LMB Assembly votes unanimously to include Durango for 2017

In an offseason that has been noted primarily for the evenly-split acrimony between Old Guard and New Breed teams, the Mexican League's Assembly of Presidents somewhat surprisingly voted unanimously Monday to allow the newly-relocated Durango Generales to at least begin their 2017 schedule.  What happens from here is anyone's guess.

The Generales have been a winter-long question mark after owner Virgilio Ruiz moved the former Carmen Delfines north to Durango after five years in the southern Gulf Coast city.  The ongoing uncertainty over the Durango government's willingness or ability to subsidize the team by paying player salaries with taxpayer pesos, a fairly typical practice among Old Guard franchises, or perform needed upgrades to Estadio Francisco Villa, which has not hosted AAA baseball in nearly four decades, was a major contributing factor.  Waiting until last week to name Joe Alvarez as manager did nothing to imply a scintilla of stability in the Generales front office, nor did players showing up for training camp with no idea where it would be held or who would lead them.  Mexican League baseball often has a making-it-up-as-we-go-along feel to it, but the situation in Durango has stood out even within that milieu.

There has been much speculation that Ruiz would be told to shut down for this season and look toward 2018 while the LMB operated with 15 teams, creating a scheduling nightmare, but the Assembly decided a 16-team "maybe" was a better choice than a 15-team certainty.  The vote also brings the still-simmering schism between teams back to an even eight Old Guard franchises happy to continue with the status quo versus eight New Breed franchises wanting the Liga to be more businesslike in its approach.  Although Minor League Baseball president Pat O'Connor brought down the hammer at last month's league meeting in Houston in favor of the New Breed, the divisions are still as real as they were in January.

The following is a Google translation of a notice from the Generales' Facebook page (they have no website):

"The Assembly of Presidents of the Mexican Baseball League unanimously approved Monday the permanence and official arrival of the Durango Generales to the Mexican Baseball League, returning professional baseball after 38 years of absence.

"The ratification of the Generales was made possible thanks to the unconditional support of the State Governor, Dr. Jose Rosas Aispuro Torres, who since the presentation of the project to return professional baseball to Durango has been a vital part for the King of Sports to return to Estadio Francisco Villa in this city.

"To this sum of efforts to bring professional baseball to Durango have joined a good number of Durango entrepreneurs committed to baseball, who seeing in sports a platform for the development of the state and the standard of living of the inhabitants of Durango, have hesitated to join the project that is already tangible in this capital.

"The vital support of the State Sports Institute of Durango and its director, Mr. Alejandro Álvarez Manilla, has been unconditionally committed to the professional baseball project since the beginning, and hee has become an indispensable ally for making the Generales Of Durango a reality.

"The Generales have had an intense preseason under the hand of the Cuban manager Joe Alvarez and have already obtained their first achievement, the championship of the Sisters Cities Baseball Classic in Laredo, Texas. This Tuesday they return to the training camp to close ranks ahead of the visit to Estadio Alberto Romo Chávez in Aguascalientes to face the Rieleros next Friday, March 31."

The Generales finished 31-76 last season to finish last in the LMB South, 25.5 games out of the fourth and final playoff berth. The schedule has Durango playing five series on the road to start the current season before their scheduled April 18 home opener against Veracruz. The very real possibility that Estadio Francisco Villa won't be ready by then may mean moving home games to Monterrey, where Sultanes owner Jose "Pepe" Maiz (an Old Guard ally of Ruiz) has reportedly offered to allow the Generales to share Estadio Monterrey as a temporary home.

Two weeks ago, LMB president Plinio Escalante reportedly told Puro Beisbol columnist Hector Bencomo, "I don't think Durango can play this season." Ready or not, we're all about to find out together.

Will they or won't they? Meet your 2017 Durango Generales!

After the tension, the anger and ultimately the disappointment among Mexican baseball aficionados in the aftermath of the World Baseball Classic's Pool D competition in Guadalajara last week, this seems an opportune time for a little comic relief, thoughtfully provided by the Mexican League's Durango Generales.

If you're a regular reader of BBM, you're likely already aware of the Liga's version of "The Gang Who Couldn't Shoot Straight," but here's a brief refresher course:  The Generales story really begins in 2012, when businessman Carlos Mejia bought the moribund Nuevo Laredo Tecolotes (who were drummed out of the LMB after refusing to show the league their financial situation) and moved them from the Mexico-Texas border to Cuidad del Carrmen, a city of 170,000 in the state of Campeche on the Gulf of Mexico's southern coast.  The newly-named Carmen Delfines spent five summers at 8.200-seat Estadio Resurgimento, winning a South Division regular season title in 2013 under manager Felix Fermin but otherwise finishing among the also-rans while being first-round casualties the two seasons they reached the playoffs.  The Delfines averaged over 4,000 fans per opening for their 2012 debut season, but attendance steadily declined before the franchise shut down after drawing 2,615 a night in 2016 and moved to Durango when team owner Virgilio Ruiz got approval for the transfer from the LMB Assembly of Presidents in November.

This is where the fun begins.

Durango is not a stranger to the Mexican League.  The colonial city of over 500,000 residents has had two LMB teams (both named the Alacranes), first for the 1956 and 1957 seasons and again from 1976 through 1979, but baseball has never really gained a foothold there.  The last year a Class AAA team represented Durango was in 1980, when yet another club called the Alacranes played in the so-called ANABE league that sprang up in the wake of a player strike that cancelled the Mexican League campaign in midseason.

One result of the sport's longstanding absence was that 8,000-seat Estadio Francisco Villa (pictured amid mounds of dirt), opened in 1972 and renovated four years later when the Alacranes 2.0 began their four-year LMB run, had fallen into disrepair.  One of the stipulations of the franchise shift was that Ruiz was to secure renovations to the ballpark in time for the 2017 season, something the owner assured his fellow team presidents would be done.  Instead, there was no movement on the facility for months, as the Durango state government dragged its heels on paying for the work to be performed.  The renovations finally began after the first of the year but there was no way the ballpark would be ready for the start of the season in the best of circumstances and a league schedule shows the Durango Generales playing their first five series of the coming season on the road.  The consensus opinion among Mexican baseball writers appears to be that there's no way the facility will be ready to open for Liga home games by mid-April, however, as work was progressing much slower than expected.  Proceso's Beatriz Pereyra (who is rapidly becoming my favorite Mexican baseball writer) says the state is spending 30 million pesos, or about US$1.5 million, on stadium upgrades, adding that LMB operations manager Nestor Alva Brito recently toured the facility and estimates that it won't be ready until at least June.

Another fly in the ointment regards further state subsidies for the team itself, or the lack thereof.  Ruiz claimed at the November Presidents meeting that he would receive financial and tax assistance from the State of Durango to operate the Generales, a not-uncommon occurance among a number of Mexican League franchises (mostly among the so-called Old Guard owners and teams).  That situation changed following the elections last November when then-governor Jorge Herrera Caldera was replaced by Jose Rosas Aispuro, who has been far less willing to share state resources with the team, a situation mirrored in Quintana Roo which helped compel longtime owner Carlos Peralta to sell the storied Tigres franchise to a group fronted by former Dodgers All-Star pitcher Fernando Valenzuela.  The lack of taxpayer pesos flowing into the Generales' coffers seriously threatened to kill the team's season before it started and the issue remains unresolved as of today.

Then there's the matter of hiring a manager.  Ruiz did not announced a skipper for his team until Thursday, when Cuban-born Joe Alvarez was chosen to lead the Generales with just two weeks to prepare for the regular season.  Alvarez spent nearly four decades playing or managing in the minor leagues for a number of MLB organizations and took the Puebla Pericos to the 2014 LMB championship series against Mexico City on an interim basis before spending the past two summers coaching with the SK Wyverns in South Korea.  He was rumored to be Ruiz' choice as far back as December.  Alvarez and his coaching staff will need to prepare their team in just 14 days of training camp before their season begins March 31 in Aguascalientes, according to the team's Facebook page (there's no website yet).

Ahhh, training camp.  Players began showing up to begin working out in preparation for the regular season a couple weeks ago.  The problem?  Nowhere to play and nobody to lead them.  An exhibition game against the Union Laguna Vaqueros last week had to be scuttled and it appears that Durango still has yet to play a preseason contest.  Not to worry, according to Ruiz, who was quoted by Puro Beisbol editor Fernando Ballasteros as saying, "Our team is not out of shape and they have not stopped preparing.  In 2012, the Carmen Delfines had only 20 days of practice and we were leaders of the South Division."  The record shows that Carmen tied for fifth with a 51-60 record that year (they finished first in 2013).  In any case, the team will need a lot of things to go right in short order before their road opener against the Rieleros in two weeks.  Ruiz also claims to have the financial wherewithal for the 2017 season, that the government is "fully engaged" in ballpark renovations and that the scheduled April 18 home opener against Veracruz, assertions that may be similar to the assurances he gave at November's league meeting.

So whither goest the Durango Generales?  Even Mexican writers who've covered the Liga for years are unsure, although skepticism appears to be the order of the day even among those who think they'll be able to at least begin the regular season.  A more common thread is that the LMB would be better served by fielding just 15 teams this year (assuming the Arellano brothers are able to operate their teams in Yucatan and Merida after having their assets frozen by the federal government earlier this month) to give Ruiz more time to properly build his team and ensure ballpark renovations are completed by April 2018.  It's believed that although a 111-game season schedule with all 16 teams has been released, the league reportedly has an alternate 15-team schedule (including rotating byes) in case the Generales don't make it to the starting gate.

So will the Generales play in 2017?  My own guess is that they won't unless the Alvarez, his coaches and his players are willing to spend at least the first ten weeks of the season living out of their suitcases.  There have been instances of "Road Warriors" teams playing entire seasons on the road, but those have usually been independent clubs, not members of a league with a Class AAA designation.  At this point, I'm not holding my breath and neither should you.

Jalisco Charros: Rojas out, Fermin in as skipper

Just days after the Mexicali Aguilas made the first managerial change of the current Mexican Pacific League season by firing Gil Velazquez and replacing him with Roberto "Chapo" Vizcarra, the Jalisco Charros have let Homar Rojas go and brought Felix Fermin (pictured) in as a replacement. The Guadalajara club announced Rojas' dismissal Tuesday after the Charros registered a seventh-place first half finish with a 15-19 record.

Rojas was hired by Jalisco last December after Juan Navarrete was let go and led the Charros to a playoff berth, but the team was eliminated from the postseason after a four-game sweep by Mexicali in the first round.  The 52-year-old native of Santiago, Nuevo Leon spent 23 seasons in the minor leagues as a catcher after making his Mexican League debut with Monterrey in 1982 at age 18.  After spending two seasons with the Sultanes and another three with the Mexico City Tigres, Rojas' rights were dealt to the Los Angeles Dodgers prior to the 1987 campaign.  He put in four years in the Dodgers system, including all or part of three seasons at AA San Antonio, and hit .273 with 9 homers in 241 games.  After returning to Mexico in 1991, he played 14 more years in the LMB before retiring in 2004 at 40 following seven summers in Oaxaca.

Since then, Rojas has been a frequent passenger on the merry-go-round that is managing a baseball team in Mexico, putting in four years piloting Oaxaca, four years with Reynosa, one in Campeche and three with Monclova.  His 12-year record at the helm of LMB clubs is 651-647, including a 69-43 mark with the Acereros last summer, when he managed the North at the All-Star Game in Monterrey.   He has also managed winterball teams in Obregon and Hermosillo, leading both teams to single MexPac pennants while winning Manager of the Year awards twice with the Yaquis.  As usual, the Charros thanked Rojas for his service in a press release.

The 53-year-old Fermin is a product of the Dominican Republic who was signed by Pittsburgh in 1983 and reached the majors with the Pirates four years later.  He went on to spend ten seasons in MLB (including five with Cleveland) between 1987 and 1996, hitting .259 over 903 games while striking out just 147 times.  He peaked with Seattle in 1994 when he batted .317 as the Mariners' starting shortstop, but plummeted to .196 in 1995 and was dealt to the Chicago Cubs after the season.  Known more for his glove than his bat, Fermin was nicknamed "El Gato" or "Felix the Cat" for his quick reflexes in the field. He retired as a player at 32 in 1996.

As a manager, Fermin spent four years managing Monterrey in the Mexican League, winning the LMB flag in 2007 (his first year with the Sultanes). before moving to Carmen in 2011 for another four campaigns during which he was named Manager of the Year in 2013 after the Delfines won the LMB South regular season title.  After being fired by the Delfines on June 29, 2015 with a 29-38 record, Fermin returned to Monterrey with a month remaining in that season and went on to take the Sultanes to the 2016 LMB North regular season crown with a 72-39 mark and reached the North playoff finals before being knocked out by Tijuana. His nine-year managerial record in the Mexican League is 531-440.  This is Fermin's first stint in the MexPac.

Another longtime Mexican baseball manager, Alfonso "Houston" Jimenez, is filling in with the Charros until Fermin officially takes the reins on Thursday.

Mexican Nationals arrive in Tokyo for games vs. Japan

Mexico's National Baseball Team has arrived in Tokyo in advance of games against their Japanese counterparts on Thursday and Friday at the Tokyo Dome.  Manager Edgar Gonzalez was joined by 26 players who'll suit up for the two-game set, as well as his coaching staff (including father David, who will serve as first base coach) and brother Adrian, who will not play but serve in a supporting role.  The following is Mexico's roster for the series:

PITCHERS (12):  Miguel Aguilar, Andres Avila, Mauricio Lara, Rafael Martin Jr., Mario Meza, Jose Oyervidez, Oliver Perez, Hector Daniel Rodriguez, Sergio Romo, Gerardo Sanchez, Jacob Sanchez, Ernesto Zaragoza.
CATCHERS (2):  Cesar Tapia, Sebastian Valle.
INFIELDERS (7):  Ricky Alvarez, Japhet Amador, Jesse Castillo, Agustin Murillo, Ramiro Pena, Esteban Quiroz, Amadeo Zazueta.
OUTFIELDERS (5):  Jose Aguilar, Efren Navarro, Asael Sanchez, Tim Torres, Alex Verdugo.

The team as constructed has fairly solid pitching with reliable veterans (some with Nippon Professional Baseball playing experience) behind the plate and around the infield, but the outfield looks ordinary at best.  In all, five members of the Verdes Grande have Major League experience: Pitchers Martin, Romo and Perez, shortstop Pena and outfielder Navarro.

The Samurai Japan squad is hosting Mexico for games Thursday and Friday followed by games against The Netherlands' national team Saturday and Sunday as a tuneup for next March's World Baseball Classic.


Leon, Durango in; Reynosa, Carmen out of LMB

The Mexican League has shuffled its rostrum for the 2017 season.  During a November 1 meeting of Liga governors in Monterrey, the LMB approved the shifting of two of its weakest franchises westward to cities that have previously hosted teams in the summer circuit.

The Reynosa Broncos will be moving from the border to Leon, Guanajuato next year.  The Broncos had a dreadful 2016 by any standard, winning just 24 of 112 games to post the worst record in the league while finishing 26.5 games behind Saltillo, the LMB North's seventh-place team.  Erstwhile former Cubs pitcher Kyle Farnsworth interrupted his recent foray into semipro football in Florida to join Reynosa in early April, but had a fitful three months with the cellar-dwellers, going 1-3 with 2 saves and a 6.92 ERA in 18 appearances before being mercifully placed on the reserve list in July.

The Broncos' on-field futility carried over into the stands at Estadio Adolfo Lopez Mateos, where well-rested ushers welcomed just 102,823 fans over 53 home dates for an average of 1,940 per opening, both ranking 15th in the Liga.  The Broncos' struggles at the gate have coincided with the rise of violence involving drug cartels, both against each other and law enforcement officers, and gunfire outside the ballpark even halted a 2010 contest against Monterrey.  Reynosa could be a tough place to catch a ballgame.

Things will hopefully be a little quieter in Leon, a city of more than 1.5 million residents south of Aguascalientes and northwest of Mexico City in the Central Mexican Plateau.  Leon had a Mexican League franchise between 1979 and 1991. The Bravos (which will also be the name of the new entry) won their lone Liga pennant in 1990 under manager Francisco "Paquin" Estrada before moving to Minatitlan one year later.  The team, which is owned by a group headed by businessman Mauricio Martinez, will need to upgrade Estadio Domingo Santana, which underwent some refurbishing in 2014 but still seats only 3,000 spectators.

Meanwhile, the Carmen Delfines (or Dolphins) have given up the ghost after five years on Campeche's Gulf Coast.  With a population of 169,466, Ciudad del Carmen was one of the Mexican League's smallest cities.  After a good start at the box office, with the team pulling in 5,114 a night in 2013 (their second season), support gradually declined to last summer's 2,615 average, 12th in the Liga.  Like the Broncos, the Delfines are moving west.  Owner VIrgilio Ruiz is moving the club to Durango, where the club will be rechristened the Alacranes (or Scorpions).

Ciudad Durango is the capital of Durango State, a city of over half a million residents in north central Mexico about halfway between Mazaltan on the Pacific Coast to the southwest and Saltillo to the northwest.  Like Leon, the Mexican League has been tried but ultimately found wanting in Durango.  The Alacranes organization has actually been around in some form since 1951 and the team spent four years in the LMB between 1976 and 1979.  Although notable former big leaguers like Jerry Hairston, Earl Williams and Wayne Granger played for Durango in that time, the Alacranes won no pennants before dropping prior to the strike-shortened 1980 season.  The team has bounced around the lower Mexican minors ever since, most recently in the Laguna Major League, and will play in 8,000-seat Estadio Francisco Villa (yes, that Pancho Villa) after some planned offseason renovations.


Serie del Caribe champ Mazatlan Venados occupy MexPac cellar

Only two games separate the top seven teams in the Mexican Pacific League's first half standings, with a four-way tie for first place between Hermosillo, Los Mochis, Mexicali and Navojoa at 13-10.  Culiacan is one game back in fifth with a 12-11 mark while Jalisco and Obregon share sixth at 11-12.  Then there are the Mazatlan Venados.

The Deer, as you may recall, fought their way through the MexPac playoffs to win the pennant last winter before cruising to February's Caribbean Series championship in the Dominican Republic.  That was then, however, but this is now and "now" has Mazatlan all alone in the LMP cellar with a 6-17 register, seven games behind the leaders after three weeks of the 2016-17 season.

The Venados dropped a 2-0 home game to Los Mochis Sunday as Julian Arballo and four Caneros relievers combined for the shutout.  Mazatlan starter Walter Silva pitched creditably in absorbing the loss in allowing two runs over six innings, somewhat ironic given the difficulty the Venados mound staff has experienced thus far.  Typically a strong pitching team, Mazatlan is last in the MexPac with a 4.62 ERA (conversely, four teams are below 4.00).  Former Cubs minor leaguer Nick Struck is 1-1 with a 0.82 ERA in two starts but otherwise, the Venados rotation has been hemorrhaging runs since the campaign began and the batters are likewise bringing up the circuit's rear with a .242 average and 13 homers, a recipe that has brought just six wins in 23 games for skipper Juan Jose Pacho's team.

Jalisco third baseman Agustin Murillo went into his one-week break for the Japan trip with with a .392 average to lead LMP batsmen, 14 points up on Culiacan outfielder Ronnier Mustelier.  Mustelier's Tomateros teammate, outfielder Joey Meneses, is tied with four other players for the league lead at five homers while topping the loop with 23 RBI's in as many games to go along with his .333 average.  Despite not playing since October 29 after bunting a ball into his own face, Mexican League co-champion base stealer Justin Greene still tops the MexPac swipes list with nine, one more than Mazatlan outfielder Tito Polo.  Greene was batting .333 for Obregon when he was hurt and his return to the Yaquis lineup is unknown.

Obregon's Arturo Lopez and Hector Velazquez of Navojoa have become the first 4-game winners of the LMP campaign.  Velazquez' stat line is superior to that of Lopez in ERA (2.10 to 2.22) and strikeouts (35 to 20).  Former Cal Baptist righty Julian Arballo of Los Mochis has the best ERA in the MexPac at 0.69, Velazquez' 35 whiffs tops the circuit in that category and there's a three-way tie for most saves at 7 between Mexicali's Jake Sanchez, Hermosillo's Paul Sewald and Jon Sintes of Los Mochis.  Sanchez, an A's farmhand and California native, is in Tokyo with the Mexican National Team for this week's two games against Samurai Japan.

OTANEZ MOVES AGAIN, THIS TIME TO TABASCO

There are two things that can be considered set in stone when it comes to Mexican baseball: First, Willis Otanez is a threat at the plate no matter who he plays for. Second, Willis Otanez is likely to play for just about anyone from year to year. This time around, the veteran slugger is moving from Reynosa to Tabasco.

Otanez has spent ten of the past eleven summers playing in the Mexican League, and it’s hard to dispute the numbers he’s put up: He’s batted .341 with 154 homers and 671 RBIs, posting stats of .341/22/82 for Reynosa in 2011. Clearly stated, the former Major Leaguer can swing a bat. The question always seems to be where he’ll be swinging it.

Otanez had already been picked up from the Broncos by the expansion Carmen Dolphins in the offseason, then was dealt to the Olmecas along with young pitcher Angel Araiza in exchange for hurlers Salvador Arellano and Roman Rivas. Both Carmen and Aguascalientes will be joining the Liga this year to bring the field to 16 teams.

Since coming to Mexico in 2001, Otanez has played for (taking a deep breath here) Monterrey, Cancun, Monclova, Veracruz, Minatitlan, Puebla, Reynosa and now Tabasco. For most of the past few years, Otanez has left Mexico at the end of the season in August to play in the independent Atlantic League for Bridgeport, Newark, Long Island and Camden.

Over his 20-year minor league career, the 38-year-old Dominican has 2,444 hits for an even .300 average with 346 homers and 1,459 RBIs. He spent parts of the 1998 and 1999 seasons in the American League with Baltimore and Toronto, hitting .236 with 7 homers in 74 games.