CANEROS WIN 5 OF 6, TAKE EARLY SECOND HALF LEAD

Los Mochis OF Yasmany Tomas

    Following a decent first half in which they went 19-16 to tie for third in the Mexican Pacific League standings (and collecting 7.0 playoff points), the Los Mochis Caneros have had a strong start in the Mex Pac's second half by winning five of their first six games to take a one-game lead over Obregon and first-half champs Hermosillo in the standings.

    New Caneros manager Jose Moreno, who replaced Victor Bojorquez in the offseason after a disastrous 2021-22 campaign during which Los Mochis won just 23 of 68 games, has gotten solid performances from a number of players thus far. Outfielder Yasmany Tomas tops Los Mochis hitters with a .335 average, five homers and 28 RBIs and has been among the LMP's batting leaders all season. Veteran third baseman Rudy Amador has given the team a .314 average and his usual solid defense at the hot corner, Braves farmhand Justin Dean is batting .299 and is second in the league with 11 steals while eighth-year infielder Isaac Rodriguez has a .294 average and ranks among Caneros leaders in several offensive categories.

    Luis Miranda has led a good Los Mochis pitching staff with a 4-0 record and a league-leading 0.20 ERA, allowing just one earned run in 44 innings over eight starts. Former Mariners minor leaguer Rafael Pineda is 4-2 with a 2.52 ERA, Fabian Cota is 2-2 and 3.09 and former Mexican League Pitcher of the Year Yoanner Negrin is 1-2 and 3.30. Moreno also has a solid bullpen with relievers Tomas Solis, Fredy Quintero, Juan Gamez and one-time Baltimore hurler Connor Greene, who leads the Caneros with six saves.

    The Caneros helped themselves greatly over the weekend by sweeping a three-game series in Mazatlan. They host Navojoa in a midweek series before defending champs Jalisco visits Los Mochis for three games starting Friday. Both the Mayos and Charros have overall losing records thus far and give the Caneros a prime opportunity to pad their 5-1 record.

    Monterrey's Roberto Valenzuela continues pacing Mex Pac batsmen with a .380 average, well ahead of Tomas' .335 mark and Jalisco's Fernando Villegas at .321. Venerable Jesse Castillo of Guasave belted six homers in as many games earlier this month to take over the LMP longball lead at 10, one more than Mexicali's Anthony Giansanti and three up on both Jesus Espinoza (Navojoa) and Sebastian Valle (Obregon). Valle's Yaquis teammate, Victor Mendoza, has 34 RBIs for a comfortable lead over yet another Obregon batter, Yadir Drake (29) and Tomas' 28 ribbies for the Caneros. Mazatlan's Randy Romero has 17 steals in 21 tries to lead the circuit, with Jose Carmona of Hermosillo right behind with 16 swipes while Pirates minor leaguer Jared Oliva has had 13 steals for both Obregon and Monterrey.

    Two pitchers have finally won their fifth games of the season, Hermosillo's Wilmer Rios and Cristian Castillo of Monterrey. After serving mainly as a reliever over his first six winters for the Naranjeros, Rios has become one of the Mex Pac's most reliable starters the past two seasons. Nine other pitchers have four wins, including ERA leader Miranda (0.20) of Los Mochis and strikeouts leader Matt Pobereyko of Guasave, who's tied with Culiacan vet Manny Barreda at 44 K's apiece. Miranda's 0.727 is also tops among starters. Guasave's Brandon Koch still leads the LMP with 10 while former big leaguer Josh Lueke of Jalisco is tied with Monterrey's Joe Riley at nine salvados apiece.

    Among managers, Mexicali fired Gil Velazquez a week ago (see below) and while in most baseball leagues the skipper of a defending champion usually has breathing room during a slow start to the subsequent season. However, this being Mexican baseball, Jalisco helmsman Roberto Vizcarra's seat may be getting hot in Guadalajara, where the Charros are following up a ninth-place finish and a 15-20 record in the first half with five losses in their first six contests in the second half.

MEXICAN PACIFIC LEAGUE Second Half Standings
Los Mochis 5-1, Hermosillo 4-2, Obregon 4-2, Guasave 3-3, Mexicali 3-3, Monterrey 3-3, Navojoa 3-3, Culiacan 2-4, Mazatlan 2-4, Jalisco 1-5.


VELAZQUEZ FIRED, CANCEL NEW MEXICALI SKIPPER

    Puerto Rican Robinson Cancel has been named as interim manager of the Mexicali Aguilas after the Mexican Pacfic League team fired Gil Velazquez during the season for a second time after the Eagles finished tied for sixth in the first half standings with a 16-19 record. Velazquez was canned by the Aguilas during the 2016-17 season and took the reigns of the squad a second time after Bronswell Patrick was canned midway through the schedule last winter. The “interim” label isn't usually applied when a new manager is hired but in Mexican baseball, all managers seem to end up working on a interim basis.

    The 46-year-old Cancel took over from temporary dugout boss Jesus Arredondo this past Saturday after the Aguilas had dropped their series opener in Guasave, 7-0, on Friday night. Mexicali split the two remaining games of the weekend set, including Sunday's 3-0 shutout over the Algodoneros as David Reyes tossed five scoreless innings for the win.

    As a player, Cancel spent eight years as a catcher in the Milwaukee organization and appeared in the majors with the Brewers, New York Mets and Houston between 1999 and 2011, batting .200 with one homers and 10 RBIs over 45 games. He wrapped up his playing career in the Mexican League with Monterrey in 2012 and Minatitlan in 2013, hitting a combined .316 with 14 homers in 97 contests.

    Cancel has since managed six years in the minors in the Braves and Rockies system, taking Fresno to a first-place finish in the Class A California League's North Division last summer with an 83-49 record before falling to Lake Elsinore in the loop's championship series. He's had previous stints managing in the Mex Pac with Los Mochis and Mazatlan.

    Arredondo returned to coaching third base after filling in as manager after the ouster of Velazquez, bench coach Pedro Mere and pitching coach Eleazar Mora on November 22 (with the usual “We thank Gil Velázquez, Pedró Meré and Eleazar Mora for their dedication and professionalism towards our organization, wishing in advance the best of successes in their future projects” press release from the front office). A pair of ex-MLBers have been added to the coaching staff: Pitching coach Vicente Palacios and bullpen coach Jailen Peguero.


PROCESO: ESPIONAGE IN MEXICAN BASEBALL

Beatriz Pereyra of Proceso

    According to Mexico City's Proceso magazine writer Beatriz Pereyra, “The scandal over manipulation of television cameras in Games One and Two of the Mexican League South Division championship series between Mexico City and Yucatan is not the first in which Miguel 'El Negro' Ojeda (once a major league catcher and now a director of the Diablos Rojos) has been involved.”

    In an interview with Pereyra, entrepreneur Alredo Aramburo, a former owner of the Durango Generales, talks about the problems he had with Ojeda when he was the sole owner of that team. “ He did not transfer or steal from me,” referring to the hiring of the players, “he did more delicate things than that...”

    The following is a translated Pereyra column in which Ojeda's alleged transgressions are discussed and first appeared in Proceso in September. It's as fascinating as it is long and worth reading all the way through:

    The Yucatan Leones will appeal the fine and sanction that the Mexican League imposed on the Mexico City Red Devils and its sports director, Miguel Ojeda. One of the Leones owners believes the entire technical body of the Diablos should also be punished for manipulating the television broadcast of Games One and Two of the LMB South finals.

    Yucatan team president Juan José Arellano tells Proceso that they do not agree with the resolution made by LMB president Horacio de la Vega, who determined that Ojeda must comply with a one-year suspension and the Red Devils must pay a fine of 1.5 million pesos (approximately US$77,000). According to the Manual for the use of electronic and video devices in stadiums, Arellano argues, there are others involved who deserve to be penalized.

    As of this edition, the directors of the Leones had not yet presented their appeal. Or had the Red Devils, whose owner, businessman Alfredo Harp Helú, announced that they would file the appeal after the LMB released the punishment on September 4. “The Diablos Rojos support Miguel Ojeda Siqueiros, sports director, and Marco Antonio Ávila, television producer. We are in the process of appealing to the accusation made to the team,” Harp posted on his Twitter account September 5.

    Likewise, through a statement, the Mexico City club emphasized that if the LMB concludes that “there is no evidence of signal theft” derived from the investigations requested by the Yucatan Leones, these unsubstantiated allegations have caused them moral harm.

    The conflict originates from the fact that on September 1, Leones executive president Érick Arellano asked the LMB to open an investigation folder against the Red Devils “for manipulating the television shots” during the first two games of the LMB South title series held at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú in Mexico City.

    “The television broadcast was done fraudulently and with all the intent to benefit the Mexico City Diablos Rojos and harm the Yucatan Leones” Erick Arellano states, ”since the shots showed the signs of the catcher (Sebastián Valle) when the Leones were on defense and deliberately there was never the same shot when the Diablos were on defense (with catcher Julián León), this is clearly a theft of signals...”, accused the plaintiff, who accompanied his complaint with the videos that demonstrate “the willful manipulation.”

Diablos sports manager Miguel Ojeda

    Before the formal request, during play of Game Two, Érick Arellano denounced what was happening to LMB executives who were at the stadium. Two of them, Alberto Guadarrama and Diego Patricio Pérez, went to the broadcast booth where they spoke with producer Marco Antonio Ávila, an employee of the Red Devils, who informed them that he was doing the switches and frames that way at the request of Miguel Ojeda.

    In response to the accusations from Merida, team directors in Mexico City replied: “We can say categorically that in no way and at no time was it intended to commit any breach of the regulations, especially on the subject of sign theft. In this sense, the only intention was to take care of any situation with the Diablos Rojos catcher. In such a way that there was a difference between the shots during the turns to the Diablos Rojos batters and the shots during the shifts to the Yucatan Leones batters which, at that time, the league was asked to equalize and it was immediately done.

    “Within the analysis we carried out, in any case, the only thing the Yucatan Leones team could have been affected by was not allowing them to see the signs for the Diablos catcher but since sign theft is not allowed, it cannot be considered that there was such.”

    Based on the above, although the LMB emphasized that it could not be verified that the Diablos stole the signals, both the team and the sports manager deserve sanctions because what was done violates the Manual for the use of electronic and video devices in stadiums, specifically regarding the theft of signals established therein.

    “The above, together with the fact that manipulating the production and transmission of games has other effects, such as generating a reasonable and genuine doubt about the delivery of replays for review in case of game challenges during the matches, during the regular and postseason season of the LMB, which would update a manipulation in the television broadcast that could lead to damages for the defendant's rival teams, as well as favorable benefits for Diablos,” explained the LMB in its resolution.

    In accordance with the LMB regulations, both appeals will be presented to the council that is made up of the following owners: Alejandro Uribe (Tijuana), Gerardo Benavides (Monclova), Eustacio Álvarez (Aguascalientes) and José Antonio Mansur (Dos Laredos).

    If the parties do not agree with the ruling issued by these presidents, they may appeal to the LMB assembly where the owners of the 18 clubs will decide by majority. If that other resolution does not satisfy them either, they will have the option of resorting to ordinary courts. The LMB does not rule out forming a Dispute Commission to vent this case.

Alfredo Aramburo and the Durango case

    This is not the first time that Miguel Ojeda has questionable behavior. In 2019, the LMB, then led by Javier Salinas, did not dare to sanction him for posing as the owner of the Durango Generals and even brought before the assembly a certain Fernando Espinosa del Campo, a logging businessman who was supposedly his partner.

    But the reality is that the owner was businessman Alfredo Arámburo, who owned a modest batmaking company, that Ojeda had to accept in a corporation that lasted just a year due to the abuses that the now-director of the Red Devils committed. When other owners were upset, the businessman appeared before the LMB to say that he was the sole owner, having gone from having 90% to 100% of the shares. This upset the owners of the other clubs and he was forced to sell the team for getting into the league through the back door (via Process 2284). Unlike the businessman who was punished in this way, Ojeda did not suffer any retaliation.

    This reporter interviewed in February 2020 the former owner of the Generals of Durango, who recounted on tape recorder the abuses that Miguel Ojeda committed with that team, then requested that information not be published due to the damage it could cause.

    Following the events involving manipulating the transmission of games during the South Division championship series in which producer Marco Antonio Ávila (who works for the Diablos Rojos) pointed to Ojeda as the person who asked him to alter the signal, this reporter asked Aramburo again for his authorization to publish the full interview.

    The businessman confirmed something that was rumored for months when Miguel Ojeda appeared as the owner of the Generals of Durango: the LMB veteran did not have enough money to buy a baseball club. In 2018, the sale and purchase of this equipment amounted to around 28 million pesos (about US$1.5 million in 2018). Then he lied blatantly, knowing that he only owned 10% of the shares but pretended to be the sole owner.

Former Generales owner Alfredo Aramburo

    “The reality is that I was the owner from day one and Miguel was my partner,” Aramburo said. “I gave him shares. It was a project where he contributed the workforce and his relationships in baseball to develop the sports theme, but he did not contribute capital. ‘You are going to show your face...you are known,’ that was the agreement. But something happened on the way.

    “I think something that collided was my rigid training to manage weight over weight. I am risking my capital, he wanted more freedom (to handle money) and there was a disagreement. He said he was not comfortable and that he was leaving, and that's when I notified the LMB that I already had 100% of the equipment. When I was not accepted, I sold the team and thus ended my ephemeral passage through the LMB.”

Did Miguel Ojeda put his money in it? Did he have anything left, or you?

    “I did owe him money and I did not pay him of my own free will. I was left owing 300 thousand pesos that I wanted to give him as a decent departure from Generals. He said to me, 'The team cost so much, so my share is worth is so many millions,' and I said, 'No, Dad, it's not like that. These are the financial statements, I invested in this so don't be confused. I'm going to pay you because you don't have any support left. I 'll give it to you in payments.' And it was so because I wanted to take care of some situations and I wanted him to act correctly because I did have to pay him in a single exhibition.

    “The company brought millions in losses so I said, ‘Let's agree. You owe me and I can tell you that since you aren't going to contribute the money, I dilute your actions. But neither you nor me. I'll give you so much.’ I gave him 50% of what was agreed upon and the other 50% was to be paid in a year because my situation in the LMB was going to be defined there. Why did I default on those 300 thousand pesos? Because he spoke of me. I found out. I'm not stupid and I connected the dots. He threw dirt on me with the Diablos and with Mr. Harp and that did not make me look professional.

    “They played me a recording where he spoke ill of me with Harp and the LMB. He (Ojeda) sent me messages and I no longer answered him. I don't want to stain his career. He lives on it. If I tell what he did on my team, you'd run it. I don't think Don Alfredo Harp would see it well. He got into serious trouble. He did not transfer or steal,” referring to the hiring of the players,” he did more delicate things than that. For me it is a closed chapter.”

LMB president weighs in

    The president of the LMB, Horacio de la Vega, emphasizes that in the body he heads, “we are not going to allow any director of any team to get into an international transmission.”

    This was possible because the Mexico City Diablos Rojos are the only LMB club with its own television production. That of the other 17 teams is generated by LMB Media Company, a company that was born from a merger between the League and AYM Sports.

    “It is not a matter of having evidence of signal theft,” caims de la Vega, ”but unfortunately the conversations will go that way. The LMB is not sanctioning that. They are sanctioning a subject of unequal intervention, and call it what you want in terms of whether they (the Red Devils) have an advantage or not,. It is simply not equal and if it is not equal, it is not a fair game. That is what the league is not going to allow,” says De la Vega.

    So why is this issue serious if the Diablos insist, and you yourself have said, that it is impossible to steal signs in a transmission?

    “The fact that the LMB allows that with any of the teams is wrong because obviously, as you point it out, there is speculation or a possibility of doing it (to steal the) signs. The LMB is impartial in a difficult decision, but I think the evidence is clear about what we don't want to happen with franchises.'

    They insist that the signals are indecipherable on television. Don't you think it's strange that Miguel Ojeda, someone who was a catcher and who played baseball for many years, decides that to avoid sign theft, to removes Julián León of the Devils from the transmission if this is useless?

    “You will have to ask him.”

    Did YOU ask him?

    “No, we have a specific criterion of what happened, we are sanctioning based on that evidence and we consider that what was done is incorrect.”

    Horacio de la Vega anticipates that the owners of the LMB clubs are already analyzing the possibility of implementing the same electronic devices in Mexico that are already beginning to be used in the Major Leagues, through which the catchers ask the pitchers for the pitches.

    The LMB president also clarifies that if the Diablos Rojos television signal is the only independent in the entire league, it is because when Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú was built, the team made a huge investment in technology. But at the same time, there is the Manual for the use of electronic and video devices in ballparks that regulates the use of other cameras, radar and other equipment that clubs such as the Tijuana Toros have installed in order to generate data for scouting and advanced statistics, like the Bats and True Media System or even Trackman, which the LMB installed in stadiums this year.

    Obviously, the use of any technology that transmits information in real time directly to dugouts is prohibited.

    The LMB president also stressed that, although in the resolution of the LMB it was determined that it will be the personnel of the LMB who will be in charge of generating the transmission of the games of the Red Devils for a year – so that Marco Antonio Ávila no longer intervenes – “ it's something that the LMB is already going to do permanently.”

    De la Vega was questioned about a post that Monclova Acereros pitcher Héctor Velázquez made on the Instagram social network after one of the Toros players, Leandro Castro, celebrated his home runs in the playoffs. “Warned, even I batted,” the pitcher wrote to the batter, in clear reference to Tijuana stealing signals and knowing what pitches their rivals will throw.

    “As a result of sports scores, you can speculate many things and the joke is to demonstrate it. When you have strong evidence that something is wrong, you are co-responsible for the information you put on the table and if there is a player who is saying that, it is only fair that they prove it,” de la Vega says.

    “I am left with the task of investigating more on this subject. What we cannot do is that by mentioning any player, we have to open research folders. I urge any player to provide the information so the LMB can act accordingly,” the manager concludes.

YUCATAN FORCES GAME 7 WITH 6-2 WIN AT MONTERREY

Cristhian Adames, Yucatan Leones

The Yucatan Leones have proven that they are not phased when facing elimination from a playoff series. After overcoming a 3-games-to-1 deficit to defeat Mexico City for the Mexican League South Division championship series, the Lions delayed their offseason one more day with a 6-2 Game Six win Sunday in front of a full house of 21,909 at Estadio Monterrey to force a seventh and deciding Serie del Rey game against the Sultanes Monday night. All six games of the LMB title series have had sellout crowds and with all tickets gone for Monday’s Game Seven, a total of 132,387 fans will have clicked the turnstiles, an average of 18,912 per opening.

Manager Roberto Vizcarra’s charges never trailed Sunday after taking a 2-0 first-inning lead on Cristhian Adames’ two-run double with two out off Monterrey starter Cristian Castillo, the 2016 Appalachian League Pitcher of the Year as a Royals farmhand. The Leones built a 3-1 lead before the Sultanes made it a one-run contest in the bottom of the seventh when Gustavo Nunez tagged third and scored on Sebastian Elizalde’s sacrifice fly to center, but Yucatan put the game in their hip pocket with three more runs in the top of the eighth as Yadir Drake and Luis Juarez contributed RBI singles. Jorge Rondon held the Sultanes scoreless over the last two innings in relief to close out the win.

Adames was 2-for-5 for the night with a double, a run scored and three RBIs for the winners while Juarez singled and scored twice. Victor Mendoza went 2-for-3 for Monterrey, doubling in Zoilo Almonte with the Sultanes’ first run in the fourth off Yucatan starter Onelki Garcia. Hunter Cervenka pitched one shutout entrada for the Leones and was awarded the win while Castillo absorbed the loss for Monterrey.

The Sultanes took the Serie del Rey lead by winning two of three games on the road last week in Merida, where sellout crowds of 14,917 packed Parque Kukulkan for all three tilts. After rain washed out Game Three on Tuesday night, the two teams were able to take the field Wednesday. Yucatan gained a 2-games-to-1 advantage with a 6-1 win behind the standout pitching of ex-MLBer Henderson Alvarez, who was supported by a pair of three-run innings from his teammates. Alvarez lasted until Vizcarra lifted him with two out in the top of the eight, by which time he’d scattered seven hits and allowed one unearned run.

Drake drove in the first run of the night in the bottom of the second by doubling in Jose Martinez from second. Sebastian Valle’s one-out single brought home Adames and a Norberto Obeso sacrifice fly to left plated Drake from third. The lone Monterrey run came in the fifth, when Jose Cardona’s infield single moved Ramiro Pena to third and Pena scampered home after an errant throw from Adames at shortstop. The Leones pushed three insurance runs across in the bottom of the fifth as Art Charles and Martinez each had run-scoring singles. Charles, Martinez and Adames combined for six hits, three runs and two RBI for Yucatan while Pena doubled twice off Alvarez for the Sultanes.

The visitors bounced back to win the next two games, including Thursday’s 5-0 whitewash in Game Four behind the five shutout innings from 2022 ERA champ Yohander Mendez, who allowed three hits and struck out six Yucatan batsmen. 

All five Sultanes runs came via the longball as Elizalde socked a two-run homer off Leones starter Jake Thompson in the top of the first after rain delayed the game’s start by a half-hour. Mendoza victimized Thompson, a former Phillies starter, two innings later with a three-run bomb of his own to end the scoring for the night. At that point, Vizcarra replaced Thompson with Yoanner Negrin and while the 2016 LMB Pitcher of the Year gave the Leones three scoreless innings, the damage was done as Yucatan collected just six hits (two each for Drake and Josh Fuentes) and went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position for the night.

Monterrey pulled ahead in the series Friday night by virtue of a 6-3 win to take a 3-games-to-2 advantage. Yucatan did lead, 3-2, in the bottom of the fifth after a Luis Juarez double drove in Valle from second and a Charles line-drive single brought home Obeso, but Orlando Calixte’s two-run roundtripper in the top of the seventh regained the Sultanes’ lead and Monterrey salted the contest away with a pair of runs one inning later on an Elizade single and an Almonte double. Yucatan did have runners on first and second with one out in the eighth, but reliever Carlos Morales settled down and got Drake to fly out to right and struck out pinch-hitter Lazaro Alfonso swinging on a 3-2 pitch to end the threat.

Juan Gamez earned the win after manager Roberto Kelly brought him in to replace a struggling Julio Teheran (4.1 IP, 3 R, 5 H, 3 BB) in the fifth and tossed 1.2 frames of shutout ball. Neftali Feliz held the Leones scoreless in the ninth to record his second save of the Serie del Rey. Yucatan starter Elian Leyva pitched well enough to win (6 IP, 2 R, 4H), although he did allow an Almonte homer in the second, but Cervenka gave up Calixte’s go-ahead homer in the seventh and absorbed the loss. 

Monday night’s game marks the third consecutive season that the Serie del Rey has gone a full seven games. Alvarez will start for Yucatan in the contest, which is slated to begin at 7:30PM EDT, while Mendez will open for Monterrey.

GIL: MENESES TO PLAY FOR CULIACAN IN SECOND HALF 

Joey Meneses, Culiacan Tomateros

Former major league shortstop Benji Gil, who is wrapping up his first season as a coach with the Los Angeles Angels under interim manager Phil Nevin, says he should return to his managerial post in Culiacan just prior to the coming Mexican Pacific League season, when the Tomateros will seek their fourth pennant in six winters.

However, Gil said, there is one player who will not joining him next month for the start of the 2022-23 campaign: Longtime Tomateros slugger Joey Meneses, a Culiacan native who has spent all or part of nine seasons playing for his hometown team. Gil adds that Meneses is expected to join the Tomateros when the second half of the LMP schedule begins in November.

Although he’s become a minor sensation in Washington since his August 2 big league debut for the Nationals at age 30 (becoming the first Mexican to homer in his first MLB game), Meneses’ baseball journey during the summer has taken several twists and turns since he first signed with the Atlanta Braves as a 19-year-old free agent in 2011. Beginning with a less-than-impressive 19-game stint that year with the Braves’ Dominican Summer League entry (for whom he hit .206 with no extra-base hits), Meneses spent seven years in the Atlanta system and was an organizational All-Star in both 2014 and 2019 but never rose above Class AA Mississippi, for whom he was a Southern League midseason All-Star in 2017.

After that season, Meneses filed for free agency and signed with Philadelphia, who assigned him to AAA Lehigh Valley, where he was named the 2018 International League MVP after batting .311 and leading the loop with 23 homers and 82 RBIs. That earned him a one-year US$950,000 contract with the Orix Buffaloes of Japan’s Pacific League. After struggling at the start of his first season in Asia (.206 with 4 homers in 29 games), the 6’3” first baseman-outfielder was suspended for one year in June 2019 after testing positive for Stanozolal (a steroid) and the Buffaloes subsequently voided his contract. 

After sitting out the 2020 summer season, Meneses signed as a free agent with Boston last year, splitting 2021 between AA Portland and AAA Worcester, before signing with Washington this season. Meneses hit .286 with 20 homers in 96 games at AAA Rochester before his August call-up. Since then, he’s hit .317 with 9 homers and 23 RBIs over 39 games for the Nationals. Meneses has never played in the Mexican League.

Although his summers have often been frustrating at best, Meneses has returned home every winter to play for the Tomateros since 2013-14. In 453 games over nine LMP seasons, the right-handed batter has hit .283 with 42 homers and 268 ribbies, appearing in five Caribbean Series including last February in Mazatlan, where he hit .158 as a pickup for the Jalisco Charros and manager Roberto Vizcarra.

PEREYRA: MEXICAN WOMEN SHOWING THEY CAN PLAY, TOO

The Mexican National Women’s Baseball Team secured a berth in next year’s World Championship tournament, the first time the country will appear in that event, after securing a bronze medal at the Americas Qualifier in Venezuela last month. As Beatriz Pereyra of Mexico City’s Proceso writes, it marks one more step in the process of women being seen simply as “ballplayers” south of the border instead of being limited to playing softball in the public’s perception.

The following is a Google translation of Pereyra’s piece in Proceso, lightly edited for clarity:

The members of the Mexican Women's Baseball Team have something in common: as girls they began playing baseball with boys in some leagues in the country, then were forced to switch to softball because they were not allowed to compete with men. Players like Rosi del Castillo, Dafne Mejía and Samaria Benítez from Nayarit have become known for being the first to participate in men's amateur or semi-professional leagues. On the way to Mexico's participation in its first World Cup and given the lack of infrastructure for them in the ninth, they warn: "People need to believe that women can also play baseball."

Despite the fact that Mexican women's baseball is in an incipient stage, the national team qualified for the 2023 World Championship, a tournament in which Mexico will have its first international participation.

The squad, made up of 21 players from different states, is currently ranked 12th in the world. Recently, they won the bronze medal at the Venezuela 2022 Women's Baseball Pre-World Championship, where five other teams participated: Venezuela (5th in the world), the Dominican Republic (6th), Cuba (7th) Puerto Rico (9) and Nicaragua (17th).

This is the second time in which the Mexican Women's Baseball Team gets its ticket to the World Cup which in this edition, its first stage will be played in 2023 and the rest in the summer of 2024, with dates and venues to be defined. The first time they qualified was in the 2019 Aguascalientes Pre-World Cup tournament. However, the World Baseball and Softball Confederation (WBSC) decided to cancel the 2020 World Cup event as a result of the covid-19 pandemic. 

The Mexican team is made up of “veteran” players such as Dafne Mejía (30 years old) and Thalía Villavicencio (34) plus other younger ones such as Rosi del Castillo from Puebla and María José Valenzuela from Sonora (both 24 years old), but all with a lot of experience because they have played baseball since they were very young. Regardless of her deafness since birth, Valenzuela, the only Sonoran on the team, is one of the most outstanding players.

“It has been an important achievement. We were able to transcend, we classified as we wanted and one goal was to bring the medal that we couldn't before,” says Mejia, who was Mexico’s designated hitter in Venezuela. “ Although it was not gold, we are proud of that achievement, of giving Mexico a medal.”

Sisters Laura and Melody Cortés Tapia also stand out in the team as daughters of Julio Cortés, a promoter of women's baseball in the city of Pachuca, where he runs the Rancho Beisbolero Academy. They are joined by pitchers of the quality of Adriana Palma from Yucatan, Marlene Lagunes from Veracruz and Narda Andrade from Puebla, catchers Itza Hernández and Marcela Díaz, who is a player in Mexico City’s Anahuac League. 

Almost all of them have followed the same process in their careers as ballplayers: as girls they started playing baseball with boys in some little league, then they were forced to switch to softball because they are not allowed to participate with men, but they clung to staying in the sport they love.

Players such as Rosi del Castillo, Dafne Mejía and Samaria Benítez from Nayarit have become known because they have been pioneers in participating in men's amateur or semi-professional leagues, because if women's baseball still lacks something, it is that it does not have the facilities and enough coaches that is not an appendage of men's baseball.

PEREYRA: MEXICAN LEAGUE A HAVEN FOR ABUSERS

            While Major League Baseball is relentless and vetoes violent players, Proceso writer Beatriz Pereyra has written an extensive column that says the Mexican Baseball League opens its doors to them regardless of the complaints they have faced. So far there are eight baseball players who have been kicked off major league teams and their subsidiaries for sexual assault and family violence, mainly, who have been hired by Mexican League teams.             In an interview with Pereyra, LMB president Horacio de la Vega acknowledges that they currently lack protocols to deal with the issue, but advances measures to uproot violent behavior. The following is a recent Proceso column by Pereyra, given the Google Translate treatment:

The Mexican Baseball League has become a refuge for players and managers expelled from Major League Baseball for having engaged in sexual harassment and abuse of women, as well as as domestic violence perpetrated against their partners and children.

From 2018 to date there are at least eight documented cases: Yasiel Puig (Veracruz), Addison Russell and Mickey Callaway (Monclova), Danry Vásquez (Campeche and Aguascalientes), Luke Heimlich (Dos Laredos), Roberto Osuna (Mexico City), Sergio Mitre (Tijuana and Saltillo) and Omar Vizquel (Tijuana).

Of those, only Vasquez, Russell and Callaway have admitted guilt. The rest deny having committed the abuses and there is no evidence that they have been in rehabilitation. There is also no sign that the clubs they come from or joined have clear policies on how to deal with these people, beyond simply firing them or hiring them to give them a second chance.

In February 2021, five women who spoke on condition of anonymity reported to sports information website The Athletic that they were sexually harassed by Mickey Callaway when he served as pitching coach with the Cleveland Indians (2013-2017), manager of the Mets (2018-2019) and pitching coach for the Los Angeles Angels (2020).

According to the accusations, Callaway sent emails, text messages and on social networks in which he even asked them to send him nude photos. He also used to make comments to them about their appearance, making them uncomfortable, and on one occasion he “brought his genitals close to the face of a female reporter” when she was interviewing him.

Following a three-month investigation, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred's Office announced that it has placed Callaway on its list of ineligible managers, meaning no team can sign him. “Having reviewed the evidence, I have come to the conclusion that Mr. Callaway violated MLB policy. Harassment has no place in Major League Baseball and we are committed to providing an appropriate work environment for everyone involved in our game," Manfred said.

Callaway accepted the sanction and limited himself to issuing a statement: “I apologize to the women who shared with the investigators any interaction that made them feel uncomfortable. I never intended to make anyone feel this way and I didn't understand that these interactions could do that or violate MLB policies. I take responsibility for the consequences,” he said.

But Mickey Callaway has nothing to worry about. In Mexico he already has a job. In 2022 he will be the manager of the Monclova Acereros. It is not the first time that this club hired a man who has no place in the Major Leagues.

For the 2021 LMB campaign, one of Monclova’s most striking signings was that of Addison Russell, a former Chicago Cubs infielder who was suspended 40 games for violating the MLB's domestic violence policy.

In October 2018, Manfred announced the punishment when Russell was on administrative leave – he couldn't play, but was paid – while allegations of domestic abuse made by his ex-wife were investigated.

"My office has completed its investigation into allegations that Addison Russell violated MLB's domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy." The player accepted the punishment and decided not to appeal the suspension.

Domestic violence allegations against Russell were posted by a third party on social media in 2017, but the player's then-wife refused to speak to MLB. In September 2018, the victim confirmed that she did suffer physical and emotional abuse during her two-year marriage.

Not only did the Monclova Acereros resort to hiring former major league players who, unable to get a contract in the United States, saw in Mexican baseball the opportunity to continue playing.

The Campeche Piratas did it with Danry Vásquez, who in August 2016 attacked his partner on the ballpark steps of the Corpus Christi Hooks, a Class AA minor league affiliate of the Houston Astros.

When the images were made public in March 2018, they were used as evidence to open a case against him. After he was arrested, Vasquez was released on bail and reached a plea deal. The case was later dismissed, the player paid a fine and promised not to attack a person with whom he was in a romantic relationship again.

Vasquez apologized in court to fans because his behavior "was unprofessional." By then, he was under contract to a team in Pennsylvania, the Lancaster Barnstormers who fired him as soon as the video was made public.

“As soon as the nature of the incident became apparent, the Barnstormers decided to sever the link. There’s no other option but to end the relationship. Neither I, nor the Barnstormers as an organization, can condone or be associated with this behavior," Lancaster manager Ross Peeples said.

The video shows how Vásquez slaps his girlfriend, knocks her down with the blow, drags her down the stairs. In a break he hits her in the face again, she falls from her and picks her up violently. The images were captured by the stadium's security cameras.

After having played in 2018 with Campeche, the player has been on the roster of the Aguascalientes Rieleros in the 2019 and 2021 campaigns.

From Heimlich to Mitre

The first LMB team to start signing players with a history of violence against women was the Dos Laredos Tecolotes. In March 2019 they announced the hiring of Luke Heimlich, a pitcher who shone at Oregon State University and was considered one of the best prospects in college baseball in the United States.

Despite his talent, he was not drafted by an MLB team when it became known that in 2012 he pleaded guilty to sexually abusing his six-year-old niece when he was 15 years old. In statements to the press, Heimlich has denied that he committed the abuse and that if he pleaded guilty, it was because of the poor advice he received.

In an interview for the Hitazo baseball website, the president of the Tecolotes, José Antonio Mansur, declared that his intention was to give the player a second chance. “The LMB has all his criminal records, in addition to a letter from MLB indicating that he is not suspended; so it is a matter of seeing if we are going to crucify a man for life or give him a second chance, as it should be.

“It would be a good example of how someone who is already free, who has already paid for his mistake, can rejoin. After discussing it with my family, I think he deserves it. We shouldn't close the doors to a 23-year-old boy for his own good and to show that the LMB is open to reincorporating people,” said Mansur.

In May 2018, 23-year-old pitcher Roberto Osuna was arrested by Toronto police while playing for the Blue Jays. The arrest was due to a complaint from his partner, who accused him of having beaten her. After serving a 75-game suspension, Osuna was traded to the Houston Astros.

The case remained in limbo when the complainant stated that she would not appear in court to testify. The parties signed a peace bond and the charges were dropped. In August of that year, Osuna gave an interview to USA Today in which he assured that the fans have judged him without really knowing what happened. He did not talk about the details of the case, but anticipated that the truth would be known soon, which never happened.

In April 2021, the Veracruz Águilas announced that former major leaguer Yasiel Puig would wear their uniform. After spending time with the Dodgers, and a brief stint in Cincinnati and Cleveland, the player did not get a contract for the 2020 season.

Puig arrived in Mexico with the shadow of the accusation of a woman who denounced him for having sexually violated her during a basketball game, accusations that he has denied and for which he considers that the doors to return to the MLB have been closed.

An investigation by the Washington Post revealed last December that since 2017 two other women had signed confidentiality agreements with Puig: they received money in exchange for not making public that they were sexually assaulted and beaten by the player.

Puig denied all three accusations and clarified that having paid does not imply that he is responsible for what he is accused of. The Cuban will not return to Mexican baseball in 2022, as he signed a contract with a South Korean league team.

In October 2020, when there was no LMB season as a result of the pandemic, Blanca García, wife of Omar Vizquel, announced that the former major league player, an 11-time Gold Glove winner, was physically and psychologically abusing her. The Venezuelan was then serving as manager of the Tijuana Toros.

In the multiple complaints she made in different media and on her social network accounts, García also aired an incident that Vizquel had when he was manager of a team in the Minor Leagues: “It made me very disgusted and very indignant and that was the point of breakup that I couldn't take anymore, because the abuse wasn't just me. That was a big part of what led me to make the decision to divorce.”

In August 2021, two weeks after the Toros removed Vizquel as manager,the complaint was made public that one of the bat boys of the Birmingham Barons, the double-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox, filed for sexual conduct aggressive. The young man, who suffers from autism, recounted how Vizquel exposed himself naked to him, forced him to rub his back and deliberately showed him his member.

In a statement, the club reported: "After first becoming aware of an alleged incident in late August 2019, Chicago conducted an internal investigation that resulted in termination of employment with Vizquel."

On December 27, Vizquel announced that the divorce process with his wife had already concluded and that the judge dismissed the charges of gender violence. Regarding the bat boy's lawsuit, he said that, since the case is still open, he cannot comment, but he denied the facts and announced that "it will also be clarified."

Sergio Mitre, 41, is currently being tried for the femicide of Inés, one year and 10 months old, the daughter of his ex-partner Liliana, who points out that he had beaten the girl until she died (NOTE: Mitre has been found guilty and faces up to 60 years in prison). However, the player carries a history of violence from the United States, where he has attacked ex-partners, minors and animals.

In Mexico since September 2019, a video has been made public where the player is seen running naked from a hotel room in Saltillo chasing a woman, also without clothes, whom he dragged back to the room in front of security personnel.

As a result of what happened that night, Sergio Mitre was arrested, spent four days in jail, was prosecuted for domestic violence and the case ended in a conditional suspension. The process consists of the aggressor acknowledging his responsibility and agreeing to comply with a series of reparations and protection measures for the victim.

The Saltillo Saraperos, who initially condemned the violent acts and suspended the player indefinitely, rehired him for 2020. At the beginning of that year he met Liliana and Inés, and while the LMB was inactive – as a result of the pandemic – the girl's murder happened.

Code of ethics

The president of the LMB, Horacio de la Vega, tells Proceso that while Mitre's trial is over, the league has permanently suspended him.

“In the case of players or managers who’ve had this type of unacceptable behavior and who are currently active in the league,” said de la Vega, “it is for such individuals to take responsibility for their actions and reinsert themselves into professional sports in an impeccable way, with exemplary behavior in all aspects of his life, in particular his behavior towards women, and that his activity in professional sports serves as a second chance to make up for his faults.”

The president acknowledges that the LMB lacks a policy to act in this type of case, but that "it is respectful of the autonomy of its clubs and the hiring of personnel."

However, he anticipates that for the 2022 season a Code of Ethics will come into force, "an unprecedented effort in the almost 100 years of existence of the league" which will include precautionary measures and the uprooting of violent behavior against women. He also said that the LMB will develop permanent campaigns for the prevention of gender violence and will teach courses to suppress "incorrectly normalized behavior in our society."

The central task, he adds, "will be prevention, awareness and education to have players with social awareness, gender and values ​​that promote inclusion and equality. We will be very respectful of authority, and if there are players who are legally impeded to participate in our circuit, what is available will be followed.

“The position of the LMB is that any offender be prosecuted, in accordance with all applicable laws in Mexico, as well as with the legal systems of other countries. In the event that the authorities require the support of the LMB, it will be granted.

"Similarly, at the time there are accusations of any kind against personnel of any of the clubs, the league will proceed accordingly with exhaustive investigations."

BENJI GIL NAMED MEXICAN OLYMPIC TEAM MANAGER

Mexico's Olympic manager Benji Gil

    In the wake of the surprising ouster of Juan Gabriel Castro as manager of Mexico's Olympic baseball team without public explanation less than two months before the start of the Tokyo Summer Games, Benji Gil has been appointed as the team's new skipper.

    The Tijuana-born Gil had a playing career that included eight seasons in the major leagues, including a berth on the 2002 World Champion Anaheim Angels. He spent seven summers in the Mexican League and was a member of Monterrey's 2007 champions, while also playing several seasons of winterball in the Mexican Pacific League (winning four pennants and two Caribbean Series with the Culiacan Tomateros).

    After retiring as an infielder, Gil went into managing and has led Culiacan to four Mexican Pacific League pennants since the 2014-15 season. He's come under some fire for not winning a Caribbean Series title, but teams still have to be champions to compete for one. Gil is in his first season of managing a Mexican League team and has piloted the expansion Guadalajara Mariachis to a 14-6 record over three weeks, good for a first-place tie with defending champion Monclova in the LMB North.

    The announcement was made by the Mexican Baseball Federation (FEMEBE) last week. FEMEBE is ostensibly charged with overseeing national teams but some baseball journalists in the country have in effect called it a figurehead organization, claiming that the ProBeis federal agency headed by former MLB and NPB player Edgar Gonzalez wields the real power in the Mexican game.

    Gil steps into a landmine-filled situation following the firing of both Castro and Olympic Team GM Kundy Gutierrez, who had steered Mexico to a berth in Tokyo by winning the Premier12 tournament's group stage at Guadalajara and then qualifying for the Olympics with a third-place showing at the medal round in Japan in November 2019. No reason was given for the move and nobody has stepped up and taken responsibility for the move. 

    Castro and Gutierrez had both publicly criticized the National Commission on Physical Culture and Sports (CONADE) for withholding funds meant to cover the baseball team's travel expenses during the trip to Tokyo. CONADE is led by former Mexican Olympic runner Ana Guevara, who was appointed to her post by president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador shortly after the latter had assumed office. Guevara and AMLO have both been members of the same political party, with Guevara serving as a senator under the banner of that party. Some speculation is that the ousters of Castro and Gutierrez were retribution for their criticism of CONADE and Guevara, who has been mired in allegations of job-related corruption for the past several months.

CONADE director Ana Guevara

     Another school of thought is that the firings were directed from the ProBeis office after Castro was publicly cautious regarding the desire of Edgar Gonzalez' younger brother Adrian to go to Tokyo after not playing since 2018. While the hiring of Gil, who manages the same Guadalajara that Adrian Gonzalez plays for, raised a few eyebrows and led to speculation that the appointment virtually assures that El Titan will make the trip to Japan. It should be noted that Gutierrez has been a longstanding friend of the Gonzalez family and that his firing would be unlikely to have been instigated by Edgar Gonzalez. In short, only the principles know for sure and a promised public airing of the situation by Castro has yet to happen.

    While Gil might appeal to the 30+ players who took their name out of Olympic consideration in protest of the firings, he'll have a chance to look over some of the remaining candidates next weekend when Mexico hosts exhibition games against the Dominican Republic and Venezuela at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helu in Mexico City. The game against the Dominicans is set to take place Saturday, June 19 while Mexico will host Venezuela the following afternoon.

    A poll taken by Puro Beisbol before Castro's ouster showed that 52.5 percent of respondents believe that Mexico will not win a medal in Tokyo. Another 26.7 percent are predicting a Gold medal, 14.4 percent foresee a Bronze and 6.4 percent see Silver in Mexico's future. Six nations will compete in Olympic baseball this year. The sport is being discontinued after Tokyo.

RIELEROS SKIPPER HITS PLAYER, BOTH FINED AND SUSPENDED

Rieleros SS Richy Pedroza

    The Aguascalientes Rieleros have struggled on and off the field for years. The Mexican League team has won just one pennant and two division titles since their 1975 debut, played before sparse home crowds at aging Parque Alberto Romo Chavez and lost money on an annual basis. Last August, Rieleros players forced to sit after the 2020 season was canceled on July 2 asked Liga president Horacio de la Vega for financial assistance that had been promised to players and umpires by the LMB office. In short, the Railroaders are perennial also-rans, one of many franchises with that status.

    Given that history, the 2021 season has begun in expected fashion for the team. Monclova's 48-year-old Bartolo Colon became the oldest player in Mexican League history to pitch a complete game Saturday night by tossing a 6-2 home win as the Rieleros lost their fourth in a row to drop to 7-11 and seventh place in the eight-team LMB North. Colon gave up two runs on five hits and struck out seven in going the distance to raise his own record to 3-1.

    Things are never pleasant when a team's season appears to be going bad early but as befits a club from a city named Aguascalientes (meaning “hot waters”), things reached a boiling point in the visitors locker room after the game, when Rieleros manager Luis Carlos Rivera punched former Cal State Fullerton infielder Richy Pedroza, who'd sat out the contest. Photos of a bruised Pedroza circulated on the internet later during the weekend.

    Blanca Cisneros of ABC Noticias reported that the manager lost control and that “players affirm that Richy did nothing to provoke this situation and that he did not respond to the attack.” One Aguascalientes player, third baseman Michael Wing, posted a Tweet stating “Punching players now...what a joke.”

    On the other hand, the Mexican League office handed down one-game suspensions and fines of approximately 14,170 pesos (or about USD$714) to both Rivera and Pedroza. The LMB said Rivera was being punished for hitting Pedroza while the latter was sanctioned for “violating the regulations in team facilities, including insulting the manager.”

Michael Wing's postgame tweet

    The 5'6” Pedroza was batting .241 after playing shortstop and going 1-for-3 with a walk and scoring a run from the leadoff slot in Friday's 15-3 drubbing at the hands of the Acereros. A 29-year-old switch-hitter from Covina, California, Pedroza was a 17th-round pick by St. Louis in the 2013 draft and played all or part of three seasons in the Cardinals system before being released early in the 2015. He landed in Aguascalientes the following season and has been with the Rieleros since, batting .283 with 260 runs scored over 412 total games. Pedroza's best season in the LMB was in 2019, when he hit .310 with 28 doubles and 104 runs scored in 111 games under then-manager Felix Fermin.

    The 42-year-old Rivera is a Chihuahua native who spent part of the 2000 season pitching six games for Atlanta and Baltimore, going a combined 1-0 with a 1.23 ERA after five years in the Braves' organization. Although he was ranked the fifth-best prospect in the Orioles system in 2001, the 6'3” righty didn't pitch that year or the next before his release in 2003. He later surfaced in the Mexican League, where he pitched until 2010 and spent his last four seasons with his hometown Chihuahua Dorados. Before his hiring in Aguascalientes prior to the canceled 2020 campaign, Rivera managed Leon for both Spring and Fall seasons in 2018 and registered 27-29 and 26-28 records.

    The Rieleros front office had yet to issue an official statement on the incident or suspensions as of Sunday.

LMB TEAMS ON TIGHTER BUDGETS AFTER LOST 2020 SEASON

Proceso writer Beatriz Pereyra

    The Mexican League's 2021 season is coming on the heels of their canceled 2020 schedule due to the pandemic and for many (if not most) of the LMB's 18 franchises, year after year of red ink dominating their profit/loss statements before that.

    Beatriz Pereyra of Proceso penned a report detailing how teams have been cutting expenses in an attempt to stop the bleeding. Here is a Google translated portion of her report:

    The pandemic caused by Covid-19 has left a trail of millions in economic losses among the owners of the clubs of the Mexican Baseball League but, at the same time, it has opened the the door to an unprecedented increase in the number of former major league players and the expansion from 16 to 18 teams that will play a schedule shortened from 120 to 66 games, plus the playoffs.

    Depending on the club and the percentage of fans with which they will be allowed to play at home, the economic blow can amount to 70 million pesos. In addition, they must invest in the application of anti-covid protocols which can increase operating expenses in up to 3 million pesos.

    To resist negative impacts, teams took drastic measures such as cutting player salaries by 20 to 50 percent, cutting back office staff, hiring interns and bartering with sponsors via publicity in exchange for service delivery.

    The payroll of players of the Yucatan Leones, owned by the Arellano brothers, which was 79 million pesos in 2018 (the year in which they were champions), was reduced to 43 million in 2019. Now the pandemic forced them to adjust it to 16 million for 2021.

    The team created a financial analysis that included the players, sponsors and even Yucatan's state governor, Mauricio Vila. The document indicates that they still lack 29.8 million pesos to operate the season, a figure that is reduced to 21.8 million if the team is allowed to play with 40% of the capacity at Estadio Kukulcán.

    “We believe that with this reduction in the cost of payroll we will move forward,” says Leones president Juan Jose Arellano. “If conditions improve, we can adjust and raise them. We explained that to the players and they understood it perfectly. They know that not playing all of last season made it difficult for us. Although we did not play, we helped them with their maintenance because if a player does not play, he does not generate income.”

    The days of the “fat cows” are over, when operating for a season cost the team more than 100 million pesos. In 2021, spending on jobs exceeds 53 million. Another of the items sacrificed will be that of player development, which fell from 14 million in 2019 to 8 million during 2020 and 2021.

    “We are also going to reduce travel costs and in whatever way we can because last year's losses were stratospheric,” added Arellano.

    So it is that even one of the LMB's more solid second-tier franchises behind the top tier of Monclova, Tijuana, Monterrey, Mexico City and Oaxaca (the latter two owned by billionaire Alfredo Harp Helu, one of Mexico's richest men) has had to drastically cut expenses in an attempt to likewise cut their losses as a result. If the Yucatan Leones have had to tighten their belt in such a fashion, how are franchises already operating on the margins like Tabasco, Leon, Laguna and Aguascalientes going to tighten belts that have already run out of notches?