MEXICO BLANKS COLOMBIA, 1-0 FOR FIRST CS WIN

  A standout start by Wilmer Rios and a solo homer from Felix Perez formed the keynotes in Mexico’s 1-0 shutout victory over Colombia Sunday in the 2022 Caribbean Series in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The win was Mexico’s first after suffering losses in the first two days playing in the Crown Jewel of Latin Baseball at Estadio Quisqueya Juan Marichal.

Rios tossed 6.2 innings of scoreless ball, allowing just three hits and no walks while striking out five batsmen. He was followed on the mound by relievers Enrique Burgos (1.1 IP) and Roberto Osuna (1 IP) as the latter recorded the save with a one-hit ninth, striking out Mauricio Ramirez swinging to end a contest that took just two hours, 37 minutes to play.

The lone run of the ballgame came in the bottom of the second inning when Perez lined a 2-2 Porifirio Lopez pitch to right, as the ball cleared the fence by inches over the head of Colombian rightfielder Harold Ramirez. Neither team bothered the scorekeeper much as a combined nine hits were recorded. Besides Perez’ longball, Mexico received a pair of singles from leadoff batter Jose Juan Aguilar and one-baggers from Esteban Quiroz and Dario Alvarez. Quiroz and Alvarez also stole bases but Perez was the only Mexican batter to go beyond second base. Rios earned the win while Lopez was tagged with the loss for Colombia, who had won their first two games in their third appearance in the Serie del Caribe going into Sunday’s tilt.

Mexico’s opener was a 3-2 tripleheader nightcap loss against the hosts last Friday. The Dominicans were designated the “away” team and opened the scoring in the top of the first inning when Hanser Alberto stroked a triple and later came in on a Robinson Cano groundout. The Mexicans evened the score in the bottom of the first after Japhet Amador lined a two-out single to left and plated Joey Meneses. A sharply hit single by Meneses brought in Quiroz to give Mexico a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the third, but that would be the last run they’d record off starter Tyler Alexander and seven relievers. The Dominicans regained the advantage for good in the top of the seventh when Alberto’s Texas Leaguer to center field off reliever Tyler Wilson scored Moises Sierra and a Cano singleoff Samuel Zazueta brought Jose Siri in with the go-ahead run. Quiroz and Amador each singled and doubled for manager Roberto Vizcarra’s side but Mexico left nine runners on base as Brennan Bernardino’s good start (5.1 IP, 1 R, 4 H, 4K) went for naught.

Mexico dropped to 0-2 in the Caribbean Series on Saturday after a 5-0 shutout loss to Venezuela. Starter Manny Barreda gave up three runs in the third as Danry Vasquez doubled in Cade Gotta and Niuman Romero followed by an RBI single from Balbino Fuenmayor scored Vasquez. Barreda was replaced by Alemao Hernandez, who promptly plunked Pablo Sandoval but got the last two outs to end the frame. Venezuela scored once in the fifth when Sandoval scored on a Gabriel Noriega single and got a final run in the sixth when Sandoval homered down the right field line on a full-count pitch from David Gutierrez. Barreda took the loss for Mexico, who had just four hits, including a Fernando Perez double, and went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position. Yohander Mendez tossed five innings of one-hit ball (a first-inning single by Meneses) to earn the win for the Venezuelans.

With two days of first-round tripleheaders left, the unbeaten Dominicans have clinched a berth in Wednesday’s semifinals while winless Puerto Rico will need to win their final two games to even have a shot at the Final Four. Mexico’s 1-2 record has them tied for fourth with Panama going into games against Puerto Rico on Monday and Panama on Tuesday.

CARIBBEAN SERIES FIRST ROUND STANDINGS

Dominican Republic 3-0, Colombia 2-1, Venezuela 2-1, MEXICO 1-2, Panama 1-2, Puerto Rico 0-3.
REMAINING SCHEDULE (ALL TIMES LOCAL)

MONDAY, Jan. 31: Venezuela at Panama (10:30AM), Mexico at Puerto Rico (3:00PM), Dominican Republic at Colombia (8:00PM).

TUESDAY, Feb. 1: Colombia at Puerto Rico (10:30AM), Panama at Mexico (3:00PM), Venezuela at Dominican Republic (8:00PM)

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 2: Semifinal A - 3rd place at 2nd place (3:30PM), Semifinal B - 4th place at 1st place (8:00PM).

THURSDAY, Feb. 3: Winner Semifinal A vs. Winner Semifinal B (7:00PM).

JUAN CASTRO TO MANAGE DIABLOS ROJOS IN 2022

The Mexico CIty Red Devils of Mexico have named Juan Gabriel Castro as manager for the upcoming Mexican League season.

In seeking their 17th title in team history, the Diablos are handing the reins to Castro, who appeared in 17 seasons as a player in the Major Leagues during a 21-year career as an infielder and later managed in both the LMB and the Mexican Pacific League He also led the Mexican National Team to a Premier12 tournament qualification for last summer’s Olympic Games before being unceremoniously dumped in favor of Benji Gil weeks before the team was due to fly to Tokyo after criticizing Mexico’s CONADE national sports commission and head Ana Guevara (a political ally of president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador) for lack of financial or logistical support. Mexico was winless in four games under Gil.

“I am grateful for coming to this organization,” Castro said at a press conference at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helu. “Yes, there were several proposals (from other teams) and in the end I came here to the Devils because it is a serious organization and has very good prestige and great principles, which are also in accordance with my principles. I really want to work, we come to add and we will do everything possible to bring the title to Mexico City.”

Castro comes from the Philadelphia Phillies organization, with whom he spent three years under manager Joe Girardi until his contract expired last October. The49-year-old Los Mochis native has been a coach in MLB with the Los Angeles Dodgers for skipper Dave Roberts before leaving that post for an ill-fated front office stint with the Tijuana Toros de Tijuana in 2018, where he was never given a clearly defined role (and was even going to manage the team at one point) before he parted company with the Uribe family and their team on less than amicable terms. He’s also managed winterball teams in Obregon, Mexicali and Hermosillo.

“The main message is 'we want to be champions,” added Castro. “The important thing is that we all work as a team to be able to achieve the goal we want, which is the title. One way of working with the players is to try to make everyone happy, but something that has worked for me and that I have done with the boys is respect: respect towards themselves, towards their teammates, towards baseball.”

With this appointment, work will begin on the construction of the Diablos coaching staff, where candidates will be interviewed while some current coaches will be kept on the staff. Similarly, it was confirmed that Miguel Ojeda, who managed the Diablos to first place in the South Division with a 41-23 record before losing to Yucatan in five games for the LMB South championship series, remains in the organization. 

Ojeda was named manager of the team after a front-office purge last year, replacing Sergio Gastelum (who was brought in from Oaxaca to run the team for the canceled 2020 season and let go last spring before ever managing a game in Mexico City). Gastelum was replacing Victor Bojorquez, who managed the Diablos to a 69-49 record and first place in the LMB South in 2019 before losing to Yucatan in four straight in the division finals. The more things change…

MAESTROS OF MEXICO: Houston Jimenez, SS (1974-2000)

Houston Jimenez was a top-notch shortstop in both the Mexican and Mexican Pacific Leagues who spent all or part of four seasons playing major league ball with three teams during a 25-year playing career before embarking on a managerial career that saw him manage seven clubs in twelve seasons.

Alfonso “Houston” Jimenez was born October 30, 1957 in Navojoa, Sonora.  Nicknamed as a child after a TV Western character, Jimenez broke into the Mexican League with the Puebla Angeles in 1974, batting .212 in 20 games as a 16-year-old. Despite his low average, he did well enough to be signed by the Chicago Cubs, who assigned the 5’8” 144-pounder to their Class A Key West affiliate in the Florida State League. After hitting just .212 for Key West, Jimenez returned to Puebla in 1976 and went on to play five seasons with the Angeles, topping the .300 mark in 1977 (.303) and 1979 (.305). He signed with Minnesota in 1981 and went on to play in the United States for the next twelve seasons.

Jimenez made his big league debut on June 13, 1983 with the Twins and ended that campaign with a .174 average in 36 games. In 1984, he had his best shot as a major leaguer, batting a career-high .201 in 108 games for the Twins. Jimenez later had cups of coffee with Pittsburgh and Cleveland and posted a career .185 average in 158 MLB games.

Jimenez returned to the Mexican League in 1993 with Campeche and also played for Saltillo, Mexico City and Quintana Roo over seven seasons.  He was a much better hitter south of the border, topping .300 two more times in the Nineties (with a career-best .337 for the Saraperos in 1995).  In all, Houston had a lifetime average of .282 over 13 Liga seasons, including four .300+ campaigns. Never a power hitter, the 6’1” 185-pounder hit 41 career homers.

Jimenez was an effective hitter over 25 winters in the Mexican Pacific League between 1975 and 2000.  He batted .259 with 73 homers, and is third on the MexPac’s all-time list in both runs scored (754) and hits (1339).  He is second to Hector Espino with 230 career doubles, and his 209 stolen bases trail only Matias Carrillo.

During the 1999 Liga season, his last full year as a player, Jimenez was manager-shortstop for Saltillo. He hit .299 as the Seraperos finished first in the Northern Division with a 74-45 record before reaching the playoff semifinals. Jimenez has gone on to manage seven teams for all or part of 12 seasons, leading Puebla to the Serie del Rey in 2010 and 2014. His teams posted an aggregate 735-584 mark through his last year as a dugout boss in 2018 with Tabasco.

Houston Jimenez, who turned 74 last October 30, was elected to Mexico’s Salon de la Fama in 2007 and the Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame in 2013.

Toros complete sweep of Rieleros, advance to LMB North finals

Tijuana Toros right-handed pitcher Manny Barreda

The Tijuana Toros punched their ticket to a fourth consecutive berth in the Mexican League North Division championship series by sweeping Aguascalientes in four LMB North semifinal games last week.  Manager Pedro Mere's men beat the Rieleros, 6-3, Sunday in Aguascalientes to clinch the series after league batting champ Isaac Rodriguez slapped an RBI single and a Jose Vargas fielding error at third base resulted in two more Toros runs to give the defending champions the lead for good.

Tijuana won last Wednesday's opener at home, 3-2, with pinch-hitter Maxwell Leon's RBI single in the bottom of the ninth ended the game.  The Toros took Game Two on Thursday, 5-3, behind Kyle Lobstein's 5.2 innings of two-run pitching before prevailing in Saturday's contest at Estadio Alberto Romo Chavez, 4-0, with starter Manny Barreda contributing 5.1 frames to the shutout.  Tijuana also defeated the Railroaders (in six games) to win their division semi set last August.

All three of the remaining division semifinal series have teams one win away from advancing to the second round.  The other LMB North matchup has Monterrey leading Monclova, 3 games to 1, following Sunday's 10-8 Sultanes road win.  Arturo Rodriguez belted a three-run homer for the winners while former Yanks prospect and NPB infielder Ramiro Pena collected four hits, including a homer.  Monclova won the opener last Wednesday, 7-0, behind Josh Lowey's seven strong innings (1 hit, 5 strikeouts and no walks) but the Sultanes have since won the last three.  Marco Tovar hurled five scoreless innings in Thursday's 6-3 Sultanes triumph as Agustin Murillo added three hits, a homer, two runs and three RBIs. Roberto Kelly's troops won Saturday in Estadio Monterrey, 7-3, behind Jose De Paula's seven frames of one-run pitching and Sebastian Elizalde's two-run roundtripper.  Game Four is Monday night in Monterrey as Lowey returns to the mound for the Acereros against Sultanes starter Jorge Reyes.

In the LMB South, Yucatan has Leon on the ropes with a 3-games-to-1 lead and Game Four scheduled Monday night in Merida.  The Leones won the first game, 5-0, in Leon Wednesday as starter Jose Samayoa lent six innings to the whitewash effort. The Bravos came back one night later for a 3-1 win with Cedric Hunter hitting an RBI double and later scoring himself to give Alejandro Soto (7.2 IP/1R) a 2-0 lead before throwing his first pitch.  Yucatan then copped wins in two games at Parque Kukulkan over the weekend, winning a 10-4 contest Saturday as Sebastian Valle's three-run bomb in the fifth lent support to Yoanner Negrin, who allowed three runs in seven frames. On Sunday, Art Charles socked a two-run dinger while Valle and Jesus Valdez combined for six hits and three ribbies in a 6-4 Leones win.  Monday night's game will see Samayoa back on the hill for Yucatan to face the Bravos' Bryan Evans.

Quintana Roo has archrival Mexico City on the brink of elimination in the other LMB South semifinal, leading by a 3-1 margin.  The Diablos won last Wednesday's Game One, 7-6, as Alexei Ramirez went 4-for-5 for the winners with a run and two RBIs. Alonzo Harris swatted two homers for the Tigres, who've come back to win the next three games, starting with Thursday's 12-4 drubbing in Estadio Fray Nano in which they scored five runs in the top of the first and pulled away.  Francisco Cordoba pounded two homers for Q-Roo before homering both Saturday and Sunday in Tigres wins. Saturday saw skipper Tim Johnson's crew take a 9-2 Game Three win over Mexico City in Cancun with ageless wonder Pablo "Padre Tiempo" Ortega (41, to be exact) going the distance and allowing two runs on four hits. Javier Solano then tossed seven innings and struck out eight for Quintana Roo in a 2-0 shutout Sunday as Cordoba hit his fourth homer in three games.  Barry Enright will get the Game Five start Monday night for Quintana Roo while Mexico City sends out Octavio Acosta.

Not all Mexican League activity was limited to the playing field last week.  The Tabasco Olmecas rewarded manager Alfonso "Houston" Jimenez for taking a roster that had "cellar dweller" written all over it to a 24-33 record to finish two games behind fifth-place Puebla by firing him.  The Villahermosa team also had a surprisingly robust (for them) first half at the gate as the usually-moribund franchise came in sixth in the Liga attendance derby by averaging 3,432 fans per opening. Tabasco drew 1,437 per night last year, by far the worst in AAA and often with only hundreds in the stands.  Vicente Palacio will succeed Jimenez at the helm of the Olmecas, but it may never really matter who the manager is in Tabasco.

The firing is only the second of the season in the LMB (Eddie Castro was canned in Dos Laredos last month), a show of remarkable restraint among league owners more given to acting like George Steinbrenner than Connie Mack when it comes to letting managers go with the obligatory official statement of thanks for a job well done (but not well enough).

Acereros' Castillo wins second straight MVP award

Mexican League MVP Jesse Castillo

Monclova Acereros slugger Jesus “Jesse” Castillo has been named the Most Valuable Player for the Mexican League’s 2018 Spring season after leading the circuit with 57 RBIs, coming in second with 13 homers and finishing third in batting with a .378 average.  He also was tops among LMB batters with 48 bases on balls and third in both extra-base hits (29) and total bases (128). Castillo, who came to the Steelers from Aguascalientes in an off-season trade that sent second baseman Tim Torres to the Railroaders, was also the Liga’s MVP last summer after posting a .342/20/82 campaign with the Rieleros.

The 35-year-old Mexicali native has spent 15 seasons in the Mexican League, playing in Yucatan, Veracruz and Tabasco as well as Aguascalientes and Monclova after debuting with the Leones as a 21-year-old in 2004 and going 1-for-2 in four games.  The 6’1” first baseman has belted 111 homers with 247 doubles and 689 ribbies for his career to augment a .322 batting average, but his career trajectory has been an interesting one. After never hitting more than nine homers or driving in more than 64 runs through the 2013 season, Castillo caught fire with Aguascalientes in 2014 by socking 17 roundtrippers and knocking in 91 baserunners for the Rieleros that year.  That kicked off a four-year stretch during which Castillo averaged 16.5 homers, 76.5 RBIs and batted .345 over 430 regular season contests.

Besides his back-to-back season MVP awards, Castillo was voted the MVP of last summer’s All-Star Game.  He’s played in seven midsummer classics since 2007 and is expected to make an eighth appearance next month at Parque Kukulkan in Merida, Yucatan.

Will Fernando Valenzuela attend his Salon de la Fama induction?

No caption necessary

Perhaps the most beloved player in modern Mexican baseball history, Fernando Valenzuela will be inducted into the Salon de la Fama after the new facility in Monterrey is opened later this summer.  But is El Toro himself going to be on hand for the honors?

Puro Beisbol editor Fernando Ballesteros reports that Valenzuela, who now owns the Quintana Roo Tigres of Cancun along with his wife Linda, is so embittered from the Rookiegate scandal, in which five of his Tigres prospects were reportedly transferred to the Mexico City Diablos Rojos while the Valenzuelas were in the process of purchasing the legacy team from former owner Carlos Peralta, that the former Dodgers Cy Young Award winner may skip the ceremonies in which he’ll be honored along with Ricardo Saenz and Daniel Fernandez in the first Salon induction since the old facility (also in Monterrey) was shut down in 2012 after 40 years on the Cuauhtemoc Brewery grounds.

The sticking point, according to Ballesteros, is that Diablos owner Alfredo Harp Helu has also bankrolled the new Salon facility.  While it’s likely that contents in the Mexican baseball HOF would still be in storage without Harp’s financial contributions, the Valenzuelas continue to be outraged over the sleight-of-hand loss of their prospects (two of whom were sold by the Red Devils to the Texas Rangers last summer for a combined $2.7 million) to the billionaire’s team.  

The LMB office has largely adopted a “What-Me-Worry?” approach to the Rookiegate scandal, which has done nothing to mollify the Valenzuelas (who have been reportedly upset enough to consider selling the franchise as a result).  Liga president Javier Salinas, who’s been stronger in his marketing efforts than his leadership of the 13 team owners within the loop, is facing a sticky situation between his richest owner (the two 2018 seasons have been named after Harp) and another owner who is a nationwide baseball icon.  There appear to be no easy solutions.

Sultanes sweep TJ, Tecos to take commanding North lead

Monterrey Sultanes pitcher Marco Tovar

Leo German and Chris Roberson led off the sixth inning with back-to-back doubles to break a scoreless tie as the Monterrey Sultanes went on to beat Dos Laredos, 4-2, in Mexican League action Sunday to complete a three-game sweep of the Tecolotes.  The Sultanes had a 6-0 week after going into Tijuana last Tuesday and winning all three games against the defending champion Toros and are now a Liga-best 32-13 while holding a five-game advantage over second-place Aguascalientes with just two weeks left in the LMB's Spring 2018 regular season.  Tijuana is third at 24-20 while Monclova holds fourth at 22-22, a game and a half ahead of 21-25 Durango.

Tecos starter Alexis Candelario carried a no-hitter through five innings in search of his first win of the campaign before German broke up the no-no bid and Roberson ruined his shutout.  Roberson eventually came in to score on an Agustin Murillo single while Sultanes newcomer Sebastian Elizalde plated Monterrey's fourth and final run of the frame on a single by Yadir Drake, who ended the inning when he was thrown out trying to stretch his hit to a double.  Dos Laredos did score a pair of runs off reliever Manny Acosta on consecutive hits by Gilberto Galaviz and Gustavo Nunez in the top of the seventh to shave their deficit to 4-2, but the Tecos went hitless the rest of the way as the border team went on to drop their eighth straight game while Monterrey conversely won their eighth straight.  Sultanes starter Marco Tovar tossed six shutout innings to go to 6-2 on the season while Candelario fell to 0-4 for Dos Laredos.

The bigger series for the Sultanes came earlier in the week, when they won all three games in Tijuana.  Tovar was splendid in winning Tuesday's 2-1 opener by scattering five hits and allowing one run for the victory, with Ramon Rios' solo homer in the top of the seventh the difference-maker in that one.  Monterrey won Wednesday's contest, 6-0, in a three-hit shutout as Murillo socked a three-run homer and starter Zach Dodson allowed just two singles over six frames before completing the sweep with a 3-2 win Thursday night as Roberson scored the go-ahead run on a Ricky Alvarez groundout in the top of the tenth.  Despite the high profile of the visitors and importance of the series, fewer than 16,000 fans attended the midweek three-game set at Estadio Gasmart.  The Toros are averaging 10,595 fans over 24 home games to make the relatively low turnout an eye-raiser but, as we'll detail next week, all may not be well in fan relations in Tijuana (at least with one fan in particular).

While Monterrey is five games ahead in the LMB North standings with 12 games left on the schedule, things are considerably tighter in the South.  Yucatan is 31-14 to hold a one-game advantage over 29-14 Quintana Roo while the 28-17 Mexico City Diablos Rojos are three games out of the lead.  Leon remains in fourth place at 23-22, although Puebla swept a three-game home set with Campeche to narrow the Bravos' lead for the final playoff berth to two games after the Pericos were four games out on Friday.

Puebla first baseman Daric Barton has taken over the lead in the LMB batting race with a .418 average, sixteen points ahead of Puebla's Sergio Perez.  Monterrey's Alvarez still leads the Liga with 13 homers despite not hitting a longball in over ten games, allowing Jesse Castillo of Monclova to catch up.  Castillo has homered in three of his last four games and now tops the circuit with 48 RBI's, two more than Alvarez.  Tijuana second baseman Isaac Rodriguez, the league's 2016 Rookie of the Year, has stolen 19 bases in 22 attempts to take the lead in that category over teammate Justin Greene, who's been out of the lineup since May 3.  Rodriguez had stolen a combined 22 bases over 171 games prior to this year.

Carlos Hernandez of Tijuana continued his great season Friday by going six shutout innings in Monclova to post his league-leading seventh win against one loss in a 3-1 Toros triumph.  Hernandez' 2.28 ERA is second on the table only to Yucatan's Jose Samayoa at 2.22.  Josh Lowey on Monclova is running away with the strikeouts title, whiffing 67 batters in 59 innings to take an 18-K lead over Saltillo's Raul Valdes.  Aguascalientes' Anthony Carter and Josh Lueke of Monclova are tied at the top with 11 saves each, one more than closers Maikel Cleto of Laguna and Monterrey's Wirfin Obispo.

A pair of midweek series with playoff implications will start Tuesday when Puebla visits Leon and Tijuana hosts Aguascalientes.  A couple of important sets are slated for next weekend when Aguascalientes visits Monterrey and Yucatan heads to Cancun to take on the Tigres as the top two teams in each division go head-to-head.

Firing season opens: Tecos toss Castro, Olmecas oust Jimenez

Former Dos Laredos Tecolotes manager Eddie Castro

Despite the pressure of winning within an abbreviated 57-game schedule this year, Mexican League owners showed remarkable restraint by not firing any managers during the first month the the Spring 2018 season.  However, no deed (good or bad) goes unpunished for long in the LMB as both the Dos Laredos Tecolotes and Tabasco Olmecas have made changes at the top in May.

Last Monday, the Tecos let veteran skipper Eddie Castro go after the Venezuelan had taken the team to a 15-24 record in the LMB Spring 2018 season.  Former Monterrey manager and big league shortstop Felix Fermin was tabbed to take over.  Castro had managed the club in Veracruz (when they were the Rojos del Aguila) since 2014, leading them to a playoff berth last year but otherwise putting together a less-than-imposing 206-273 record for the perpetually-undermanned team.  Castro has also managed in Tabasco, Puebla and Minatitlan.  Under Fermin, who managed in both Carmen and Monterrey before not being rehired by the Sultanes following last season, the Tecos have gone 0-6 after being swept in Aguascalientes and Monterrey last week and are currently in last place in the LMB North.  

Also on Monday of last week, the Tabasco Olmecas said goodbye to manager Alfonso "Houston" Jimenez.  A former MLB shortstop like Fermin, Jimenez was sent packing after taking the Olmecas to a 14-25 record.  This was the Mexico City native's second go-round with the Villahermosa squad.  He was 48-56 with Tabasco in 2015 and his recently-ended stint with the team was his eleventh managerial job in the Mexican League since he began managing the Saltillo Saraperos in 2009 and his fifth gig since 2014.  As of May 14, one week after he was released, Jimenez is still listed on the Olmecas website as their manager, leading one to wonder if their webmaster wasn't also fired.  Whoever is now managing Tabasco led them to five wins in six games last week, including both ends of a Sunday doubleheader in Oaxaca.  Much more of that and the team might actually release his name.

Female umpire to make Mexican League debut Tuesday

Mexican League debutante umpire Luz Alicia Gordoa

Mexican baseball history will be made Tuesday night when the Mexico City Diablos Rojos open a three-game series against Oaxaca at Estadio Fray Nano.  Luz Alicia Gordoa will be making her debut as a Mexican League umpire, becoming the first distaff arbiter in the LMB's 93-year history.  

The Sinaloa native made her professional umpiring debut last winter when she worked a few games in the Mexican Winter League, the LMB-affiliated winterball circuit, starting with a November 23 contest between Salamanca and Celayo.  The 41-year-old Gordoa's experience lies more in officiating soccer matches, which she did for two decades before giving baseball a shot.  She also played softball for 20 years before turning to umpiring the past five.  She was joined in the LIM by 34-year-old Paulina Barajas Castro of Mexico City, where she worked games in the Liga Olmeca youth baseball organization now headed by Carlos Fragoso as well as the Liga Lindavista and Liga Maya before joining Gordoa at the MLB Academy near Monterrey last fall.  

While Gordoa will be the first woman to umpire a Mexican League game, female umps have worked games in Minor League Baseball since 1972, when Bernice Gera worked one game in the Class A New York-Penn League before quitting after other umpires reportedly said they would not work with her.  A heated discussion with Auburn Phillies manager Nolan Campbell during the game didn't make Gera feel any more welcome.  However, that opened the door for future women umpires in MiLB.  Christine Wren worked in the Class A Northwest League in the mid-Seventies but the most notable was Pam Postema, who began umpiring in the late-Seventies and eventually spent 13 seasons working in the minors, including six seasons at the AAA level.  She umpired an MLB exhibition game in 1989, but was not rehired by the AAA Alliance following that season.  Postema then filed a sexual discrimination lawsuit against Major League Baseball that was settled out of court, but otherwise left the game to work as a trucker, factory worker and welder.  She wrote a 1992 book, You Gotta Have Balls to Make It in This League, in which she said, "I'll never understand why it's easier for a female to become an astronaut or cop or firefighter or soldier or Supreme Court justice than it is to become a major league umpire."

Training camp opens for 15 Liga teams...then there's Tabasco

Tabasco Olmecas team president Juan Luis Dagdug

As February heads into its final week of 2018, training camp is in full swing for all 30 Major League Baseball teams as well as 15 of their counterparts south of the border in the Mexican League.  Then there are the Tabasco Olmecas.

The Villahermosa-based team staggered through a moribund season last year, finishing a Liga-worst 38-69 on the field to come in 26 games out of first place in the mediocre South Division.  The poor showing was reflected in the box office at Parque Centenario 27 de Febrero, where only 71,829 souls passed through the turnstiles over 50 dates for an average of just 1,437 per opening.  The ballpark itself was plagued by electrical problems throughout the campaign, with power outages a common occurrence, which didn't help attendance at all.  The nadir of the Olmecas season came Sunday, July 2, when only 178 were in the stands to witness a 5-0 loss to Monterrey.  It was that kind of year in Tabasco.

Former team chairman Carlos Jose Dagdug, who resigned from his club duties after the 2017 schedule was completed, told Tabasco Hoy last fall that it would take about 40 million pesos (approximately 2.2 million US dollars) to field a competitive team in Villahermosa this year under manager Alfonso "Houston" Jimenez.  The former MLB shortstop had yet to convene training camp for the squad as of late last week, however, as rumors float that cash shortages in the front office have led to the delay.  Whatever the cause, the situation mirrors the late starts by newcomers Durango and Leon last year, with both teams playing on the road for the first month of the season while their own ballpark upgrades were being performed.

One positive bit of news coming out of Tabasco is that renovations to Parque Centenario 27 de Febrer, which turns 54 Tuesday, are underway and hoped to be mostly completed when the regular season opens in late March.  LMB president Javier Salinas toured the facility last week with new team president Juan Luis Dagdug (Carlos' brother)  as part of a visit to the troubled franchise, calling the Olmecas one of the "pillars" of the Mexican League due to their continuous play since starting in 1977.  Renovations will include a paint job, restroom upgrades, remodeled locker rooms maintenance to the grandstand roof.  Hopefully a call to an electrician is also on the agenda.


Acereros undergoing makeover for 2018 season

Former Monclova SS Amadeo Zazueta (now with Leon)

When the already-strong Monclova Acereros were able to pluck most of the players from the 2016 Mexican League champion Puebla Pericos after Pericos owner Gerardo Benavides purchased the Acereros last winter, Monclova was considered a favorite by many to win the LMB flag in 2017.  Indeed, the team did well during the regular season by going 67-41 to finish third in the tough North Division, but were swept in four games by Monterrey in the first round of the playoffs.  Meanwhile, the roster-ravaged Pericos managed to pull things together under new manager Tim Johnson and reached the LMB Championship Series before falling to Tijuana. 

Never the type of person to sit idly even in the best of times, Benavides was expected to rearrange the landscape of his preferred hometown team.  He started with his manager, Jorge Luis Loredo, who took over the team after the Wally Backman experiment failed and steadied the ship before the Acereros' ignominious postseason exit.  Loredo was not rehired and will coach for Houston Jimenez in Tabasco this year while former MLB and LMB catcher Dan Firova was hired to manage in Monclova.

A six-player "trade" with Puebla shortly after the season ended netted shortstop Alberto Carreon, third baseman Issmael Salas and catcher Cesar Tapia while the Acereos only gave up catcher DJ Dixon and pitchers Julio Felix and Romario Gil, but Salas has already been returned to Puebla without ever suiting up for the Steelers.  Then shortstop Amadeo Zazueta, who played in the All-Star Game at Campeche and had a terrific year at the plate with a .341 batting average, was shipped to Leon without a player coming in return from the Bravos.

Finally, Monclova worked a deal with Tijuana last Friday in which speedy centerfielder Justin Greene and solid right-handed pitcher Hector Galvan were sent to the Toros in exchange for reserve outfielder Chris Valencia and righty pitchers Jordan Aboites and Edwin Quirarte, a deal that at first glance seems to clearly favor the defending champions.  Another head-scratching transaction was the importing of former MLB second baseman Jemile Weeks, who hit .303 for Oakland in 2011 but has otherwise been a bit of a journeyman, appearing for four big league teams between 2011 and 2016.  What Firova will do with Weeks is uncertain, given that he already has arguably the best Mexican second sacker in the game on his roster in Manny Rodriguez.

Whether all the personnel moves result in Monclova winning the city's first LMB pennant since the Acereros made their debut in 1974 (Benavides' grandfather was owner) remains to be seen, but Firova himself may need a scorecard to keep track of who's playing for him on any given night.


Venados' owner willing to host 2019 Caribbean Series, if needed

Artist's conception of remodeled Mazatlan ballpark

If the Caribbean Series is going to have to be moved a second year in a row, another Mexican Pacific League team (at least their owner) has let it be known they'd be willing and able to pinch-hit as an emergency site for the Crown Jewel of Latin Baseball.  This year, of course, the Jalisco Charros stepped up to host the event after political and economic turmoil in Venezuela led the tournament organizers to move the CS out of Barquisimieto to Guadalajara, making it two years in a row that Mexico has held the Serie del Caribe (Culiacan was the site in 2017).  Barquisimieto will get another crack next February if conditions in Venezuela stabilize but if things don't work out again, the Mazatlan Venados owner says he's interested in bringing the CS to the Pearl of the Pacific for a second time.

Venados owner Antonio Toledo tells Puro Beisbol's Fernando Ballesteros that if Venezuela has to drop out as CS host, "The Dominican Republic would be the second option but in case they're not in condition to take over, we could get in."  After years of jockeying for an all-new ballpark north of the city's tourist zone, it was decided instead to completely renovate Estadio Teodoro Mariscal, which has been home to the Venados since its 1962 opening.  While various maintenance and repair projects (including a 2000 seating expansion) have been performed at the 15,000-seat ballpark, which sits between the Zona Dorado to the north and downtown Mazatlan to the south, this is the first-ever major overhaul of the facility.  "Our remodeled stadium should be ready by the beginning of October," Toledo told Ballesteros, "but if it's not, it's possible we can play a few series on the road to start the season."

Mazatlan is one of five LMP cities that typically rotate as Caribbean Series hosts, along with Mexicali, Hermosillo, Culiacan and now Guadalajara.  The tourney itself historically has rotated between Mexico, Venezuela, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic over the past four decades, although Miami was the site for two ill-fated attempts to bring the CS to the United States in the early 90's.  Mazatlan has hosted the tournament four times (1978, 1985, 1993 and 2005), with the Venados becoming the only host team to win the CS in front of its own fans in 2005.

Barquisimieto is scheduled to host the Caribbean Series in 2019, followed by San Juan, Puerto Rico in 2020 and Mazatlan in 2021.  There has been talk of Havana, Cuba being a potential site, although the needed infrastructure may not yet be in place to handle the influx of fans from other countries, while both Panama and Colombia have also been mentioned as COPABE president Jose Manuel Puello seeks to expand the event to other nations.  However, Mexico has proven to be the most supportive of the participating countries since the turn of the century, so it would not be wise to count out Mazatlan two years early...just in case.

Culiacan finishes CS at 1-3; Caguas cops title (again)

Culiacan's Sebastian Elizalde scored the first run of the game from third base after Dominican shortstop Abiatal Avelino made a fielding error on a Jesse Castillo grounder in the top of the first inning as the Mexican Pacific League champion Tomateros went on to trounce the Cibaenas Aguilas, 8-1, last Tuesday to close out the host team's appearance at the Caribbean Series in Guadalajara.  The Mexicans finished the round-robin stage of play with a 1-3 record to fall a game short of the semifinals.  Cibaenas went on to reach Thursday's CS final before falling to Puerto Rican titleist Caguas, 9-4, to give the Criollos their second straight Serie del Caribe championship.

The Tomateros raised their lead to 3-0 in the top of the fifth courtesy of another Aguilas infield error, this time a wide throw to first by third baseman Hector Gomez on a Joey Meneses grounder that allowed both Justin Greene and Elizalde to score on the play.  The Dominicans were their own worst enemy in the field by committing an astounding six errors in the contest, although only one Mexican run was unearned.  Cibaenas scored their lone run in the bottom of the fifth when Gomez scored from third on Gustavo Nunez' sacrifice fly to Greene in center field, but Culiacan effectively salted the game away with a four-run outburst in the top of the sixth.

In that frame, the retiring Alfredo Amezaga rapped a triple to right off Samuel Deduno that plated Walter Ibarra and Gabriel Gutierrez to make it a 5-1 score, followed by a Greene homer to left to bring in Amezaga, giving Mexico a 7-1 advantage.  Japan-bound slugger Japhet Amador completed Culiacan's scoring for the game (and series) by launching an insurance homer over the center field wall against Cibaenas' Esmerling de la Rosa in the top of the seventh in a game that was played without much drama after the Mexicans were mathematically eliminated from Final Four contention the night before.

Mexican starter Sergio Mitre (6 innings, 1 run) got the win while Domincan hurler Angel Castro took the loss after letting in one run in three entradas.  Elizalde, Greene and Amador each had two of the Tomateros' nine hits on the night while Gomez' three safeties paced the eight-hit Dominican effort but four Culiacan relievers combined to fire three innings of two-hit shutout ball the rest of the way.

Tuesday's win was perhaps the lone bright spot for manager Benji Gil's Tomateros, whose MexPac championship team added 15 reinforcements prior to traveling east to Guadalajara.  A natural lightning rod who received widespread criticism (and a fine from the LMP) by making an obscene gesture following Culiacan's pennant-clinching win in Navojoa, Gil was plagued by bullpen collapses in Mexico's first two losses against Puerto Rico and Cuba's Granma Alazanes before falling to Venezuelan kingpins Anzoategui in a game they never led.  Surprisingly, the Tomateros had the lowest ERA of the five-team field at 4.37 but the highest WHIP of the tourney with a 1.66 mark.  They came in last in team batting by turning in a .273 average, respectable enough but well behind the Venezuelans' smoking .356 figure.  Greene and Rico Noel both hit .333 to lead the "home" team but the Mexicans' power shortage (only three homers at hitter-friendly Estadio Charros) didn't help and only Elizalde recorded more than two RBIs with three.  Reliever Jose Isidro Marquez, son of longtime closer Isidro Marquez, had three hitless appearances out of the bullpen, striking out four.  Despite the controversy and lack of success at the CS, Tomateros owner Hector Ley says that Gil will be back as manager in Culiacan next winter.

Ultimately, however, it was a flat performance by the Tomateros, who missed the LMP playoffs last winter when Culiacan hosted the Caribbean Series.  Guadalajara was pressed into service as hosts this time around when Venezuela's unstable political and economic situation forced the Caribbean Baseball Federation to pull out of Barquisimeto last year.  They'll try Venezuela again in 2019 but while CBPC president Juan Francisco Puello spoke bravely about big things in the CS' future, talk has already started up that Mazatlan may be similarly called upon as Guadalajara was.  The Venados are scheduled to host the CS in 2021 as part of the event's four-nations rotation, but current renovations at Estadio Teodoro Mariscal may bring the tournament to the Pearl of the Pacific two years early.  Puerto Rico is due to serve as hosts in 2020, depending on how efforts to bring the island back from last fall's devastating hurricane have gone by then.  Puello also says that Panama, Nicaragua and Colombia (who all send their winter champions to the lower-level Latin American Series) are under consideration for future inclusion in the Caribbean Series, although it's hard to see how any of the three would be contenders for a title anytime soon.

In all, Guadalajara received high marks for how the city (and host Jalisco Charros) staged the tournament, as Charros owner Armando Navarro continued his high-wattage effort to raise his hometown's baseball profile in the wake of last spring's World Baseball Classic first round games there that also earned high marks.


Jimenez, Picota to fill last two LMB managerial vacancies

Former major league shortstop Alfonso "Houston" Jimenez has been hired (as expected) to manage the
Mexican League's Tabasco Olmecas in 2018 while well-travelled former pitcher Lenin "Len" Picota will be dugout boss for the Saltillo Saraperos.  Both moves come with training camps set to open later this month and the regular season six weeks away.

The hirings complete the LMB's 16-man managerial roster for their upcoming Apertura season, set to run from late March through June with 57-game schedules followed by a month of playoffs.  The 2018 Clausura will mirror that format from July through mid-October.  While the league isn't actually using either term, the Liga Mexicana soccer circuit for whom LMB president Javier Salinas once worked, has employed Apertura ("Opening") and Clausura ("Closing") for their own two-season approach that has been quite successful for them over the years.  We'll use them here, for now.

The 60-year-old Jimenez is a Mexico City native who reportedly got his nickname from a character in a TV western (perhaps "Temple Houston," a 1963-64 series about a frontier lawyer?).  As a player he was similar to another Mexican shortstop, Mario Mendoza: Solid defenders but light hitter in the majors whose bats warmed up enough in the Mexican League to bring Salon de la Fama elections to both.  Another parallel between Jimenez and Mendoza is that both have spent most of the past two decades as managers in Mexican baseball, a peripatetic existence that has brought pennants to neither as a skipper.  Jimenez was let go in Oaxaca last September after two seasons at the helm of the Guerreros.  He went 40-67 in 2017 for a two-year record in Oaxaca of 78-119 in his second go-round with the franchise (this will be Jimenez' second job in Villahermosa as well).  This will be his eleventh MXL managerial job since 2001 but Jimenez has enjoyed a measure of success, going 879-777-3 in seventeen seasons dating to 1999.  He was a coach on Mexico's 2009 WBC team and elected to the Salon in 2013.  The Olmecas finished last in the LMB South in 2017 with a 38-69 record.

Unlike Jimenez, Picota's new job in Saltillo will be his first managerial gig in Mexican baseball.  However, the 51-year-old former pitcher is no stranger to the game south of the border.  A former Cardinals prospect who rose as high as Class AAA, Picota eventually moved on to independent ball, Taiwan, South Korea and Mexico, with LMB stops in Oaxaca, Nuevo Laredo, Laguna and Aguascalientes between 1996 and 2006 (going 19-13 over all or part of four seasons).  He pitched for his native Panama in the 2006 World Baseball Classic at age 39, later coached for the Panamanians in two more WBCs and served as Panama National Team assistant manager under new Monterrey skipper Roberto Kelly in 2014.  More recently, he has managed the Chinandega Tigres to the two most recent Probeis Panama winterball pennants and Latin American Series titles after winning the Probeis penant and a berth in the 2016 LAS managing the Panama Nacionales.  Picota will take over a Saraperos team that came in seventh in the LMB last summer with a 44-64 mark.

Here's a list of managers who will be piloting Mexican League teams when the 2018 season opens next month (new managers in italics, always subject to change):

NORTHERN DIVISION-Aguascalientes, Homar Rojas; Durango, Matias Carrillo; Union Laguna, Ramon Orantes; Dos Laredos, Eddy Castro; Monclova, Dan Firova; Monterrey, Roberto Kelly; Saltillo, Len Picota, Tijuana, Pedro Mere.
SOUTHERN DIVISION-Campeche, Daniel Fernandez; Leon, Luis Carlos Rivera; Mexico City, Victor Bojorquez; Oaxaca, Jose Luis Sandoval; Puebla, Lorenzo Bundy; Quintana Roo, Tim Johnson; Tabasco, Houston Jimenez;  Yucatan, Roberto Vizcarra.


Tix to Dodgers-Padres series in Monterrey will cost plenty

While baseball fans across Mexico are duly excited about the three-game National League regular season series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres in Monterrey, they might be forgiven for taking a pause to let the price of tickets sink in.  On the basis of one US dollar being the equivalent of $18.72 in Mexican pesos (as of Sunday, February 11), a single-game ticket will cost as much as US$205 for a seat in the Platinum VIP seats behind home plate, the cheap seats on the outer edges of the upper deck looming above the left and right field corners will go for US$21 while outfield bleacher seats are priced at US$25.  The catch is that fans will be required to buy tickets to all three games of the series, each accompanied by those ubiquitous Ticketmaster fees loved by sports and music fans across both borders.

The upshot is that the first MLB regular season series in Mexico since 1999 is going to be out of the price range of many baseball lovers in Monterrey and elsewhere.  Even if a family of four were able to score tickets to the series in the upper-deck cheap seats, it would set them back US$246.79 before the Ticketmaster fees are even approached, a lot of money in a country where the GDP-based per capita income in 2016 was US$9,707 per year, or about one-fifth of what the average US resident brought in.  Here's a look at the Estadio Monterrey seating chart with corresponding per-peso ticket prices (remember to convert to US currency using that 18.72:1 ratio we mentioned in the first paragraph):

The Mexico Series will take place May 4, 5 and 6.  Estadio Monterrey is currently undergoing renovations that will modernize the ballpark, which was opened in 1990.  The upgrades will remove five thousand seats to bring the capacity down to 22,000.  The last time a regular season MLB series took place in Mexico was on Opening Day of 1999, when the Padres sent Mexican baseball legend Fernando Valenzuela to the mound against Colorado.  El Toro actually threw out the first pitch before shutting out the Rockies through six innings and earning the win in what ended up a wild 15-10 Padres triumph over their National League West rivals.

Culiacan sweeps Mexicali to reach MexPac title series

Culiacan DH Joey Meneses

Although it took the “lucky loser” rule for the Culiacan Tomateros to avert elimination from the Mexican Pacific League playoffs, luck had nothing to do with the Culichis’ sweep of defending champion Mexicali in the semifinals to punch their ticket to the LMP championship series.

The Tomateros began last week with a 7-4 Game Seven loss at home to Jalisco as Agustin Murillo had three hits (including a two-run homer) and three RBIs to give the Charros the deciding victory in their first round set.  However, Culiacan’s three wins in the series was enough to give them a berth in the second stage due to Mazatlan winning two games in their loss to Mexicali and Hermosillo earning just one triumph in their defeat to Navojoa.

Given that reprieve via LMP rules, the Tomateros then took on a Mexicali team that ran away with the second-half title and dismantled them easily, starting with a 6-2 win in the border city last Wednesday behind starter Edgar Gonzalez’ six innings of two-run pitching and Rico Noel’s single and double with two RBIs and one run scored.  Manager Benji Gil’s squad then took Thursday’s Game Two in Estadio B’Air, 5-4, with Joey Meneses’ ninth-inning single driving in LMP batting champ Sebastian Elizalde with what proved to be the game-winning run as Culiacan closer Chad Gaudin came turned in a 1-2-3 inning for the save.

After a travel day, the series shifted to Estadio Tomateros for Game Three on Saturday, with the hosts shutting out the Aguilas, 6-0, as Anthony Vazquez went all the way with a four-hitter for Culiacan, aided and abetted by Ali Solis’ three-run homer in the seventh.   The Tomateros put a wrap on the series and Mexicali’s season with a 6-4 win Sunday, with Issmael Salas’ sixth-inning bunt single driving in Ronnier Mustelier from third to break a 4-all tie.  The Tomateros picked up 38 hits over the four games while Mexicali’s defense broke down with ten errors, four of them coming in Sunday’s series-ending contest.

While the Aguilas will call it a winter, with players and manager Pedro Mere left to wonder how they so grandly missed a second trip to the Caribbean Series, the Tomateros will await the outcome of the Navojoa-Jalisco series to learn who they’ll face next in their attempt to bring an eleventh MexPac pennant to Culiacan.

Mayos one win away from LMP championship series berth

Navojoa (and Boston) RHP Hector Velazquez

The Navojoa Mayos are poised to move into the Mexican Pacific League championship series in their quest for the team’s first pennant since 2002-03 after taking a 3-games-to-1 lead over Jalisco in their LMP semifinal series.  Navojoa is not one of the LMP’s traditional powers, with just three titles in their 63-year franchise history, and the team is seeking its second trip to the finals since 1997-98.

The Mayos topped the Charros, 9-4, Sunday night in Guadalajara after jumping on Jalisco starter David Reyes for four runs on four hits, including a two-out single up the middle by Fernando Flores that scored Jesse Castillo and Jovan Rosa.  Willie Romero’s charges went on to take a 7-1 lead into the sixth inning and cruised to the win.  Designated hitter Max Ramirez had a big night for the visitors, belting two homers and driving in three runs while leadoff hitter Angel Gonzalez contributed three singles and a double, scoring once.  Eddie Gamboa earned the win after allowing two runs in five frames for his third postseason victory.  Reyes was tagged with the loss.

Navojoa opened the series at home last Wednesday and beat the Charros, 4-1, behind a decent five-inning outing from starting pitcher Hector Velazquez.  The Red Sox hurler allowed eight hits but only let in one run as Cardinals farmhand Randy Arozarena socked a solo homer in the bottom of the first to give Velazquez and the Mayos a lead they’d build on and hold the entire game.  Game Two on Thursday ended with Jalisco prevailing 4-3 in their lone win of the series thus far.  The Charros opened with two runs in the top of the first inning, including a game-opening homer from Yordanys Linares, and added two more in the second on a Linares triple.  Starter Tyler Alexander carried a shutout into the fifth and pitched through the sixth for the win, giving up five hits and two walks, striking out six Mayos batters as Jalisco erased Navojoa’s home-field advantage.

The series shifting to Guadalajara, however, has done the Charros no favors.  The Mayos won both weekend encounters, including a 6-3 Saturday tilt in which both Ramirez and Gonzalez lofted two-run homers in support of opener Barry Enright.  The former Diamondbacks starter went 7.1 strong innings for the win, scattering five hits and two runs while whiffing four.  Sunday’s win put the Charros in must-win mode for Monday’s Game Five at home.  Velazquez will seek his third playoff win for the Mayos while Jalisco skipper Roberto Vizcarra will send out Octavio Acosta, who’s followed up a standout summer with Mexico City (14-1, 2.99) with a solid winter for the Charros (7-3, 3.94).  Acosta has been rocked for an 8.59 ERA and a loss in two postseason starts, however.

Four LMB teams still without managers as training camps approach

Houston Jimenez with Tabasco in 2015

With training camp for the Mexican League’s two 2018 seasons about a month away, four LMB franchises are still shopping for a manager.  The Tabasco Olmecas are searching for a new leader to replace Vicente Palacios, the Saltillo Saraperos still have a vacancy after Marco Antonio Romero was not rehired and the Monterrey Sultanes have gone back to the drawing board after Miguel Ojeda spurned an offer to take a similar job in Durango (although the Generales’ unsettled ownership situation makes that a tentative commitment).

While the term “managerial job security” is an oxymoron in Mexican baseball, Tabasco may stand out even by the status quo south of the border.  The franchise as run by the Dagdug brothers is a perpetual also-ran on the field (one pennant in 53 years) and a fiasco off of it, with ongoing electrical problems at 53-year-old Parque Centenario 27 de Febrero serving as a symbol of sorts for the poorly-supported Olmecas, who averaged an LMB-worst 1,437 fans per game last summer.  While Villahermosa is not a preferred destination for men on the Mexican managerial merry-go-round, rumor has Alfonso “Houston” Jimenez returning for his second tour of duty with the Olmecas, including a 2015 season during which the ex-Twins shortstop marked his 800th career win as a Mexican League helmsman.  Jimenez was fired during the 2017 season as skipper from his tenth managerial job last summer in Oaxaca.  

Then you have the once-proud Saltillo Saraperos, who less than a decade ago won two consecutive Mexican League pennants and led all of Minor League Baseball in attendance under the ownership of deep-pocketed Juan Manuel Ley, whose family continues to own the Culiacan Tomateros in the wake of his death.  However, the Saraperos have fallen upon hard times since the Leys sold the franchise in 2013 after fourteen seasons in the Coahuila city, missing the playoffs in 2017 under managers Orlando Sanchez (fired after failing to recapture the glory days of 2008-10 under his watch) and Romero, once one of Mexico’s top sluggers.  With Romero gone, some observers expected Lino Rivera to be named Saltillo’s new skipper until the team board of directors publicly ruled that out, shifting attention to Panamanian Lenin Picota as a potential dugout boss.

Next we come to the Monterrey Sultanes, who’ve had an interesting year after owner Jose “Pepe” Maiz sold half the team to Grupo Multimedios last February.  While the Sultanes, under new general manager Guillermo “Willie” Gonzalez (who replaced fixture Roberto Magdaleno in the front office after the sale) were able to induce enough people out to Estadio Monterrey to lead MiLB with an average attendance of 11,575 per game, the team fell to Tijuana in the LMB North championship series for the second year in a row, leading to the decision to not bring back Felix Fermin as skipper (although Fermin remains on the roster as a third-base coach).  A deal between the Sultanes and Ojeda, who led Mexico City to the Liga pennant in 2014, was believed to have been worked out until the former big league catcher backed out to manage in Durango instead.  Since then, nobody’s name has surfaced as front-runner in Monterrey.

Finally, let’s talk about Durango.  The Generales’ difficulties in their first year have been exhausted here (you can check the archives in BBM’s right-hand column to review the carnage), but the underfinanced team drew well in the state capital even after their season went south following a surprisingly respectable showing during a month-long road trip to open 2017 as renovations to Estadio Francisco Villa were hurriedly being done.  Cuban skipper Joe Alvarez went from too-early “Manager of the Year” talk to unemployed after embattled owner Virgilio Ruiz fired Alvarez after the season.  While Ojeda has been named as the new skipper in Durango, Ruiz is said to be trying to sell his virtually-insolvent franchise that the league had to take over down the stretch and any new owners would not necessarily be obliged to honor a deal that Ruiz made with Ojeda.

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.