LMB FINES, SUSPENDS 11 AFTER TIJUANA BRAWL

Start of last week's brawl in Tijuana

    The reeling Aguascalientes Rieleros may have a 10-19 record after losing seven of their last ten games, but the Rieleros seem to be making up in feistiness what they lack in wins. The Mexican League team made headlines across the country after manager Luis Carlos Rivera bloodied shortstop Richy Pedroza during a June 12 clubhouse confrontation that also involved third baseman Michael Wing. All three were fined by the LMB, Pedroza was placed on the team's reserve list shortly after the incident and Wing didn't return to the lineup until last week.

    The Railroaders found themselves in another dust-up last Wednesday, this time on the playing field. During the eighth inning of a 5-3 loss in Tijuana, Aguascalientes reliever Brandon Quintero drilled Toros batter Gabriel Gutierrez with a pitch, precipitating a heated discussion and an ensuing bench-clearing brawl between the two teams. While replays show the usual milling around seen in such confrontations in baseball, the LMB office in Mexico City saw fit to fine and/or suspend 11 combatants from both teams, with the two principle figures receiving stiff sentences.

    For the Rieleros, Quintero was suspended six games and fined 28,340 pesos for plunking Gutierrez but starting pitcher Ernesto Zaragosa was sent to the cooler for eight games on top of his 28,340 peso fine for coming back on the field to punch and kick Toros players during the fight. Catcher Francisco Cordoba was fined 14,470 pesos and suspended two games for hitting Tijuana's Jose Guadalupe Chavez after the latter was hit by a pitch in the sixth inning, while manager Rivera was fined 14,470 pesos and suspended one game for ordering his pitchers to throw at Toros batters.

    Interestingly, Tijuana came out on the short end even though they were the targets. Gutierrez was suspended ten games and fined 45,510 pesos after trying to hit Rieleros players with his bat and batting helmet while Chavez was ordered to sit out two games and pay 14,470 in fines for punching Cordoba in the sixth frame. Three other Toros players (Ricky Alvarez, Junior Lake and Peter O'Brien) were each fined 14,470 pesos and suspended for one game while pitcher Brennan Bernardino was fined 7,085 pesos but not suspended for throwing punches after things had seemingly calmed down.

    Two days before the Rieleros and Toros engaged in their tag-team bout, the Yucatan Leones decided to make a change by jettisoning manager Geronimo Gil. The decision to let the former Major League catcher go was somewhat curious, as the Leones were 14-11 and in third place in the LMB South standings, two games behind leaders Mexico City, when Gil was fired (with the usual thanks and best wishes from the team's front office). Instead, he becomes the fourth manager in Mexico to lose his job this month.

 

Geronimo Gil has been fired in Yucatan

  Gil took over the Leones during the 2019 season and led them to a 24-11 record over their last 25 games, then took them to the Serie del Rey before losing to Monclova. Yucatan began this season by winning their first six games, but losing 11 of their next 19 contests and managing in Mexican baseball is a “what-have-you-done-for-me-lately?” business. Salon de la Fama member Chico Rodriguez was hired as a bench coach the day Gil was let go, yet another curious move because nobody was announced as the new helmsman in Merida. Rodriguez has previously managed six different LMB teams and may be running the team but as of Sunday, the team website has made no mention of a new manager. Whoever the boss is, Yucatan has gone 3-3 since Gil was removed.

    While the emphasis in the Mexican League thus far has been on the several MLB veterans dotting team rosters, a couple of homegrown teenagers found themselves in the spotlight last week. The San Diego Padres have announced the signing of 19-year-old pitcher Miguel Castro, a Guasave native whose fastball has hit 92-93 MPH. Padres scout Emmanuel Rangel says the young right-hander projects as a starter in the majors. Castro's LMB rights are held by the Puebla Pericos while he's on the reserve list of Mexican Pacific League's Los Mochis Caneros.

    Another teen hurler, Alejandro Armenta, made his debut for Quintana Roo last Tuesday just days before his 17th birthday. A product of Los Mochis, Armenta started the Tigres' series opener in Cancun against Puebla and tossed a scoreless first inning, striking out the Pericos' David Olmedo-Barrera for the second out. The 5'9” 188-pound righty threw strikes on 13 of his 19 pitches before being pulled for veteran Javier Solano at the beginning of the second frame.

    In the Mexican League standings, Tijuana has won eight of their past ten games to go to 23-8 on the season, pulling into a tie for first in the LMB with Guadalajara. Defending champion Monclova is third at 20-13 while Saltillo holds fourth with a 19-14 mark. Mexico City has a two-game lead over Puebla in the LMB South with a 21-10 record. The Pericos are 19-12, Yucatan is third at 17-14 while Veracruz is a half-game behind the Leones at 17-15.

    Saltillo's Henry Urrutia has taken the lead in the batting race with a .441 average, seven points ahead of Durango's Tito Polo (.434). Three players are tied for the home run lead with 10 longballs each: Peter O'Brien (Tijuana), Xavier Batista (Leon) and Puebla's Olmedo-Barrera. O'Brien's Toros teammate, Leandro Castro, is well in front of the RBI derby with 44, ten more than Urrutia. Isaac Rodriguez of Tijuana leads with 15 stolen bases.

    Guadalajara's Masaru Nakamura (5-0) tossed six innings of one-run ball in a 6-3 win over Union Laguna last Wednesday to become the LMB's first five-game winner. Monterrey's Matt Tenuta's 1.50 ERA is tops among Liga starters and three closers are tied for first with nine saves apiece: Guadalajara's Fernando Cruz, Jenrry Mejia of Laguna and Tijuana's Fernando Rodney. Rodney (1.13) is the only one of the trio with an ERA under 5.00.

DOMINICANS WIN PUEBLA QUALIFIER, EARN FINAL OLYMPIC BERTH

    The Dominican Republic has emerged from the Final Olympic Qualifier as the sixth and final member of the field that will compete for a gold medal at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo. The Dominicans defeated Venezuela, 8-5, Saturday at Estadio Hermanos Serdan in Puebla, where the Qualifier was moved after the World Baseball Softball Confederation determined that conditions at the original venue in Taiwan were unsafe for hosting the event. Taiwan's national team later pulled out of the Qualifier in Puebla for similar reasons. With the win, the DR will face Mexico in the Olympic opener on July 30.

    CourtesyRunner.com editor Bob Broughton, a Canadian now residing in Guanajuato, attended the final three days of the Qualifier in Puebla and wrote this report on Saturday's final game:

Dominican squad heading to Tokyo

    The Dominican Republic (4-0 in the tournament) defeated Venezuela (2-2) 8-5 at the Estadio de Béisbol Hermanos Serdan in Puebla, Mexico. The Dominican Republic took the sixth and final spot in the Tokyo Olympics with a six-run fourth inning.

    Venezuela opened the scoring in the top of the second inning with a three-run “no doubt” home run in the top of the second inning by RF Diego Rincones (Giants organization).

    Venezuela loaded the bases with two out in the top of the third inning. DR relieved starter RHP Radhamés Liz (Leones de Yucatán) with RHP Jhan Mariñez, and he got a fly out to leave the bases loaded.

    The bottom of the third started with a double play. Venezuela starter LHP Yapson Gomez (Tigres de Quintana Roo) walked CF Emilio Bonifacio, and was replaced by RHP Eduardo Paredes. Paredes was greeted with a two-run home run by DH Melky Cabrera, and Venezuela led 3-2 after three innings.

    DR took the lead for good in the bottom of the fourth. The inning started with singles by 1B Juan Francisco and LF Johan Mieses (Red Sox organization). Francisco scored on a double by 3B Diego Goris (Aguilas de Cibaenas). SS Ramón Torres then hit a popup that was mishandled by SS Engelb Vielma (Navigantes de Magallanes) and Mieses scored, giving DR a 4-3 lead. The play was reviewed for possible baserunner interference, but Torres was given the hit. C Charlie Valerio (Sioux Falls Canaries) hit an RBI double. The play at second was close, but it was reviewed, and Valerio was ruled safe. 5-3 DR.

    The winning run came on a two-RBI single by 2B Gustavo Nuñez (Tigers organization). Bonifacio hit a sacrifice fly for the sixth run of the inning, and DR led 8-3 after four innings.

Dutch pitcher Tom de Blok

    In the top of seventh, DH Danry Vásquez (Rieleros de Aguascalientes) hit what appeared to be an inside-the-park home run but after a review, it was ruled a ground rule double. Vasquez scored anyway on a single by LF Alexander Palma (Brewers organization). SS Vielma made a great play on a ground ball by Mieses to end the bottom of the seventh, with DR up 8-4.

    In the top of the eighth, Julio Rodríguez (Mariners organization) made a great catch in right field on fly ball by RF Diego Rincones (Giants organization). It saved a run, and the inning ended with a double play.

    In the top of the ninth, Venezuela got one more run on an RBI double by Vasquez with two out. The game ended on a ground out, with a final score of 8-5.

    LHP Darío Álvarez (Algonderos de Unión Laguna), who came in in the top of the fourth and retired all three batters that he faced, got the win. RHP Harold Chirinos (Brewers organization), who came in in the fourth inning and didn’t record an out, got the loss. Cabrera finished 1-for-4 with a home run and two RBI. Goris finished 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Palma went 3-for-5 with an RBI for Venezuela. Attendance was approximately 2,691.

PLAYER NOTES:
*Torres played two seasons for the Royals, had a career average of .225.
*Cabrera played 15 seasons in the Major Leagues with nine teams; he was an All-Star in 2012.
*Liz played four seasons in the Major Leagues, mostly for the Orioles. His career record was 7-12, 6.94 ERA.
*Mariñez played five seasons in the Major Leagues with seven teams, had a record of 1-5, 3.56 ERA.
*Bonifacio played 12 seasons in the Major Leagues with eight teams, had a career average of .256.
*Francisco played six seasons in the Major Leagues with four teams, career average of .236, 48 home runs.
*Álvarez played four seasons in the Major Leagues with three teams, had a record of 6-1, 5.06 ERA.
*Paredes played two seasons with the Angels, had a record of 0-1, 5.53 ERA, 32 strikeouts.
*Vielma had a cup of coffee with the Orioles, batted .143.
*Netherlands pitcher Tom de Blok signed with Puebla (LMB) after concluding in qualifier. 

PROCESO: CASTRO DETAILS OLYMPIC TEAM FRUSTRATIONS

    Myriad issues surrounding the Mexican baseball team's pending trip to Japan for the Tokyo Summer Olympics have focused a spotlight on the lack of cohesion between the team and federal organizations charged with making sure their historic first appearance in Olympic competition is properly funded.

    Beatriz Pereyra's deep dive in the June 13 issue of Proceso includes an interview with fired Verdes Grande manager Juan Castro. The following is an edited Google translation of the Pereyra piece, a long and at times convoluted) take on the situation, but a necessary one because it delves into something more layered than a Walla Walla onion:

 

Phillies coach Juan Gabriel Castro

   The lack of public resources to cover the expenses of preparing the Olympic baseball team has already caused a crisis that led to the firing of manager Juan Castro, but does not solve the execrable way the president of the Federation Mexicana de Beisbol (FEMEBE), Enrique Mayorga, and the director of the National Commission for Physical Culture and Sports (CONADE), Ana Guevara, have behaved with the Mexican team.

    Even though President Andrés Manuel López Obrador personally commissioned her to monitor the baseball team on time, Guevara did not dispersed government money or attend to the needs of a team that aspires to win a historic medal for the country.

    Less than 15 days before the Mexican nine travels to Japan, none of the players on the long list (where there are around 105 names) has undergone an anti-doping control applied by the National Anti-Doping Committee (CNA) or by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) so those who are clean will attend.

    Given the failure of Mayorga and Guevara, the Mexican Baseball League (LMB) has already taken control of the national team, but no one knows if the money required to cover expenses will be provided by the club owners or if, finally, CONADE will put government resources on the table.

    For now, the LMB is operating with the expenses that are being generated, the clubs will loan their players and pay them as if they were playing normally in the season and sponsors New Era will provide the uniforms and equipment.

    On Friday, June 11, the LMB announced that the FEMEBE appointed as manager of the Olympic team Benj Gil, skipper of the Guadalajara Mariachis. Gil is a former Major League Baseball player who has won four titles in five seasons of winter baseball with the Culiacan Tomateros, two of them consecutive.

    Gil, 48, will lead the first representative of Mexico in Olympic baseball and fight for a medal against Japan, South Korea, Israel, the United States and the Dominican Republic, who won the recent final qualifier in Puebla.

    The schism in the baseball team began long before June 5, when, through a telephone link, both Mayorga and the president of the LMB, Horacio de la Vega informed manager Juan Gabriel Castro and Olympic team GM Kundy Gutiérrez that they would be relieved of their positions.

    On that Saturday night, the team that both Castro and Gutierrez had been building for months broke. Unhappy about a host of unfulfilled promises, including the payment of their fees and the coaching staff they have been working with, Castro and Gutiérrez demanded (not without reason) the money as well as help with a series of procedures such as FEMEBE paying a bond owed to the Major League Baseball office to be able to negotiate the loan of Mexican players who belong to MLB organizations.

    More than once the duo threatened to not deliver information that, scratching with their own nails, they generated during long hours of work. They also showed the possibility of not attending the Olympic joust.

    Despite being the head of national teams in the country, Enrique Mayorga acted as a “zero to the left.” He was not able to arrange for CONADE to give him the money budgeted for the Olympics nine but he also did not want to accept in the FEMEBE account the 2.5 million pesos that owners of five LMB clubs offered as a loan until the government resources were released.

    Thus, in the face of Mayorga's ineffectiveness, the LMB wanted to solve the problem of lack of money but it couldn't. Seeing this, Castro and Gutiérrez cut off all communication with de la Vega and decided to solve it by taking up a collection with companies in the United States and Mexico, which upset all parties (especially Mayorga) as it seemed in bad taste.

    “He didn't want us to do it,” Castro said in an interview with Proceso. “This was better because if we could collect that money, we would no longer need the CONADE budget. We saw it as helpful that they did not have to worry about giving us a budget, but he told us not to do it."

    The solitary confinement began on April 30 when Castro sent a letter telling de la Vega that they would no longer discuss anything with him, since the LMB did not have the capacity to resolve the economic issue.

    The silence that lasted throughout May resulted in Mayorga finally convincing Castro and Gutiérrez to take a phone call, during which Mayorga had De La Vega to thank both the manager and the GM of the selection.

Mexican Olympic Team manager Benji Gil

    Castro says, “Mayorga turned things over to Horacio because he did not have enough - I cannot say the word here- as manager of FEMEBE to give us that news because we were working with him, not with the League. Mayorga had to ask other people to tell us the news.

    “We answered everything they asked about why we no longer wanted to continue with the national team, then they hung up on us. They never told us clearly the reason they were going to remove us from the national team.”

    PEREYRA: “Do you recognize that when you refused to hand over the short list of players and other information that they felt it was blackmail; that they conditioned your participation and that when they felt cornered, they decided that?”

    CASTRO: “Maybe, but it was not the first time that we told them that if they did not pay us, we would not deliver information and the list). After they said that they were going to pay us, because the LMB was already going to give the money, we put the members of the coaching staff back to work and they made us deliver certain information. In three days we collected passports, as there were players who didn't have them, and Kundy moved in with his contacts at the consulates to get the papers ready. Then, after a few days, they tell us that they can't pay us.

    “We felt that they were using us to get the information from us. That is why we said 'from now on, we are not going to give you anything' because, to begin with, the WADA anti-doping tests were not carried out to know who is clean of prohibited substances to be able to reduce the list. Then we couldn't even talk to the managers of the major league teams to ask the players. They (Mayorga and de la Vega) demanded a list of 50 players and how we were going to do it without those two conditions. That's why we said: 'If they don't pay us, we won't give them the list,' but we couldn't do it because giving names without the missing information would have been incorrect.”

    Currently the infield coach for the Philadelphia Phillies, Castro says they were surprised to learn that "the team" would play two exhibition games in Mexico City: “We told them that those games had nothing to do with the National Team because we don't have the players ready and the coaching staff wasn't going to be able to be there. I found out that it was going to be a selection of LMB players called the 'Olympic team' and we said no. I don't know if they liked that answer."

    Castro says that no one informed them that those games will be held at the request of President López Obrador. “If it is something that the president wants to do it is respected, but if I wouldn't be the manager nor have selected players, then it is not the Olympic team.”

    In fact, to carry out those exhibition games (the opponents were Venezuela and the Dominican Republic), LMB clubs will have to loan at least one star player just as the first month of a season cut to 66 games is being played.

    The reason why the LMB could not lend FEMEBE the 2.5 million pesos is because Mayorga refused to sign a loan agreement with the league to receive the money, due to the uncertainty that CONADE would reimburse him that money.

    “After months of battling,” Castro claimed, “Horacio told us 'I have the money and if they'd like, I'll deposit it tomorrow.' We instantly sent him the necessary documentation but then he told us no, it couldn't be done like that. The only way was to deposit to FEMEBE. Mayorga was not going to accept that and with good reason, because he did not know if he was going to receive the funds from CONADE or if he was going to be left with a debt."

    Neither Mayorga nor Gutiérrez did not respond to an interview request made by this reporter while de la Vega did not want to address the issue.

    In statements with El Jonronero, a digital medium in Culiacán, Gutiérrez spoke about what happened. Visibly annoyed, he said that this was the end of his work with the Mexican national team because he was tired of always having to struggle with money and organization problems.

    The most recent thing he suffered was that Mayorga accepted that Gutierrez and two members of the team's coaching staff would travel to Florida to attend the Olympic qualifier, where the United States won their ticket to Tokyo. However, Mayorga only bought their air tickets and did not provide the threesome a per diem for the trip. Under these conditions, they all refused to get on the plane, since there would be a precedent that they'd have to pay out of their own pockets for hotels, meals, ground transportation and other expenses while FEMEBE would not reimburse that money.

FEMEBE president Enrique Mayorga

    Gutiérrez also questioned that how it is possible that since November 2019, when the national team qualified for the Olympic Games during the Premier12 tournament after having beaten the United States twice, neither CONADE nor FEMEBE had paid a single peso but now there is money for exhibition games in Mexico City.

    “Mayorga is responsible for the exhibition games, how they work and about the resources used,” Gutierrez told El Jonronero. “You have to be transparent. The one who bears all the responsibility is Mayorga and if it was not with government money he should have sought the resources, but he remains stuck. In his meetings he talks about what he does with his annual budget, but where are his bank accounts? Let his associates know. Since Mayorga joined FEMEBE, it is the same: What has he done to do this in a better way? He has the obligation to promote baseball throughout the country.”

    Finally, Juan Castro explains that his intention and that of Gutiérrez was to try to do things in the correct way and in order so that there is a solid structure and that the players, from the minor teams to the major, attend with pleasure. to the calls and see that there is a strong system that works well.

    “We never did anything with a negative intention, but to make things change for the better. The decision has already been made and can no longer be reversed. I do not agree, it was unfair, but they decided and it is respected,” concludes Castro.

TECOS, TIGRES FIRE MANAGERS: 3 OUT AFTER 4 WEEKS

Pablo Ortega out as Tecos skipper

    Three Mexican League teams have fired managers just four weeks into the truncated 2021 season after both the Dos Laredos Tecolotes and Quintana Roo Tigres changed horses in midstream last week. The Monterrey Sultanes let Homar Rojas go as their LMB skipper earlier this month.

    The Tecos sent first-year manager Pablo Ortega packing last Thursday on the heels of a 4-3 loss to Durango the night before. The defeat dropped Dos Laredos' record to 8-14 after 22 games, enough of a sample size for the front office to fire the former All-Star pitcher. Third base coach Rafael Rijo replaced Ortega on an interim basis, although it might be argued that all managing jobs south of the border are on an interim basis. The Tecos are now on their fifth helmsman since 2019, including a 2020 season that was canceled.

    Ortega is already becoming well-versed in the vagaries of managing a Mexican baseball team. Last November, he was elevated from pitching coach in Mazatlan to replace Juan Jose Pacho as skipper of the Mexican Pacific League's Mazatlan Venados. The Deer ironically had an 8-14 record when Pacho was cut loose, but Ortega was able to steer the team to a 20-16 mark over the remainder of the regular season before losing a first-round playoff series to Hermosillo in six games.

    The Dos Laredos front office issued the usual laudatory statement that accompany a managerial firing: “Mr. Pablo Ortega is thanked for the work and professionalism carried out during his time as manager of the Tecolotes, wishing him success in his future personal and sports-related projects.”

    Two days later at the other end of the country, the Quintana Roo Tigres parted ways with Adan Munoz as their skipper and named former Tijuana manager Oscar Robles as their new dugout boss. Munoz was fired for committing the cardinal sin of posting an 11-13 record over the Tigres' first 24 games, although seven losses in their previous ten games was likely a larger factor. Batting coach Javier Robles (no relation) filled in after Munoz' departure until Oscar Robles' arrival on Saturday for the second game of a series against rival Mexico City.

    Even though he led the Tigres to a 62-57 record and a playoff berth in 2019 in his only season at the helm, Munoz may have been on borrowed time even before the season opened. An erroneous report out of Cancun in February said that the ex-catcher had been fired by owner Fernando Valenzuela and replaced by another former receiver, Tigres bench coach Hector Paez. That never happened but the axe did swing four months later.

    Robles was named the LMP's Manager of the Year last season after leading the Guasave Algodoneros to a 31-26 record and a postseason slot after the Algodoneros went 26-37 and missed the playoffs in 2019-20, their expansion season. Earlier, Robles had managed Mex Pac teams in Obregon and Culiacan. The former MLB infielder had previously managed in the Liga with the Tijuana Toros, posting an 18-9 record in Fall 2018 and followed up with a 75-45 ledger in 2019 and reached the LMB North Championship Series, falling to eventual champion Monclova in seven games.

Oscar Robles is new Tigres boss

    Both Rijo and Robles have a short time to turn things around for their respective teams during the Liga's 66-game schedule. The Tecos won three of their first four games under Rijo and currently hold the sixth and final playoff position in the LMB North at 11-15, two games behind surprising Union Laguna (12-12). Guadalajara (19-7) and Tijuana (18-8) are in the top two slots, with Monclova (17-10) and Saltillo (16-11) within striking distance. The Mariachis have won eight of their last ten contests and have the best record in the league, but they'll be losing manager Benji Gil and Adrian Gonzalez to the Mexican Olympic Team in Tokyo next month. Shortly after being confirmed as Mexico's new Olympic manager, Gil confirmed that El Titan WILL make the trip to Japan.

    In the LMB South, the Tigres were in seventh place with a 12-15 after dropping two of their first three games after Munoz was fired. Mexico City is atop the standings at 16-9, one game up on 15-10 Puebla and two games ahead of 14-11 Yucatan. The hottest team in the division has been expansion Veracruz, whose seven wins over their last ten games has vaulted them into fourth place at 14-12. While ex-MLBer Yasiel Puig (.314/5/16) has done well thus far in his first season in Mexico, socking a pair of homers in last Thursday's 14-9 win over Quintana Roo, three other Aguilas (Alexei Amarista, Alejandro Ortiz and Jesus Valdez) are in the LMB's top ten batters as Veracruz has a .309 team batting average.

    Guadalajara's Niko Vasquez tops the batting race with a .475 average as one of five Mexican League players hitting .400 or above. Leandro Castro of Tijuana's nine homers are one ahead of three other batsmen with eight apiece while his 34 RBIs in 26 games is six more than Saltillo's Kennys Vargas in that category. Reigning MVP Alonzo Harris of Oaxaca leads with 13 stolen bases while Tijuana's Isaac Rodriguez is right behind at 12 swipes.

    Five pitchers have reached four wins, including Monclova's Bartolo Colon, Veracruz no-hit hurler Dylan Unsworth and former NPB starter Masaru Nakamura of Guadalajara. Matt Tenuta of Monterrey is only 1-0 after five starts but the former Royals prospect's 0.55 ERA is tops in the circuit. Mexico City's Hector Hernandez is winless in six starts and his 5.51 ERA doesn't impress many, but he's also struck out a league-high 36 batters in 32.2 innings. Jenrry Mejia of Laguna has converted eight saves in ten opportunities to top that table while Monclova's Carlos Bustamante is 7-for-7 in save situations and has a 1.08 ERA.

SPAIN TOURNEY INVOLVING GUASAVE POSTPONED UNTIL 2022

    An international tournament that the Mexican Pacific League's Guasave Algodoneros were going to play in as part of their preseason schedule in September has been postponed until 2022 because of the Wuhan virus pandemic.

    The Barcelona Baseball Cup tournament in Spain was announced four months ago and was to include the Algodoneros along with teams from Italy, The Netherlands, Asia and the Spanish Baseball League. Games would be played at two venues: Estadio Carlos Perez de Rosa (home of the host Barcelona Baseball Club) and at another Barcelona ballpark used for the 1992 Summer Olympics and currently home of the Spanish League's CB Viladecans.

    However, after a meeting among tournament organizers that representatives from Guasave took part in, it was determined that the event will be held off for a year in the hopes that the global pandemic will have diminished by September 2022.

    Algodoneros CEO Luis Fernando Garcia and sports manager Alejandro Ahumada conferred with Jordi Valles, head of the BBC's organizing committee, to see the pros and cons of the measures taken by the Spanish government that would essentially make the Barcelona Baseball Cup a tournament with nobody in the stands and chose to postpone it instead

    “We regret the postponement of this event, since we had the objective of showing the Spanish fans our style of baseball, and also to be able to position the Algodoneros brand in Europe, said Garcia. “The pandemic has forced stricter measures to be taken and Spain is no exception...the event is still on for September 2022, if conditions allow it.”

Barcelona Olympic ballpark

    Ahumada said in a statement, "The security measures in Spain prevented, for the moment, the realization of the BBC, which was an excellent opportunity for our players to have international competition and to show that the Algodoneros brand is synonymous with stability, seriousness and improvement. We did not want this to happen, but health measures require it.”

    Valles said the Barcelona Baseball Cup remains firm for 2022: “It is difficult to do this since the times we are living in do not allow us to carry out the project with tranquility in this month of September.

    “Obviously, we seek the desired success for the public who would see the games out, but we will be prepared and wishing with all our might that the Algodoneros will arrive in Spain next year and can show us their great power in this beautiful sport, which is baseball.”

BEISBOL PURO INVESTIGATES RIELEROS CLUBHOUSE INCIDENT

    The recent incident in which Aguascalientes manager Luis Carlos Rivera punched Rieleros shortstop Richy Pedroza in the clubhouse caused both to be fined and suspended by the Mexican League as tongues across the country wagged about what caused the imbroglio.

    The Beisbol Puro website has investigated the confrontation, in which Railroaders third baseman Michael Wing also reportedly played a part. Wing later posted a tweet criticizing the incident and calling it “a joke” without mentioning details or his alleged role. The following is a lightly-edited Google translation of Beisbol Puro's investigation, detailed in an uncredited Bola Ensalivada column:

    Since the start of the season, or perhaps before, extra baseball problems have arisen within the Rieleros de Aguascalientes. The most notorious until recently had been 1) the poor condition of some food supplied by the Rieleros supplier, and 2) the fact that the team was traveling in a single bus, a situation that the Mexican Baseball League in some way approved because the team is fully vaccinated.

    But on Saturday, June 12, a bomb exploded in the Aguascalientes dressing room when the manager, Luis Carlos Rivera, hit dual nationality shortstop Richy Pedroza with a right hand. It is correct that the blood “reached the river” in a reprehensible way but after gathering information with several of the witnesses, we can tell you:

-Richy Pedroza has been a player who has not followed the internal rules. His bad attitude and strong personality have caused division within the team.

-The Rieleros coaching staff caught Pedroza (who was not line up that day) smoking marijuana in the clubhouse when this game against the Monclova Acereros took place, which evidently caused great annoyance.

-At the end of the match, in which the Rieleros fell 6-2 to Monclova for their fourth defeat in a row, Rivera tried to reprimand Michael Wing (another dual-national player) for his attitude when he was sent off in the sixth inning after throwing a ball to the stands as a claim to the counting of the home umpire after the marking of a pitch that he considered a ball in his turn at bat minutes ago.

-The Rieleros' manager asked Wing to show more discipline and that if he did not like the way things were carried out in the team, he asked for his dismissal. Otherwise he demanded dedication and total discipline. Wing has four ejections in 17 games played.

-While Rivera reprimanded Wing, Pedroza made fun of the helmsman and added a “fuck you,” which made the Rieleros manager explode and the unfortunate blow came.

-Pedroza demanded punishment for Rivera, while the LMB responded immediately with a penalty of $14,170 pesos and a one-game suspension for both manager and player.

Aguascalientes SS Richy Pedroza

-In its press release, the LMB points out that Pedroza's sanction was for “violating the team regulations,” which (although they did not disclose it) refers to the player's consumption of marijuana in the Estadio Monclova clubhouse.

-After the facts, Pedroza denied such an assertion but the LMB asked him to submit to an anti-doping test to be exonerated, a proposal that the player rejected while assuring that he preferred to leave the Rieleros and Mexican baseball. Said refusal, according to the regulations of the summer circuit, is taken as if he had tested positive in the prohibited substances test. Therefore, to return to play in the LMB, he'll have to pass an anti-doping test.

    For now, both Pedroza and Wing have been separated from the team and while Pedroza already promised to take his things to never return, Wing could be traded to another team in case of not aligning with the Rieleros and LMB rules.

    The season is just in its first third of life and both for Rieleros and all their members, it will be time to tighten the screws to improve the atmosphere in the clubhouse, which is an essential part of a good sporting result.

BENJI GIL NAMED MEXICAN OLYMPIC TEAM MANAGER

Mexico's Olympic manager Benji Gil

    In the wake of the surprising ouster of Juan Gabriel Castro as manager of Mexico's Olympic baseball team without public explanation less than two months before the start of the Tokyo Summer Games, Benji Gil has been appointed as the team's new skipper.

    The Tijuana-born Gil had a playing career that included eight seasons in the major leagues, including a berth on the 2002 World Champion Anaheim Angels. He spent seven summers in the Mexican League and was a member of Monterrey's 2007 champions, while also playing several seasons of winterball in the Mexican Pacific League (winning four pennants and two Caribbean Series with the Culiacan Tomateros).

    After retiring as an infielder, Gil went into managing and has led Culiacan to four Mexican Pacific League pennants since the 2014-15 season. He's come under some fire for not winning a Caribbean Series title, but teams still have to be champions to compete for one. Gil is in his first season of managing a Mexican League team and has piloted the expansion Guadalajara Mariachis to a 14-6 record over three weeks, good for a first-place tie with defending champion Monclova in the LMB North.

    The announcement was made by the Mexican Baseball Federation (FEMEBE) last week. FEMEBE is ostensibly charged with overseeing national teams but some baseball journalists in the country have in effect called it a figurehead organization, claiming that the ProBeis federal agency headed by former MLB and NPB player Edgar Gonzalez wields the real power in the Mexican game.

    Gil steps into a landmine-filled situation following the firing of both Castro and Olympic Team GM Kundy Gutierrez, who had steered Mexico to a berth in Tokyo by winning the Premier12 tournament's group stage at Guadalajara and then qualifying for the Olympics with a third-place showing at the medal round in Japan in November 2019. No reason was given for the move and nobody has stepped up and taken responsibility for the move. 

    Castro and Gutierrez had both publicly criticized the National Commission on Physical Culture and Sports (CONADE) for withholding funds meant to cover the baseball team's travel expenses during the trip to Tokyo. CONADE is led by former Mexican Olympic runner Ana Guevara, who was appointed to her post by president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador shortly after the latter had assumed office. Guevara and AMLO have both been members of the same political party, with Guevara serving as a senator under the banner of that party. Some speculation is that the ousters of Castro and Gutierrez were retribution for their criticism of CONADE and Guevara, who has been mired in allegations of job-related corruption for the past several months.

CONADE director Ana Guevara

     Another school of thought is that the firings were directed from the ProBeis office after Castro was publicly cautious regarding the desire of Edgar Gonzalez' younger brother Adrian to go to Tokyo after not playing since 2018. While the hiring of Gil, who manages the same Guadalajara that Adrian Gonzalez plays for, raised a few eyebrows and led to speculation that the appointment virtually assures that El Titan will make the trip to Japan. It should be noted that Gutierrez has been a longstanding friend of the Gonzalez family and that his firing would be unlikely to have been instigated by Edgar Gonzalez. In short, only the principles know for sure and a promised public airing of the situation by Castro has yet to happen.

    While Gil might appeal to the 30+ players who took their name out of Olympic consideration in protest of the firings, he'll have a chance to look over some of the remaining candidates next weekend when Mexico hosts exhibition games against the Dominican Republic and Venezuela at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helu in Mexico City. The game against the Dominicans is set to take place Saturday, June 19 while Mexico will host Venezuela the following afternoon.

    A poll taken by Puro Beisbol before Castro's ouster showed that 52.5 percent of respondents believe that Mexico will not win a medal in Tokyo. Another 26.7 percent are predicting a Gold medal, 14.4 percent foresee a Bronze and 6.4 percent see Silver in Mexico's future. Six nations will compete in Olympic baseball this year. The sport is being discontinued after Tokyo.

RIELEROS SKIPPER HITS PLAYER, BOTH FINED AND SUSPENDED

Rieleros SS Richy Pedroza

    The Aguascalientes Rieleros have struggled on and off the field for years. The Mexican League team has won just one pennant and two division titles since their 1975 debut, played before sparse home crowds at aging Parque Alberto Romo Chavez and lost money on an annual basis. Last August, Rieleros players forced to sit after the 2020 season was canceled on July 2 asked Liga president Horacio de la Vega for financial assistance that had been promised to players and umpires by the LMB office. In short, the Railroaders are perennial also-rans, one of many franchises with that status.

    Given that history, the 2021 season has begun in expected fashion for the team. Monclova's 48-year-old Bartolo Colon became the oldest player in Mexican League history to pitch a complete game Saturday night by tossing a 6-2 home win as the Rieleros lost their fourth in a row to drop to 7-11 and seventh place in the eight-team LMB North. Colon gave up two runs on five hits and struck out seven in going the distance to raise his own record to 3-1.

    Things are never pleasant when a team's season appears to be going bad early but as befits a club from a city named Aguascalientes (meaning “hot waters”), things reached a boiling point in the visitors locker room after the game, when Rieleros manager Luis Carlos Rivera punched former Cal State Fullerton infielder Richy Pedroza, who'd sat out the contest. Photos of a bruised Pedroza circulated on the internet later during the weekend.

    Blanca Cisneros of ABC Noticias reported that the manager lost control and that “players affirm that Richy did nothing to provoke this situation and that he did not respond to the attack.” One Aguascalientes player, third baseman Michael Wing, posted a Tweet stating “Punching players now...what a joke.”

    On the other hand, the Mexican League office handed down one-game suspensions and fines of approximately 14,170 pesos (or about USD$714) to both Rivera and Pedroza. The LMB said Rivera was being punished for hitting Pedroza while the latter was sanctioned for “violating the regulations in team facilities, including insulting the manager.”

Michael Wing's postgame tweet

    The 5'6” Pedroza was batting .241 after playing shortstop and going 1-for-3 with a walk and scoring a run from the leadoff slot in Friday's 15-3 drubbing at the hands of the Acereros. A 29-year-old switch-hitter from Covina, California, Pedroza was a 17th-round pick by St. Louis in the 2013 draft and played all or part of three seasons in the Cardinals system before being released early in the 2015. He landed in Aguascalientes the following season and has been with the Rieleros since, batting .283 with 260 runs scored over 412 total games. Pedroza's best season in the LMB was in 2019, when he hit .310 with 28 doubles and 104 runs scored in 111 games under then-manager Felix Fermin.

    The 42-year-old Rivera is a Chihuahua native who spent part of the 2000 season pitching six games for Atlanta and Baltimore, going a combined 1-0 with a 1.23 ERA after five years in the Braves' organization. Although he was ranked the fifth-best prospect in the Orioles system in 2001, the 6'3” righty didn't pitch that year or the next before his release in 2003. He later surfaced in the Mexican League, where he pitched until 2010 and spent his last four seasons with his hometown Chihuahua Dorados. Before his hiring in Aguascalientes prior to the canceled 2020 campaign, Rivera managed Leon for both Spring and Fall seasons in 2018 and registered 27-29 and 26-28 records.

    The Rieleros front office had yet to issue an official statement on the incident or suspensions as of Sunday.

LMB TEAMS ON TIGHTER BUDGETS AFTER LOST 2020 SEASON

Proceso writer Beatriz Pereyra

    The Mexican League's 2021 season is coming on the heels of their canceled 2020 schedule due to the pandemic and for many (if not most) of the LMB's 18 franchises, year after year of red ink dominating their profit/loss statements before that.

    Beatriz Pereyra of Proceso penned a report detailing how teams have been cutting expenses in an attempt to stop the bleeding. Here is a Google translated portion of her report:

    The pandemic caused by Covid-19 has left a trail of millions in economic losses among the owners of the clubs of the Mexican Baseball League but, at the same time, it has opened the the door to an unprecedented increase in the number of former major league players and the expansion from 16 to 18 teams that will play a schedule shortened from 120 to 66 games, plus the playoffs.

    Depending on the club and the percentage of fans with which they will be allowed to play at home, the economic blow can amount to 70 million pesos. In addition, they must invest in the application of anti-covid protocols which can increase operating expenses in up to 3 million pesos.

    To resist negative impacts, teams took drastic measures such as cutting player salaries by 20 to 50 percent, cutting back office staff, hiring interns and bartering with sponsors via publicity in exchange for service delivery.

    The payroll of players of the Yucatan Leones, owned by the Arellano brothers, which was 79 million pesos in 2018 (the year in which they were champions), was reduced to 43 million in 2019. Now the pandemic forced them to adjust it to 16 million for 2021.

    The team created a financial analysis that included the players, sponsors and even Yucatan's state governor, Mauricio Vila. The document indicates that they still lack 29.8 million pesos to operate the season, a figure that is reduced to 21.8 million if the team is allowed to play with 40% of the capacity at Estadio Kukulcán.

    “We believe that with this reduction in the cost of payroll we will move forward,” says Leones president Juan Jose Arellano. “If conditions improve, we can adjust and raise them. We explained that to the players and they understood it perfectly. They know that not playing all of last season made it difficult for us. Although we did not play, we helped them with their maintenance because if a player does not play, he does not generate income.”

    The days of the “fat cows” are over, when operating for a season cost the team more than 100 million pesos. In 2021, spending on jobs exceeds 53 million. Another of the items sacrificed will be that of player development, which fell from 14 million in 2019 to 8 million during 2020 and 2021.

    “We are also going to reduce travel costs and in whatever way we can because last year's losses were stratospheric,” added Arellano.

    So it is that even one of the LMB's more solid second-tier franchises behind the top tier of Monclova, Tijuana, Monterrey, Mexico City and Oaxaca (the latter two owned by billionaire Alfredo Harp Helu, one of Mexico's richest men) has had to drastically cut expenses in an attempt to likewise cut their losses as a result. If the Yucatan Leones have had to tighten their belt in such a fashion, how are franchises already operating on the margins like Tabasco, Leon, Laguna and Aguascalientes going to tighten belts that have already run out of notches?

CASTRO OUT AS MEXICO MANAGER AHEAD OF OLYMPICS

Juan Castro fired as Mexico Olympic manager

    With little more than a month prior to the planned opening of the Tokyo Olympics, Juan Gabriel Castro has been fired as manager of Mexico's Olympic baseball team. Castro himself tweeted that he had been relieved of his duties, as has the team's general manager, Kundy Gutierrez.

    “Just to give you the very sad and unfair news that we received today,” Castro's tweet opened, “the FEMEBE (Engineer Enrique Mayorga) and the president of the Mexican Baseball League (Horacio de La Vega) made the decision to let us know that they do not want us to continue leading the team.

    “The details? Many of you already know them, but in a little while we will let you know the same ones through this and many other means. Thank you and we remain at your service.”

    Castro has been serving as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies coaching staff this season under manager Joe Girardi. He led Mexico in the 2019 Premier12 tournament as the Verdes Grande qualified for their first-ever Olympic baseball appearance after replacing Dan Firova at the helm weeks before the tournament began. Gutierrez, a 42-year-old Mexican American, had been the National Team GM after a career in the construction business. Mayorga has been the head of FEMEBE (Mexican Baseball Federation) since 2017 while de la Vega was hired to run the Mexican League in late 2019, replacing Javier Salinas.

FEMEBE leader Enrique Mayorga

    At least one Mexican journalist speculates that president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had a hand in the exits of Castro and Gutierrez. Both had complained publicly about expected funds for the trip to Mexico not being released by CONADE (National Commission for Physical Culture and Sport), an agency charged with overseeing Mexico's Olympic effort this summer.

    CONADE's director, Ana Guevara, is a 44-year-old former Olympic track athlete from Sonora who served in the Mexican Senate before being appointed by AMLO to her current post in late 2018. Both Guevara and Lopez Obrador have past political ties to the National Action Party (PAN). While it would not be out of the realm of possibility that Lopez Obrador, a self-described baseball fanatico, was involved in Castro's and Gutierrez' firings, there is no evidence that he had a hand in the move.

    The firings have created a backlash among the players. Tito Escobar of El Jonronero tweeted that more than two dozen of the 100 players under consideration for Mexico's Olympic team have opted out of the trip to Tokyo in protest: “They tell me more than 30 renowned players and considered in the Mexican baseball pre-selection list, that after what happened with Castro and with GM Kundy Gutierrez, they get off the boat due to the mismanagement of the FEMEBE and the rest of those involved. They prefer not to attend.”

    Castro's replacement has not been named and Ii's a safe bet that this episode is far from over.

ROJAS FIRED AS MONTERREY SKIPPER, GASTELUM BROUGHT IN

Homar Rojas canned after ten games

    The often-referenced “Mexican Managerial Merry-Go-Round” was fired up just two weeks into the 2021 season, but this time the Mexican League's Monterrey Sultanes have done a housecleaning that included their front office as well as their manager and coaches.

    After the legacy team won just two of their first eight games on the abbreviated schedule, manager Homar Rojas was fired last Wednesday, with the usual “wishing you the greatest of success in the projects you decide to undertake in the future” line inserted into the team's press release announcing the veteran skipper's removal. Rojas managed the Sultanes' Mexican Pacific League team last winter before taking over their Liga club after Roberto Kelly decided to not manage this summer due to stated concerns over the pandemic.

    One of Rojas' coaches, Antonio Aguilera, ran the team on an interim basis before Sergio Gastelum was brought in to manage the Sultanes. Then Aguilera was summarily fired, along with pitching coach Arturo Gonzalez (an LMB legend whose 232 career wins ranks sixth among Liga hurler) and all other members of Rojas' staff after Gastelum arrived with five coaches of his own. Puro Beisbol editor Fernando Ballesteros reports that two of the fired coaches are considering suing the Sultanes, who are co-owned by the Grupo Multimedios conglomeration and longtime Monterrey baseball figure Jose “Pepe” Maiz, a member of Mexico's 1957 Little League world champions.

    Gastelum is expected to shake up the playing roster as well, and he'll have a new front office working with him toward that end. In addition to the firing of Rojas and his staff, the purge included both sports director Manuel Flores and sports manager Grimaldo Martinez. Flores was replaced as sports director by Jesus Valdez, Junior (son of longtime Mazatlan GM Jesus “Chino” Valdez, who now holds a similar role with the expansion Veracruz Aguilas). Valdez will oversee both of Monterrey's LMB and Mexican Pacific League teams. Martinez was let go to make room for Manuel Velez, who will serve as an advisor for the Sultanes' Sports Directorate.

Sergio Gastelum new skipper in Monterrey

    Monterrey began the season with five consecutive losses for the first time since 1978 and were tied with Durango for the LMB North basement when Rojas was fired after a 14-3 road loss last Tuesday to the Dos Laredos Tecolotes. The Sultanes ranked ninth in the Liga with a .283 team batting average but the pitching was second to last among the 18 teams with a 7.15 ERA.

    Gastelum has jumped on and off the merry-go-round since leading Oaxaca to an unexpected appearance in the Fall 2018 Serie del Rey, where they ironically lost to the same Monterrey team he's now managing after finishing the regular season with a 26-30 record and having to win a play-in game at Leon to qualify for the playoffs. Following a 2019 season in which the Guerreros finished second in the LMB South with a 68-51 mark before a first-round playoff loss to Yucatan, the 42-year-old Obregon product was named manager of the Mexico City Diablos Rojos.

    The former star infielder (who played 22 years in the LMB) led the Red Devils in training camp last year before the 2020 season was canceled due to the Wuhan virus, then was let go after team eecutive Miguel Ojeda was sent back to the dugout after a front office battle that resulted in GM Francisco “Pollo” Minjarez' firing.

TOROS, PERICOS LEAD TIGHT EARLY LMB STANDINGS

 

LMB batting leader Isaac Rodriguez

   Tijuana and Puebla have taken the lead in their respective Mexican League divisions after two-plus weeks of the LMB's 66-game 2021 schedule, but nobody is running away with things as three teams are within two games of the Toros in the LMB North while only a game-and-a-half separates the Pericos from four other squads in LMB South.

    Tijuana completed the weekend with an 11-4 record with a 7-6 loss Sunday in Monterrey after winning the first two games of the series. The final contest was tied at six runs apiece going into the bottom of the ninth inning, when the Sultanes loaded the bases off Toros reliever Josh Corrales, who then gave up a walkoff walk to Ramon Rios on five pitches to push Andres Martin across home plate to complete Monterrey's first win in three games under new manager Sergio Gastelum. The Sultanes went 2-0 under interim helmsman Antonio Aguilera before he was sent packing Friday in last week's team housecleaning.

    Expansion team Guadalajara is a game behind Tijuana with a 10-4 ledger after taking two of three games in Mexico City. The first two tilts were slugfests, with the Mariachis taking an 8-7 Friday win as Adrian Gonzalez up-the-middle single in the top of the 14th scored Luis Sardinas from second with what proved to be the winning run the go-ahead run. One night later, Guadalajara piled up 20 hits en route to a 10-5 victory with Gonzalez, Niko Vasquez and Beau Amaral each collecting three hits (and Amaral scoring three times). The Diablos avoided the sweep Sunday with a 7-3 triumph, capping a weekend in which the two teams combined for 40 runs on 75 hits over the three-game set.

    In the LMB South, Puebla held on to first in the standings at 10-5 despite losing two of three weekend games in Leon. The Bravos outscored the Pericos, 5-3, Sunday thanks in part to ageless Chris Roberson, who homered, doubled, walked and scored three times in a 3-for-3 afternoon batting second ahead of another former longtime Monterrey star, Agustin Murillo. With the win, Leon won for the eighth time in their last ten games to pull within a game of Puebla at 9-6, also trailing 9-5 Mexico City and 8-5 Yucatan.

    The Leones have leveled off after a hot 8-0 start to the season by splitting their last ten contests, including a solid 9-2 win in Merida Sunday over rival Quintana Roo. Yucatan got solo homers from both Art Charles and Humberto Sosa, who'd gone hitless his first seven games before going 2-for-3 Sunday as a seven-run sixth broke the game wide open. The Tigres outhit the Leones by a 12-9 margin hurt themselves by only batting 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position and leaving nine baserunners stranded.

Masaru Nakamura in NPB days

    As might be expected in the early season (especially in a hitter's league like the LMB), batters are ahead of pitchers. Even though only five teams are hitting above the .300 mark after 15 games, with Guadalajara leading the way at .356, twelve teams have collective ERAs above 5.00. Durango's staff is allowing a generous 8.79 per game, which might explain their 4-11 record.

    Tijuana second baseman Isaac Rodriguez heads a list of 14 batters at .400 or above with a .473 average after 14 games, ahead of Guadalajara's Vasquez (.465) Eliezer Ortiz of Aguascalientes (.458). Oaxaca infielder Orlando Pina and Saltillo first baseman Henry Urrutia are tied for the lead with seven homers each and Guadalajara's Sardinas is tops with 21 RBIs, two up on three other batters who have 19 ribbies each. Reigning MVP Alonzo Harris of Oaxaca leads the LMB with 11 stolen bases, four more than TJ's Rodriguez.

    Two hurlers are tied for the lead with three wins apiece, although neither has much else to brag about. Guadalajara starter Masaru Nakamura is 3-0 but with an ERA of 5.53 while Puebla middleman Yosshel Hurtado's 3-0 record comes with a 9.45 ERA after eleven appearances. Nakamura toiled nine seasons in Japan's NPB for the Nippon Ham Fighters before making his Liga debut this season. 

    Pitching hasn't been totally hapless in the LMB thus far in 2021. Seven starters sport ERAs below 2.00, with Tigres veteran Wilfredo Boscan's 0-0 record after three starts betraying his 0.53 ERA. Oaxaca's Hector Hernandez is 0-2 and 7.29 after four starts, but his 25 strikeouts in 21 innings leads the loop. Three closers have five saves each: Tijuana's Fernando Rodney, Carlos Bustamante and Laguna's Jenrry Mejia. Rodney is still the roller-coaster ride he was in MLB with four walks over seven innings in as many appearances, but he's also whiffed eight batsmen and has a 1.29 ERA.