.

“He (López Obrador) does not know that with a trust, it is the easiest way to operate, but he put the trusts in the balance and if he was going to remove them all, he would not even create one for Probeis. I am waiting for him to tell me what I have to do. 'The pandemic has been the priority' is what they told me when I asked for a meeting.

“He told me that when the time is right, he will speak to me to tell me how I am going to operate. There is nothing left but to wait. I understand the president because there have been much mismanagement of trusts, but we are left with no concrete way to operate. We have to ask Hector Garza (SEP head) for favors,” says González resignedly.

Probeis' troubles

Probeis leader Edgar Gonzalez

To build four baseball schools during 2019, Probeis signed agreements with Campeche, Jalisco, Quintana Roo and Guanajuato. They also did it with Hermosillo, where the federal government bought Estadio Héctor Espino for 511.7 million pesos (US$22.5 million) with resources from the Banobras National Infrastructure Fund public trust. The renovations in this property began this year, but were interrupted by the quarantine.

González has not only found that the bidding processes take up to four months before the bidding rules are available on the CompraNet portal, but once the SEP sends the money to the states, Probeis does not have the personnel to review and follow up on the work.

“When the money reaches the state,” González explains, “it is theirs and they do with it what they want. You have to be aware and it is difficult to follow up. The only way to do it is with the SEP, with agreements and tenders. Thus everything is limited. What you want to do is one thing, what you can is another. I get it: They want people to not take advantage of the budget but at the same time, the goals cannot be achieved.”

Other states such as Yucatan and Tabasco received federal resources of 11 million pesos each (US$485,000), but they returned the money to the Treasury of the Federation because it arrived almost at the end of last year, when it was already impossible to carry out the work.

Around 100 people work at Probeis, of which only six are hired by the SEP. One of them is González, who as a public servant since January 2020 had earned a net salary of 88,550 pesos (US$3,900) over five-plus months. The rest of the employees charge by the job and fees. In March, when confinement began due to the pandemic, they had not even received the payment corresponding to the first quarter of the year.

Immediate plans

Eighteen months after Probeis started, González boasted the four aforementioned schools, whose first phase of construction has already concluded. They lack details such as paint, finishes and sports equipment.

The official hopes to get them started this year. The works that had been stopped by the pandemic resumed just last month. He hopes that soon the children and young people will be able to train in the afternoons after doing their homework on the premises, an essential requirement to practice baseball in the Probeis program.

Thus, it also expects that the projects of the T1-level schools (equipped with dormitories), whose works are scheduled for Mexico City and Monterrey, will start this year. In the second case, he is already in talks with the Governor of Nuevo León to contribute 60 million pesos (US$2.6 million). Probeis will put another 35 million pesos (US$1.5 million). This will be the largest academy in the country, with a capacity for 200 players.

“Let's see what can be rescued from that.” says González. “The plan is also to start the construction of another small school in Mexicali, finish the one in Hermosillo and start the other four that I told you about, with 11-15 million pesos (US$485,000-660,000) invested in each one.

“I met with the mayor of Azcapotzalco, Vidal Llerenas, and there is a place in a sports hall that has a giant space for a school. He is ready and willing to help us with the terrain. There is another option in Gustavo A. Madero. We are waiting for Claudia Sheinbaum to tell us in which of the two,” he says.

In addition, Probeis plans to build other schools in Playa del Carmen, Puerto Vallarta and in La Paz or Los Cabos; that is, in tourist complexes where tournaments and events such as showcases can be held so more scouts can come to see the prospects.

In order not to spend building schools in Oaxaca and Mazatlán, where the owners of the Mexico City Diablos Rojos and Oaxaca Guerreros (Alfredo Harp Helu) and the Yucatan Leones (the Arellano brothers) have their academies, González asked them to allow him put Probeis players to train there in exchange for a monthly payment.

“I already had talks with them and we are working on it,” González explains. “We pay for the boys we have, they carry out the project, we lower costs for them and we do not spend on buildings. That is also planned for this year. The best thing would be for them to say that they want it and that they support me.”

To carry out the Prospect League in Guadalajara in 2019, Probeis asked the 16 clubs of the Mexican League to lend to their best players. From there, he considers that he has already built a bridge with them to work together.

So far, in its talent screening program, Probeis has evaluated 6,600 children. With the information gathered, González is creating a database in which the strengths and weaknesses of Mexican children and youth can be consulted.

The results show that although, for example, arm strength is at a high level, in other skills, such as running speed, they are below average. Also, physical preparation is poor. That, he says, could explain why Mexico exports so many pitchers and not position players to the Major Leagues.

The idea is to store the data of the leads in an application in which the progress in their performance will be updated. That information will be available for scouts to follow up on. González adds that he will create a collegiate league in the country so that players can obtain scholarships at universities in Mexico and the United States.

Conversation

Intended beneficiaries of Probeis' mission

González is told that the detection of talents to be sold as prospects to the major league clubs is in direct competition with the LMB teams, which could generate conflicts.

The director of Probeis clarifies that in the Mexican League, they do not see it that way, that both parties are aware that it costs a lot to develop players and that the money obtained from the sale does not justify the investment.

“The theme is to develop together. I am in talks with MLB and the LMB so that every child who plays baseball in Mexico from now on also attends high school and that the teams pay them,” he adds.

Because he is the son of David González, owner of the González Academy in Tijuana, where they develop players to sell them to the MLB, and brother of major league player Adrián González, Édgar is said to have a conflict of interest. In the academy, his father does the same as the director of Probeis.

Q: You say that there are no more frictions with the LMB, but I suppose that you are no stranger to the comments that Probeis will take prospects from the LMB teams. That has generated annoyances.

A: “I don't want to fight with them. I want them to do their best because that way, there will be more children playing baseball. I already presented a project on how to help them generate money. It is not that Probeis will give them money, but that the government supports them to generate it.

“I told them (the team owners) that if there are 300 prospects, they keep the best 150 and the others are mine, so they train some and I train others. I want the players to have opportunities. What matters to me is that those who sign are trained well and given school.”

Q. What would you say about the comments indicating that you'll take advantage of Probeis to sign prospects that you will actually send to the González Academy so that your father can sell them to MLB?

A. “I've heard it. I'm not worried because that's not happening. I don't even get into the academy. As I have said, the academy is losing money. Let them show me how many and whom I scouted with Probeis and took them to the González Academy.”

Q. It is also pointed out that you intend to do business with the signing of baseball players for Major Leagues by charging a commission for providing the service of representation of players. Are you going to make money from that?

A. “Not at all. You try, yes, but I don't. This money is public to continue operating, even if the government changes. I don't think it's wrong for Probeis to get 30% of the signing bonus, as the LMB teams do. The player needs that because they don't even know how much they are worth and so they don't get fooled.”

Other projects that were pending prior to the Covid-19 pandemic are the physical preparation and food consultancies that Probeis will offer to players who are already signed with MLB teams to develop faster in the Minor Leagues.

They also could not send the 36 Mexican coaches who were selected in the 12 clinics that were held to train with MLB teams.

“The level of the coaching is very low,” Gonzáles says. “They have no technical knowledge of how the body works, how it should be trained. There are no schools where coaches are taught; they do what they can with what they know.

This report was published in issue 2277 of Proceso.

IT'S OFFICIAL: MAZATLAN OK'D FOR CARIBBEAN SERIES

Although Mazatlan was selected several months ago as host of the 2021 Caribbean Series, the ongoing controversy involving the Mexican Pacific League's Venados and the City of Mazatlan over an alleged breach of contract by the team made the event an up-in-the-air proposition. Until last Wednesday.

During a four-way videoconference last Thursday featuring Caribbean Professional Baseball Confederation president Juan Francisco Puello, Mex Pac president Omar Canizalez, Venados executive president Ismael Barros and Mazatlan Mayor Luis Guillermo Benitez, Puro Beisbol editor Fernando Ballesteros reports that it was Mayor Benitez who made the official announcement that his city will indeed be the site of the Crown Jewel of Latin Baseball next winter as the other three indicated their agreement.

There was doubt that the Serie del Caribe would be played in Mazatlan until last week's announcement. Puello had given the LMP a June 30 deadline to confirm issues in the coastal city had been resolved or run the risk of the tournament being moved to another Mex Pac city or even out of Mexico. For their part, Canizales warned the Venados that the LMP would move the Caribbean Series elsewhere themselves if matters had not been settled by the time the videoconference was convened.

The simmering controversy between the City and the Venados erupted on the morning of Monday, April 6 when a contingent of people from the Mazatlan Legal Department led by city council secretary Jose de Jesus Flores entered publicly-owned Estadio Teodoro Mariscal and physically removed team employees from the ballpark with orders to retrieve their belongings by the end of that week, then padlocked the ballpark shut with security placed on the premises.

The move was the culmination of a dispute in which the City accused the Venados of breach of their lease of the 16,000-seat facility. Among the charges were that the team failed to deliver free game tickets to local seniors, withheld promised support to local basketball players and boxers and refused to allow the City to use the stadium to deliver Wuhan virus relief services to seniors.

Perhaps the most crippling blow to the Venados was the City's removal of the ballpark's concessions contract from team owner Jose Antonio Toledo, whose family has controlled that activity for four decades. Although details of any tentative agreement between the City and ballclub have been announced, it can be presumed that none of the issues have been resolved (including the concessions contract) and that pending lawsuits are expected to move ahead upon the conclusion of the Serie del Caribe.

Tensions between the City and Venados go back at least as far as November 2018, a month after the ballpark was officially reopened following an offseason renovation costing 416 million public pesos (US$18 million), when a clandestine drinking system was discovered and water to Estadio Teodoro Mariscal was shut off by by municipally-owned Jumapam, who also stated the team owed over a million pesos in unpaid water bills. That imbrogio was eventually resolved but relations have remained shaky ever since.

Differences have been set aside for the time being, however, and Puello predicts a successful Caribbean Series next February. “We are going to have a very good Serie del Caribe,” he said. “The Covid is there but, by the grae of God, we are going to overcome it.”

Mazatlan last hosted the Caribbean Series in 2005, when the hometown Venados won the championship, marking the only time that a Mexican host team has won the tournament.

LMP CONFIRMS PLAN TO PLAY IN 2020-21, 3 FOREIGNERS PER TEAM

Sinaloa governor Ordaz and Omar Canizales in Guasave

During a virtual Assembly of Presidents meeting last Wednesday, the Mexican Pacific League reaffirmed plans to move forward with a full schedule for the upcoming 2020-21 winterball season despite concerns presented by the ongoing Wuhan virus panicdemic. LMP president Omar Canizales had made a similar statement in late June after the Mexican League officially announced the cancellation of their 95th season.

In a press release from the league office in Guadalajara, Canizales stated, “I thank the owners of the teams for the degree of commitment they show in this complex scenario. Their commitment to the players, staff, collaborators and the communities where they participate have inspired them to make extraordinary efforts to carry out our next season, even at the cost of having economic losses.” He added that strict health-related protocols will be put into place to ensure the safety of everyone in the stands and on the playing fields.

Canizales earned a marketing degree at Universidad Regiomontano in Monterrey and spent five years as a Cuauhtémoc brewery executive in the state of Chihuahua before becoming the Mex Pac president in 2009 following the death of Renato Vega. He has since overseen the circuit's remarkable growth ever since but admitted in June that the LMP and its teams all expect to lose money over the coming season if they play behind closed doors, a likely scenario. A schedule will be released in the coming weeks.

Baseball to return to Navojoa, LMP in October

A potentially contentious debate among the ten LMP owners was resolved with a compromise when it was announced during the videoconference that each team will be allowed up to three foreign players on their active roster next season. Last year, franchises were allowed to carry as many as 12 extraneros each but with the pending financial crunch and the relative expense at bringing in non-Mexican players, opinions were split down the middle as to whether teams should be allowed to suit up imports at all this winter.

That's if there IS a winterball season in 2020-21, of course, although Canizales says his office and member teams will do everything they can to make it happen, with a targeted Opening Day of October 12: “We have reached the conclusion and with the importance that it represents for Mexican baseball, for families and for society, that we will play the 2020-2021 season of the Mexican Pacific League."

"The owners have stuck out their chests to be responsible and despite the uncertainty that this pandemic represents, the commitment with players, the coaching staff and many people who work within baseball is confirmed, it has been decided to start in October with the season."

SULTANES REPLACE ROJAS AS MANAGER WITH GERARDO ALVAREZ

In as Monterrey manager: Gerardo Alvarez

After months of silence regarding the status of their Mexican Pacific League team manager, Homar Rojas, the Monterrey Sultanes have finally announced that Rojas is out and Pittsburgh Pirates minor league manager Gerardo Alvarez will be in charge for the team's second winterball season in 2020-21. The Sultanes finished their inaugural LMP campaign with a 26-41 record and missed the eight-team postseason.

A native of Oceanside, California who played collegiately at Texas Tech, the 40-year-old Alvarez was Baltimore's 16th round draft pick in 2002 and went on to play infield for six seasons in the Orioles system, batting .236 with 32 homers while getting as far as AAA Norfolk, for whom he played five games in 2007. Alvarez then hit .178 for Somerset of the independent Atlantic League in 2008, his final year as a player. Known more for his versatility than his bat, Alvarez played every position on the field but catcher.

Alvarez made his debut as a manager with the Oakland County Cruisers of the Frontier League in 2010, leading the Michigan-based indy team to a 53-43 record and third place in the East Division. He then managed Pittsburgh's Dominican Summer League affiliate two years later as the Rookie-level Pirates went 44-26 in the regular season and went on to win the DSL pennant. Alvarez has remained in the Pittsburgh farm system since, managing Bradenton of the Class A Florida State League in 2017 and 2018 before taking the Pirates Gulf Coast League squad to an 18-26 mark last year

During that time, he was also coaching during the winter in the LMP with both Mexicali and Mazatlan, with whom he was the third base coach for the 2016 Caribbean Series champion Venados. Alvarez' hiring marked final confirmation of which ten managers would open the Mex Pac season in October.

Although he has a decent background on both sides of the foul lines, Alvarez' hiring might have raised some eyebrows in Monterrey, where team co-owner Jose “Pepe” Maiz' virulent opposition to Mexican-Americans led to a near-split of the Mexican League in recent seasons. It's not unreasonable to believe that Alvarez' managerial leash will be even shorter

Out as Monterrey manager: Homar Rojas

with the Sultanes than it would be would be elsewhere and that the team's press release telling him “Together with you in search of victory, supporting you in every decision” can be taken with a grain of salt.

As for Rojas, who spent over 20 years as a catcher before starting his managerial career in 2005, the 56-year-old Nuevo Leon native was not given the almost perfunctory thanks for his professionalism and best wishes for his future projects by the Sultanes. Although he is currently without a job in either summer or winter baseball in Mexico, his vast experience (including LMP pennants with Obregon in 2007-08 and Hermosillo in 2009-10) and the high turnover of managers south of the border practically ensures that Rojas will find work sooner rather than later.

MEXICAN LEAGUE CANCELS 2020 SEASON

Aguascalientes slugger Saul Soto will sit in 2020

As reported on BBM last week, the Mexican League has decided to cancel the 2020 season over concerns due to the Wuhan virus. The death toll attributed to the pandemic in Mexico passed the 30,000 mark over the weekend out of a total of more than 255,000 confirmed infections. The China-bred virus has been particularly problematic in Mexico City, where both the LMB office and the Liga's flagship Diablos Rojos franchise are located.

In March, the LMB ordered training camps for all 16 teams to close while postponing the scheduled regular season, which had been scheduled to open April 6 in Monclova with the defending champion Acereros were to host rival Monterrey. After much subsequent discussion among team owners and federal health officials (during which Liga president Horacio de la Vega stated more than once that the loop could not afford to play games in empty ballparks), an August 7 date was given for an abbreviated 48-game regular season followed by a 12-team playoff that would last into November.

However, speculation in the Mexican media last week that the season was on the verge of being canceled became reality on Wednesday, July 1, when the LMB office issued a statement calling things off. Unsurprisingly, reactions were swiftly delivered. The translated statement is available in its entirety in the BBM archives.

Two LMB players expressed opinions on Twitter. A 22-year veteran, Aguascalientes designated hitter Saul Soto, who finished the 2019 season with 288 career Mexican League homers, was philosophical but wishes something more could have been done to help the people affected: "If the decision made by the LMB was 'no' to play in 2020, I know it would be for the health and good of everyone, but I also think that in team meetings, a general plan would have to come out to help all of us who depend on this beautiful sport." Soto, who turns 42 in August, hit .268 and belted 22 homers for the Rieleros last year.

Campeche second baseman Jasson Atondo, who was entering his sixth Liga season, called out observers he felt were happy the circuit decided not to play this year: "There are many who gloriously celebrate that there will be no LMB. Have you thought about how many people will stop receiving a salary for that? Players, coaching staff, batboys, writers, umpires, security guards, lockers, vendors, seat ushers, janitors and more." The 24-year-old Atondo was the Mexican Pacific League's Rookie of the Year playing with Hermosillo in 2018-19.

People like Soto and Atondo were not the only ones expressing their thoughts. Dos Laredos Tecolotes owner Jose Antonio Mansur was quoted on the El Fildeo website as saying players need to do a better job of saving money: "With all my love and respect for the players, I would say 'gentlemen, learn to save!' They do very well. According to the payrolls of the teams, on average they earn between 150,000 and 200,000 pesos (US$6,700-9,000) a month. It is a good salary.” Mansur added that players "should not attack the owners so much on social media, as if they did not have interesting salaries." Last week's official statement reads, in part, that "The LMB and its 16 teams agree to provide financial support to the players, as well as to the umpires," but does not specify any numbers.

Yucatan OF Yadir Drake to play in Cuba

The decision has left players scrambling for teams to earn a living with, with one in particular choosing to play in Cuba, which seems an odd choice at first glance. Yucatan outfielder Yadir Drake has agreed to suit up for Matanzaz Cocodrilos of the Cuban National Series, beginning in August. The 2017 Mexican League batting champion is a Matanzas native who will spend two months with his hometown team before reporting to the Guasave Algodoneros in October for the LMP season. Drake was a catcher from 2009-11 for the Cocodrilos, who won their first CNS title in 28 years last winter, and is returning home next month to fulfill a promise to his grandmother, according to Andy Yan of Swing Completo.

El Fildeo adds that the Puebla Pericos are looking into starting their own winterball league for players without a place to play in the Mex Pac. According to Pericos vice president Alfonso Lopez, the proposed loop would contain three teams with games to begin October 10 at Estadio Hermanos Serdan in Puebla, which would host all contests. The Veracruz Winter League, long an alternative for players not in the LMP, did not operate last winter and does not appear ready to fire back up for 2020-21. 

MEX PAC HOPING TO OPEN WINTERBALL CAMPAIGN OCTOBER 12

Playoff pregame activities in Culiacan

Although the Mexican League will not play a game in 2020 for the first time in its 95-year history, their winterball counterparts in northwest Mexico are planning to start their upcoming season on time. Mexican Pacific League president Omar Canizales will hold a videoconference this week with his ten team owners to confirm October 12 as the LMP's inaugural date for the 2020-21 season, contingent on health authorities giving the green light for games.

Puro Beisbol editor Fernando Ballesteros reports that people from three LMP clubs have told him the league plans to start up in three months, although all ten teams must sign off on the proposal. The Mex Pac's starting date has been a fluid one because the Junior Circuit had been waiting to see what the Mexican League was going to do before committing to setting their own schedule. With the LMB deciding last week to go dark, the calendar opened up for the LMP and allowed them to plan the schedule within their traditional timeframe of three months (October through December) for the regular season and January for a three-tiered playoff.

Unlike the Mexican League, which has no large television presence to help underwrite costs that might have allowed them to play in front of empty stands, the LMP signed a contract with England-based SKY Sports last winter that will help lessen the financial losses that Canizales has said will occur this winter, although Ballesteros is optimistic that teams will break even. SKY Sports is contracted to stream all Mex Pac games live this winter. The cost of a SKY subscription is currently just over $US42. Puro Beisbol states that each Mex Pac team is expected to receive between 12 and 15 million pesos (US$54,000-67,000) from the league office, an amount that will greatly benefit teams in smaller markets with smaller bank accounts like the Navojoa Mayos, Los Mochis Caneros and Guasave Algdoneros.

Although the SKY Sports contract should provide a financial shot in the arm to LMP teams, the debate continues over whether only Mexican players should be allowed this season. Although the ten owners have been split down the middle over the issue (the more well-off franchises want to bring in more expensive extraneros while the less-affluent clubs prefer more affordable homegrown talent), Ballesteros indicates a majority of owners may now be in favor of allowing imports. The topic will no doubt be brought up Wednesday.

Justine Siegal coached for Hermosillo in 2019-20

One more item that will likely be discussed is the situation in Mazatlan, where a June 30 deadline from the Caribbean Professional Baseball Confederation (CBPC) to resolve the ongoing dispute between the Venados and the City regarding control of Estadio Teodoro Mariscal for the coming season, including the Caribbean Series in late January. Ruben Castro of ESPN Deportes writes that the Venados have sent Mazatlan mayor Luis Guillermo Benitz Torres what they call a "very balanced agreement" between the two sides with advantages to neither in which the team seeks the ballpark "on loan" through the end of the Serie del Caribe. The agreement is said to leave all litigation between City and team in place until after a judge can hear the dispute in court.

Sinaloa governor Quirino Ordaz Coppel reportedly assured on radio that the Caribbean Series will be held in Mazatlan, but Castro says the LMP Assembly of Presidents are ready to select another venue for the Crown Jewel of Latin Baseball if an agreement is not in place when they convene their videoconference on Wednesday.

WBSC U-23 WORLD CUP POSTPONED UNTIL 2021

The Mexican League was not the only baseball-related activity south of the border to go by the wayside last week. The World Baseball Softball Confederation postponed its Under-23 Baseball World Cup, which had been scheduled to take place September 30 through October 9 in both Obregon and Los Mochis (with the majority of games going to Obregon's Estadio Yaquis). The tournament has been rescheduled for September 24 through October 3, 2021.

The following is adapted from a WBSC press release of June 20:

The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), together with the Mexican Baseball Federation and respective Local Organizing Committee (LOC), has announced the postponement of the 2020 WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup to September 24 to October 3, 2021, in consideration of the global health and safety measures and travel limitations pertaining to the coronavirus pandemic.

The world-championship event had been set to take place this year from September 30 to October 9 in the Mexican cities of Ciudad Obregon and Los Mochis.

“As we continue to monitor the COVID-19 pandemic, the WBSC, as well as our hosts and all concerned stakeholders, consider the rescheduling of the U-23 Baseball World Cup to 2021 to be the best and safest course of action,” said WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari.

“While today’s decision is disappointing, I am confident that our Mexican hosts next year will be able to deliver the best-ever U-23 Baseball World Cup, where fans can fill the stadiums and cheer on their favorite National Teams, building upon the wave of momentum for our sport in the weeks following the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

“The WBSC thanks the local authorities, PROBEIS and CONADE as well as the baseball officials in Mexico -- including our colleagues from the Mexican Baseball League (LMB) and the Mexican Pacific League (LMP) -- for their support and collaboration.”

The venue plan of the U-23 Baseball World Cup includes the 16,000-seat Estadio Yaquis, which opened in 2016 and is the home of the Yaquis de Obregon of the Mexican Pacific League (LMP), and the recently renovated Estadio Emilio Ibarra Almada, home of the LMP’s Cañeros de Los Mochis.

The 12 qualified teams competing for baseball’s world title in the U-23 category will remain as follows:

Africa (1): No. 24 South Africa
Americas (4): No. 5 Mexico, No. 7 Cuba, No. 8 Venezuela, No. 15 Nicaragua
Asia (3): No. 1 Japan, No. 4 Taiwan and No. 22 China
Europe (2): No. 16 Czech Republic and No. 19 Germany
Oceania (1): No. 39 New Zealand
Wild Card (1): No. 3 South Korea

Mexico celebrates 2018 U-23 World Cup win

Mexico won the last U-23 Baseball World Cup, which was held in Barranquilla, Colombia, in October 2018. It was Mexico’s first-ever official world title in the sport of baseball.

Previous U-23 Baseball World Cups have included the top young professional players from clubs affiliated to the Australian Baseball League (ABL), Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL), Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), Major League Baseball (MLB), Mexican Baseball League (LMB), Nicaraguan Professional Baseball League, Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), in addition to other leagues around the world.

The WBSC, together with the respective Mexican host, will continue to monitor and review the timing of the U-15 Baseball World Cup (October 30-November 8) and the Women’s Baseball World Cup (November 12-21), both in Tijuana.

BBM EXTRA: MEXICAN LEAGUE CANCELS 2020 SEASON

The Mexican League has canceled its 2020 season, marking the first time in the loop's 95-year history that no games will have been played. After media outlets in Mexico reported earlier this week that the move was pending the LMB office in Mexico City issued this (translated) official statement on Wednesday:

Mexico City (lmb.com.mx) July 01 - The Mexican Baseball League (LMB) reports that, derived from the multiple meetings held with the federal health authorities as well as the arguments made by the State Governments regarding to the health of its inhabitants and conversations with Minor League Baseball (MiLB), to which we are affiliated, the 16 owners of the LMB teams together with the Mexican Baseball League have made the difficult decision not to carry out the 2020 season.

We owe much to Baseball and we had the firm objective of launching the activities of our sport. However, to date it is considered that the conditions do not exist that guarantee the integrity of our fans, players, members of the technical bodies, umpires and the staff of collaborators.

This determination was reached adhering to the indications and projections of the health authorities and the opening traffic light by state entity.

Being a responsible national league and with a great interest in evolving, we present the following actions:

1) The LMB and its 16 teams agree to provide financial support to the players as well as to the Umpires corps.

2) We will take advantage of the time of a forced pause to implement a deep re-engineering that will allow us to innovate and strengthen ourselves by 2021

3) We will generate a new and updated Governance System (Statutes and Regulations) that the LMB has not implemented in the last 30 years.

4) We will invest in the technological and digital transformation of the LMB, thus facing the challenges that the future has for our sport.

5) We will invest in a television and media infrastructure, turning our weakness into a strength towards the future.

For the first time in 95 years we are forced to make a resolution of this magnitude. However, be assured that upon our return, we will outline an advanced version as has never been seen in the history of the Mexican Baseball League.

In related news, the WBSC Under-23 Baseball World Cup, scheduled for Obregon and Los Mochis in October, has been postponed until 2021. We'll have complete stories on both developments in next Monday's edition of Baseball Mexico.