LAGUNA SKIPPER OMAR MALAVE, 58, COMMITS SUICIDE

    A family member has confirmed that Union Laguna Algodoneros manager Omar Malave is dead of suicide at age 58. Daughter Omarling Malave took to Twitter to verify that her father had taken his own life last Monday at his Dunedin, Florida home: “For everyone who wants to know what happened. He killed himself. This is the truth that I will not hold back because mental health is very important. It can happen to anyone! Even someone like Omar Malavé. Never in a million years would I think my dad would do this, but he did.”

    The daughter of the Venezuela-born manager deeply regretted that her children, Omar’s grandchildren, will not be able to enjoy those baseball anecdotes that he was able to tell, this due to his great career as a professional. “Mental health is still such a taboo subject,” Omarling tweeted, “Especially in men. They are taught to ignore their feelings and be strong, but the reality is that men have feelings and emotions too. Suicide comes in all ages, sexes and sizes.“

    In his first season as skipper of the Torreon club, Malave led the Cottoneers to an unexpected Mexican League playoff berth this summer with a 31-33 record after the team had been predicted by many to finish last in the nine-team North Division. He played nine seasons in the Toronto minor league system and managed Blue Jays farm teams after retiring as a player. Dunedin is the Jays’ longtime spring training home.

    The Algodoneros team website had no mention of Malave’s passing one week after his suicide and still listed him as their manager. Two other Mexican League franchises announced managerial changes last week.

    The Dos Laredos Tecolotes named Mark Weidemaier as manager for 2022. Weidemaier will assume the helm from interim pilot Rafael Rijo, who took over the Owls after first-year manager Pablo Ortega was fired during a 2021 campaign which saw the club finish 30-36 for an eighth-place finish in the LMB North.

    A baseball lifer who served as an assistant coach at Ohio State University while still a student at the University of North Carolina, Weidemaier served under manager Matt Williams in Washington between 2014 and 2015 and also worked for Williams in Korea this year as bench coach for the KIA Tigers. Weidemaier has twice managed in the LMB. He was bench boss for Union Laguna in 1988 and for Veracruz in 2016, laboring for Dos Laredos owner Jose Antonio Mansur in the port city before the team was moved to the border cities.

    Weidemaier joins the Tecos at a time when the team is once again embroiled in controversy over their status in Laredo, Texas. The Tecos are doing battle with STX Venue Management owner Danny Lopez over control of the ballpark during the team’s home games, stating that Lopez “has created an environment in which the team can’t operate properly or efficiently,” according to the Laredo Morning Times. The Tecos ended up splitting home games between Laredo and Nuevo Laredo last season after similar concerns led them to consider farming home games out to other Texas border cities.

Finally, the Durango Generales have named former major league infielder Alvaro Espinoza as their new manager. Espinoza appeared in 12 MLB seasons and was a starting shortstop for the Yankees between 1989 and 1991 as well as the Cleveland Indians in 1993. He replaces another former big league shortstop, longtime LMB skipper Felix Fermin, in Durango after the Generales finished last in the LMB North with a 20-45 record to tie Oaxaca for the worst record in the Liga’s truncated 2021 season.

This will be Espinoza’s first time managing a Mexican team but the Valencia, Venezuela native has led the Anzoategui Caribes in the Liga Venezolana, where he played winterball for over a decade and batted .368 in three Caribbean Series (he was named to the CS Hall of Fame in 2014). He’s also managed and coached in the Expos, Dodgers, Pirates and Giants organization since 1998 and (like Weidemaier) coached in the Korea Baseball Organization last summer with the Kiwoom Heroes.

CULIACAN P RAMIREZ HOSPITALIZED AFTER LINER BEANING

    J.C. Ramirez had a scary evening last week after the Culiacan pitcher was drilled on the head by a line drive off the bat of Hermosillo’s Addison Russell during a Mexican Pacific League game last Sunday at Estadio Sonora in Hermosillo.

    The comebacker beaning occurred in the bottom of the seventh inning, when Tomateros manager Benji Gil sent Ramirez in with two out to pitch to the former Cubs All-Star. Russell, who drove in Luis Alfonso Cruz and ended up at third base with what in effect was an infield triple, was visibly upset and held his own head in his hands as he came into third. The Tomateros eventually won the contest, 4-3.

    Ramirez was taken to a local hospital for observation prior to being released with a clean bill of health last Wednesday. The 33-year-old Nicaraguan righty has been pitching out of the bullpen for Culiacan and it’s been a struggle. After six appearances, Ramirez has an 0-2 record with a 6.35 ERA for the defending champions. He was 4-2 and 1.74 over six starts for the Tomateros last winter before splitting last summer between Taiwan’s Fubon Guardians (4-5 and 3.43 in nine starts for the CPBL club) and the Mexico City Diablos Rojos (2-0 and 3.43 in three starts for the LMB flagship franchise).

    The Mex Pac’s second-half standings are still bunched up after two weeks. Only four games separated the ten teams after 14 contests each. Mexicali has gone 9-5 for new manager Gil Velazquez and is clinging to a one-game lead over Guasave, Mazatlan and first-half champion Navojoa (all 8-6) while Hermosillo and Obregon are tied for fifth at 7-7, two games out of first. Even the moribund Los Mochis Caneros are showing signs of life after sweeping a Saturday doubleheader against Monterrey, 4-1 and 2-0, at home in Estadio Manuel “Ciclon” Echeverria.

    Behind the strong pitching of Carlos Viera (6 innings, 1 run in the opener) and Fabian Cota (7 shutouts innings in the nightcap), the Caneros raised their second-half record to 5-9, just a half-game behind 5-8 Jalisco. Although Los Mochis is still in last place on the heels of a disastrous first half in which they trailed the other nine teams with a 9-23 record, the Canegrowers are showing enough of a pulse to at least crack the double-digit mark in wins under new manager Luis Carlos Rivera over the second stanza.

    Navojoa’s Tirso Ornelas has taken clear ownership of the Mex Pac batting race with a .383 average, thirty points ahead of teammate Samar Leyva’s .353 mark. Christian Villanueva of Jalisco has a .369 average but the Guadalajara native has spent most of November on the Charros’ reserve list and has appeared in just 24 games. Another Jalisco player, Dariel Alvarez, is batting .412 with three homers in 13 games since returning from Japan.

    Navojoa first baseman Kyle Martin socked his 11th homer last week and leads in that category, ahead of Monterrey’s Anthony Giansanti (8) and five more players with seven longballs each. Jalisco’s Julian Ornelas (Tirso’s brother) leads with 34 RBIs, one more than Charros’ teammate Felix Perez and the 32 of Joey Meneses of Culiacan. Tomateros outfielder Dairon Blanco failed to steal a base last week but his 20 swipes still give him a comfortable lead over Obregon’s Alonzo Harris (14) and Ramon Rios of Mazatlan (13).

    There are now six LMP pitchers with five wins each to tie for the league lead: Elian Leyva (Hermosillo), Carlos De Leon and Raul Carrillo (both Navojoa) plus Hector Velazquez and Demetrio Gutierrez (both Obregon). Leyva continues to top the list of qualifiers for the ERA title at 1.17, ahead of Velazquez (1.94) and another Obregon hurler, Arturo Lopez (2.11). Lopez’ 40 strikeouts are third on the list behind Octavio Acosta of Navojoa (45) and Obregon’s Luis Escobar (43). With such great ERA and K numbers, Lopez deserves a better record than 1-2 after eight starts. Mexicali’s Jake Sanchez picked up a pair of saves last week to raise his season total to 16; Carlos Bustamante of Navojoa and Hermosillo’s Fernando Salas are tied for second with 11 saves each.

MEX PAC ROAD TRIP (Stop #9): Mazatlan, Sinaloa

    The ninth of ten stops on our virtual tour of Mexican Pacific League cities, Mazatlan, Sinaloa is a relatively long 135-mile jaunt south from Culiacan on Highway 150, a driving trip that runs about two-and-a-half hours mostly along the Gulf of California coast.

    Named after a native word for "place of the Deer," Mazatlan is the largest Pacific Coast seaport between Los Angeles and the Panama Canal, in which tourism gradually developed as an adjunct to its success as the "Shrimp Capital of the World." Mazatlan’s thriving seafood industry lessens the need for tourist dollars that are the sole economic driver of other cities on Mexico’s west coast like Puerto Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas and Ixtapa (although it is more tourist-driven than any other LMP franchise site).

    Mazatlan enjoys year-round sunshine and a mostly temperate climate, although it can get hot and humid during the summer. While the other seven LMP cities get frying-pan hot during the summer and even the winter, Mazatlan sits across from the southernmost tip of the Baja Peninsula, which blocks ocean breezes from reaching places like Obregon, Culiacan and Hermosillo. Mazatlan has miles of Pacific beaches lined by a seawall promenade called the Malecon. Visitors indulge in sports fishing, golf, bicycling, tennis and water sports.

    There’s an area in north Mazatlan called the Zona Dorado, or “Gold Zone,” where Americans and Candians generally congregate. The Zona Dorado bears as much resemblance to the “real” Mexico as Las Vegas bears to the “real” America and if a visitor to Mazatlan doesn’t venture outside the veritable tourist enclave, they'll miss the essence of the city.

    While the downtown core can’t truly be called “Old Mexico” in style because coastal cities were mostly fishing villages until the 20th century, Mazatlan is a lively place with many plazas in which Spanish architecture brackets the goings-on. It’s a lot less expensive than the Zona Dorado, too, and visitors have a much greater opportunity to experience the natural warmth and kindness of the Mexican people. English is spoken in Mazatlan more than any other city in the LMP except perhaps Mexicali on the California border.

    The Mazatlan Venados have historically been one of the strongest franchises in the Mexican Pacific League. The Venados (or "Deer") have won nine pennants in the modern LMP, plus another five flags in the old winter Pacific Coast League in the 1940’s and 50’s, and Caribbean Series titles in 2005 and 2016.

    Venados home games are played at Estadio Teodoro Mariscal, which opened in 1962 and was expanded to 12,000 seats in 2000 before a total renovation resulted in a state-of-the-art facility with 16,000 permanent seats in 2018. It has hosted six Caribbean Series, including the 2005 tournament won by the Venados and the most recent Serie del Caribe last February.

ESPN TO STREAM MEXICAN LEAGUE GAMES IN 2021

Mexican League president Horacio de la Vega

    According to The Economist, ESPN is among the networks that will broadcast Mexican League games this summer. The LMB hopes to increase their audience spectrum and improve the economic conditions of all 18 teams. The announcement was made during a virtual league press conference last week, but no specific dates were given for ESPN live coverage. Other channels involved in 2021 will be TV Azteca, Multimedios and Canal 1.

    In an Assembly of Presidents meeting held in San Diego more than a year ago, it was determined that in 2021 the LMB will for the first time control the broadcasting rights of all member teams that comprise it to commercialize them collectively. One of the plans in the management of league president Horacio de la Vega is to increase its reach to spectators and promote teams beyond their local market.

    "Leagues like the NFL have managed to improve a lot in production issues to create a more competitive league," de la Vega says, "so that the teams can have better conditions when making a global negotiation. For that reason, this agreement has been made. "

    The Mexico City Diablos Rojos and Monterrey Sultanes were among the most affected franchises, since they already had lucrative contracts with SKY Sports, an ESPN competitor. The Proceso website detailed that the economic blow for the Diablos will exceed five million pesos (about US $ 250,000) with this decision.

Diablos executive president Othon Diaz

    According to information provided at a press conference by the Diablos' executive president, Othon Díaz, the process consists of packaging the games to sell them at three levels (A, AA and AAA). Each television station is assigned a certain number of games, depending on the amount that has paid, so that in the end all teams are on different channels

    In addition, Diaz pointed out that in conjunction with the league, it will allow local television stations to carry important games.

    “In the case of local television stations, especially at the state level,” says Diaz, “they have normally broadcast the teams' games. There is a matter of negotiation where through the sale of the rights for those cities, the local television station only has the possibility of broadcasting in the city or state where it has been negotiated with the league.”

PURO BEISBOL: PACHO FIRED AFTER BACKING MAZATLAN MAYOR

Ex-Venados manager Juan Jose Pacho

    Juan Jose Pacho has apparently been given an object lesson in the perils of bringing politics into the workplace. According to Puro Beisbol editor Fernando Ballesteros, Pacho was fired by the Mexican Pacific League's Mazatlan Venados organization after appearing in a photograph standing next to current Mazatlan mayor Luis "El Quimico" Benitez Torres at a recent campaign event. Benitez stepped down as mayor in March to take a three-month leave until June 7 to focus on his re-election campaign.

    Benitez and the City have been at loggerheads with Venados owners Jose Antonio Toledo and his family ever since Estadio Teodoro Mariscal reopened in time for the 2018-19 LMP season after undergoing US$18 million worth of renovations. The first dispute involved three clandestine water lines discovered by the City at the facility early that season. 

    After the state-owned Jumapam water utility determined that the Venados owed them 12.9 million pesos, water to the ballpark was shut off in late November and city staffers closed the ballpark to fans in the stands until the bill was paid. The imbroglio lasted into December before an uneasy settlement was arrived at and the stadium opened back up to ticketbuyers.

    Differences between the City and the team flared up again last year when employees of the municipality evicted the Venados staff from their ballpark offices and padlocked the 16,000-seat facility in April after violations of the signed lease were cited. The Toledo family also had their concessions contract at Estadio Teodoro Mariscal terminated. That was a particularly hard pill to swallow for the Toledos, who had managed concessions there since 1980 and were able to build up enough wealth to purchase the team from the Mazatlan-based Pacifico brewery in 2005.

    The team was forced to operate out of temporary offices away from the ballpark and while Mazatlan had been awarded last winter's Caribbean Series by the Pan American Baseball Conferation (COPABE), the standoff carried into June and COPABE head Juan Francisco Puello was threatening to move the tournament elsewhere if his organization was not given access to the stadium during the event. Eventually, Benitez relented and the Venados were allowed to occupy Estadio Teodoro Mariscal for the 2020-21 season and the Serie del Caribe, but the dispute concerning the ballpark lease has still not been resolved.

    With that as back story, it had to come as a shock to the Toledos when the picture of Pacho and Benitez at a rally surfaced in early April. The former shortstop was relieved of his managerial duties during last season (the third time he's managed the club) but had remained on the payroll as a consultant while supervising a children's baseball school.

Mazatlan mayor Luis Benitez Torres

    A Salon de la Fama member as a player, Pacho first became the Venados skipper after replacing Dan Firova amid the 2004-05 season and led the squad to the LMP pennant and a Caribbean Series title, Mazatlan's first, that season. The Deer also copped the 2005-06 Mex Pac flag but Pacho was eventually let go with thanks, as all managers in Mexico experience. He replaced Miguel Olivo at the helm during the 2015-16 campaign and once again led them to the pennant and CS crown that winter but was eventually let go again. This time around, he was brought in to replace Joe Alvarez after the latter left with the team in first place during the 2018-19 season and held the post until he was sent back to the front office last winter.

    Now, however, the 59-year-old Pacho (who was fired shortly after his birthday) has apparently crossed a bridge too far by appearing to support a mayor that has been anathema to his team owners for the past two years. He will likely hop on the Mexican managerial merry-go-round and find a new job as dugout boss elsewhere because nobody seems to be out of work for long as long as they've had past success, and there may have been a lesson learned in what can happen when you back a politician who has been the bane of your employers' existence.

SALON DE LA FAMA MEMBER JORGE FITCH DIES AT 87

Jorge Fitch as Puebla shortstop

    Sinaloa native Jorge Fitch, one of the best shortstops in Mexican baseball history, died last Thursday due to health problems. His son of the same name reported in a statement on social networks that the senior Fitch had passed away after turning 87 on March 30.

    The former player and manager had battled serious problems for a long time after suffering a stroke. One of Fitch's last public appearances was two years ago in Reynosa at the reunion of the 1969 Mexican League champion Broncos.

    A member of the Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame since 2001 (when he was inducted along with catcher Rudy Sandoval, first baseman Jack Pierce and utilityman/pitcher Pedro Ramirez), Fitch was considered the Mexican League's best shortstop during a playing career that lasted from the late 1950's into the mid-1970's, especially with Puebla and Reynosa. Playing winterball in the Mexican Pacific League, he also stood out in the middle infield with Hermosillo, Obregon and Navojoa.

    Born in Novalato, Sonora on March 30, 1934, Fitch broke into pro baseball at age 22 with the Fresnillo Mineros of the Class C Mexican Center League in 1956. Despite only batting .203 with five homers and 39 RBIs over 87 games while committing 25 errors at shortstop, he was acquired by the Mexico City Tigres for 1957 and spent three seasons with the team, socking 10 homers and stealing 25 bases under manager George Genovese in 1958. However, it wasn't until after Fitch was dealt to Puebla in 1960 that he hit his stride.

    Fitch topped the .300 batting mark in each of his first two years with the Pericos, for whom he spent eight summers and won one pennant (1963) while finishing second twice (1964, 1965). In the timespan, Puebla put together one of the strongest infields in LMB history with 1B Ronnie Camacho, 2B Moises Camacho, SS Fitch and 3B Jose “Zacatillo” Guerrero. Fitch and Moi Camacho (no relation to (Ronnie) formed an airtight keystone combo and all four are members of the Salon de la Fama.

Fitch passed away at 87 last week

    By 1969, Fitch was member of the Reynosa Broncos, who won the Liga pennant despite batting just .259 and hitting 44 homers as a team (pitcher Salvador Sanchez' 22-12 record and 1.84 ERA might have had something to do with their first-place finish). Fitch played one more year with the Broncos and spent 1971 in Tampico, where he was teammates with the legendary Hector Espino and a 22-year-old pitcher named Adan Munoz, whose yet-to-be-born son Adan caught 21 years in the LMB and is now manager in Quintana Roo. After that season, Fitch retired as a player at age 37, although he came out of the dugout to play 21 more games for Reynosa in 1974 and 1975 when he was managing the Broncos.

    Fitch played 1,670 games in his LMB career, collecting 1,676 hits for a .272 average. He spent nine winters playing in the Mexican Pacific League with Hermosillo, Obregon and Navojoa, batting .250 on 469 hits to give him a total of 2,145 safeties in both leagues. In addition to his managerial experience in the Mexican League, where he went an overall 525-518 with two flags over seven seasons, Fitch managed the Mex Pac's Tijuana Potros for several winters during the 1980's and won the LMP pennant in 1987-88.

IT'S OFFICIAL: MAZATLAN OK'D FOR CARIBBEAN SERIES

Although Mazatlan was selected several months ago as host of the 2021 Caribbean Series, the ongoing controversy involving the Mexican Pacific League's Venados and the City of Mazatlan over an alleged breach of contract by the team made the event an up-in-the-air proposition. Until last Wednesday.

During a four-way videoconference last Thursday featuring Caribbean Professional Baseball Confederation president Juan Francisco Puello, Mex Pac president Omar Canizalez, Venados executive president Ismael Barros and Mazatlan Mayor Luis Guillermo Benitez, Puro Beisbol editor Fernando Ballesteros reports that it was Mayor Benitez who made the official announcement that his city will indeed be the site of the Crown Jewel of Latin Baseball next winter as the other three indicated their agreement.

There was doubt that the Serie del Caribe would be played in Mazatlan until last week's announcement. Puello had given the LMP a June 30 deadline to confirm issues in the coastal city had been resolved or run the risk of the tournament being moved to another Mex Pac city or even out of Mexico. For their part, Canizales warned the Venados that the LMP would move the Caribbean Series elsewhere themselves if matters had not been settled by the time the videoconference was convened.

The simmering controversy between the City and the Venados erupted on the morning of Monday, April 6 when a contingent of people from the Mazatlan Legal Department led by city council secretary Jose de Jesus Flores entered publicly-owned Estadio Teodoro Mariscal and physically removed team employees from the ballpark with orders to retrieve their belongings by the end of that week, then padlocked the ballpark shut with security placed on the premises.

The move was the culmination of a dispute in which the City accused the Venados of breach of their lease of the 16,000-seat facility. Among the charges were that the team failed to deliver free game tickets to local seniors, withheld promised support to local basketball players and boxers and refused to allow the City to use the stadium to deliver Wuhan virus relief services to seniors.

Perhaps the most crippling blow to the Venados was the City's removal of the ballpark's concessions contract from team owner Jose Antonio Toledo, whose family has controlled that activity for four decades. Although details of any tentative agreement between the City and ballclub have been announced, it can be presumed that none of the issues have been resolved (including the concessions contract) and that pending lawsuits are expected to move ahead upon the conclusion of the Serie del Caribe.

Tensions between the City and Venados go back at least as far as November 2018, a month after the ballpark was officially reopened following an offseason renovation costing 416 million public pesos (US$18 million), when a clandestine drinking system was discovered and water to Estadio Teodoro Mariscal was shut off by by municipally-owned Jumapam, who also stated the team owed over a million pesos in unpaid water bills. That imbrogio was eventually resolved but relations have remained shaky ever since.

Differences have been set aside for the time being, however, and Puello predicts a successful Caribbean Series next February. “We are going to have a very good Serie del Caribe,” he said. “The Covid is there but, by the grae of God, we are going to overcome it.”

Mazatlan last hosted the Caribbean Series in 2005, when the hometown Venados won the championship, marking the only time that a Mexican host team has won the tournament.

LMP CONFIRMS PLAN TO PLAY IN 2020-21, 3 FOREIGNERS PER TEAM

Sinaloa governor Ordaz and Omar Canizales in Guasave

During a virtual Assembly of Presidents meeting last Wednesday, the Mexican Pacific League reaffirmed plans to move forward with a full schedule for the upcoming 2020-21 winterball season despite concerns presented by the ongoing Wuhan virus panicdemic. LMP president Omar Canizales had made a similar statement in late June after the Mexican League officially announced the cancellation of their 95th season.

In a press release from the league office in Guadalajara, Canizales stated, “I thank the owners of the teams for the degree of commitment they show in this complex scenario. Their commitment to the players, staff, collaborators and the communities where they participate have inspired them to make extraordinary efforts to carry out our next season, even at the cost of having economic losses.” He added that strict health-related protocols will be put into place to ensure the safety of everyone in the stands and on the playing fields.

Canizales earned a marketing degree at Universidad Regiomontano in Monterrey and spent five years as a Cuauhtémoc brewery executive in the state of Chihuahua before becoming the Mex Pac president in 2009 following the death of Renato Vega. He has since overseen the circuit's remarkable growth ever since but admitted in June that the LMP and its teams all expect to lose money over the coming season if they play behind closed doors, a likely scenario. A schedule will be released in the coming weeks.

Baseball to return to Navojoa, LMP in October

A potentially contentious debate among the ten LMP owners was resolved with a compromise when it was announced during the videoconference that each team will be allowed up to three foreign players on their active roster next season. Last year, franchises were allowed to carry as many as 12 extraneros each but with the pending financial crunch and the relative expense at bringing in non-Mexican players, opinions were split down the middle as to whether teams should be allowed to suit up imports at all this winter.

That's if there IS a winterball season in 2020-21, of course, although Canizales says his office and member teams will do everything they can to make it happen, with a targeted Opening Day of October 12: “We have reached the conclusion and with the importance that it represents for Mexican baseball, for families and for society, that we will play the 2020-2021 season of the Mexican Pacific League."

"The owners have stuck out their chests to be responsible and despite the uncertainty that this pandemic represents, the commitment with players, the coaching staff and many people who work within baseball is confirmed, it has been decided to start in October with the season."

SULTANES REPLACE ROJAS AS MANAGER WITH GERARDO ALVAREZ

In as Monterrey manager: Gerardo Alvarez

After months of silence regarding the status of their Mexican Pacific League team manager, Homar Rojas, the Monterrey Sultanes have finally announced that Rojas is out and Pittsburgh Pirates minor league manager Gerardo Alvarez will be in charge for the team's second winterball season in 2020-21. The Sultanes finished their inaugural LMP campaign with a 26-41 record and missed the eight-team postseason.

A native of Oceanside, California who played collegiately at Texas Tech, the 40-year-old Alvarez was Baltimore's 16th round draft pick in 2002 and went on to play infield for six seasons in the Orioles system, batting .236 with 32 homers while getting as far as AAA Norfolk, for whom he played five games in 2007. Alvarez then hit .178 for Somerset of the independent Atlantic League in 2008, his final year as a player. Known more for his versatility than his bat, Alvarez played every position on the field but catcher.

Alvarez made his debut as a manager with the Oakland County Cruisers of the Frontier League in 2010, leading the Michigan-based indy team to a 53-43 record and third place in the East Division. He then managed Pittsburgh's Dominican Summer League affiliate two years later as the Rookie-level Pirates went 44-26 in the regular season and went on to win the DSL pennant. Alvarez has remained in the Pittsburgh farm system since, managing Bradenton of the Class A Florida State League in 2017 and 2018 before taking the Pirates Gulf Coast League squad to an 18-26 mark last year

During that time, he was also coaching during the winter in the LMP with both Mexicali and Mazatlan, with whom he was the third base coach for the 2016 Caribbean Series champion Venados. Alvarez' hiring marked final confirmation of which ten managers would open the Mex Pac season in October.

Although he has a decent background on both sides of the foul lines, Alvarez' hiring might have raised some eyebrows in Monterrey, where team co-owner Jose “Pepe” Maiz' virulent opposition to Mexican-Americans led to a near-split of the Mexican League in recent seasons. It's not unreasonable to believe that Alvarez' managerial leash will be even shorter

Out as Monterrey manager: Homar Rojas

with the Sultanes than it would be would be elsewhere and that the team's press release telling him “Together with you in search of victory, supporting you in every decision” can be taken with a grain of salt.

As for Rojas, who spent over 20 years as a catcher before starting his managerial career in 2005, the 56-year-old Nuevo Leon native was not given the almost perfunctory thanks for his professionalism and best wishes for his future projects by the Sultanes. Although he is currently without a job in either summer or winter baseball in Mexico, his vast experience (including LMP pennants with Obregon in 2007-08 and Hermosillo in 2009-10) and the high turnover of managers south of the border practically ensures that Rojas will find work sooner rather than later.

CITY OF MAZATLAN OKAYS 2021 SERIE DEL CARIBE

Estadio Teodoro Mariscal, Mazatlan

Several weeks after evicting the Mazatlan Venados from Estadio Teodoro Mariscal for violations of their lease, the City of Mazatlan has announced that the Mexican Pacific League team will be allowed to use the ballpark for the upcoming 2020-21 season, including hosting the 2021 Caribbean Series in early February.

The City physically escorted Venados front office employees out the stadium in early April, locking the facility up after it had been cleared out. The government claims the team had violated a number of conditions of their ballpark lease, including sponsorship of local basketball players and boxers and delivering Venados game tickets to senior citizens. The team was also asked to let the City use the ballpark to deliver services to seniors in relation to the Wuhan Virus outbreak, but refused the request.

The imbroglio led to concerns that the Caribbean Series would be moved out of Mazatlan if things were not resolved soon, with the Pan American Baseball Confederation (COPABE) giving the Mex Pac until the end of this month to broker a truce between the warring sides.

On Saturday, the Mazatlan City Council released this (translated) statement promising cooperation in allowing the Venados to return for the LMP season and that the Caribbean Series, which brings tourism money to host cities, may go ahead as planned:

The Municipal Government and Mayor Luis Benitez Torres express their commitment to guarantee all the facilities and the granting of permits for the 2020-2021 season of the Mexican Pacific League and the Caribbean Series 2021 at Estadio Teodoro Mariscal.

The City Council and the Mayor know the importance of sports culture and the economic and tourist impact that both baseball tournaments represent for the Mazatlan fans and for the municipality itself.

For this reason, this Government is open to communication with the company "Espectaculos Costa del Pacifico" and with the Caribbean Professional Baseball Confederation to reach agreements for the holding of the two sporting events here in Mazatlán.

The Municipal President expresses our will to grant the right to use, enjoy and enjoy the facilities of Estadio Teodoro Mariscal as well as any authorization for local activities, thereby guaranteeing that there is no impediment to holding such tournaments.

These measures are considered convenient for the benefit of society between the exploitation of a property in the public domain and the social, sports and tourist benefit of Mazatlecos.

Although the statement appears to give the go-ahead for business as usual at the ballpark, it's also notable for what it DOESN'T say. There is no mention of resumption of the lease between the Venados and the City, nor is anything said about a contract pulled by the City from team owner Jose Antonio Toledo that has allowed his family control of ballpark concessions since 1980 before purchasing the team 25 years later. While there does seem to be a truce, it promises to be an uneasy one.

Relations between the Venados and Mazatlan leaders soured quickly after Estadio Teodoro Mariscal reopened in October 2018 following a US$18 million renovation, when drinking water to the facility was shut off in the wake of a discovery that the team had created a clandestine drinking system there.


TOROS PLAN TO RE-OPEN CAMP JULY 15 IN OAXACA

Tijuana Toros to resume training next month

With an August 7 date tentatively set for finally beginning the 2020 Mexican League season, the Tijuana Toros were planning to re-open their training camp on July 15 in the southern state of Oaxaca. The Toros were training in Tempe, Arizona in mid-March when the LMB office ordered all 16 teams to close their camps and put the regular season on hold after the Wuhan virus appeared in Mexico and started claiming lives. As of last weekend, the number of confirmed cases of the Wuhan virus topped 139,000 nationwide, with over 16,000 deaths attributed to it (over 4,000 of them in Mexico City alone).

Toros sports director Oscar Romero, a former LMB pitcher whose son (Oscar Junior) is an 18-year-old third baseman in the Tijuana organization, said that Oaxaca was the most logical place for the team to spend three weeks prepping for the delayed season.

"This is more or less how the panorama is and all the teams are making the maximum effort so that we have the season with the necessary protocols," the elder Romero was quoted as saying on the El Fildeo website. "Our number one option is to train in the city of Oaxaca and it's for several reasons. The first is that they have the proper facilities there to do a good workout."

Besides being home to the Guerreros of the LMB, Oaxaca is also the site of a baseball academy owned and operated by Alfredo Harp Helu, who owns both the Guerreros and Mexico City Diablos Rojos. All three teams are expected to use the facility for training and warmup games until the regular season opens.

Tijuana is considered one of the preseason favorites to win the LMB North Division championship and a contender for copping the Serie de Rey. First-year manager Omar Vizquel will field a veteran outfit including everyday players like first baseman Ricky Alvarez, second baseman Isaac Rodriguez and outfielder Jesus "Cacao" Valdez with catching tandem Xorge Carrillo and Gabriel Gutierrez receiving pitches from Yoanys Quiala, Manny

Academia de Beisbol Alfredo Harp Helu, Oaxaca

Barreda, James Russell and closer Jake Sanchez.

Vizquel takes the reins in Tijuana from Oscar Robles, who managed the Toros to a 75-45 record in 2019 to tie Monclova for the LMB's best regular season record before falling to the Acereros in the LMB North Championship Series in seven games. Monclova went on to win their first pennant by beating Yucatan in the Serie del Rey. After a playing career likely to land him in Cooperstown as a sweet-fielding shortstop and timely batter, Vizquel managed two seasons in the Chicago White Sox system before parting ways with the Chisox after serving as dugout boss in AA Birmingham last year and is no doubt aware that Tijuana ownership will likely not accept anything short of the city's first pennant since 2017.

Meanwhile, Romero allows that the August 7 target for inaugural Liga games is a tentative one. "The first days of July are contemplated approximately to define whether or not there will be a 2020 season," he told El Fildeo, "and all this is conditioned on improving the difficult situation that we are going through with this pandemic."

KBO HOMER LEADER RAMOS SHELVED WITH ANKLE, BACK PAIN

Roberto Ramos raising eyes (and arms) in Korea

Hermosillo native Roberto Ramos' sensational debut season in the Korea Baseball Organization has been placed on hold after the LG Twins slugger was placed on the injured list last week with ankle and back problems. Ramos had played both games of a doubleheader on Thursday before the decision was made to sit him down for at least a three-game home series last weekend with the Busan Lotte Giants.

At the time he was shelved by the Seoul-based team last Friday, Ramos was leading the KBO with 13 homers while sitting in third place in both batting average (.391) and runs batted in (31). His .777 slugging percentage and 1.226 on-base plus slugging percentage both ranked second as Ramos was a prime reason the Twins were tied for second with the defending champion Doosan Bears in the standings at 21-12, four games behind the 25-8 NC Dinos.

"He had some discomfort in his right ankle after the double header, and he woke up this morning with a sore back," Twins manager Ryu Jong-Il said about Ramos in his pregame media availability Friday. "He took an injection in his back. We'll see how his recovery goes, but it looks like he won't be available this weekend." In Ramos' absence, the Twins called up first baseman Kim Ho-Eun from the minors. A 2016 sixth round draft pick, Kim made his KBO debut over the weekend.

Ramos going deep for LG Twins

The KBO has instituted a new procedure for injuries in 2020. Previously, whenever the league removed a player from their active roster due to an injury, they were required to sit for at least ten days before being reactivated. Now, there is no minimum number of days to remain out of the lineup, theoretically allowing a player placed on the IL on Friday night to sit one one game on Saturday before returning to the lineup Sunday afternoon.

Born in Hermosillo, the 25-year-old Ramos was a 2014 draft pick of the Colorado Rockies out of College of the Canyons in California. He spent six years in the Rockies farm system, socking 98 homers and batting .292 (including 30 longballs and 105 RBIs with a .309 average last season for AAA Albuquerque in the Pacific Coast League). Ramos signed a one-year free agent contract with the Twins in the offseason for $400,000 with a $50,000 signing bonus.

Ramos has played parts of six winterball seasons with his hometown Hermosillo Naranjeros, but without the same level of success that he's seen during the summer. Over 175 Mexican Pacific League games, he's hit .253 with 26 roundtrippers and 88 ribbies.