SULTANES WIN SIX IN ROW, TECOS FIGHT TO STAY ALIVE

Mexico City''s Japhet Amador is heating up

Defending champion Monterrey was in a fight for fourth place in the Mexican League North Division before a six-game win streak gave manager Roberto Kelly's Sultanes some breathing room over fading Dos Laredos with just three series remaining in the regular season.

Monterrey swept three-game home sets over Dos Laredos and Tijuana last week to go to 27-22 in the second half, trailing Saltillo (33-17), Monclova (31-20) and TJ (29-22) in the standings.  The Sultanes capped their broom job over the Toros Sunday with a 5-4 win as 9,136 fans braved 102 degree temperatures to watch at Estadio Monterrey. The Sultanes chased Tijuana starter Carlos Hernandez with four runs in the bottom of the second inning to go up 5-0, then had to hang on as the Bulls sent Edgar Gonzalez to the showers by scoring three in the sixth.  Juan Gamez combined with four other relievers to hold Tijuana to one more run over the final ten outs as Wirfin Obispo pitched a perfect ninth to register his 28th save.

While Monterrey, Monclova and Tijuana are virtual locks for the playoffs even if Dos Laredos passes the Sultanes in the next ten days, the Tecos need to move up in the standings to reach the postseason if Saltillo holds on to first place.  If the season ended today, the Saraperos would finish the two halves with 12 points while the Owls would only have 9 points to show for themselves. The Tecos salvaged a road series in Monclova Sunday with an 11-9 win powered by five Dos Laredos homers (including Balbino Fuenmayor's 30th longball of the season) to halt a five-game losing skid.  The Tecos are now 24-27 to trail Monterrey by four games and while they should hold off Aguascalientes (21-29), Durango (17-33) and Union Laguna (16-34), standing pat likely means being spectators when the playoffs open next month.

Things are no better defined in the LMB South, where Yucatan (33-18) leads Quintana Roo (32-18) by just half a game with Mexico City (30-21) creeping up on both teams by winning seven of their last ten games.  Should the Diablos remain in third place they would finish with 13 points and qualify for the playoffs even if Campeche (24-24) or Oaxaca (24-26) overtake them, but that's about the only certainty. Yucatan had only four points in the first half while the Tigres picked up just three while Oaxaca won the division and eight points while Puebla finished third and collected six points.

The Leones and Guerreros will probably join Mexico City in the playoffs next month, but the Pericos are plummeting after losing eight of their last ten games to fall to seventh at 19-28.  Quintana Roo will not fall below third, meaning they'll finish with at least nine points for the year. Puebla needs to overtake sixth-place Tabasco (21-28) to finish with nine points. The Pericos will host Yucatan and Tabasco this week before finishing the regular season next week with a series in Mexico City, so they've got their work cut out for them.  Puebla didn't help themselves by dropping two of three games against Tabasco in Villahermosa over the weekend, including an 8-4 Olmecas win Sunday as every Tabasco player in the lineup had at least one hit (Roel Santos had three) and eight scored a single run, with Jose Luna knocking out a solo homer in the second off Scott Harkin. Tabasco has been one of the Liga's problem franchises for years and only 1,847 were in the Parque Centenario de 27 Febrero on Sunday, but new owner Juan Carlos Manzur has reportedly brought the beleaguered franchise a sense of order and direction that was lacking when the Olmecas were owned by the Dagdug brothers.

LMB strikeouts leader Yasutomo Kubo of Leon

After batting over .400 most of the season, Leon outfielder Felix Pie's recent freefall continues as the ex-Oriole went 3-for-20 over his last six games to drop out of the LMB lead into third place in the batting derby with a .387 average, trailing new leader Francisco Peguero of Monclova (.389) and Durango's Daniel Mayora (.388).  Peguero is the defending Liga MVP after batting .368 with 13 homers and 60 RBI's over 52 games in the league's shortened Fall season. Acereros teammate Chris Carter's memorable campaign continues after the ex-Brewers slugger cracked three homers last week to bring his season total to 46, nine more than Puebla's Danny Perez and Alonzo Harris of Oaxaca.  Harris now has 43 stolen bases (second to fellow Guerrero outfielder Johnny Davis' 54) to go with his .336 average and needs three homers to become the first-ever 40/40 man in Mexican baseball history. He and Carter (who also leads with 114 RBIs) are dueling for the MVP trophy, although Mexico City's massive Japhet Amador has been heating up and shows .354/27/109 numbers despite missing ten days in June due to injury.  Amador is batting .436 with four homers and 13 ribbies over his last ten games.

The league office may as well have their Pitcher of the Year trophy engraved because there's little chance Yucatan's Cesar Valdez won't get it despite losing his second game of the season Sunday, 2-0, to Campeche despite allowing two runs and striking out five in seven innings.  The Piratas' Manuel Flores pitched his league-leading second shutout of the year, scattering three hits to go to 9-7. Valdez leads the league in wins (14-2 record), earned-run average (2.30) and WHIP (1.07) while standing fifth in strikeouts (115). Leon's Yasutomo Kubo has struck out 23 batsmen in 19 innings over his last three starts to take control in that category with a total of 144 whiffs.  Kubo also gave up 15 earned runs in that span to fall to 8-13 with a 5.97 ERA. He's allowed just 29 walks in 144.2 innings this year. Obispo's save Sunday over Tijuana put the Monterrey closer one save behind leader Roman Mendez, who has 29 for Dos Laredos. Mendez finally won a game outright Sunday in Monclova to go to 1-6 for the year.

Most series are taking on added importance these days, but few among the midweek sets are bigger than Oaxaca's trip to Cancun to face the Tigres in a series with playoff implications for both teams.  The same can be said when Yucatan visits Puebla and Saltillo travels to Tijuana. Next weekend's biggest series appears to also be in Cancun, when rival Mexico City visits Quintana Roo, although it'll matter when Tijuana hosts Monterrey in the LMB North.

FERNANDO VALENZUELA NAMED LMB COMMISSIONER

New LMB commissioner Fernando Valenzuela

No fireworks were reported from last Thursday's Mexican League owners meeting in Monterrey, but one surprising development has emerged: former Cy Young Award winner Fernando Valenzuela has been named to fill the newly-created Commissioner position.  

According to Martha Cedillo of Milenio, a national newspaper owned by Monterrey Sultanes co-owners Grupo Multimedios, says the position of LMB Commissioner will be "even above its president, Javier Salinas."  Puro Beisbol was a bit more vague describing El Toro's new job, stating simply that "Valenzuela will address sports issues independent of the presidency of the circuit."

Whatever Valenzuela's role as Commissioner will be, the announcement from Monterrey was made by Monclova Acereros owner Gerardo Benavides, a Salinas ally and head of the Liga's Board of Presidents.  Cedillo reports that the next LMB league meeting will be held in September, during which Salinas' status as president will be discussed. Salinas was not at the Monterrey gathering.

Valenzuela's two-year travails as owner of the Quintana Roo Tigres has been broached here numerous times so we'll avoid another at-length rehash of the difficulties he and wife Linda have encountered ever since they entered negotiations to buy the legacy franchise from Carlos Peralta in February 2017, but it's safe to say the couple does not feel they've received their pesos' worth since then.  There’ve been past rumors that the Valenzuelas were so fed up with their experience owning an LMB team, they were considering putting the franchise back on the market, but last month's league-wide retirement of Valenzuela's number 34 and accompanying pregame celebrations (Fernando took part in one at his home ballpark in Cancun) may have mollified them somewhat.

Valenzuela in his role as Dodgers broadcaster

As reported last week, there is a split among LMB team owners whether to retain Salinas as president and conjecture is that his opponents may break away from the league and form their own summer loop if Salinas stays on, and the one owner said to be on the fence was Valenzuela.  With divisions within the league as even as they are on this matter, it's not beyond the pale to speculate that the Commissioner position was created specifically for Valenzuela in an effort to swing his vote to the Salinas camp. It's not known whether his appointment will have any effect on his duties as a color commentator on Los Angeles Dodgers Spanish language broadcasts, a post he's held for 17 years. 

Also at last week's meeting, a new committee on league relations was formed with Valenzuela, Francisco Gonzalez (Monterrey), Erick Arellano (Yucatan) and Jose Miguel (Puebla), the latter three in the camp favoring the retention of Salinas.  The role and duties of that committee was not given in the Puro Beisbol writeup while the formation of the committee was not mentioned in Milenio.

DODGERS SIGN 18-YEAR-OLD LEFTY, TOP LMB PROSPECT

Octavio Becerra (c) signing with Dodgers

The Los Angeles Dodgers have signed an 18-year-old lefthanded pitcher considered by many to be the Mexican League's number one prospect.  Aguascalientes hurler Octavio Becerra came to terms with the defending two-time National League champions late last month. One of the sticking points within the Liga regarding their March agreement with Major League Baseball regarding the signing of prospects controlled by LMB franchises is that the prospect is required to be on the Liga team roster for at least one year in order for the team to receive a portion of the player's signing bonus.  Since Becerra made his LMB debut on July 18, 2018, the Rieleros expect to receive 35 percent of his bonus.

A native of Tepatitlan, Jalisco, Becerra signed with Aguascalientes as a 16-year-old in February 2017 and was assigned to the LMB Academy near Monterrey.  He was brought up to the Rieleros during the Fall 2018 season and was less than overwhelming, turning in a 7.94 ERA over 11.1 innings in seven relief appearances.  Things had not gone any this season for the portsider before he signed with the Dodgers. In seven more relief outings, Becerra allowed ten earned runs, including six homers, in seven innings for an ERA of 12.86 (although he did strike out 11 batters in that span).  His last outing for Aguascalientes came on April 23 at home against Monclova, when he tossed one inning and gave up a roundtripper to 2017 LMB Rookie of the Year Ricky Rodriguez. He was subsequently sent back to the academy in El Carmen for more seasoning.

Becerra posing in his Aguascalientes uniform

Despite his lack of early success at the AAA level in a hitter's league or size (he stands 5'9" and weighs just 165 pounds), he was ranked the Academy's top prospect this year prior to signing with the Dodgers.  Rieleros team president Jose Eustacio Alvarez said at the contract ceremony, "We know that today is the first step to achieve the dream of reaching the big leagues. He is a player with discipline and a lot of work, so we are sure he will have a career full of successes."  Dodgers scout Juvenal Soto commented, "He was a pitcher who from the beginning, more than six months ago when we started to look more at him, he always caught our attention, not just because of the speed of his pitches.  He also has a very good selection of secondary pitches. All the evaluations we did were positive, so we did not hesitate to follow up until we got his signature."

Becerra is expected to be assigned to the Dodgers team in the Dominican Rookie League next month.

Leon win streak snapped at 11; Bravos fourth in LMB South

Leon Bravos pitcher Dustin Crenshaw

Danny Vasquez' two-run single in the top of the second inning gave Campeche a 4-3 lead in Leon and the Piratas pulled away to an 8-3 Mexican League win over the Bravos Sunday afternoon at Parque Domingo Santana.  The defeat ended an eleven-game win streak for the surprising Bravos, who have moved into the fourth and final playoff slot in the LMB South with a 22-17 record, three games behind third-place Mexico City but four games up on defending division champion Puebla with three weeks remaining in the Liga's Spring 2018 season.

Leon had posted their eleventh straight victory Saturday night with a 5-3 triumph over the visiting Piratas when consecutive RBI singles by Junior Lake and Quincy Latimore in the bottom of the seventh broke a 3-all tie and gave Eder Llamas the win out of the bullpen.  Llamas was one of seven relievers to follow starter Dustin Crenshaw, who tossed 5.1 innings for the Bravos and gave up two runs (one earned) on six hits and no walks, striking out two Campeche batsmen.  Leon was 11-16 when they began their skein on Tuesday, April 24 with a 5-1 win at Tabasco despite batting only 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position.

Manager Luis Carlos Rivera's team is second in the league with a .322 batting average (trailing only Durango's .329) while the Bravos' 48 homers tops the loop.  Leon has three batters in the top ten: outfielder Felix Pie (sixth at .392), shortstop Amadeo Zazueta (eighth at .381) and second baseman Niko Vasquez (ninth at .376) while Pie is tied for third in homers with nine.  The Bravos' pitching has been middle-of-the-road with a 5.08 ERA, ninth in the 16-team league, although Crenshaw has done well so far with a 3-1 record and a 3.30 ERA over eight starts, winning the first game of the streak in Villahermosa and picking up another W five nights later in Campeche.  Leon barely snuck into the playoffs last year in their debut season, but with Puebla fading badly (losing nine of their last ten) and only 21 games left in the abbreviated regular season, the Bravos are sitting pretty.

While Leon has zoomed past Puebla for fourth in the LMB South, there remains a spirited three-team battle for the division lead, with Yucatan (27-12) holding a one-game lead over another surprising team, Quintana Roo (25-12) while Mexico City (25-14) is two games out of first.  The Tigres, who were not expected to contend this year under new manager Tim Johnson, have won eight of their last ten to vault past the Diablos Rojos into second heading into a crucial three-game set against Leon opening Tuesday in Cancun.  In the LMB North, Monterrey (26-13) won two of three games in Dos Laredos over the weekend to maintain a 3-5-game lead over defending Liga champs Tijuana (22-16).  The Sultanes topped the Tecolotes, 8-4, Sunday at Uni-Trade Stadium in Laredo as DH Yadir Drake came one homer shy of hitting for the cycle, scoring twice and driving in two more runs.  Aguascalientes (22-17) and Monclova (20-18) hold the final two Zona Norte playoff berths with none of the division's other four teams within five games of the .500 mark.

First-year Durango first baseman Dustin Geiger, a former Cubs and Marlins farmhand, leads the Mexican League with a .408 batting average, six points ahead of Puebla first sacker Daric Barton.  Monterrey's Ricky Alvarez is tops with 13 homers and tied with Tijuana's Cyle Hankerd for the RBI lead at 41 while Hankerd's Toros teammate Justin Greene's 18 stolen bases leads the league despite Greene only playing twice since April 24.  Pitcher Carlos Hernandez (also of Tijuana) pitched six innings in the Toros' 7-1 home win over Saltillo Saturday to post his sixth victory of the Spring, best in the LMB.  Yucatan's Jose Samayoa's 2.17 ERA leads all starters, Josh Lowey of Monclova looks like a lock for another strikeout title with 58 (17 more than his nearest rival) and former MLBer Josh Lueke of the Acereros has ten saves to top Liga closers in that category.

Coming up this week is a huge series in Tijuana, where the Toros host LMB North-leading Monterrey in a three-game set starting Tuesday.  Next weekend's top series will be in Cancun when the Tigres host Mexico City in a renewal of Mexican baseball's oldest rivalry, which has been spiced up by the Rookiegate scandal and Tigres owner Fernando Valenzuela's open frustration over the Liga office's "What Me Worry?" response.


First MLB no-hitter in Mexico tossed during series in Monterrey

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Walker Buehler

As if there wasn't enough history being made last weekend in Monterrey, where Major League Baseball played its first regular season games since 1999, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Walker Buehler combined with three relievers to toss the first MLB no-hitter outside the USA and Canada on Friday night in the Dodgers' 4-0 win over San Diego at Estadio Monterrey.  Five no-hitters had been spun in Montreal or Toronto previously.

Buehler, a 23-year-old righty who was the Dodgers' 2015 first-round draft pick, pitched the first six hitless innings for Los Angeles, striking out eight and walking three to go to 2-0 on the season.  He was followed in order by relievers Adam Cimber, Kazuhisa Makita and Phil Maton, each of whom contributing a hitless frame to seal the no-no for the Dodgers, who then lost the last two games of the series.  San Diego evened the set Saturday with a 7-4 triumph behind two-run homers by first baseman Eric Hosmer and catcher Rafael Lopez, then took Sunday's rubber match by shutting out the defending National League champs, 4-0, as starter Eric Lauer combined with three relievers to scatter eight hits while Hosmer homered once more with a two-run shot in the bottom of the fifth.

While Buehler and his bullpen mates stole the lion's share of attention for the series on Friday night, it ended up being three games that Padres third baseman Christian Villanueva would probably just as soon put in the taillights.  Villanueva, a Guadalajara native who has received much early notice as a potential Rookie of the Year candidate, went 0-for-11 over the series and committed two errors in the field Sunday.  Villanueva has gone 1-for-20 in May to bring his season batting average, which stood at .355 on April 22, down to .265 after Sunday's contest.

The series, which sold out in less than two hours, was well-received by fans and media alike as a total of 65,116 attendees in 22,000-seat Estadio Monterrey.  The success of the Mexico Series brought out calls for a future MLB team south of the border, either in Monterrey or Mexico City.  MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said during Friday's ESPN2 broadcast that both Mexico and Montreal are potential candidates for expansion teams, but some Mexican baseball columnists quickly pointed out that the country's political and financial instability would be tough obstacles to overcome and that it's a lot harder to get people to attend 81 home games as opposed to a single three-game series.


Mazatlan Venados tab Joe Alvarez as new skipper

New Mazatlan Venados manager Joe Alvarez

The Mazatlan Venados front office decided after last winter that one season with Daniel Fernandez as manager of the Mexican Pacific League team was enough and that a change was needed at the helm.  After a months-long search, the Venados last week introduced Cuban-born Joe Alvarez as their pilot for the 2018-19 LMP campaign.

The 61-year-old Alvarez will make his LMP managerial debut with Mazatlan this October, but he is no stranger to the MexPac after previously serving as a coach with the Obregon Yaquis under Eddie Diaz.  However, Alvarez' Mexican baseball bonafides have been mostly been built in the Mexican League.  After winning Gulf Coast League pennants in 1986 and 1987 managing the Dodgers' Rookie league entry and a Florida State League title with Vero Beach in 1990, the former minor league infielder spent time in the Rays and Phillies organizations before taking over in Puebla on an interim basis in 2014 after Houston Jimenez was fired during the season.  Alvarez then guided the Pericos to second place in the LMB South and won playoff series against Campeche and Quintana Roo before falling to Mexico City in the Serie del Rey for the Liga pennant.

He went on to serve as a coach with the Korea Baseball Organization's SK Wyverns before returning to Mexico last summer as manager in Durango, leading the Generales to a .500 record playing the first month on the road while their ballpark was undergoing renovations.  The team eventually fell victim to injuries and front office mismanagement and finished seventh in the LMB South with a 43-66 record.  Alvarez could hardly be blamed for the Generales' misfortunes, but he was not rehired after the 2017 season.

Alvarez, who was born in Manzanillo, Cuba but attended high school in New Jersey before making his pro baseball debut in 1974 in the Yankees organization (later playing in the Astros and Orioles systems), takes over a Mazatlan team that finished the regular season with a 37-31 record and qualified for the postseason under Fernandez before falling to defending MexPac champion Mexicali in the first round, four games to two.

Trades: Tigres add Manny, Solano; Drake goes to Monterrey

New Quintana Roo Tigres pitcher Javier Solano

It's been a rather unusual April as far as the Mexican League goes.  While there has yet to be a manager fired in the first month of 2018's opening season, a number of high-profile players have changed teams earlier than normal.  The Quintana Roo Tigres appear to have come out much stronger as a result by netting disgruntled second baseman Manny Rodriguez from Monclova and veteran starting pitcher Javier Solano from Monterrey, while Durango has shipped 2017 LMB batting champion Yadir Drake to the Sultanes in a move that gives Monterrey's first-year manager Roberto Kelly one more good bat.

Rodriguez, you'll recall, left the Acereros three weeks ago after a series in Puebla after getting fed up with the ongoing shuttling of players between Monclova and the Pericos orchestrated by Gerardo Benavides, who owns both teams.  The 35-year-old MVP of the Mexican Pacific League chose to stay with his family in Southern California rather than continue playing for a Monclova team that was severely lacking in happy ballplayers or chemistry.  Rodriguez himself has been on that shuttle, playing on Puebla's 2016 Liga champions before being shipped to Monclova in February of last year as part of a lopsided deal that sent six players to the Acereros in return for relief pitcher Joaquin Lara, who only won his first LMB career game this month for the Pericos.

After sitting out since April 8, Rodriguez made his debut last weekend for the Quintana Roo Tigres, who acquired him on loan from the Acereros last week, and it wasn't long before the career .316 batter made his mark by belting a decisive two-run homer in Saturday's 3-1 win over Oaxaca at home in Cancun.  Although he was in manager Tim Johnson's lineup as a designated hitter, Rodriguez is expected to take over at second for veteran Carlos "Chispa" Gastelum, a six-time All-Star who has held that job for the Tigres since 2002.  For the season, Manny is batting .292 with two homers and 18 RBIs over 17 games.

Another recent addition to the Quintana Roo roster, Solano gives the Fernando Valenzuela-owned Tigres a young veteran who became a starter for Monterrey in 2015 and had gone 25-12 for the Sultanes since 2016, including a 4-1 mark this year.  However, Solano's ERA was a healthy 6.59 after six starts before being shipped to Cancun for pitcher Jesus Adrian Castillo, a 33-year-old who'd been with the Tigres since 2014 and was a solid 3-2 with a 3.75 ERA after five starts this year.  Although Castillo is having the better year, he has never won more than six games in seven LMB seasons and is generally not considered in Solano's class as a pitcher.  One Mexican columnist says Solano was sent south to avoid legal issues in Monterrey, particularly a civil lawsuit from a former player, but BBM has not verified that story.  He'll join a starting rotation featuring Barry Enright, Tyler Kane, former Marlins hurler Henderson Alvarez and ageless Pablo Ortega.

Meanwhile, Durango has loaned Drake to Monterrey even though the Cuban expat was batting .383 with four homers and 27 RBIs in 30 contests for Matias Carrillo's Generales.  Money may be at the heart of the move, since the Sultanes have plenty of it while Durango (now owned by a group led by former MLB catcher and Mexico City manager Miguel Ojeda) is struggling to right their financial ship after a 2017 season under former owner Virgilio Ruiz during which a number of players, including Drake, went weeks without a paycheck.  Drake hit .385 for the Generales last year to top the Liga before finishing the season in Japan by hitting just .232 in 35 games for the Nippon Ham Fighters.

Durango did pick up injury-plagued veteran slugger Jorge "Chato" Vazquez, who had retired from the Mexico City Diablos Rojos last year after once having been considered one of the New York Yankees' more intriguing prospects.  Vazquez went 0-for-3 with a walk in his Generales debut Saturday night against Monclova and is hoping the back problems that derailed his LMB career are behind him.  The 5'11" 250-pounder, who turned 36 this month, once played under Ojeda in the nation's capital.


Sultanes still rule LMB North, three-way battle for South supremacy

Monterrey Sultanes outfielder Domonic Brown

The Monterrey Sultanes continue to rule the roost in the Mexican League's North Division with a 21-10 record, three games ahead of defending champion Tijuana and surprising Aguascalientes, but the LMB South has evolved into a three-way duel between Yucatan, Mexico City and equally-surprising Quintana Roo, with only one game separating the troika as the LMB's Spring season heads into its final month prior to June's playoffs.

Although it can't really be called a "surprise" that Monterrey has done well over the first month of the campaign, few expected that manager Roberto Kelly's team would be showing as much power as they have.  Kelly stated at his hiring over the winter that speed and aggressive baserunning would be the hallmark of his offense.  The Sultanes are one of six Liga teams batting over .300 (they're at .305), but it's the longball, not the stolen base, that's been the driver of a club averaging nearly six runs per game.  Monterrey stands second in the LMB with 42 homers, behind only Leon's 44 roundtrippers.  Much of that production belongs to Ricky Alvarez, who leads the loop with 11 homers, while ex-MLB outfielder Domonic Brown (who hit 27 homers for Philadelphia in 2013) has seven and third baseman Agustin Murillo has six.  Although Monterrey has been successful on 25 of 36 stolen base attempts to rank fifth in that category (Chris Roberson and Leo German have six swipes apiece), that's not why the Sultanes have been winning.

While Tijuana was expected to be in contention for a second consecutive pennant, Aguascalientes was accorded second-tier status after star first baseman Jesse Castillo was dealt to Monclova in the offseason.  Instead, Rieleros manager Homar Rojas has cobbled together a very good everyday lineup with the likes of catcher Carlos Rodriguez, second baseman Michael Wing, third sacker Jose Vargas and a pair of old-timers in first baseman Saul Soto (who turns 40 in August) and outfielder Cristhian Presichi (38 in July).  Wing is batting .353 with four homers, Presichi is at .345 and Soto has a .306 average with a team-high five homers.  Beyond Roy Merritt (2-0 and 2.97 in six starts), the Rieleros rotation has been so-so but closer Anthony Carter (2-2/7 saves/2.29 ERA) and middleman Linder Casto (3-0/3 holds/1.69) have headed up a strong bullpen.

The LMB South has become a three-way race between Yucatan (22-10), Quintana Roo (20-10) and Mexico City (21-11).  The Diablos Rojos are the most productive offensively, averaging 6.5 runs per outing playing in Mexico City's rarified air, but Yucatan's traditionally-strong pitching staff leads the Liga with a 4.02 ERA, a half-run better than the Diablos or Tigres, and it's pitching that generally wins games and pennants.  A more interesting battle may be shaping up for the fourth and final playoff berth in the South as Puebla (16-14) and Leon (16-16) are only a game apart in the standings.  While the Pericos have reached the Serie del Rey the past two years (winning the title in 2016), the Bravos have won five games in a row while Puebla has dropped five straight.

Tijuana's Isaac Rodriguez, the LMB Rookie of the Year in 2015, leads the league with a .409 average and his 17 stolen bases is one behind teammate Justin Greene's 18 to rank second in the Liga.  Rodriguez already has a career high in steals after he swiped 14 bases last year in 74 games.   Other offensive leaders include Monterrey's Alvarez with 11 homers and Luis Juarez of Yucatan with 38 RBIs.  Tijuana newcomer Kyle Lobstein, a former Detroit starter, has a 1.69 ERA, Monclova's Josh Lowey is in his accustomed spot as strikeouts leader with 46 and three pitchers have five wins apiece: Tijuana's Carlos Hernandez, Mitch Lambson of Puebla and Juan Pablo Oramas has a 5-0 record for the 13-19 Tabasco Olmecas (a 1.98 ERA in seven starts might help explain why).

MEXICAN LEAGUE STANDINGS
North Division:  Monterrey 21-10, Aguascalientes 18-14, Tijuana 18-14, Monclova 15-16, Durango 14-18, Los Laredos 13-19, Union Laguna 11-20, Saltillo 11-21.
South Division: Yucatan 22-10, Quintana Roo 20-10, Mexico City 21-11, Puebla 16-14, Leon 16-16, Tabasco 13-19, Campeche 12-19, Oaxaca 11-21.


Padres, Dodgers to play Mexico Series in Monterrey next weekend

Major League Baseball will return to Mexico next weekend when the Monterrey Sultanes host the defending National League champion Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres (featuring rookie star Christian Villanueva) in a three-game series at Estadio Monterrey.  Tickets for all three games at the renovated 22,000-seat venue were sold out two hours after going on sale earlier this year.

The Padres will serve as the home team in Monterrey after the series was moved from Petco Park in San Diego.  This will mark the team's third visit to Monterrey.  San Diego took on the New York Mets in a three-game series during the 1996 season and opened the 1999 campaign against Colorado at Estadio Monterrey, marking the first time MLB opened a season outside the USA or Canada.  The Padres have struggled out the gate this season and are currently last in the NL West with a 10-18 record, ten games behind division-leading Arizona.  While manager Andy Green's roster contains some recognizable names like Wil Myers, Eric Hosmer and Chase Headley, their unexpected star thus far this season has been the Guadalajara-born Villanueva.

A former BBM pick as the Mexican Pacific League's Most Valuable Player in 2015-16 with the Obregon Yaquis, Villanueva was expected to fight for a roster spot with fellow third basemen Headley (a former Padres first-round pick who was reacquired from the Yankees in the offseason) and incumbent starter Cory Spangenberg.  Instead, Villanueva had a three-homer night early in the schedule and has since taken over the hor corner for San Diego and is an early candidate for Rookie of the Year honors.  He's hitting .348 with eight longballs and 18 RBIs to lead the Padres in all three categories despite not being in the lineup for seven games.  Villanueva's batting average would be second in the National League to St. Louis's Tommy Pham with more at-bats, he's tied for second in homers behind the nine of Colorado's Charlie Blackmon and his slugging percentage of .768 would lead the NL with more plate appearances.

The Dodgers, of course, need no introduction.  Skipper Dave Roberts has a star-studded everyday lineup featuring the likes of Cody Bellinger, Corey Seager, Yasiel Puig, Chase Utley, Joc Pederson and Matt Kemp while Los Angeles' starting rotation includes Clayton Kershaw, arguably the best pitcher in the game, and Alex Wood while closer Kenley Jansen and Josh Fields anchor the bullpen.  Added to the mix is outfielder Alex Verdugo, a 21-year-old Mexican American from Tucson who was called up Saturday from AAA Oklahoma City, where he was batting .276 with four homers in 19 contests. The Dodgers have gotten off to a slow start with a 12-14 record, third in the NL West heading into the week.  However, this is still essentially the same team that came within one game of a World Series win against Houston last fall and they're expected to be in the thick of things when September comes.

ESPN will broadcast the third game of the Mexico Series on Sunday, May 6 at 10AM Eastern time.  Eight-year ESPN veteran announcer Adnan Virk will handle play-by-play duties while former MLB first baseman Eduardo Perez, whose father Tony is a Hall of Famer, will provide commentary.

The Mexico Series was originally scheduled to be played in Mexico City at the new Estadio Alfredo Harp Helu, named after the Diablos Rojos' billionaire owner, but the venue's construction has faced delay after delay and will not be ready before 2019, meaning the Mexican League's 2018 All-Star Game had to be moved to Parque Kukulkan in Merida as well.

Lowey, Acereros top TJ in Mexican League 2018 opener

Monclova Acereros pitcher Josh Lowey

The Mexican League's Pitcher of the Year for 2016, Josh Lowey, tossed five innings of two-hit shutout ball and former American League Championship Series MVP Delmon Young slugged a solo homer to lead the Monclova Acereros to a 6-1 win over defending champions Tijuana last Thursday night in the LMB's Spring 2018 season opener at a sold-out Estadio B'Air in the border city.

Lowey looked like the Lowey of two years ago as the Liga strikeout king for the past two summers whiffed four Toros batters and walked two.  It wasn't entirely a sleigh ride for the Floridian righty, though, as he loaded the bases in the bottom of the first by walking Isaac Rodriguez and Dustin Martin after Tijuana leadoff hitter Justin Greene reached first on a throwing error by Monclova third baseman Rudy Amador, but Lowey settled down to retire dangerous batters Cyle Hankerd, Corey Brown and Jorge Cantu on ten pitches to escape the inning unscathed en route to setting down ten straight Toros batsmen.

Young, who swatted 18 homers for Detroit in 2012 and paced the Tigers' four-game sweep of the Yankees with two homers, a double and six RBIs, took Tijuana's ageless reliever Rafael Diaz deep in the third with a line-drive bomb over the wall in left-center to bring give the Acereros a 4-0 lead after Monclova had scored three times in the second, starting with an Alberto Carreon double that plated Matt Clark with the game's first run.  The Steelers' lead had risen to 6-0 before Greene scored TJ's lone run from third on a Martin ground-out against reliever Zach Phillips.

A total of 17,698 fans packed the stands for the contest in Tijuana, held one night before the rest of the LMB teams opened their seasons on Friday.  In all there were three sellout crowds among the eight Liga openers.  Besides the full house in Tijuana, a total of 21,746 aficionados were on hand at Estadio Monterrey for the Sultanes' 5-1 win over rival Saltillo as Agustin Murillo reached base four times (two singles, two walks), scored once and drove in a run while 5,600 onlookers filled tiny Estadio Fray Nano in Mexico City for the Diablos Rojos' 8-5 loss to Puebla in which the Pericos broke open a scoreless tie with a seven-run fifth inning keyed by Michael Crouse's two-run double.  Surprisingly, the usually-moribund Tabasco Olmecas lured 8,132 fans to Parque Centenario 27 de Febrero for a 4-2 defeat to Yucatan, thanks to Jose Aguilar's tiebreaking two-run single in the top of the ninth.  At the other end of the spectrum, just 4,138 were on hand in Leon to see the Bravos hold off Oaxaca, 7-6, as veteran third sacker Miguel Torrero singled, tripled, scored two runs and drove in three for the home team.


MexPac to move league office from Hermosillo to Guadalajara

LMP Assembly of Presidents meeting in Hermosillo

After nearly five decades with headquarters in Hermosillo, the Mexican Pacific League has announced it will be moving its offices east to Guadalajara during the offseason. The LMP has been based in the Sonora city since 1970-71, when the circuit changed its name from Sonora-Sinaloa League to its current title and became part of the revived Caribbean Series lineup (along with Puerto Rico, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic) after the CS had been discontinued in 1961 following Cuba's exit in the wake of a communist takeover of the island nation, where purported baseball fan Fidel Castro abolished the professional game and replaced it with the nominally-amateur Cuban National Series.

In announcing the shift from Hermosillo, MexPac president Omar Canizales said "the Assembly of Presidents, where the eight teams were represented, agreed to a very important decision in making a move from the current headquarters of the Liga del Pacifico de Beisbol to the city of Guadalajara."  Canizales explained that the objective in the move is "having greater closeness to different actors in the media and different business partners, as well as a greater presence in the center of the country."  Home of the Jalisco Charros, Guadalajara is Mexico's second-largest metropolitan area with more than five million residents (Hermosillo's metro population is about 900,000) and is easily the easternmost franchise site in the LMP.

Much speculation has arisen among Mexican baseball columnists about the move, much of it on whether Canizales & Company are gearing up for expansion away from the Pacific coast and into the country's larger population centers.  The shift of the Guasave Algodoneros to Guadalajara in 2014 marked the first venture outside states bordering the Gulf of California and Canizales has previously said he'd be interested in placing MexPac franchises in Mexico City and Monterrey.  Some talk is that the shift may be tied to a proposed Mexican National League in which stronger franchises from both the LMP and Mexican League would combine into one larger circuit playing year-round using Liga MX soccer's two-season approach as a template in much the same way the Liga is going this year with their Spring and Fall seasons and playoffs.  At this juncture, however, speculation is just that.

There appears little doubt that the move to Guadalajara is in part a reaction to the very proactive moves that first-year LMB president Javier Salinas has been making to raise the profile of his circuit as the LMP completed a schedule amid concerns of stagnating and declining attendance in many of its cities, with one Puro Beisbol writer stating that he believed the announced attendance at a number of ballparks was fudged after watching games on TV showing the stands far less occupied than the boxscores were stating.  Although it is the younger of the two leagues based in smaller cities than the Liga, the MexPac has shown itself to be the better-attended and more stable league of the two over the past several years.  The LMB still has plenty of problem franchises (Puro Beisbol editor Francisco Ballesteros says that only five or six of the Liga's 16 teams are on solid financial ground, with a like number subsidized almost entirely by local and/or state governments) with many unresolved internal issues such as Rookiegate, but Salinas' bold offseason moves may be forcing Mexico's Junior Circuit to step up its own game.

The next LMP Assembly of Presidents meeting is slated for April 19 in Mazatlan, where league officials will tour Estadio Teodoro Mariscal to view upgrades being made to that ballpark.


Ex-MLB player, coach Castro claims mistreatment during short Toros stint

Former Tijuana Toros GM/coach/??? Juan Castro

Former Major League Baseball infielder Juan Gabriel Castro, who served as a coach for the National League champion Los Angeles Dodgers last season, is now looking for work after a short, strange term of employment with the Mexican League's Tijuana Toros came to an end after just two months.  And the 45-year-old Los Mochis native is not happy about his first foray in LMB baseball.

Castro spent all or part of 17 seasons in the big leagues between 1995 and 2011, primarily with the Dodgers and Cincinnati.  While never an established starter, Castro made himself useful with his versatility as a shortstop who could fill in capably at second or third base.  He hit .229 with 36 homers for his career, batting .253 with career highs of nine homers and 33 RBIs over 113 games for the Reds in 2003 for his best offensive season.  Following his retirement as a player in 2011, Castro was named as a special assistant to the General Manager with the Dodgers and also coached the Mexican National Team in the 2013 World Baseball Classic under current White Sox skipper Rick Renteria.  He's spent the last two summers as the Dodgers' Quality Assurance Coach for helmsman Dave Roberts.

That pedigree was enough to draw the interest of Toros owner Alberto Uribe, who first expressed interest in Castro joining the borderite squad after the latter sent a congratulatory note to Uribe following Tijuana's win over Puebla in the LMB Championship Series last year.  According to Castro, the two went on to discuss Castro making a powerpoint presentation using sabermetrics to the Toros' front office staff during the offseason, a conversation that led to Uribe offering Castro the job of Sports Director (with duties similar to a General Manager north of the border), a position that had been left vacant after former MLB pitcher Jorge Campillo was moved into a Vice President position at the end of September.  After Castro accepted, he says, that's when things went south.

In a letter posted by Mexico City's Excelsior, Castro says that he took the job in December, letting the Dodgers brass know he was moving on and reported for work in January.  After a month on the job, however, Castro says Uribe told him that "I have decided to take up the sports administration of the organization and will support you until you can resume your successful life and career plan."  In other words, you're fired.  Castro says that Uribe urged him to stay in contact with the Toros secretary to coordinate payments from the team until he found a new job.

Confused by the situation after receiving a text from the team eight days later that they were waiting for him to "report to work," Castro drove to the Toros training camp in Tucson for a meeting with Uribe, who he says never showed up but had arranged for the ex-big leaguer to serve as a coach under Tijuana manager Pedro Mere.  While noting in text exchanges with the front office that he had been hired as a GM and not a coach, Castro says he spent last month helping the team prepare for the season but received no pay for his time in camp before leaving for his home in Phoenix.

The experience has left Castro wondering why he was let go, let alone what he's going to do now, thanks to Uribe:  "It is very sad that the lack of ethics and professionalism has left me without a job with the Dodgers because of all the promises that Mr. Uribe made to convince me to work for the Tijuana Toros team as sports director," Castro's letter states.  "In the end, because a person changed his mind, it's left me without the opportunity to continue as a coach in the best baseball in the world with the Dodgers."

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.

Mexicali opens 4-game lead; Lively win streak ends at 8

The defending champion Mexicali Aguilas have continued to respond to new manager Pedro Mere and have built a four-game lead over Mazatlan and Navojoa in the Mexican Pacific League’s second-half standings.  The Eagles won two of three hard-fought games in a weekend series in Mazatlan to lift their record to 18-6 with nine games left in the regular season. The Venados dropped to 14-10 after losing Sunday’s game, 4-2, falling into a second-place tie with the Mayos.  Righty Mitch Lively took the loss for the Deer to fall to 9-2 on the season after winning his last eight starts.  Meanwhile, Navojoa won in Culiacan, 2-0, as Eddie Gamboa and four relievers combined on the shutout.

A 6’5” Californian, the 32-year-old Lively has enjoyed a banner 2017 south of the border.  He pitched well for a poor Leon team in the Mexican League, going 7-2 with a 2.41 ERA for the Bravos over 74 innings, including 12 starts, to give him a combined 16-4 mark between the two leagues.  The Venados ace leads the MexPac in wins, strikeouts and WHIP and is threatening to become the LMP’s first 10-game winner since Culiacan’s Jorge Campillo in 2004-05.  Campillo went on to pitch in the majors for Seattle and Atlanta and is currently a VP with the LMB Tijuana Toros after serving as the team’s GM for several seasons.

The Hermosillo Naranjeros’ second-half slide following their first-half title has continued, with the Orangemen next-to-last with a 9-14 record, three games ahead of hapless Los Mochis.  Hermosillo’s front office and fans are used to success and rumors have surfaced that manager Lorenzo Bundy’s seat may be getting warm.  The Naranjeros recently became beneficiaries of Obregon’s sell-off by acquiring former MLB and NPB pitcher Luis Mendoza from the Yaquis for three prospects.  One of them, Hermosillo native Isaac Paredes, was a well-regarded Cubs farmhand before being dealt to the Tigers organization last summer.  The infielder spent the entire season playing in the Class A Midwest League, pretty fast company for an 18-year-old who hit .252 with 11 homers and 70 RBIs in 124 games for South Bend and West Michigan.

What’s been a long season in Obregon got a little longer when new fan favorite outfielder Tomo Otosaka returned to Japan after playing the last of his 27 games for the Yaquis on December 14.  Otosaka won over supporters with a .410 batting average with 15 runs scored and another 12 driven in while walking 13 times in 113 plate appearances for an on-base percentage of .487.  The 23-year-old Otosaka has hit .237 with 7 homers and 22 RBIs in 196 games for the Yokohama BayStars of Japan’s Central League since his 2014 debut.  Attendance has plummeted at year-old Nuevo Estadio Yaquis this winter as fans appear to be losing confidence in the Yaquis organization under owner Rene Rodriguez, who bought the team from the Grupo Modelo brewery following the team’s trio of LMP titles earlier this decade.

LMP SECOND HALF STANDINGS

Mexicali (4.0) 18-6, Mazatlan (6.0) 14-10, Navojoa (4.5) 14-10, Culiacan (7.0) 13-11, Obregon (3.0) 11-13, Jalisco (5.0) 10-13, Hermosillo (8.0) 9-14, Los Mochis (3.5) 6-18

First half point totals per team are in parentheses

LMP BATTING LEADERS

AVG-Sebastian Elizalde (CUL) .372, H-Sebastian Elizalde (CUL) 83,  R-Randy Arozarena (NAV) 44, HR-Randy Arozarena (NAV) 14, RBI-Manny Rodriguez (JAL) 50, SB-Jeremias Pineda (MAZ) 29.

LMP PITCHING LEADERS

W-Mitch Lively (MAZ) 9, ERA-Rolando Valdez (MXI) 1.75, SO-Mitch Lively (MAZ) 63, SV-Manny Acosta (OBR) 15, HLD-Edgar Gomez (MXI) 16, WHIP-Mitch Lively (MAZ) 0.96.

El Titan traded to Atlanta, designated for assignment

Five-time All-Star first baseman Adrian Gonzalez could be forgiven if he’s beyond ready to turn the calendar to 2018 a couple weeks early as his nightmarish 2017 has taken yet another couple of dagger-like twists.  The man known as “El Titan” and considered by many to be the best MLBer of Mexican descent was one of four Los Angeles Dodgers players sent to Atlanta last weekend in a trade for outfielder Matt Kemp.  Also dealt to the Braves were veteran pitchers Scott Kazmir and Brandon McCarthy and young infielder Charlie Culberson in a transaction regarded by some as a salary dump for both teams.  Gonzalez is scheduled to make $22.4 million for the last year of his contract in 2018, of which the Dodgers picked up $4.5 million of the tab as part of the swap.

However, if the 35-year-old Gonzalez had even begun thinking of hitting in the high-altitude, homer-happy environment of Atlanta’s new ballpark (a 13-year-old Little Leaguer homered off the left field upper-deck facade in August), such thoughts were dashed as the Braves designated him for assignment almost as soon as the trade was announced, in effect putting the 14-year-veteran back on the trading block.

Gonzalez has collected 2,010 career hits, including 311 homers and 1,176 RBIs, with a slash line of .288/.359/.488 over 1,875 MLB games since he debuted with the Texas Rangers in 2004.  Along with his five All-Star picks, the San Diego native (who spent many years growing up in Tijuana along with brother Edgar, now in the Jalisco Charros front office) has won four Gold Gloves and two Silver Slugger awards while being named Player of the Month once in each league and picking up eight Player of the Week designations.

There had been speculation in some quarters that Gonzalez might join his brother in Guadalajara and play for the Charros this winter, but that appears unlikely.

Tijuana’s Blanca Uribe first woman LMB Executive of the Year

The Mexican League Assembly of Presidents enjoyed a relatively quiet week at the annual Baseball Winter Meetings earlier this month in Orlando, and even made a little history in the process when Tijuana Toros’ deputy vice president Blanca Uribe became the first woman to receive Executive of the Year honors in the LMB’s 92-year history.  Uribe is the daughter of Toros owner Alberto Uribe and sister of team president Alejandro Uribe, and was recently promoted from a vice president’s position she’d held since 2014.

While her father and brother are more involved in the baseball end of the Toros, Blanca has served a more “heart-and-soul” role with the team, organizing several events and creating tie-ins involving charitable organizations along with other outreach efforts.  The Toros have become one of the Mexican League’s model franchises in just four years.  They won their first LMB pennant in September and their Academy Rookie League affiliate won that loop’s title.  The Toros’ Mexican Winter League club in Moroleon (shared with Leon) qualified for the LIM playoffs, but was swept by Oaxaca in the first round.  Mexico City then beat Oaxaca to win their third straight LIM flag.

Also at the Winter Meetings, the LMB confirmed their two 2018 short-season schedules.  The first season will run between March 22 and May 28 with three-tiered playoffs to follow in June.  After a June 29 All-Star Game scheduled for the perpetually-delayed Estadio Alfredo Harp Helu in Mexico City, the second season will open July 3 and end September 8 with another month-long playoff ending with an October 8 Championship Series Game Seven (if needed).  Each regular season will consist of 57 games, although the schedules will not be evenly balanced in games between divisions.

For the second Assembly of Presidents meeting in a row, LMB president Javier Salinas confiscated all cell phones from participants to prevent leaks to the media.  The move worked, as no mention was made of either the Rookiegate imbroglio between the Mexico City Diablos Rojos and the Quintana Roo Tigres or the volatile ongoing ownership situation involving the Durango Generales.  Durango has been included as one of the 16 teams playing in 2018 but the question of whether embattled Generales owner Virgilio Ruiz can hang on to the team remains a mystery.

3,000 attend Liga Olmeca opening ceremony in CDMX

Mexico’s largest Little League organization held opening ceremonies for the 2017-18 season earlier this month at the Liga Olmeca complex in Mexico City.  An estimated 3,000 people were on hand as New York Yankees pitchers Luis Cessa and Giovanny Gallegos joined Lee Sigman (the Yanks’ Mexican scouting director) to help first-year Liga Olmeca president Carlos Fragoso welcome players and parents to another season of amateur baseball in the capital city.

Fragoso, an Obregon native who grew up with David Gonzalez (father of Edgar and Adrian) and works as an engineer for Siemens, himself has been a scout for both the Yankees and Boston Red Sox as well as a coach at the national level in Mexico.  According to Fragoso, there are about 900 youth baseball and softball players in Liga Olmeca while another 500-plus adults play softball at night for a total of nearly 1,500 ballplayers.