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| A game at El Carmen Baseball Academy |
According
to Hector Bencomo of the Hitazo
website,
a proposal has been made to the organization charged by Mexican
president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador with building baseball interest
and participation throughout the country, asking that organization
(known by the acronym Probeis) to take the reins of the Mexican
League's academy in El Carmen, Nuevo Laredo (near Monterrey) from the
LMB.
Bencomo
reports that rumors of the academy's "disappearance" have
grown stronger since the last LMB Assembly of Presidents Meeting.
The facility was the brainchild of Mexico City Tigres owner Alejo
Peralta, Mexico City Diablos Rojos team president Roberto Mansur and
Mexican League president Petro Treto Cisneros and inaugurated on
March 25, 1996.
Since
then literally thousands of homegrown prospects have lived in the
dormitories and played on the academy's diamonds, many of whom moved
on to long careers in Major League Baseball or the Mexican League,
including current Houston Astros closer Roberto Osuna, longtime MLB
reliever Joakim Soria, Monterrey infielder Ramiro Pena (who spent
time in both MLB and Japan), Diablos Rojos slugger Japhet Amador and
shortstop Heber Gomez, who parlayed his academy stint that first year
into a 22-year Liga career, mostly with Monterrey.
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| Prospects eating in Academy dining room |
The
Mexican League's 16 franchises have traditionally shared the costs of
housing and development of academy prospects, typically with eight
teams supplied with players from two LMB teams each playing a spring
schedule after months of on-site training. Since the fine print in a
new agreement between MLB and the Liga agreed to last year all but
ended the past practice of big league organizations compensating LMB
teams for the rights to young players, the expense of keeping the
academy operational has become too burdensome on cash-strapped Liga
clubs with little to no prospect of recouping some of those costs
through player sales. Annual expenses are between 8 to 12 million
pesos (US$400,000-US$600,000) per LMB franchise, bearable for
wealthier organizations like Mexico City or Monterrey but a real
burden for the likes of Aguascalientes and Campeche.
A
team of Tijuana prospects ran away with last year's Academy League
title, sporting a 42-16 record to finish 8.5 games ahead of a squad
of teenagers owned by Monclova and Saltillo. Unsurprisingly, two top
Liga Academia players to emerge were both Toros property: Jared Serna
hit .367 with seven homers and 52 RBIs in 52 games while pitcher
Victor Sepulveda went 5-1 over seven starts (saving two more games)
with a 2.31 ERA and 54 strikeouts in 39 innings pitched).
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| Near futures talking with distant futures |
What
happens now is anyone's guess. Bencomo says sources have told him a
formal proposal has been made to former MLB and NPB infielder Edgar
Gonzalez, now director of Probeis, asking that the AMLO-created
agency take over operation of the academy. In return for expenses
related to housing, feeding and developing top young Mexican
ballplayers, Probeis would have the authority to sell them to MLB
organizations and keep the proceeds. Whether the same conditions
preventing LMB teams from selling players with less than one year on
a Liga roster would apply to Probeis because they were not a party to
the agreement is a legal grey area that would have to be addressed.
Bencomo
says another suggestion was that Probeis broker a deal in which MLB
itself takes over the El Carmen facility, which includes four
baseball fields with adjacent batting cages and practice pitcher's
mounds, a 79-room dormitory for players and coaches, a kitchen and
dining room, separate housing for umpires (who also train for future
LMB work), two meeting rooms, an administrative offices and a
guardhouse at the entry.
The
LMB is hoping for a response from Probeis by no later than the April
6 Liga regular season opener. A later answer would likely mean a
delay in reporting to El Carmen by young players for this year's
session.
MLB,
UNION TO ALLOW SOME 40-MAN ROSTER PLAYERS IN OLYMPICS
The
World Baseball and Softball Confederation (WBSC) has reached an
agreement with Major League Baseball and its players union allowing
players on MLB 40-man rosters to participate in this summer's Olympic
Games in Tokyo. Previously, nobody on a 40-man roster was eligible
for Olympic baseball but the new deal allows such players to take
part as long as they are not on their big league team's 26-man active
roster. The change means up to 420 more players belonging to an MLB
organization will be eligible to play in Japan this July and August.
After
an absence of twelve years from Olympic competition (South Korea beat
out seven other national teams to win the 2008 gold medal in
Beijing), baseball is returning as a demonstration sport with six
teams competing. Japan is an automatic entrant as host nation
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| Fukushima's Azuma Stadium |
and
will be joined by Mexico, South Korea, Israel and two undetermined
teams in Yokohama Stadium and Azuma Stadium in Fukushima.
Mexico will make its first-ever Olympic appearance after qualifying as
the highest-finishing Americas team in last winter's Premier12
tournament, South Korea was the highest-placed Asian team not named
Japan in the same competition and Israel was the surprise winner of
last fall's Africa/Europe qualifying tournament. The final two teams
will be determined at an Americas qualifier tourney in Arizona later
this month and a Final qualifier in Taiwan in June. Both events will
feature teams that didn't make it past either the Premier12 or
Africa/Aurope tournaments last year.
Of
course, the breakout of the coronavirus has put many public events
either on hold, in doubt or on the cancellation list because of
public health concerns. Since the virus first appeared in Wuhan,
China and has begun to spread across borders, NPB exhibition games
in
Japan have been held virtually behind closed doors. The New York
Times reports the
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| Mexico celebrates Olympics-clinching win |
World Health Organization held a discussion
with doctors from various sports federations recently about
continuing the policy during the Olympics as a precautionary measure.
If
Olympic baseball is played with or without fans, the El Fildeo
website claims a preliminary 24-man Mexican team roster has been
discovered. Without attributing a source, El Fildeo says the
following is the so-called "shortlist" of 24 eligible
players targeted to play for the Verdes Grande this summer
(with two more players allowed for Tokyo):
PITCHERS
(11): Manny Barreda (Tijuana), Brennan Bernardino (Tijuana),
Jordan Guerrero (Tijuana), Carlos Hernandez (Tijuana), Kyle Lobstein
(Tijuana), Vidal Nuno (Tijuana), Juan Pablo Oramas (Tabasco), Jose
Samayoa (Tijuana), Gerardo Sanchez (Tijuana), Teddy Stankiewic
(Tijuana), Edgar Torres (Durango).
CATCHERS
(2): Xorge Carrillo (Tijuana), Gabriel Gutierrez (Tijuana).
INFIELDERS
(6): Japhet Amador (Mexico City), Daniel Castro (Tijuana), Luis
Alfonso Cruz (Tijuana), Philip Evans (Pittsburgh), David Jack
Mayfield (Houston), Isaac Rodriguez (Tijuana).
OUTFIELDERS
(5): Carlos Figueroa (Mexico City), Fabricio Macias (Pittsburgh),
Efren Navarro (Tijuana), Juan Perez (Saltillo), Nick Torres
(Tijuana).
Nothing
against any of the players listed above, who are no doubt good
ballplayers and fine fellows one and all, but the presence of nine
pitchers and seven position players from Tijuana on this 24-man
roster makes it dubious at best.
PROCESO'S
PEREYRA TALKS WITH LMB PRESIDENT DE LA VEGA
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| New LMB leader Horacio de la Vega |
One
of Mexico's best sportswriters, Beatriz Pereyra of Proceso,
recently sat down with new Mexican League president Horacio de la
Vega and talked about some of the problems he inherited when he was
hired by the LMB last November to replace Javier Salinas.
It's
a very long read (the original is posted at www.proceso.com.mx)
so BBM is posting excerpts with as little editing as possible, but
the issues discussed are vital as the Mexican League approaches its
96th season of operation with a myriad of issues that De La Vega and
the Liga's 16 owners will face in 2020:
Horacio
de la Vega will begin his tenure as president of the Mexican Baseball
League (LMB) with empty coffers, which means that the owners of the
16 clubs will once again have to solve - temporarily at least - the
operating expenses while signing trade agreements that allow for the
consolidation of finances.
In
addition to payroll, the owners of the teams will be responsible
again for the payment of baseballs with which the 2020 season will be
played, the operating expenses of the Academy of El Carmen, and the
air tickets, lodging and travel expenses of the umpires.
In
a January interview, De la Vega explains that he had no room to
operate because his appointment was at the end of the year (last
November 26), when there was no time to manage sponsorships.
“We
have guaranteed the operation of the LMB the first three months of
the year. We have no risk of stopping but we definitely have to look
for trade agreements soon. I trust that we will not stop operating
because I have other types of agreements that are not sponsorships to
get resources and free the teams from those expenses,” he says.
“Javier Salinas did a great job in the commercial end because the
LMB for years generated nothing. He started very well, had ups and
downs, but failed to make commercial projects that integrated with
those of the teams. That did not allow for growth.”
De
la Vega says that in the desire for clubs to stop making economic
contributions and the LMB to become self-sustaining, former president
Salinas took away the commercial assets from the teams and was in
charge of selling them to raise that money. This means that, for
example, in a baseball stadium there are spaces that can be marketed,
such as the mound. Before Salinas was president, each team sold those
spaces.
“When
you take away the commercial assets, you harm them,” said de la
Vega. “On the other hand, if you do not do so, then the LMB does
not have to sell and they have to contribute the money to operate the
league.
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| New sponsorship opportunities are sought |
“The
question is how do we make it so that the clubs do not continue
financing the LMB, it is strengthened, collects more money and can be
self-sufficient. Right now there are few commercial assets. If the
LMB had five spaces per team, the dugout or the mound in the fences,
I would have more to sell. Right now I can't do it.”
One
of the most urgent issues to address is the famous clause of the
agreement for the sale of Mexican baseball players that the MLB
office signed in March 2019, with the LMB teams receiving an
additional bonus equivalent at 35% of the amount each player will
receive. The objective of that percentage was to financially
compensate the clubs that invested in the development of the
prospects, but Clause III.C contravenes the nature of the agreement
and, because of its deceptive wording, refuses to hand over
compensation to Mexican teams. The signing of this agreement, among
other factors, triggered the departure of Salinas as president.
“I
do not rule out making a renegotiation specifically of that clause so
as not to have to give away to our players,” states de la Vega.
“The agreement is in force for this year and we must comply with
it, but I don't see it as a one hundred percent loss. I will travel
to New York (headquarters of the MLB office) to make a proposal. The
position of club owners is that you have to unlock this,” he says.
Horacio
de la Vega details that he wants to improve that agreement because
there is a legitimate interest to continue exporting players to the
majors. However, that cannot undermine the finances of the teams. He
says he intends to reach a broader agreement that allows more regular
season games to be held in Mexico and for the fan base to grow.
The
president of the LMB was asked whether in this scheme the only winner
is the Big Leagues, a business that generates around 10 billion
dollars annually, and that has no interest in helping the development
of Mexican baseball or in growing the LMB, but it is obvious that
there can be no distancing or conflict with such a powerful entity?
"I
agree,” de la Vega replied. “The autonomy of the Mexican League
must be protected. You're right: Here there are no options of where
to sell players, the most viable is the MLB. It is monopolistic. The
strategy cannot be such a negotiation. You have to understand that
they are a business and have their interests. The LMB wants more
Mexicans in the majors.”
It
is abusive that there is a clause that goes against the payment of a
percentage for the clubs that develop the players. Should we make MLB
see what they are doing?
“Totally.
You have to face it like this. It is not a subject of interpretation
of the clause. The international players' signature is a business for
them. Period.
“We
cannot fight with a giant of that size. That is why the negotiation
will be interesting. We aim to sell, not to give players away. We are
in a position of openness and understanding.”
If
you fail to cancel that current agreement, and MLB offers to pay less
than 35%, as they did at the beginning, would you accept it?
“When
you have nothing, to rescue something is a breakthrough. That
contract has a direct impact on the teams and that cannot happen
again.”
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| De la Vega seeks more fans in the stands |
The
most important project that de la Vega says he will promote will be
to standardize the production of baseball games, in order to sell
them to all those interested in transmitting them, insisting that it
is essential to improve the lighting in the stadiums. All parks must
have the same light intensity. In addition, he will generate a
production notebook that clubs must agree on together, such as how
many cameras there should be, where they should be placed and what
angles or shots they should cover.
“I
am very clear that it is urgent to achieve the standardization of
production,” de la Vega insists. “If we don't have a homogeneous
product, I can't sell it.”
How
can it be achieved if not all teams have money to invest in that
facet?
“It
is part of my job to see how to get public resources. Most of
the stadiums are owned by state or private governments with local or
foreign entities. I have to generate that system.
“I
am not convinced to sell it to a single television station. I am
skeptical of that. I prefer a model with many outputs for content
distribution. You will remember that last year Facebook had a
contract (the social network paid 500 thousand dollars and not the 2
million dollars that were announced), made its selection of games and
stayed with the best. That type of system must be changed. I don't
know, give Facebook one day and that day only they broadcast. ”
Can
you confirm that 2020 will see continued transmissions on Facebook?
“The
contract is not signed yet, but we are very advanced. This year will
be trial and error. There are also Twitter, Twitch and other social
networks. We are going to analyze what suits the league in economic
terms, scope and penetration.
“We
must also insist that people go to the stadiums and have the best
experience. We have to turn out children and young people, because we
are interested in them being fans of the LMB clubs. We have to
provoke that. How do we do it? By massing baseball with the children
in the schools. One strategy is the world championships that we will
have in Mexico this year, one of them is Baseball 5, and baseball
being promoted in schools.”
The
president of the league sets out the example of skateboarding as an
Olympic sport: “I would never have imagined seeing skateboarding as
an official sport in the Olympic Games, but I understand that it is a
youth sport, which is very attractive for television coverage and
there are a lot of people who consume that product.
“You
have to turn into that or you die.”
