MLB SIGNING BAN ON MEXICAN PROSPECTS TO END

Major League Baseball and the Mexican League have reportedly worked out a new agreement that outlines how MLB organizations will sign Mexican prospects.

For the first time ever, young Mexican ballplayers will receive the entire signing bonus called for when they sign their first contract to play for teams north of the border. According to Puro Beisbol editor Fernando Ballesteros, LMB teams holding the prospect's domestic rights will also receive an amount of money equal to 35 percent of the signing bonus from the MLB organization. The new pact is expected to be formally announced at next month's Winter Meetings in Las Vegas.

Prior to the new arrangement, LMB teams holding domestic rights to Mexican prospects as young as 14 years old were able to negotiate the sale of those rights outside the country, then typically give the prospect 25 percent of the proceeds.  The system sometimes inflated the price a Major League organization would have to pay LMB franchises for signing young Mexicans, leading MLB teams to seek less-expensive talent in places like Venezuela and the Dominican Republic while the Mexican player would have to remain at home in order to play.  

The old system was also subject to chicanery, with one egregious example being right-handed pitcher Luis Heredia, a 6'5" Mazatlan native who signed a contract with Pittsburgh at age 16 in 2010.  The deal was facilitated by Pirates Latin America scouting director Rene Gayo, who reportedly took his own cut of a reported US$2.6 million deal between the Bucs and the former Veracruz Rojos del Aguila, who owned Heredia's rights in Mexico.  MLB subsequently investigated Pittsburgh's signing of Heredia, who spent seven years in the Pirates system and registered a career 26-26 record with a 3.88 ERA before his release following the 2017 season, and (at the behest of Liga president Javier Salinas) decreed in January that no big league scout could work simultaneously for an LMB team. Two months earlier, the Pirates fired the Miami-born Gayo after 13 years with the organization after his role in the signing was confirmed.

However, that was not enough to put the issue of LMB player control to rest and in the wake of the "Rookiegate" scandal involving the Quintana Roo Tigres, Mexico City Diablos Rojos and Texas Rangers, MLB subsequently instituted a ban on its member organizations from signing Mexican prospects via Liga franchises until a new system considered more fair to the young players could be hammered out.  A number of Mexican League teams with the financial means to develop their own homegrown prospects, such as the Tijuana Toros and Mexico City Diablos Rojos, have benefitted from such sales in past years.

For his part, Heredia (who never advanced higher than Class AA) has not pitched since last year's release from the Pirates.  The 24-year-old's Mexican League rights have been retained by the former Veracruz franchise, which was moved by owner Jose Antonio Mansur to Nuevo Laredo last winter while his hometown Mazatlan Venados hold Heredia's Mexican Pacific League rights.

CULIACAN NEARS FIRST HALF LMP TITLE WITH 3 GAMES REMAINING

Culiacan catcher Ali Solis

With three games left in the Mexican Pacific League's first-half schedule, the defending champion Culiacan Tomateros are on the verge of clinching first place in the standings along with the eight points assigned to the top finisher in each half. Ali Solis' walkoff single to deep short brought in Rico Noel from third base with the winning run Sunday as Culiacan nipped Mexicali, 3-2, in front of 15,557 fans at Estadio Tomateros. A native of Mexicali, the 31-year-old Solis played pro ball for 13 seasons, with cups of coffee in San Diego (2012) and Tampa Bay (2014), before batting .366 in 21 games for Fall champions Monterrey in his Mexican League debut this year. THis is his eighth winter with the Tomateros.

Sunday's victory gave Culiacan a 20-12 first-half record, three games ahead of Mazatlan (17-15). It's been an unusually close race in the LMP over the first 35-game half of the 2018-19 season and while there's now a smidgen of breathing room, Culiacan is six games ahead of last-place Los Mochis (14-18) in the eight-team circuit while the second-place Venados are only two games up on Jalisco and Obregon, who are tied for sixth at 15-17. Needless to say, the four upcoming midweek series will be hard-fought as teams try to finish as high on the table as possible to secure as many points as possible heading into their respective second-half schedules Friday. For the record, Culiacan will be at Hermosillo, Mazatlan will visit Navojoa, Los Mochis is hosting Mexicali and Jalisco will welcome Obregon to Guadalajara in three-game series starting Tuesday as the MexPac wraps up the half.

After a number of hitters were flirting with a .400 average most of the first half, bats have been cooling down leaguewide the past couple weeks and now nobody is within 40 points of that magic mark. Mazatlan's Alex Liddi, a former Mariners infielder and a key player with Tijuana's 2016 Mexican League championship team, is tops in the LMP with a .358 average, seven points ahead of Navojoa's Victor Mendoza, who's been a backup first baseman for Monterrey the past six summers. Mendoza's Mayos teammate, Jovan Rosa (a one-time Cubs prospect and four-year vet of the independent Atlantic League) homered in consecutive games against Obregon to tie Jalisco's Manny Rodriguez for the MexPac lead in roundtrippers with seven apiece. Rodriguez is tops in RBIs with 26, two more than Rosa's 24, while Navojoa second baseman Alonzo Harris (who led the LMP in batting much of the first half and still packs a .342 average) tops the stolen bases list with 16 in 18 attempts.

Mazatlan's Konner Wade limited Obregon to one run while scattering seven hits last Thursday to run his record to a perfect 5-0 on the season. The Arizonan has won his past four starts and his 2.27 ERA would tie Elian Leyva of Jalisco for second in the LMP (behind the 2.23 of Mexicali's David Reyes) but Wade's 31.1 innings pitched are barely below the 32 IP required to qualify. There's a spirited battle for the strikeouts lead, with Mexicali's Javier Solano (35) one K ahead of Jose Hernandez of Mazatlan and Obregon's Sean Nolin. Hernandez, a 22-year-old Astros minor leaguer, has whiffed his 34 batsmen in just 26 frames while walking only three. Even with those impressive numbers, the Venados' hometown product is 2-3 with a 4.50 ERA in six starts after giving up seven runs in three innings against Hermosillo last Friday.

Speaking of the Venados, they swung a trade last week that sent pitcher Miguel Gonzalez to Culiacan for veteran slugger Jorge "Chato" Vazquez. Known as "El Mariachi," Gonzalez has spent the past seven seasons pitching in the majors, six as a starter. He won a combined 21 games for Baltimore in 2011 and 2012 but has struggled since. The 34-year-old righty has pitched four winters with the Venados but none since 2010-11. Vazquez, a former Yankees farmhand who belted 32 homers for AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in 2011, has had an injury-plagued career that began as a 17-year-old with the Mexico City Tigres in 1999. He retired during the 2017 season as a member of the Mexico CIty Diablos Rojos but came out of retirement to play for Durango this year, batting .257 and .297 with a combined eight homers over 46 total games. The 36-year-old Vazquez was hitting .243 with no homers in 14 games when he was traded by his hometown team, for whom he'd played 16 winters.

VIZCARRA: OUT IN YUCATAN, ON HOT SEAT IN JALISCO

Jalisco Charros manager Roberto Vizcarra

The Yucatan Leones have parted ways with manager Roberto Vizcarra, who led the team to the Mexican League Spring 2018 pennant after finishing with a Liga-best 40-17 regular season record. Vizcarra then took the Leones to place first in the LMB South a second time at 32-24 for the Fall campaign before Yucatan dropped a first round playoff series to Oaxaca. A 72-41 record with two first-place finishes and a championship in one year would ordinarily be enough to save a manager's job, but losing to the Guerreros may have been what cost Vizcarra his. Oaxaca went 26-30 to come in fifth in the South, then had to beat Leon in a wild-card game to qualify for the postseason; the Guerreros eventually beat Mexico City for the South title before losing to Monterrey in the Serie del Rey.

The 51-year-old product of San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora debuted with Leon in 1986 as a 19-year-old infielder and went on to play 23 summers for five teams in the Mexican League, ending his playing career with Campeche in 2008. Vizcarra mostly played first base the final seasons of his career but was proficient defensively at all four infield positions. No matter where he played in the field, he was always useful in the batter's box, stroking 2,581 hits for a career .304 batting average. The 5'9" right-handed hitter was more noted for his speed (470 doubles, 465 stolen bases) than his power (229 homers) and topped the 1,100 mark in both runs scored and runs batted in.

Vizcarra has since been no less successful as a manager. He debuted as a helmsman in 2014, taking Quintana Roo to a Liga-best 65-48 record and a berth in the LMB South finals. The Tigres went 64-47 and won the pennant under Vizcarra in 2015, then turned in a 68-45 mark in 2016 but were swept by Puebla in the first playoff round. "Chapo" was cut loose in Cancun late in a 2017 campaign in which the Tigres fell to 49-56 and lost to Puebla in four straight once more. He was hired by the Leones in the offseason and did manage the Merida team to their first pennant since 2006 last spring, so it's unlikely Vizcarra will be out of work in the LMB for long.

Then there's his current winterball situation with the Jalisco Charros. As with Yucatan, this is Vizcarra's first Mexican Pacific League season in Guadalajara after he was fired by Mexicali last November after managing the Aguilas to a 16-19 first-half record. He'd led the border city to an LMP pennant and Caribbean Series berth just nine months earlier. The Charros hired him a week later to replace ex-MLB outfielder Tony Tarasco as dugout boss. Vizcarra took the Horsemen to a 15-11 record the rest of the way and a berth in the playoff semis last January before losing to Navojoa in six games.

Jalisco is off to a 15-17 start this winter and while the seventh-place Charros are only half a game out of fourth, four LMP managers were either fired or quit less than one month into the season and Vizcarra's future in Guadalajara is said to be in doubt. The Charros have a veteran-laden roster with such stars as Japhet Amador, Manny Rodriguez, Amadeo Zazueta and Agustin Murillo (and that's just the infield), but the pitching has been subpar and the team in general has not met lofty front office expectations. It should be noted that Alfonso "Houston" Jimenez, himself a longtime passenger on the Mexican managerial merry-go-round, is one of Vizcarra's bench coaches while ex-Dos Laredos slugger Marco Antonio Romero (who has managed in the LMB) is also on the Charros' staff. Just in case.

THE AXEMAN COMETH: THREE LMP SKIPPERS FIRED

Former Obregon manager Oscar Robles

Baseball Mexico readers for any length of time will be familiar with what we lovingly call the Mexican Managerial Merry-Go-Round, in which baseball managers south of the border are hired and fired with almost alarming frequency.  It’s something that didn’t happen as much last summer in the Mexican League, where most firings happened in early July between that league’s two seasons, but the Mexican Pacific League appears bent on making up for it.  No less than three LMP skippers had already been dismissed before three weeks of the regular season schedule had been completed.

The first to go was Obregon’s first-year manager Oscar Robles, who was given his walking papers on October 24 just nine games into the 2018-19 season (during which the Yaquis went 3-6).  Obregon was in last place at the time of the former MLB infielder’s dismissal, a little early for the panic button to be pressed but the Yaquis’ board of directors proved themselves up to the task.  Robles was a late arrival in Obregon due to his managerial duties with the Tijuana Toros during the LMB’s Fall season in which his team stretched eventual champion Monterrey to a seventh game in their first-round playoff series before a season-ending 4-3 loss on September 17.  Robles has been replaced on an interim basis in Obregon by Sergio Gastelum, a longtime former infielder who managed Oaxaca to a surprising Serie del Rey appearance in October after he replaced Joe Alvarez (who is managing in Mazatlan...for now) at the Guerreros’ helm in August.

Next to feel the axe was another ex-MLB infielder, Luis Sojo, who was jettisoned as manager in Mexicali on Friday after his Aguilas were swept in a three-game series at Hermosillo to fall to 7-9 on the young season.  Sojo managed Los Mochis to an unexpected appearance in the MexPac finals in 2016-17 before losing to Mexicali but was fired by the Caneros during the season last winter. He had been tabbed during the offseason to replace Pedro Mere in Mexicali when Mere failed to lead the Aguilas to a second straight pennant in 2017-18 after taking over for the fired Roberto Vizcarra.  In one of those ironic twists seemingly only seen in Mexican baseball, Mere had led Tijuana to the Mexican League pennant in 2017 after replacing none other than one Luis Sojo. Mere lasted with the Toros through the Spring 2018 schedule before being canned in Tijuana and eventually replaced by Robles. Back to Mexicali: Sojo will be replaced in the Aguilas dugout by yet another former Major League infielder, Juan Castro (a former Los Angeles Dodgers coach whose misadventures earlier this year with the Toros have rated their own stories here).

One day after Sojo’s exit from Mexicali, Lorenzo Bundy was handed his walking papers in Culiacan after the defending champion Tomateros started the season with an 8-10 record.  Bundy has managed almost every MexPac team in several winters as a bench boss and it was thought his hiring in Culiacan would bring a calmer presence to the Tomateros dugout after replacing the successful but volatile Benji Gil (one more former MLB infielder...see a trend developing?) when Gil took the season off to devote more attention to his son Mateo’s first year in the St. Louis minor league system after the Cardinals took the 18-year-old in the third round of the June draft.  Instead, the Culiacan front office decided that three weeks was enough to warrant another change. In a break with this story’s tradition, the Tomateros hired a former MLB catcher, Robinson Cancel, to replace Bundy at the helm. The team also let go bench coach Noe Munoz, who spent 24 seasons as a catcher in the LMB (mostly with Saltillo), along with Bundy. Munoz’ replacement in Culiacan? Luis Sojo.

ARIZONAN WADE LEADS FIRST-PLACE VENADOS MOUND STAFF

Mazatlan pitcher Konner Wade

Although the Mazatlan Venados have the Mexican Pacific League's highest team batting average at .285, eleven points ahead of Jalisco's .274 mark, the port city franchise's reputation over the years has been built on pitching and this winter appears to be no different.  The Venados, who have shown little offensive power thus far in the 2018-19 campaign (their six homers over 19 games are tied with Obregon for last in the MexPac), also top the pitching stats with a sparkling 2.57 ERA, well ahead of Culiacan's 3.30 mark.

One of the biggest reasons Mazatlan was tied with Jalisco for first in the MexPac with identical 11-9 records has been newcomer Konner Wade, who has moved to the head of manager Joe Alvarez' mound staff.  The former University of Arizona ace led the Wildcats to a 2012 NCAA championship before signing with Colorado as a seventh-round draft pick one year later.   A 6'3" right-hander, Wade went 29-35 with a 4.03 ERA over five seasons in the Rockies system before pitching with Sugar Land, Texas of the independent Atlantic League this summer, turning in an 8-6 record and a 3.10 ERA in 27 outings (including 21 starts) for the Skeeters.  Wade was brought to Mazatlan this winter along with a Skeeters teammate, second baseman Anthony Giansanti, as one of the team's import players and the Scottsdale native has definitely had an impact thus far.

Wade tossed six scoreless innings in Saturday night's 6-0 Venados win in Mexicali, scattering three hits and walking one Aguilas batter while throwing 54 strikes in a tidy 77-pitch performance.  He earned the win to go to 3-0 in four starts, tying relievers Dalton Rodriguez of Mexicali and Jesus Anguamea of Obregon for the LMP lead in wins while lowering his MexPac best ERA to 1.31, ahead of Navojoa's Jaime Lugo (1.57) and Jalisco's Elian Leyva (1.93).  Frankie De La Cruz, who took Saturday's loss for the Aguilas, is tied with Wade's Mazatlan moundmate Jose Hernandez and James Russell of Culiacan for the lead in strikeouts with 22 each. Three relievers have six saves apiece for most in that category: Andres Avila (Los Mochis), Casey Coleman (Culiacan) and Grant Sides (Jalisco).  Avila, who was named the LMP Reliever of the Year in 2016-17 after tying a league record with 23 saves for the Caneros, is coming off a forgettable season last winter in which he only earned one save in 26 trips from the Los Mochis bullpen.

Navojoa second baseman Alonzo Harris is continuing his breakout winterball season with the Mayos by leading the league in several offensive categories, including batting (.418), on-base percentage (.488), on-base+slugging (1.114), hits (28), runs scored (24) and stolen bases (8 in 9 attempts).  Jalisco first baseman/DH Japhet Amador is tops in both homers (5) and RBIs (19) in his first action since last summer's suspension in Japan for the use of banned substances, a suspension that was appealed but upheld by Nippon Professional Baseball and carried over by the Mexican League after his return home from Sendai.

Los Mochis first baseman Saul Soto

Among  the four players trailing Amador with four roundtrippers each is venerable Los Mochis slugger Saul Soto, who played in his 16th Mexican League All-Star Game over the summer.  The 6'4" Soto, a 245-pounder who turned 40 in August, belted a pair of homers in a 6-1 Caneros win against Hermosillo Saturday to tie and pass Ronnie Camacho for sixth-place in LMP career homers with 140.  A Los Mochis native, Soto socked 14 homers over two Mexican League seasons this year to bring his LMB career total to 266 over 21 seasons for an overall number of 406 between the two leagues. He is just 42 hits away from 2,000 in Liga play en route to his potential selection to the Salon de la Fama, although the still-not-enshrined Matias Carrillo (an LMB career .336 average with 2,531 hits, including 330 homers) might caution Soto to not hold his breath.

MEXICO CITY'S NEW BALLPARK INCHES TOWARDS 2019 DEBUT

Mexico City owner Alfredo Harp Helu

The ongoing drama that has been the construction of Mexico City's new 15,746-seat ballpark may actually be nearing its conclusion.  The facility has been plagued by difficulties almost since ground was broken for it in late 2015, some of it brought about by last year's tragic earthquake in the region.  The countless delays have pushed back the Mexico City Diablos Rojos' relocation from tiny Parque Fray Nano several times from an original opening target of May 2017. However, it appears that there may finally be light at the end of the proverbial tunnel and the Red Devils could in fact begin play at the start of the 2019 season.

Diablos owner Alfredo Harp Helu, who is privately financing the ballpark (which he is modestly naming after himself), recently toured the facility and was reportedly pleased by the progress he saw.  Harp was joined by team president Othon Diaz and a number of team board members as he traversed the stadium's exterior, including the stands, press and luxury boxes plus concessions areas. The group also went inside to take a look at the clubhouses, team offices and even the restrooms to gauge progress on the project.

The richest owner in Mexican baseball, with a fortune said to be worth over a billion dollars, Harp has come under fire for a number of things that have involved both his Diablos Rojos and their sister franchise, the Oaxaca Guerreros, with the Rookiegate imbroglio with the Quintana Roo Tigres being perhaps the most notable.  However, the cousin of tech magnate Carlos Slim (who Forbes magazine rated the world's wealthiest man between 2010 and 2013) has also been at the forefront of building a new Salon de la Fama for Mexican baseball in Monterrey after the former facility was shut down in 2012, leading to its treasures being boxed and placed in a storage unit until the new building opens next year.  

As well, the 74-year-old Harp has opened a baseball academy in Oaxaca and met with incoming Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (himself a huge baseball fan) in September to discuss creating more academies across the country for developing young ballplayers.  Harp is in a somewhat unique position in that while the LMB office reportedly supported Lopez Obrador's opponents in last summer's election, Harp was solidly behind the so-called AMLO and has the ear of Mexico's new president. Lopez Obrador was quoted on Mexico City's ADNpolitico's website as saying about Harp, "His foundation supports communities and promotes education, culture and sports; he likes baseball and is building a stadium in Mexico City.  He invited me to the inauguration and I accepted."

It’s not clear whether even a tentative date for that opener has been set.