CHITO RODRIGUEZ URGES LMB TO CANCEL SEASON

Cuauhtémoc “Chito” Rodríguez

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

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

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

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

Rodriguez at the 2011 Baseball Winter Meetings

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

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

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

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

Mexican League president Horacio de la Vega

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

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

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

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

Tabasco Olmecas will need fan in the seats 

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

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

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

BANUELOS CUT BY MARINERS, SIGNS WITH TEAM IN TAIWAN

Manny Banuelos with Culiacan in 2019-20

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

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

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

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

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

Banuelos made MLB debut in 2015

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

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

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

MEXICO TOPS USA 3-2 IN 10 TO QUALIFY FOR OLYMPICS

Mexico's Efren Navarro and Matt Clark

Matt Clark's ninth-inning solo home run put the game into extra innings, but it was Efren Navarro's single in the bottom of the tenth that gave the Mexican National Team a hard-fought 3-2 win over the United States in Saturday's Premier12 Bronze Medal game at the Tokyo Dome.  More important, the Verdes Grande's second win over the USA in the tournament meant that Mexico will make their Olympic baseball debut next summer in Tokyo.

The Americans sprinted to a quick 1-0 lead when Angels prospect Jo Adell socked an opposite-field solo homer off Mexican starter Arturo Reyes in the top of the first, but Reyes settled down to toss two-hit shutout ball before giving way to reliever Brennan Bernardino with one out in the sixth frame with the score still at 1-0.  Mexico tied the contest up in the bottom of the sixth when Clark drilled a sharp bases-loaded single to right off reliever Daniel Tillo to plate Jonathan Jones from third base.  Tillo had replaced Cody Ponce, a Pirates farmhand who whitewashed the Mexicans on three hits with six strikeouts over the first five entradas.

The USA regained the lead in the top of the seventh when Andrew Vaughn led off with a single, moved to second on Eric Kratz' sacrifice hit and scored when Bobby Dalbec singled up the middle off Jesus Rios to make it a 2-1 contest, a score that held up until Clark belted a leadoff four-bagger deep to center off American closer Brandon Dickson to tie things up at 2-2.  Dickson got out of the inning without further damage and manager Scott Brosius decided to keep the former St. Louis pitcher (who's spent the past seven years with NPB's Orix Buffaloes) on the mound for the tenth after the USA failed to score on Mexican closer Carlos Bustamante in the top of that inning.

Using WBSC tiebreaker rules, Noah Perio was placed on second base and Jorge Flores on first to start the bottom of the tenth for Mexico.  Jones led off with a sacrifice bunt to Dickson on the mound, moving Perio to third and Flores to second.  Dickson then intentionally walked Esteban Quiroz to load the bases before being pulled for Caleb Thielbar to face Navarro, who blooped a broken-bat single to shallow center to bring Perio in from third for the walkoff game-winner.   Navarro, who was 0-for-4 for the game at that point, fouled off four consecutive Thielber deliveries before delivering the coup de grace for Mexico on the eighth pitch in the count.  Bustamante earned the win by hurling a scoreless tenth while Dickson was tagged with the loss.  Clark finished with a pair of hits and two RBIs for Mexico while Adell singled and doubled for the Americans while contributing defensively with a diving catch of a Navarro fly to left field in the eighth.

Verdes Grande: "We're going to Tokyo (again)!"

After sweeping all three of their Group A games in Guadalajara, Mexico won their first two Super Round contests in Japan, including a 2-0 shutout over Taiwan last Monday in Chiba as Reyes and five relievers combined on a three-hitter while Ali Solis contributed a solo homer.  The Verdes Grande followed that up with another shutout on Tuesday, this one a 3-0 blanking of Australia in Tokyo with Eduardo Vera and four relievers tossing a four-hitter while Jones and Clark went deep for the winners.  Mexico then lost for the first time in six games Wednesday, dropping a 3-1 decision to host Japan in the Tokyo Dome despite Jones' second homer in as many nights.  Then it was a second loss in a row on Thursday as manager Juan Castro's side fell, 7-3, to South Korea with Jones homering once again for Mexico, who finished third in the Super Round with a 3-2 record, including a Group A win over the USA (2-3) that counted in the second stage to set up the Bronze Medal contest.  Japan (4-1) and South Korea (3-2) squared off Saturday for the Gold Medal, with the Baseball Samurai emerging victorious by a 6-3 score.

By defeating the second-ranked Americans, Mexico (rated sixth in the world by the WBSC prior to the Premier12) qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, marking the first time the Verdes Grande will play in the Games.  After Saturday's win, Navarro was humble. "You must credit all of the team for this accomplishment, " he said,  "including the pitchers and Matt Clark, who kept us in the game with his homer."  For his part, Clark said, "We're going to the Olympics.  You can't put it in words.  It's such a great achievement as a country, as players, as coaches...everyone that's involved back home, the fans.

"It's going to be an amazing experience for everybody to be able to go there and show the world what we have."


YAQUIS TAKE LMP LEAD INTO FINAL WEEK OF FIRST HALF SCHEDULE

Obregon lefty Arturo Lopez

With just six games remaining in the Mexican Pacific League's first-half schedule, the Obregon Yaquis have pulled into a two-game lead over Jalisco in a battle for first place and the eight accompanying playoff points.  The 21-11 Yaquis completed a three-game road series in Navojoa Sunday with a 4-0 shutout over the Mayos as Arturo Lopez and four relievers combined to hold the host team to three singles while number nine hitter Ricardo Valenzuela keyed a four-run seventh inning for Obregon with a two-run single.  Jesus "Cacao" Valdez contributed a pair of doubles and scored once for the winners while leadoff batter Taike Sekine, an import from Japan's Yokohama BayStars, chipped in with two singles, one of them scoring a run.

The Yaquis have been led offensively by outfielder Jose Aguilar, who leads the team with a .358 average and 25 runs scored.  Aguilar has had his share of misadventures on the basepaths thus far this season, however, and has been caught stealing seven times in eleven attempts.  Obregon's power has been supplied by the triumvirate of Valdez, Paulo Orlando and Art Charles, who have six homers each and a combined 68 RBIs through 31 games.  Orlando is second to Aguilar on the Yaquis with a .326 average.  Charles has otherwise struggled to a .216 mark but his 19 hits have produced six homers and 21 ribbies.  Sekine, a 24-year-old outfielder who bats left, has hit .282 since joining the Yaquis after the season started, but his most valuable asset may be his speed.  On a team where no other player has more than four stolen bases, Sekine has 10 swipes in 11 attempts over 23 games.  To put that into perspective, the rest of the Yaquis are a combined 10-for-27 in steals, which makes the 5'6" Sekine even more valuable to manager Sergio Gastelum.

Yaquis outfielder Taiki Sekine

The aforementioned Lopez has been the most consistent pitcher among a pretty good mound staff.  His win Sunday brought his record to 3-1, his 2.04 ERA ranks third in the MexPac behind Navojoa's Raul Carrillo and Jon van Meter of Mexicali and Lopez' 35 strikeouts leads the league.  While no other Obregon pitchers ranks in the top 20 of qualified hurlers in the ERA race, the Yaquis' team ERA of 3.42 is fifth in the circuit and their collective 242 strikeouts lead the LMP.  Former White Sox prospect Ryan Kussmaul has been the primary closer for the Yaquis and while his 2.37 ERA over 18 outings has been fairly impressive (as is his limiting opponents to a .222 batting average), he's only got a team-high five saves for the season thus far and none since November 1.  The Obregon roster generally doesn't stack up favorably compared to the likes of Culiacan or Jalisco, but Gastelum has shown over his short managerial career that he can figure out ways to win with limited resources and took an underpowered Oaxaca Mexican League team to the Fall 2018 Serie del Rey so the Yaquis shouldn't be summarily counted out either.

Los Mochis outfielder Noel Cuevas leads the MexPac in batting with a .371 average, just ahead of Navojoa veteran Christian Zazueta's .368.  Jalisco first baseman Stephen Cardullo's nine homers is tops in the LMP with four players tied at seven roundtrippers apiece, while Cardullo teammate Daniel Alvarez (one of that foursome) leads with 27 RBIs, one more than Monterrey's Felix Perez.  Rico Noel of Culiacan continues to pace base stealers with 15 SBs, while Tomateros teammate Sebastian Elizalde has 11.  Elizalde has reached double figures in steals once in his 10-year professional career.

Yoanys Quiala of Los Mochis earned a win over Guasave Friday night to run his record to 6-0 in seven starts for the Caneros and still leads the LMP in wins.  As mentioned, Obregon's Lopez leads with 35 strikeouts while Navojoa's Carrillo leads in ERA at 1.71.  Ralph Garza of Monterrey and Trey McNutt of Hermosillo are tied at the top with nine saves apiece and Monterrey's Nick Struck's nine holds head that list as well.

MEXICAN PACIFIC LEAGUE standings
Obregon 21-11, Jalisco 19-13, Hermosillo 18-13, Culiacan 17-15, Monterrey 16-16,  Los Mochis 15-17, Mazatlan 14-18, Mexicali 14-18, Guasave 14-18, Navojoa 11-20.



FERNANDO, 3 OTHERS INDUCTED INTO SALON DE LA FAMA

Rodriguez, Valenzuela, Fernandez and Saenz

Former Los Angeles Dodgers pitching star Fernando Valenzuela was one of four new members who were inducted into the Mexican baseball hall of fame last week in Monterrey.  Valenzuela was joined by Daniel Fernandez, Ricardo Saenz and Cuauhtemoc "Chito" Rodriguez at ceremonies held at the new Salon de la Fama facility, which was completed earlier this year and largely bankrolled by Mexico City Diablos Rojos and Oaxaca Guerreros owner Alfredo Harp Helu.  The foursome were elected in 2014 and become the first actual inductees since a similar ceremony was held in 2011, after which the old Salon de la Fama on a brewery site was shut down by its owners and all plaques and other treasures were placed in storage until last spring.

Valenzuela, who now owns the Quintana Roo Tigres with his wife Linda Burgos, was the Mexican League Rookie of the Year with Yucatan in 1979 as an 18-year-old before being purchased by the Dodgers.  He made his MLB debut one year later, going 2-0 in ten relief appearances in 1980.  However, it was in 1981 when "Fernandomania" gripped southern California and baseball in general as the Navojoa native went 13-7 with a 2.48 ERA and a league-leading 180 strikeouts, winning the Cy Young Award and Rookie of the Year while making the first of six All-Star game appearances as the Dodgers won the World Series that Fall, all at the ripe age of 20.  Valenzuela went on to a 17-year MLB career and finished with a lifetime 173-153 record and a 3.54 record.  While he likely won't end up elected to the other Hall of Fame in upstate New York, "El Toro" was easily the most popular Mexican player in the big leagues and is still beloved by fans south of the border.

Fernandez is a Veracruz native who spent 26 seasons playing in the Mexican League, all but one with the Diablos Rojos, and hit .315 lifetime (including sixteen .300+ campaigns).  The 5'8" outfielder, who tipped the scales at 170 pounds, was never a slugger and hit fewer than 100 homers for his career.  However, Fernandez was a productive leadoff batter who had enough gap power to stroke 388 doubles while his 111 triples are tied for third all-time in the Liga.  He was also speedy enough to steal 479 bases (also third on the all-time list) and his 1,837 career runs are the most ever scored by an LMB player and nearly 200 more than his nearest competitor.  Fernandez also managed Mexico City to a pennant in 2008, his first year as a skipper, but has yet to duplicate that success since.

Saenz was another longtime veteran in the Mexican League, as the Coahuila product patrolled left field over 25 seasons for several teams during his playing career, primarily for Saltillo and Monclova.  Although he didn't hit for as high an average as Fernandez did (batting .296 for his career, although he did top .300 twelve times), Saenz had much more power and belted 296 career homers among his 2,453 career hits, topping 20 homers five times and once hit four longballs in a single nine-inning game.  He also drove in 1,318 runs and had enough speed to swipe 102 bases.  Saenz is the LMB's all-time leader with 496 doubles.  Saenz also spent 21 winters in the Mexican Pacific League, knocking out 102 homers in that time.

Rodriguez is a Sonora native who made his mark in Mexican baseball off the field, spending over four decades in the front office as a general manager with LMB teams, primarily the Tecolotes and Tigres.  He was in Nuevo Laredo from 1975 through 1994 before joining the then-Mexico City Tigres in 1995 and remaining with them through franchise shifts to Puebla and Cancun until his retirement in 2017, shortly after Carlos Peralta sold the Tigres to the Valenzuelas.  Between the two organizations, Rodriguez oversaw nine Mexican League pennant-winning teams.  He was also part of a player selection committee for Mexico in three World Baseball Classics (2006, 2009 and 2013) and represented the LMB for several years with Minor League Baseball, who named him "King of Baseball" in 2011.

New Salon de la Fama in Monterrey

Salon de la Fama director Francisco Padilla welcomed guests to last week's ceremony before turning things over to new Electoral Committee president Antonio de Valdes.  Also taking part were Harp and Nuevo Leon governor Jaime Rodriguez as the four Salon newcomers brought the total number of enshrinees to an even 200.  Mexican League co-founder Alejandro "Fray Nano" Aguilar, a sports writer by trade, introduced the Salon de la Fama in 1939, albeit on more of a conceptual basis.  Annual inductions began in 1973 in Monterrey at a building on the Cuahutemoc Brewery grounds and continued until the brewery decided to shut down the Salon in 2012.  There was an abortive attempt to resurrect the Salon in Culiacan a few years ago but it wasn't until the billionaire Harp stepped up to cover the cost of construction that a permanent home in Monterrey was opened this year.

MexPac begins 2017-18 season; 116,306 attend eight openers

Celebration after Culiacan's Josh Fuentes' 14th inning HR

It took a walkoff homer in the bottom of the fourteenth inning, but the Culiacan Tomateros were able to remain one of two Mexican Pacific League teams with perfect 5-and-0 records after nipping Los Mochis, 1-0, Sunday night at Estadio Tomateros.  By the time Josh Fuentes lofted Caneros’ reliever Fabian Cota’s first pitch of the bottom of the 14th over the wall in left-center to end it, the marathon had lasted a total of 395 pitches from 13 pitchers on both teams over 4 hours, 48 minutes.  Fuentes, who hit .307 with 15 homers for the Rockies’ AA Hartford affiliate over the summer, had gone hitless and left seven baserunners stranded in five previous trips to the plate.

Jalisco is the LMP’s other unbeaten team after swamping Obregon, 7-1, in Guadalajara Sunday.  Charros second baseman Manny Rodriguez raised his batting average to .571 after going 3-for-4 with two doubles and three RBIs while scoring twice to support Jalisco starter Tyler Alexander, who spun six innings of three-hit shutout ball for his first win of the winter.

While Culiacan and Jalisco are riding high, Los Mochis and Obregon are at the other end of the spectrum with 0-and-5 records with Navojoa showing just one win thus far.  Obviously no team will never win nor lose all their games, but the Caneros and Yaquis are already five games out of first after the first weekend of the season.  Even if Jalisco sweeps their upcoming midweek series at Los Mochis and Culiacan does the same on the road against defending champion Mexicali, someone’s perfect record would end Friday when the Charros visit the Tomateros in the Sinaloa state capital next weekend.

Attendance was solid throughout the MexPac for the home-and-away openers, as no team drew fewer than 11,000 fans for their respective inaugurals.  Culiacan’s lidlifter against Navojoa on Wednesday attracted 19,912 onlookers to Estadio Tomateros.  Los Mochis’ Thursday opener against Mexicali pulled in the “smallest” crowd at 11,200 but when you consider that Estadio Emilio Almada Ibarra seats 11,000 spectators, it adds a little perspective.  Here are the attendance figures for all eight season openers (an asterisk denotes a sellout):

Tuesday, October 10

Los Mochis at MEXICALI 17,000

Wednesday, October 11

Navojoa at CULIACAN 19,912

Obregon at HERMOSILLO 16,396

Jalisco at MAZATLAN 11,245

Thursday, October 12

Hermosillo at OBREGON 16,500

Mazatlan at JALISCO 12,553

Culiacan at NAVOJOA 11,500

Mexicali at LOS MOCHIS 11,200

TOTAL           116,306

AVERAGE 14,538

As shown, five of the eight openers were sold out, Culiacan came within 100 of reaching Estadio Tomateros’ listed capacity of 20,000 and Jalisco was less than a half-thousand seats shy of a full house.  Mazatlan, which finished last in attendance in 2016-17, came up nearly 3,500 tickets short of a sellout at 15,000-seat Estadio Teodoro Mariscal, which will be getting a major makeover over the coming year.

MEXICAN PACIFIC LEAGUE Standings

Culiacan 5-0, Jalisco 5-0, Hermosillo 4-1, Mazatlan 3-2, Mexicali 2-3, Navojoa 1-4, Los Mochis 0-5, Obregon 0-5

MEXICAN PACIFIC LEAGUE Batting Leaders

Batting-Alejandro Flores (HMO) .722, Runs-Manny Rodriguez (JAL) 8, Homers-Eight players tied with 2 each, RBIs-Manny Rodriguez (JAL) 9, Stolen Bases-Billy Burns (JAL) 4

MEXICAN PACIFIC LEAGUE Pitching Leaders

Wins-Manuel Flores (JAL) and Gerardo Sanchez (CUL) 2, ERA-Six pitchers tied at 0.00 each, Strikeouts-Casey Coleman (HMO) 9, Saves-Four pitchers tied at 2 each, WHIP-Arturo Lopez (OBR) 0.35

QUESTIONABLE TIGRES-DIABLOS PROSPECTS TRANSFER UNDER SCRUTINY

As if the Mexican League hasn’t already endured more than its share of controversy over the past year, the LMB is now dealing with an apparently surreptitious transfer of five Quintana Roo Tigres prospects to the Mexico City Diablos Rojos last winter one week prior to the sale of the Tigres to ex-Cy Young Award winner Fernando Valenzuela and his wife Linda Burgos.  Two of those players were subsequently sold to the Texas Rangers for a total of $2.7 million over the summer, but the question of whether the Diablos or Tigres should receive the money has arisen in light of concerns over whether rights to the prospects were traded to the Diablos for nothing in return or whether the Tigres “loaned” the players to Mexico City, a common practice south of the border.

According to a story in Proceso by Beatriz Pereyra, the common denominator is Francisco Minjarez, who processed the paperwork as an assistant general manager with the Tigres at the time.  Minjarez left the Tigres after the February sale and landed in the Diablos’ front office in late March, weeks before 16-year-old pitcher Damien Mendoza and 15-year-old infielder Fernando Villalobos were sold to the Rangers for $1.2 million and $1.5 million, respectively in July.

The Proceso story says the players appeared on a Tigres reserve list in January before reappearing on the Diablos’ reserve list one month later.  The Valenzuelas were never formally informed of either the prospect transfers or the sales to Texas, and the cash-strapped Cancun team has received none of the Texas sale proceeds.  Minjarez told Pereyra in a subsequent interview that the initial transfer was a “gentleman’s agreement” between then-Tigres president Cuauhtemoc Rodriguez (who departed shortly after Carlos Peralta sold the team) and recently-retired Diablos team president Roberto Mansur.

Whether anything comes of the LMB’s investigation depends on new league president Javier Salinas, who was not an insider when he was chosen to replace Plinio Escalante after the 2017 season.  Salinas’ handling of the matter will be closely watched.

MEXICAN LEAGUE ANNOUNCES INDIVIDUAL AWARDS FOR 2017

The Mexican League has announced the names of players selected to receive individual awards for the 2017 season.  

Third baseman Jesse Castillo of Aguascalientes heads the list as Most Valuable Player after batting .342 with 20 homers and 82 RBIs, ranking in the top ten for each offensive category.

Veracruz starter Nestor Molina was picked as Pitcher of the Year after leading the Rojos del Aguila to a playoff berth with a 12-3 record and Liga-leading 1.89 ERA and 1.08 WHIP.

Monclova closer Chad Gaudin was chosen as Reliever of the Year.  The former A’s starter led the loop with 29 saves to augment his 2.93 ERA and 2-3 record for the Acereros.

Rookie of the Year honors went to 24-year-old Puebla first baseman Ricky Rodriguez, a Los Angeles native who hit .304, socked 11 homers and drove in 72 runs for the Pericos.

Puebla second baseman Jesus Arredondo was tabbed as Comeback Player of the Year with a .332/15/87 statline in 2017 after going .259/5/38 a year ago.

And Aguascalientes helmsman Homar Rojas received acclamation as Manager of the Year for leading the bargain-basement Railroaders roster to a 64-46 record and a playoff berth.

We’ve already gone over what a tough year it was to pick an MVP but if there’s a clear dispute over who earned which award, it may be Gaudin’s selection as Reliever of the Year. While he did standout work with Monclova in 2017, Tijuana’s Jason Urquidez was a perfect 5-0 with 28 saves and a microscopic 0.98 ERA while striking out 56 batters and walking only seven over 46 innings for the pennant-winning Toros.

Note: Baseball Mexico will now be posted on Mondays with three stories per entry.

Fernando now sole buyer of struggling Tigres franchise

When a small group of investors led by former Cy Young Award-winning pitcher Fernando Valenzuela purchased the Quintana Roo Tigres from Carlos Peralta amid great fanfare in February, there was optimism that the one-time Dodgers star would revitalize local interest in the team. Peralta's father, Alejo, built the Mexico City Tigres into one of the Mexican League's legacy franchises after forming the club in 1955, including a rivalry with the Mexico City Diablos Rojos when both teams shared Social Security Park that was nationwide in scope among Mexican baseball fans.

Following Alejo's passing, however, son Carlos first moved the team to Puebla and received a tepid response from fans there despite continued on-field success. The younger Peralta moved the team again, this time to the resort city of Cancun, which had been a tiny fishing village before government studies determined it might become a viable tourist destination in the 1970's. While the government turned out to be prescient about that tourism thing, Carlos Peralta didn't have the same result. Although the Tigres kept on adding pennants to fly at Estadio Roberto “Beto” Avila, fans have responded with a collective yawn, with attendance typically in the 3,000-4,000 range. The team had been heavily subsidized by the Quintana Roo state government up until the time the younger Peralta, never a baseball fan, finally sold the Tigres to Cbtqroo SAPI, SA de CV last winter for a reported 51 million pesos (about $2.8 million in US dollars). The hope among many was that Valenzuela's group would turn the Tigres' fortunes in the box office around and lessen, if not eliminate, the reliance on government subsidies that is common among most of the so-called “Old Guard” franchises.

Instead, according to Beatriz Pereyra of Proceso, things have gone horribly wrong for the Tigres and Valenzuela, who along with his wife, Linda Burgos, are now the sole buyers of the team after the other two investors, the Tulum brewery and businessman Jose Luis Guillen, dissolved their partnership with the Valenzuelas on May 25. Tulum attorney Enrique Benet said in an interview that the Orvananos family, who owns the brewery, determined the Tigres are not financially viable and that they are not in a position to lose money. The story did not go into detail about Guillen's reasons for selling his 33 percent of ownership to the Valenzuelas, although Pereyra's piece mentions disagreements within the group and overall uncertainty of the team's financial prospects were the primary reasons for the split.

Another unwelcome development has been the growing public concern that the state subsidies aren't the most appropriate use of taxpayer pesos. According to Proceso, agreements signed from 2006 to 2016 show that former Quintana Roo governor Roberto Borge gave the Tigres a total of 239.7 million pesos in subsidies, an amount that doesn't include grant money provided by the Cancun Convention & Visitors Bureau or the Mayan Riviera Tourism Promotion Trust in 2015 and 2016. New governor Carlos Joaquin signed an agreement with former owner Peralta before the sale was announced to provide 23 million pesos in 2017, but is said to be less expansive with the public treasury than his predecessor was.

Tulum attorney Benet says that Joaquin had verbally agreed to increase the subsidy to 30 million pesos but that even if that came to pass, it wouldn't be nearly enough to cover the team's operating costs for the season, adding that the team payroll alone is 5 million pesos per month. Attendance this season has been less than 3,000 per game, which doesn't generate nearly enough revenue to fill the gap after subsidies and sponsorship deals are factored in, and players reportedly have had to wait for paychecks at least once this season. A proposal to send the players to a road series in Oaxaca by bus to cut expenses was also met with less than the most enthusiastic response.

As if that wasn't enough, the Proceso story says that Peralta has thus far received just one third of the 51 million peso sale price for the team. The cost was to be covered in three payments of 17 million pesos each but only the initial payment has reportedly been received. Pereyra mentions that thanks to the subsidies, sponsorships and ticket sales, Peralta has only had to invest five to six million pesos (about US$300,000) of his own money per year into the team. For the Valenzuelas' part, wife Linda says, “We're fine with Mr. Peralta. We have no problems with him.”

There's one more Valenzuela to come under increasing scrutiny this year, and that is Fernando Valenzuela, Jr.  After the ownership change, longtime general manager Cuauhtemoc "Chito" Rodriguez (a former LMB Executive of the Year who was named "King of Baseball" by Minor League Baseball in 2011) was replaced by Valenzuela, Jr. The result has been less than satisfactory, as the team has not replaced many well-paid veterans let go during the offseason with similar talent.  This year's offense ranks last in the LMB in batting (.261), homers (395) and runs scored (265, or 3.90 per game).  The pitching has been better, with a 4.13 team ERA that's currently fourth in the Liga, but you still have to outscore your opponents.  Veteran outfielder Freddy Guzman, still speedy at 33 and second in the league with 19 stolen bases in 24 attempts, was released on June 16, a move that effectively took away the Tigres' best baserunner.  Although the Tigres would qualify for the playoffs if the season ended today, that's more reflective of the poor overall performance of LMB South teams than anything the Cancun squad has done to qualify for the postseason. SOMEONE has to fill those four berths. Linda Valenzuela says, “The truth is that my son was better as a player.”

Unlike similarly shaky operations in Tabasco and Leon, the Tigres are highly unlikely to face the question of whether to continue operating in 2018. There's simply too much history with the team. However, there will be offseason questions regarding whether the team can survive in Cancun or if the Valenzuela family will continue to own and operate it. It's a sad state of affairs for one of the country's most prominent baseball teams that was once symbolic of national pride by winning pennants with all-Mexican rosters, and certainly hard to watch happen.  The hope here is that the Valenzuela family and the Quintana Roo Tigres get their acts together soon because there may not be much time for "later."

LMB Assembly of Presidents make nice, approve new owners

The Mexican League's Assembly of Presidents met Friday in Mexico City in a gathering that was apparently without rancor, a welcome relief from the at-times open warfare among two factions of teams over the winter that threatened to split the circuit in two or even shut the 92-year-old LMB down for 2017. This time, however, it was smiles all around the 16 teams represented and reinstated league president, Plinio Escalante, whose resumption of that role was unanimously ratified after Minor League Baseball president Pat O'Connor made it clear at a meeting in Houston weeks ago that MiLB would not accept anyone else behind the Liga's big desk.

Among the order of business was the approval of new owners for the Quintana Roo Tigres, Leon Bravos and Monclova Acereros as well as a thumbs-up for last weekend's fifty-percent purchase of the Monterrey Sultanes by Grupo Multimedios. Former Dodgers All-Star pitcher Fernando Valenzuela was confirmed as the new majority owner of the Tigres after buying the club from Carlos Peralta a week ago. Although other members of his ownership group are still unidentified (leading to speculation in some quarters that the State of Quintana Roo is acting as a "silent partner" in the Cancun team), Valenzuela was announced as the Tigres' chairman of the board. Francisco Villanueva will serve as executive vice president while son Fernando Valenzuela Junior is the executive chairman and general manager of the flagship franchise.

Left out in the cold was longtime Tigres executive president Cuauhtemoc "Chito" Rodriguez, who served as eyes and ears for Peralta (who is not a baseball fan) after the latter's father, Alejo, passed away in 1997 and helped direct the Tigres to eleven Mexican League pennants in three different cities after another 19 seasons and two flags with the Nuevo Laredo Tecolotes. The younger Valenzuela, a former first baseman who attended UNLV and went on to bat .328 in nine LMB seasons, does not appear to have any prior experience running a pro baseball team.

As for the Bravos, the former Reynosa Broncos were officially handed over to new owner Arturo Blanco, a Leon businessman who will also serve as the team's chairman of the board. Former owner Mauricio Martinez will stay on as executive president. The approval of Puebla Pericos owner Gerardo Benavides as the new owner in Monclova was little more than a reaffirmation of a sale first agreed to during the winter, as Benavides has already been putting his stamp on the team.

The situation in Monterrey came as a bit of a surprise, starting with the timing of the announcement of the sale late last Sunday after all the attention that day went to Valenzuela and the Tigres. As its name suggest, Grupo Multimedios is a business dedicated to promoting sports and entertainment in northern Mexico and Latin America in general. They're expected to provide a cash infusion for Sultanes' longtime owner Jose "Pepe" Maiz, who has struggled a bit at the helm of the team in recent years despite strong attendance totals at the 26,000-seat Estadio Monterrey, Mexico's largest ballpark and the scene of Major League games in past seasons. Maiz will remain as team president while Multimedios' Guillermo Gonzalez Elizondo will serve as vice president.

Other items dealt with were the formalization of the no-limit policy on Mexican-American players (another O'Connor edict) and approval of a system of instant replay reviews of umpire calls among teams televising their games while the presidents got a start on putting together a schedule for an upcoming season set to open in five weeks.

The scheduling process has been hampered by ballpark renovations in the Liga's newest cities, Leon and Durango, which both got off to late starts and will not be completed by the beginning of the season. As a result, only the first week of the season has been scheduled, with 14 of the 16 LMB teams opening their home slates while the Bravos and Generales play their first six games on the road. The 2017 Mexican League All-Star Game will be played later than usual, with this year's edition set for the weekend of July 16-18 at Campeche's 6,000-seat Estadio Nelson Barrera. The ballpark was named after the former slugging third baseman who died tragically in 2002 while managing the Piratas when the beloved Barrera, nicknamed El Admiral by fans, was electrocuted at home that July while working on the house's wiring.

The following is the LMB's opening week schedule for 2017:

March 31-April 2 Monclova at Mexico City
Saltillo at Tijuana
Durango at Aguascalientes
Laguna at Monterrey
Leon at Puebla
Veracruz at Oaxaca
Tabasco at Campeche
Quintana Roo at Yucatan

April 4-6
Mexico City at Saltillo
Aguascalientes at Laguna
Monterrey at Monclova
Durango at Tijuana
Leon at Oaxaca
Puebla at Veracruz
Yucatan at Tabasco
Campeche at Quintana Roo