LMP TO OPEN PLAY THURSDAY AMID VIRUS CONCERNS

Inspection at Los Mochis ballpark

    Despite ongoing worries about possible effects the ongoing pandemic might have on both the playing field and in the stands, the Mexican Pacific League is preparing for the opener of its 76th season of winterball on Thursday night, when five games are slated to be played. While the LMP expects to become the first professional baseball league across the globe to start their season on time and (mostly) with people in the stands, things could be running a little smoother.

    On the positive side, the Los Mochis Caneros have gotten the okay from local government to open Estadio Emilio Ibarra Almada seating to 40 percent capacity for home games this winter. The leader of the Municipal Health Directorate in Ahome, Dr. Francisco Espinoza Valverde, and Civil Protection director Salvador Lamphar toured the ballpark with Caneros owner Joaquin Vega to verify that protocols are being followed and subsequently gave the green light for fans to witness games in person. Estadio Emilio Ibarra Almada is located in Ahome, a community of over 10,000 within the municipality of the same name in which Los Mochis is the seat, thus local officials have jurisdiction for such decisions.

    Since the stadium seats 12,000 under normal circumstances, the adjusted capacity to start the season will drop to 4,500 for the start of the season. There will be signage indicating which seats may or may not be used, with no more than three seats allowed to be purchased together. Tickets for Caneros home games are due to go on sale Monday. The decision brought the number of Mex Pac teams being allowed to host games with people in the seats to six: Culiacan, Guasave, Hermosillo, Los Mochis, Mazatlan and Mexicali.

    On the other hand, Septima Entrada reports that Jalisco governor Enrique Alfaro has confirmed that due to conditions related to the pandemic, the public will not be allowed to attend sporting events in the state, including Jalisco Charros home games in Guadalajara. “This is an endurance race and it is not known how long it will last,” Alfaro said on Twitter. “We are all tired, with exhaustion from not being able to go out, of not being able to celebrate in the stadiums, of not celebrating our traditions, but it is not time to relax things.”

    Alfaro noted that Jalisco is one of many states in the country designated with a virtual orange traffic light, which reflects the second-highest stage of alert in Mexico. “For now, there are no conditions to advance in the opening of new activities. We still cannot allow the return of people to the stadiums or the opening of clubs or any type of massive activity," added the governor.

Seats to remain unfilled in Culiacan

    To complicate things even further, Sinaloa (where four of the five LMP teams planning to allow fans play) is one of seven states in which their virtual traffic lights have been downgraded from yellow to orange, which has the potential to force those teams to rescind their decisions and play behind closed doors. The state of Sonora, which has Mex Pac teams in Hermosillo, Navojoa and Obregon, is still under a yellow traffic light but ironically none of those three clubs had said they'd be playing in front of limited capacity crowds until the Naranjeros made a statement to that effect on Saturday. Monterrey, in the virus-ravaged state of Nuevo Leon, will also be playing before empty seats.

    Last week, the LMP office in Guadalajara announced that 669 tests for the Wuhan virus had been carried out in two stages. “The first stage showed that 25% of the players had already contracted the virus prior to arrival at the training fields and that they already had antibodies,” the press release states. “7.7% of the players and coaches were positive at that time in the first stage. 6.2% of the players and coaches were positive in a second stage.”

    The press release adds that both stages of the tests were applied to the same people, showing that the LMP protocol has “generated a downward result in infections” and that the number of positives has been lower than the average of each state where games are played. More to the point, the league says “the results to date to not represent a threat for the season to take place.” Teams will be allowed to use players from extended 70-man rosters to allow for more flexibility in case the virus hits any of them harder than anticipated.

    Thursday's schedule has Jalisco at Monterrey to take the cellophane off the season at 5:00PM EDT, followed by Guasave at Culiacan (9:00PM EDT), Mazatlan at Los Mochis (9:30EDT), Mexicali at Obregon (10:10 EDT) and Hermosillo at Navojoa (10:30 EDT).

TIGRES TO MOVE FROM CANCUN, HOPE TO LAND IN SONORAN CITY

Tigres appear done in Cancun

    One of the Mexican League's flagship franchises will be moving for the third time in less than 20 years years after Quintana Roo Tigres owner Fernando Valenzuela notified the league office of his intention to shift the team out of Cancun after 14 years in the resort city. While nothing is firm yet, the former Cy Young Award winner and his wife Linda are planning to move the Tigres to the border city of San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora.

    Formed in 1955, the Mexico City Tigres (first under founder Alejo Peralta and then his son Carlos) formed an intense rivalry with the Diablos Rojos as the two teams shared the beloved Social Security Park for 45 years before it was razed and replaced by a shopping center. After playing the 2000 and 2001 seasons and winning pennants both years at Foro Sol (a larger facility but ill-suited for baseball), the younger Peralta moved the club to Puebla in 2002 and renamed them the Angelopolis Tigres. They shared Estadio Hermanos Serdan with the Pericos for five years and won the LMB pennant in 2005, but Carlos Peralta moved the team again, this time in 2007 to Cancun. Now known as the Quintana Roo Tigres, the team won three pennants between 2011 and 2015 but never really caught on with locals or tourists, who were more interested in spending time at the beach or in the bars.

    Carlos Peralta was a competent owner by LMB standards, but his passion never came close to his father's and he was ready to sell the Tigres after ten seasons in Cancun. Enter Fernando Valenzuela, who had pitched against the team in Mexico City when he was a teenager pitching for Yucatan in 1979. Valenzuela and his wife bought the Tigres franchise from Peralta in February 2017 and immediately began having problems.

    After partners bailed out to leave the Valenzuelas as the sole owners, five Tigres prospects who'd been on a list of players they were given while negotiating for the team had been transferred to the Diablos Rojos before they assumed ownership. The Rookiegate scandal, which resulted in two of those prospects being sold to the Texas Rangers for over $2 million, soured the Valenzuelas (who could've used the money to counteract the meager crowds at Estadio Beto Avila) and they had to run the once-proud franchise on a frayed shoestring over the next three years. The canceled 2020 season likely sealed the Tigres' fate in Cancun.

    When Proceso writer Beatriz Pereyra tweeted less than a month ago that the Tigres would be moving, the team categorically denied her but Pereyra stood her ground and repeated what she'd heard. As it turns out, she was correct. Although many people have clamored for years to have the Tigres back in Mexico City and others in Veracruz have been trying to bring an LMP team back to the port city, Valenzuela is said to be planning to move the ballclub to San Luis Rio Colorado, a city of 200,000 sitting on the Mexico-Arizona border that has never had a team in either the Mexican League or Mexican Pacific League.

 

Ballpark awaits in San Luis Rio Colorado

   San Luis Rio Colorado (commonly known as simply "San Luis") has been a member of the North Mexico League. The Algodoneros, who can trace their own beginnings to 1946, won their third LNM pennant in seven years in 2019 but the future for that club, classified as Class AA in the Mexican system, is in doubt. The city has refurbished Estadio Andres Mena Montijo from 2,500 seats into a new-look facility that can hold 7,000 spectators, and the Algodoneros were reportedly refused the opportunity to lease the updated ballpark this year before the Liga Norte shut down anyway due to the Wuhan virus.

    Although San Luis would be one of the smallest markets in the Mexican League, it's located in the baseball-crazy state of Sonora, a proven breeding ground for players and fans. San Luis has hosted games for past editions of the Mexican Baseball Fiesta with good turnouts, so crowds may be above the LMB average at worst. The city is located less than 300 miles from Valenzuela's home base in Los Angeles, a much shorter commute than Cancun has been. The Tijuana Toros would have a natural travel partner, although one never knows how the Uribe family would react to a team that could draw fans from Mexicali or even Yuma who've been going to El Nido for ballgames. While San Luis can get scorching hot in the summer, so does Monclova and all the Acereros did was win the last MLB pennant. San Luis mayor Santos Gonzalez already has a good relationship with president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Both Fernando and his son, Tigres GM Fernando Junior, have visited San Luis and toured the ballpark. The stars seem to all be aligned.

    In other words, barring fireworks at the next Assembly of Presidents meeting, we'll be seeing the San Luis Tigres in 2021. Then again, what would a Mexican League Assembly of Presidents meeting be without fireworks?

TOROS SKIPPER VIZQUEL ACCUSED OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

    A nasty divorce just got nastier after Tijuana Toros manager (and Cooperstown candidate) Omar Vizquel's soon-to-be ex-wife accused him of domestic violence during a session on Instagram Live.

    “I am in a divorce process,” Blanca Vizquel said last week, according to Puro Beisbol. “It is a hard process where the man wants me to shut my mouth. That is his request: That I keep my mouth shut so as not to damage his career, so as not to damage his Hall of Fame chances, but he never thought of me nor my well-being. I was his trophy. It cut off all my hopes and dreams."

    Omar Vizquel's first wife, Nicole, was a Seattle native the Venezuelan had met as a young player with the Mariners, leading to their 1992 marriage and two children before their.divorce a few years later. Blanca Garcia, a Colombian fitness trainer 20 years younger than the 53-year-old ex-shortstop, married the 11-time Gold Glove winner in 2014.

    After retiring as a player in 2012 following a 24-year MLB career in which he played in three All-Star Games and collected 2,877 hits, Vizquel has gone into coaching. After spending time as a roving instructor for Angels minor leaguers and as Detroit's infield coach for four years between 2014 and 2017, he moved to the Chicago White Sox system in 2018, leading Winston-Salem to an 84-54 record in the Class A Carolina League and then 64-74 with Class AA Birmingham for 2019 before the Chisox let him go. Vizquel also managed Venezuela to a 2-5 record in the 2017 World Baseball Classic.

    Vizquel was hired to manage Tijuana in 2020 but saw the season end before it got started after the Mexican League canceled its schedule. Now his future with the Toros may be in doubt due to these allegations.

The Vizquels in apparently happier times

    Blanca Vizquel also said on Instagram, “He demanded that I go everywhere with him so in order to not bother him and for not pay the consequences, I had to agree to smile, be well-dressed and well-groomed with makeup, when all I wanted was to cry…but it wasn't an option for me.” In a story posted on the en24.com website in Venezuela, she claimed that Vizquel lost his job with the White Sox for this reason and that he only gave her “crumbs of money” because he did not stop financially supporting his ex-wife. She said she couldn't elaborate on the case at the suggestion of her lawyers but details about her troubled relationship with Vizquel would soon be revealed. No details of actual physical violence have been given.

    Besides the threat to his current job status, the allegations are also a setback for Vizquel's chances at joining another slick-fielding shortstop, Luis Aparicio, as the only Venezuelans in the Hall of Fame. He earned 36.9 percent of the vote in 2018, his first year on the ballot) then saw his support rise to 4.8 percent in 2019 and 52.6 this year. It takes being on 75 percent of BBWAA ballots for induction and Vizquel was looking like a good bet to get in before his ten-year ballot limit was reached. Whether these allegations hinder his chances or not, they certainly won't help.

YUCATAN CLINCHES FIRST IN LMB SOUTH, 3 GAMES LEFT

LMB batting leader Daniel Mayora of Durango

          Just three games remain in the Mexican League's 2019 regular season and the field for September's playoffs has mostly been determined, although the pairings have yet to be determined. Yucatan (38-19) had their five-game win streak snapped in Leon, 5-4, Sunday afternoon as the Bravos tagged Leones starter Yoanner Negrin for all five of their runs in the bottom of the third inning, but the Spring 2018 pennant winners had already locked up first place in the LMB's South Division and the eight playoff points that go with it. The 13 points Yucatan will have accrued are more than enough to clinch a postseason berth and perhaps enough for the top seed in the division.

          Quintana Roo (33-22) fell to second after losing four of six games last week, although the Tigres did beat rival Mexico City, 4-2 in Cancun Sunday to salvage that series after losing the first two games to the Diablos Rojos.  The Tigres also dropped two of three against Oaxaca last week en route to a 2-4 week, but they'll likely outpoint fast-fading Puebla for the fourth and final playoff berth in the LMB South.  The Diablos (33-24) will finish the half in no worse than third place, which would mean 13 playoff points for the season and a tie with the Leones for top seed. First-half champ Oaxaca (28-28) has played better of late after a slow start to the second half and could end up tying Yucatan and perhaps Mexico City with 13 accrued points if they hold off Campeche for fourth.  At any rate, the four playoff teams in the South have largely been determined.

          Saltillo (36-20) is 1.5 games ahead of second-place Monclova (35-22) in the LMB North and will clinch the division title if they take two of three against Dos Laredos at home this week.  That would give the Saraperos 12 total playoff points and while they'll finish behind both Tijuana (33-24) and Monterrey (29-26) in the overall points race, they'd have enough points to reach the postseason.  The third-place Toros and fourth-place Sultanes both received 7.5 points after tying for the first-half title and neither will end the regular season with fewer than 12.5 points while Monclova will earn top seed with 14 points if they maintain their second-place status after their final three contests.

          Dos Laredos (26-31) had an outside shot at the fourth playoff berth before struggled the past couple weeks while Aguascalientes (26-30) has won eight of their last ten to pass the Tecos into fifth place.  Dos Laredos owner fired Alfonso "Houston" Jimenez as manager last Friday after the Tecos had dropped eight of nine games.  Third base coach Rafael Rijo becomes the third manager of the border team this year.  Much of Aguascalientes' recent surge can be credited to closer Anthony Carter, who has won two games and saved four the past two weeks.  While he's not likely to beat out Dos Laredo's Roman Mendez or Wirfin Obispo of Monterrey for LMB Reliever of the Year, Carter has had a nice season with a 12-6 record and 14 saves out of the bullpen to lead the team in wins and saves along with a 3.43 ERA that ranks well below any Aguascalientes starter.

          Daniel Mayora of Durango has taken control of the batting race as Felix Pie's slide continues.  The Leon outfielder was batting well over .400 with a healthy lead in the tables until August arrived.  Pie is batting .294 for the month (with a .200 mark with two RBIs over his last ten games) to drop to third in the LMB at .382, trailing Mayora's .389 and the .384 average of Monclova's Francisco Peguero.  The 34-year-old Mayora played in five Class A ar AA All-Star Games between 2007 and 2012 before coming to Durango in 2017.  He hit .370 that season and fashioned a 35-game hitting streak for the Generales (one shy of the LMB single-season record), but was released in July during a salary dispute and quickly picked up by Monterrey, for whom the Venezuelan hit .386 over ten games. He has since bounced to Dos Laredos and finally back to Durango, where presumably the paychecks are clearing now under new owner Alfredo Aramburo.

Aguascalientes P Anthony Carter

          Monclova's Chris Carter homered in three straight games last week to bring his season total to 48, most in organized ball this year. The ex-NL home run champ hit just .258 over his last ten games and while pitchers aren't giving him much to hit (10 walks), he still belted four roundtrippers and drove in 12 runs in that span.  Carter also tops Liga batters in RBIs (118), slugging percentage (.719) and both walks (114) and strikeouts (152).  Oaxaca's Johnny Davis has 48 stolen bases and the steals title is his to lose, but teammate Alonzo Harris is second with 44 swipes and belted his 38th homer Saturday in Campeche in his quest to become the Mexican League's first 40/40 man ever.  Harris has three home games against the Piratas this week to hit two more homers.  Harris is also batting .344 and considered a favorite for Most Valuable Player honors along with Carter and perhaps Yucatan pitcher Cesar Valdez.

          Although hurlers rarely win the MVP trophy, Valdez is making a pretty good case for himself.  He went to 15-2 last Thursday with a 5-3 win at Leon, allowing one earned run on five hits with seven strikeouts over seven innings to beat Bravos hurler Yasumoto Kubo (8-14), who leads the LMB with 154 strikeouts.  That's one of the few major categories Valdez isn't leading the Liga in, as the Venezuelan tops the loop in wins (15), ERA (2.26) and WHIP (1.06).  His ERA is nearly a full run lower than moundmate Negrin's 3.22 mark.  The 13-6 Negrin was the 2016 Pitcher of the Year and Valdez will undoubtedly earn that award this season.  Dos Laredos' Roman Mendez has only earned one save this month for the Tecos, but his closeout of last Wednesday's 2-1 win over Monclova gives him an even 30 for the season, two more than Monterrey's Wirfin Obispo.  Tijuana All-Star (and former Phils farmhand) Jesus Pirela has been the LMB's premier setup man this year and his 29 holds are eight better than Oaxaca's Juan Sandoval at 21. Ironically, Pirela is 0-for-3 in save situations for the Toros.

          With the playoff field pretty much set (if not the first round matchups), there's not a lot of drama in the final regular season series of 2019 starting Tuesday.  One notable exception will be in Saltillo, where the Saraperos try to stave off Dos Laredos' desperate attempt for a sweep to force at least a wild card game for the fourth and final LMB North playoff berth.  Likewise, Campeche desperately needs midweek wins in Oaxaca to keep their slight postseason hopes alive.


RUMOR MILL: COULD TIGRES RETURN TO MEXICO CITY?

Tigres founder Alejo Peralta (1916-96)

           The warm reception fans accorded the Quintana Roo Tigres when they played a recent Mexican League series in Mexico City has only fueled speculation that the flagship franchise might move back to the city they called "home" from their 1955 formation through the 2002 season.  Although the Tigres dropped two of three games to the Diablos Rojos in the August 16-18 set, a large percentage of the 37,745 fans who attended the three games at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helu were in vocal support of the visiting team, perhaps remembering when the Diablos-Tigres rivalry was the hottest in Mexican baseball, a distinction that likely goes to the Tijuana Toros and Monterrey Sultanes for reasons that go far beyond the won-lost column.

          Although the Tigres have won four pennants since leaving the nation's capital, the team's glory years were spent in Mexico City when they shared Parque de Seguro Social with the Diablos for 35 years before spending 2000 and 2001 in the Foro Sol, beating their bitter rivals in the Serie del Rey both years.  The Tigres won a pennant in their first season after they were formed by entrepreneur Alejo Peralta in the wake of the LMB's disastrous 1954 campaign in which the Liga suffered such serious financial losses that the loop's existence was threatened.

          Instead, new owners like Peralta were found and the Mexican League became a Class AA member of Minor League Baseball after years of operating outside the aegis of organized baseball.  The moves saved the Mexican League (which became a AAA circuit in 1967) and the Tigres became one of the LMB's model operations while winning eight flags in Mexico City under Peralta and his son Carlos, who inherited the team after the elder Peralta died at age 80 in 1997.  The Tigres won the flag that summer and two more before Carlos Peralta decided to move the team to Puebla prior to the 2003 campaign.

          While they won a pennant in 2005 (with an All-Mexican roster to commemorate the team's 50th anniversary), the Tigres never really clicked in Puebla over four years as they shared both the colonial city and Estadio Hermanos Serdan with the Pericos so the younger Peralta moved them to Cancun in 2007, marking the first time in team history that they had a city all to themselves.  That shift has never really worked out as well despite three more pennants to bring the franchise's overall total to twelve title, second only to the Diablos' 16. Unlike his father, Carlos Peralta was never a baseball fan and his team was heavily subsidized by the Quintana Roo state government up until he sold the Tigres to Fernando and Linda Valenzuela in February 2017.

Will Estadio Fray Nano host an LMB team again?

          The Valenzuelas have struggled to operate in the resort city while attendance has never been better than middle of the pack and their easternmost location adds cost to road trips.  The enthusiasm for the team in Mexico City did not go unnoticed and a possible franchise shift will be discussed at the conclusion of the current season.  An anonymous Tigres board member told Puro Beisbol editor Fernando Ballesteros "moving is a real possibility...they are very attracted to Mexico City."

          Recently-vacated Estadio Fray Nano, which served the Diablos for five summers before their current ballpark was completed, is being mentioned as a possible site for future Tigres home games. However, the 5,000-seat venue would be the smallest in the league and fans rarely bothered the ticket sellers when the Red Devils played at home as the team regularly finished near the bottom of the attendance tables.


MAZATLAN CHOSEN TO HOST 2021 CARIBBEAN SERIES

Estadio Teodoro Mariscal in Mazatlan

          The Mexican Pacific League Mazatlan Venados have been selected to host the Caribbean Series in February 2021 at the renovated Estadio Teodoro Mariscal. Typically, the Serie del Caribe rotates between Mexico, Venezuela, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic during a four-year cycle and 2021 will be Mexico's next turn to host it.  That rotation has been scuttled the past two years as political and socioeconomic turmoil in Venezuela led to the CS being moved from Barquisimeto in that country the past two winters, with Guadalajara taking over the event in 2018 a year after it was played in Culiacan while Panama City was the surprise last-minute emergency host this year.  Panamanian champion Herrera was a surprise winner in that nation's first time playing for the Crown Jewel of Latin Baseball since 1960.

          This will mark the first time Mazatlan has hosted the Caribbean Series since 2005, when the LMP champion Venados won five of six games under manager Juan Jose Pacho while fielding a roster including major leaguers Vinny Castilla, Erubiel Durazo, Luis Ayala and Jonny Gomes as well as tournament MVP Francisco Campos, who led all pitchers in wins (2), strikeouts (23) and ERA (1.13).  Pacho led the Venados to a second CS crown in 2016, winning all six games in Santo Domingo that February to cap a run of four titles for Mexican teams in a six-year span between 2011 and 2016.

          The 2020 Caribbean Series is slated to be held in Puerto Rico at San Juan's Hiram Bithorn Stadium.  Two more nations will join the field to make it an eight-team tournament for the first time ever as winterball champions from Colombia and Nicaragua are expected to join the other six title-winners (Cuba was added on a conditional basis in 2014 and Pinar del Rio from that nation won the CS crown one year later).

Mazatlan Venados celebrate their 2016 CS title

          However, in recent years, plot complications have become a part of the Serie del Caribe fabric and 2020 may be no different.  Last week, Major League Baseball ruled that no player in an MLB organization will be allowed to play in Venezuela this winter.  MLB chief legal officer Dan Halem claims U.S. president Donald Trump dictated the ban due to support Venezuela president Nicolas Maduro's government gives the Liga Venezolana, which has heavily relied on MiLB players to fill their rosters in recent years.  If the ban holds, LVBP teams will have to rely on players from American independent leagues and Latin American players not already playing winterball in other countries.

          In other Mex Pac news, the new Guasave Algodoneros are now on their third manager even though the team has yet to play a game.  Originally, Salon de la Fama second baseman and longtime Oakland A's minor league coach Juan Navarrete was announced as the Cottoneers manager.  Then, Puro Beisbol writer Gilberto Ruiz Razo said in an August 18 piece that Guasave was going to hire former Mariners farmhand and LMB infielder Bobby Magallenes as dugout boss. Puro Beisbol editor Fernando Ballesteros says Magallenes (who's coaching with the Braves' AAA Gwinnett affiliate this summer) turned down the Guasave job "to concentrate on family matters," stating that the new Algodoneros skipper will be ex-MLB pitcher Rigo Beltran.  Beltran, who pitched for the Cardinals, Mets, Rockies and Expos between 1997 and 2004, is presently pitching coach for Columbus, the Indians' AAA farm team.


BONUS:  LEON 5, YUCATAN 4 on SUNDAY, 25 AUG 2019

          Baseball Mexico reader Bob Broughton is a Canadian who has relocated to Mexico and now attends Leon Bravos games while not writing his Courtesy Runner blog on NAIA college baseball for VictorySportsNetwork.com. The following is his in-person game report of Sunday's matchup between the Bravos and Yucatan at Leon's final home game of 2019, photos included:

 

Yucatan infielder Alex Liddi

        The Bravos de León (46-68) defeated the Leones (Lions) de Yucatán (64-51) at Estadio Domingo Santana in León on August 25. This was the Bravos' final home game of the season. They lost the previous four games. This was a good ball game, so they finished the season on a positive note, in front of a good crowd.

          The Bravos got all five of their runs in the bottom of the third inning. SS Marco Jaime got it started with a single. 3B Marco Guzman hit a double, the 1B Matt Clark was hit hard by a pitch to load the bases. (Clark returned to first base in the top of the fourth, but was replaced by a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the fourth.) The next batter, DH Carlos Rivero, hit a ground ball that resulted in a force out at second base, but Jaime scored. LF Felix Pie hit a double to score Guzman. RF Cedric Hunter drew a walk to load the bases again, then CF Jose Cardona hit a two-RBI single. 2B Carlos Alvarez hit a single to score Hunter, then C Omar Renteria hit into a double play to end the inning.

          The Leones opened the scoring with an RBI single by 1B Art Charles in the top of the first. However, an inning-ending double play kept the damage to one run. The turning point in the game came in the top of the third. With runners at first and third and one out, DH Luis Juarez had a long turn at bat off Bravos starter LHP Jose De Paula. Juarez hit long foul balls to both the first-base and third-base sides; the latter one wasn't foul by more than 15 cm., and bounced to the fence; it would have certainly scored two runs. He was finally put out on a harmless popup to the catcher in foul territory. The next batter, Charles, hit an RBI single, but the Leones led by only 2-0 going into the bottom of the third.

          The Leones added a run in the top of the fifth with a sacrifice fly by 3B Alex Liddi. De Paula got some defensive help in the top of the sixth; with a runner on second and two outs, LF Jose Aguilar hit a line drive to right field, and Hunter made a great leaping catch, saving a run.

           De Paula was still on the mound for the seventh inning. The Leones started the inning with a double by SS Jorge Flores. The next batter, 2B Walter Ibarra, bunted. It wasn't fielded cleanly, and the Leones had runners at first and third with no outs, and behind only 5-3. De Paula was relieved by RHP Luis de la O, who has an ERA of 10.13. He threw one pitch, and the result was a double play, although Flores scored to make it 5-4. de la O walked the next batter, Liddi, and was replaced by RHP Fredy Quintero. Quintero promptly picked off Liddi to end the inning.

          In the top of the eighth, Quintero walked Charles with one out. Charles was replaced by a pinch-runner, Francisco Hernandez. Quintero struck out the next batter, then Renteria made a throw to second to catch Hernandez attempting to steal.

          The Bravos' closer, RHP Manny Acosta, came on in the top of the ninth. The leadoff batter, C Sebastian Valle, hit a ground ball to second base. It was bobbled by shortstop Jaime, and was scored an error, although it was a difficult play. Since the Leones trailed by one run, the next batter, Aguilar, was called upon to bunt. Acosta threw three pitched to him; he bunted foul three times, and the Leones wasted an out. The next batter, Flores, hit a sharp line drive that was caught by Jaime. Valle had already reached second base (hit-and-run?), so all Jaime had to do was make an easy throw to first to complete the double play and end the game.

 

Leon pitcher Jose De Paula

        The Bravos had five double plays in the game. De Paula went six+ innings, allowed three earned runs on nine hits, walked two, struck out two, and got the win. Acosta got a save. Leones starter RHP Yoanner Negrin went six innings, allowed five runs on eight hits, struck out three, walked two, and got the loss. Guzman finished 3-for-4 with a double. Charles went 2-for-3 with two RBI.

          Pie leads the team in in hitting by a wide margin, with a .382 average. De Paula's 3-0 W/L record is the best on the team, and his 4.55 ERA is one of the lowest. He spent the majority of the season with Monterrey, and his numbers for the entire season are 6-1, 4.68 ERA, and 87 strikeouts. Acosta's numbers are 3-3, 3.86 ERA, 52 strikeouts, and 17 saves.

          The Bravos drew 4,346 fans to Sunday's game to bring their 2019 average attendance up to 3,318, eleventh in the league. Last season's average was 2,326.

          Negrin (Havana) was in the Cubs organization 2011-15. Liddi (Sanremo, Italy) played 61 games for the Mariners 2011-13, had a career average of .208. He played for Italy in three World Baseball Classics. He was a teammate of Mitch "The Boss" Lively with Chinatrust Brothers. Charles (Bakersfield, CA) was in the Blue Jays organization 2010-15. Flores (Ensenada, Baja California) was also in the Blue Jays organization, 2012-17. Ibarra (Los Mochis, Sinaloa) was in the Yankees organization 2006-13, the Cubs organization 2014, and the Diamondbacks organization 2015. Valle (Los Mochis, Sinaloa) was in the Phillies organization 2007-14.

          De Paula (Villa Mella, Dominican Republic) pitched 3 1/3 innings for the Yankees in 2015. Cardona (San Nicolas de los Garza, Nuevo Leon) was in the Rangers organization 2011-18.

ALVAREZ OUT IN OAXACA, REPLACED BY GASTELUM

New Oaxaca manager Sergio Gastelum 

The Joe Alvarez Era in Oaxaca is over after 30 games.  After some early success in the Mexican League's Fall season, winning eight of their first 12 games and brief ownership of first place in the LMB South standings, the Guerreros lost 12 of their next 18 games before Alvarez was shown the door last Tuesday with a 14-16 record and the usual platitudes from the people firing him.  "The Cuban-born Alvarez achieved the necessary harmony in the dressing room and field of play," a Guerreros press release said, "but unfortunately, the results were not positive for the team.  We wish him a lot of success in his next project."

Alvarez was hired June 11 after former Mexico City Diablos Rojos star Jose Luis "Borrego" Sandoval piloted Oaxaca to a 22-35 record and last place in the South for the Spring season.  The 62-year-old Alvarez has had some past success in the Liga, leading Puebla to the South championship in 2014 after replacing Alfonso "Houston" Jimenez during the season and piloting Durango to a .500 record over the first month of the 2017 season after the Generales were forced to play the first four weeks of the schedule on the road while belated renovations to their ballpark were being completed.  However, Alvarez was sacked in Durango after the Generales faded down the stretch amid player discontent stemming from late paychecks while top talent was traded away for cash so payroll could be met.

Prior to his June hiring in Oaxaca, the three-time pennant-winning manager during his stint in the Dodgers system was preparing for his first winter managing the Mazatlan Venados, where Alvarez will return to another situation in which ballpark renovations are falling behind as the clock ticks toward a season opener.  Alvarez will be replaced in the Guerreros dugout by former second baseman Sergio Gastelum, a 39-year-old Sonoran who retired as a player last winter after compiling a .310 batting average with 82 homers and 1,054 runs scored in 22 seasons, the first 12 with the Tigres while they were located in Mexico City and then Puebla.

The Guerreros lost their first six games under Gastelum to see their losing streak drop to nine while sinking deeper in the standings with a 14-22 record, one game ahead of last-place Quintana Roo (13-23).  Defending champion Yucatan has won four straight, including a three-game weekend home sweep of Oaxaca, to pull into a virtual tie with Leon at the top of the LMB South standings.  The 19-15 Bravos are .003 percentage points ahead of the 20-16 Leones, half a game ahead of 19-16 Puebla and one-and-a-half games up on 18-17 Mexico City.  In the LMB North, Monclova (27-9) has won eight of their last ten games to maintain a six-game lead over Dos Laredos (21-15), who have played well since Felix Fermin assumed the reins from former manager Eddie Castro in May near the end of the Spring season.  Tijuana (20-15), Monterrey (20-16) and Aguascalientes (18-17) round out the top five teams in the North with Saltillo, Durango and Union Laguna fading out of playoff contention with three weeks left in the abbreviated regular season.

Former Padres shortstop Everth Cabrera has taken over the batting lead, with the Yucatan infielder posting a .423 average to lead teammate Leo Heras (.422) and Oaxaca's Yuniesky Betancourt (.401) at the top of the table.  Saltillo outfielder Leandro Castro belted three solo homers last week to bring his season roundtripper total to 12, one ahead of Monterrey's Felix Perez and two up of Francisco Peguero of Monclova.  Perez was sent to the Sultanes along with pitcher Gabe Aguilar by Aguascalientes in a five-player trade last Tuesday that netted the Rieleros first sacker Ricky Alvarez, outfielder Francisco Lugo and pitcher Nestor Molina.   Puebla outfielder Delmon Young continues to lead the Liga in RBIs with 43 over 35 games.  The ex-MLBer had no ribbies in a weekend series in Quintana Roo after driving in five runs in three midweek games at Yucatan.  Aguascalientes outfielder Tony Campana stole two bases last week to bring his season total to a Liga-leading 19, five more than Dos Laredos' Johnny Davis.

Leon pitcher Rogelio Martinez won at Tabasco last Saturday in his only start of the week and while the three earned Olmecas runs he allowed brought his ERA up from 1.21 to 1.63, he still leads the LMB in that category.  After going 5-13 with an ERA above 5 over six previous seasons for four teams, the 26-year from Jalisco is having a breakout season for the Bravos and a big reason they occupy first place.  Another breakout year is coming from Mexico City righty Patrick Johnson, who beat Campeche for the second time in seven days last Friday to run his season record to 6-0 in seven starts and 9-0 since coming to the Diablos from Oaxaca during the Spring season.  The former University of North Carolina hurler was 2-3 for the Guerreros before being dealt to Mexico City on May 4 but hasn't lost since.  Puebla's Enrique Oquendo struck out three Yucatan batsmen over 1.1 innings last Wednesday before being pulled (he allowed five walks and a hit in that start, a no-decision) to bring his season whiff total to 43, still tops in the loop.  Monclova's Josh Lueke and Wirfin Obispo of Monterrey each earned a save last week and both now have 10 for the season to tie for most in the LMB.

There'll be a big midweek series in Leon starting Tuesday when the Bravos host Yucatan in a three-game battle between the top two teams in the LMB South.  Next weekend's top series will likely be in Tijuana, when fifth-place Aguascalientes visits for a trio of games with the third-place Toros as two LMB North playoff contenders collide.


DIABLOS TO RETURN PROSPECT RIGHTS, PAY TIGRES

Texas Rangers minor league pitcher Damian Mendoza

In what may finally be the closing chapter of the ongoing Rookiegate situation, the Mexican League ha ordered the Mexico City Diablos Rojos to return the rights to five former prospects to Quintana Roo while also paying the Tigres money the Diablos had received from the sale of two of the young players who'd been property of the Cancun team before some reported sleight-of-hand during the February 2017 sale of the Tigres from former owner Carlos Peralta to ex-Dodgers Cy Young winner Fernando Valenzuela resulted in five prospects being moved from the Tigres' protected list to the Diablos.  The resulting scandal has been called "Rookiegate" and has reverberated throughout the LMB.

According to reporter Beatriz Pereyra of Proceso, the Liga's Board of Directors (consisting of Monclova and Puebla owner Gerardo Benavides, Tijuana owner Alejandro Uribe, Eustacio Alvarez of Aguascalientes and Dos Laredos owner Jose Antonio Mansur unanimously declared the player transfers null and void, ordering the return to Quintana Roo of Fernando Villalobos, who was 14 at the time and protected from being transferred to another team, while compensating the Tigres for the sale of their former prospects Luis Fernando Medina, Damian Mendoza, Oliver Zepeda and Hansen Lopez to Major League Baseball organizations.  Medina was already in the Braves organization at the time of the sale while Zepeda was an infielder in the Blue Jays system, Mendoza was sold to the Texas Rangers for a reported US$1.2 million while Villalobos is said to have sold himself to the same organization for US$1.5 million.  The Mexican rights to all five will revert to Quintana Roo and while the Diablos will have to pay the US$1.2 they received from the Rangers for Mendoza, compensation for Villalobos may be tricky since the young catcher was not signed legally.

In fact, the whole Rookiegate affair is murky, depicted by current Diablos GM Francisco "Pollo" Minjarez (who came to Mexico City from Cancun almost immediately after the Tigres were sold, as a "gentleman's agreement" between former Quintana Roo team president Chto Rodriguez and ex-Diablos president Roberto Mansur in which the Diablos supposedly had room on their master roster for the prospects while the Tigres didn't.  Minjarez was suspended by the Liga for his role while both Rodriguez and Mansur are both out of baseball.  An interesting note is that Dos Laredos president Jose Antonio Mansur in essence voted against his brother as an LMB director.

The imbroglio was denounced loudly and often by Valenzuela and his wife, Linda Burgos, who both claimed to have seen the five prospects' names on a list of players whose rights were owned by the Tigres while the sale was being negotiated.  Reports were that if the Liga did not do something to rectify the matter to the Valenzuelas' satisfaction, the Tigres might have gone back on the market.  Instead, it appears the sordid matter has been resolved (if not to everyone's satisfaction) and that the Tigres will be five players and at least US$1.2 million richer.


AMADOR SUSPENDED BY NPB AFTER DRUG TESTS

Rakuten Golden Eagles slugger Japhet Amador

Mexican slugger Japhet Amador of Nippon Professional Baseball's Rakuten Golden Eagles has been suspended for six months after testing positive for two banned substances, chlorthalidone and furosemide, on June 23 ten days after being tested following a game against the Chunichi Dragons in Sendai.  Both are on a list of prohibited drugs on the World Anti-Doping Agency (or WADA) website.  According to writer Jason Coskrey of the Japan Times, Amador was given a chance to defend himself during a Pacific League meeting on June 30 and while he denied intentionally taking any banned substance, an NPB press release said he did not dispute the actual findings.  At Amador's request, the sample was tested again on August 1 but results came back the same.

The suspension means the hulking (6'4" and listed at 310 pounds) Amador will not be eligible to play again in Japan until next February, but concerns exist that Rakuten will not bring him back for 2019 and that his NPB career may be over due to the test results.  There was some speculation among Mexican baseball cognoscenti that the so-called "Giant of Mulege" may join the Mexico City Diablos Rojos (who own his LMB rights) for the stretch run of the current Fall regular season and playoffs, he'll more likely cool his heels until his Mexican Pacific League team, the Jalisco Charros, begin winterball play in October.  Where Amador goes after the MexPac season may be the larger question.

In a statement released by the Eagles front office, Amador is quoted as saying, "I have never committed an act of doping in my baseball life up to this point.  I have never intentionally taken any banned drugs.  I haven’t used stimulants or anything to increase muscle, or thought about using diuretics or masking agents. I’ve been given many doping tests in the past and they’ve all been negative.”

Amador had a .269 average in 62 games for Rakuten this season with 20 homers (tied for sixth in the league) and 42 RBIs.  Since joining the Eagles for the 2016 season, he's belted 52 homers in 222 NPB games, including 23 longballs in 2017.  After his Mexican League debut with Minatitlan as a 20-year-old in 2007, Amador hit .330 with with 167 homers over nine Liga seasons.  He had a monster year for Mexico City in 2015, batting .346 with 41 homers and 117 RBIs in 103 games before sending another 14 balls to the street in 58 games for Jalisco in the LMP's 2015-16 season.  He hit .248 with six homers in 36 contests for the Charros last winter, but should be much more rested when the 2018-19 MexPac campaign opens.

Toros complete sweep of Rieleros, advance to LMB North finals

Tijuana Toros right-handed pitcher Manny Barreda

The Tijuana Toros punched their ticket to a fourth consecutive berth in the Mexican League North Division championship series by sweeping Aguascalientes in four LMB North semifinal games last week.  Manager Pedro Mere's men beat the Rieleros, 6-3, Sunday in Aguascalientes to clinch the series after league batting champ Isaac Rodriguez slapped an RBI single and a Jose Vargas fielding error at third base resulted in two more Toros runs to give the defending champions the lead for good.

Tijuana won last Wednesday's opener at home, 3-2, with pinch-hitter Maxwell Leon's RBI single in the bottom of the ninth ended the game.  The Toros took Game Two on Thursday, 5-3, behind Kyle Lobstein's 5.2 innings of two-run pitching before prevailing in Saturday's contest at Estadio Alberto Romo Chavez, 4-0, with starter Manny Barreda contributing 5.1 frames to the shutout.  Tijuana also defeated the Railroaders (in six games) to win their division semi set last August.

All three of the remaining division semifinal series have teams one win away from advancing to the second round.  The other LMB North matchup has Monterrey leading Monclova, 3 games to 1, following Sunday's 10-8 Sultanes road win.  Arturo Rodriguez belted a three-run homer for the winners while former Yanks prospect and NPB infielder Ramiro Pena collected four hits, including a homer.  Monclova won the opener last Wednesday, 7-0, behind Josh Lowey's seven strong innings (1 hit, 5 strikeouts and no walks) but the Sultanes have since won the last three.  Marco Tovar hurled five scoreless innings in Thursday's 6-3 Sultanes triumph as Agustin Murillo added three hits, a homer, two runs and three RBIs. Roberto Kelly's troops won Saturday in Estadio Monterrey, 7-3, behind Jose De Paula's seven frames of one-run pitching and Sebastian Elizalde's two-run roundtripper.  Game Four is Monday night in Monterrey as Lowey returns to the mound for the Acereros against Sultanes starter Jorge Reyes.

In the LMB South, Yucatan has Leon on the ropes with a 3-games-to-1 lead and Game Four scheduled Monday night in Merida.  The Leones won the first game, 5-0, in Leon Wednesday as starter Jose Samayoa lent six innings to the whitewash effort. The Bravos came back one night later for a 3-1 win with Cedric Hunter hitting an RBI double and later scoring himself to give Alejandro Soto (7.2 IP/1R) a 2-0 lead before throwing his first pitch.  Yucatan then copped wins in two games at Parque Kukulkan over the weekend, winning a 10-4 contest Saturday as Sebastian Valle's three-run bomb in the fifth lent support to Yoanner Negrin, who allowed three runs in seven frames. On Sunday, Art Charles socked a two-run dinger while Valle and Jesus Valdez combined for six hits and three ribbies in a 6-4 Leones win.  Monday night's game will see Samayoa back on the hill for Yucatan to face the Bravos' Bryan Evans.

Quintana Roo has archrival Mexico City on the brink of elimination in the other LMB South semifinal, leading by a 3-1 margin.  The Diablos won last Wednesday's Game One, 7-6, as Alexei Ramirez went 4-for-5 for the winners with a run and two RBIs. Alonzo Harris swatted two homers for the Tigres, who've come back to win the next three games, starting with Thursday's 12-4 drubbing in Estadio Fray Nano in which they scored five runs in the top of the first and pulled away.  Francisco Cordoba pounded two homers for Q-Roo before homering both Saturday and Sunday in Tigres wins. Saturday saw skipper Tim Johnson's crew take a 9-2 Game Three win over Mexico City in Cancun with ageless wonder Pablo "Padre Tiempo" Ortega (41, to be exact) going the distance and allowing two runs on four hits. Javier Solano then tossed seven innings and struck out eight for Quintana Roo in a 2-0 shutout Sunday as Cordoba hit his fourth homer in three games.  Barry Enright will get the Game Five start Monday night for Quintana Roo while Mexico City sends out Octavio Acosta.

Not all Mexican League activity was limited to the playing field last week.  The Tabasco Olmecas rewarded manager Alfonso "Houston" Jimenez for taking a roster that had "cellar dweller" written all over it to a 24-33 record to finish two games behind fifth-place Puebla by firing him.  The Villahermosa team also had a surprisingly robust (for them) first half at the gate as the usually-moribund franchise came in sixth in the Liga attendance derby by averaging 3,432 fans per opening. Tabasco drew 1,437 per night last year, by far the worst in AAA and often with only hundreds in the stands.  Vicente Palacio will succeed Jimenez at the helm of the Olmecas, but it may never really matter who the manager is in Tabasco.

The firing is only the second of the season in the LMB (Eddie Castro was canned in Dos Laredos last month), a show of remarkable restraint among league owners more given to acting like George Steinbrenner than Connie Mack when it comes to letting managers go with the obligatory official statement of thanks for a job well done (but not well enough).

Acereros' Castillo wins second straight MVP award

Mexican League MVP Jesse Castillo

Monclova Acereros slugger Jesus “Jesse” Castillo has been named the Most Valuable Player for the Mexican League’s 2018 Spring season after leading the circuit with 57 RBIs, coming in second with 13 homers and finishing third in batting with a .378 average.  He also was tops among LMB batters with 48 bases on balls and third in both extra-base hits (29) and total bases (128). Castillo, who came to the Steelers from Aguascalientes in an off-season trade that sent second baseman Tim Torres to the Railroaders, was also the Liga’s MVP last summer after posting a .342/20/82 campaign with the Rieleros.

The 35-year-old Mexicali native has spent 15 seasons in the Mexican League, playing in Yucatan, Veracruz and Tabasco as well as Aguascalientes and Monclova after debuting with the Leones as a 21-year-old in 2004 and going 1-for-2 in four games.  The 6’1” first baseman has belted 111 homers with 247 doubles and 689 ribbies for his career to augment a .322 batting average, but his career trajectory has been an interesting one. After never hitting more than nine homers or driving in more than 64 runs through the 2013 season, Castillo caught fire with Aguascalientes in 2014 by socking 17 roundtrippers and knocking in 91 baserunners for the Rieleros that year.  That kicked off a four-year stretch during which Castillo averaged 16.5 homers, 76.5 RBIs and batted .345 over 430 regular season contests.

Besides his back-to-back season MVP awards, Castillo was voted the MVP of last summer’s All-Star Game.  He’s played in seven midsummer classics since 2007 and is expected to make an eighth appearance next month at Parque Kukulkan in Merida, Yucatan.

Will Fernando Valenzuela attend his Salon de la Fama induction?

No caption necessary

Perhaps the most beloved player in modern Mexican baseball history, Fernando Valenzuela will be inducted into the Salon de la Fama after the new facility in Monterrey is opened later this summer.  But is El Toro himself going to be on hand for the honors?

Puro Beisbol editor Fernando Ballesteros reports that Valenzuela, who now owns the Quintana Roo Tigres of Cancun along with his wife Linda, is so embittered from the Rookiegate scandal, in which five of his Tigres prospects were reportedly transferred to the Mexico City Diablos Rojos while the Valenzuelas were in the process of purchasing the legacy team from former owner Carlos Peralta, that the former Dodgers Cy Young Award winner may skip the ceremonies in which he’ll be honored along with Ricardo Saenz and Daniel Fernandez in the first Salon induction since the old facility (also in Monterrey) was shut down in 2012 after 40 years on the Cuauhtemoc Brewery grounds.

The sticking point, according to Ballesteros, is that Diablos owner Alfredo Harp Helu has also bankrolled the new Salon facility.  While it’s likely that contents in the Mexican baseball HOF would still be in storage without Harp’s financial contributions, the Valenzuelas continue to be outraged over the sleight-of-hand loss of their prospects (two of whom were sold by the Red Devils to the Texas Rangers last summer for a combined $2.7 million) to the billionaire’s team.  

The LMB office has largely adopted a “What-Me-Worry?” approach to the Rookiegate scandal, which has done nothing to mollify the Valenzuelas (who have been reportedly upset enough to consider selling the franchise as a result).  Liga president Javier Salinas, who’s been stronger in his marketing efforts than his leadership of the 13 team owners within the loop, is facing a sticky situation between his richest owner (the two 2018 seasons have been named after Harp) and another owner who is a nationwide baseball icon.  There appear to be no easy solutions.

Four teams bunched one game apart atop LMB South

Quintana Roo Tigres infielder Brian Hernandez

While the Monterrey Sultanes were able to maintain their three-game lead in the Mexican League North Division over the past week, only one game separates the top four teams in the LMB South in what's been a very competitive start out the gate for what has been considered the weaker of the Liga's two eight-team divisions.

The Quintana Roo Tigres continued to surprise many observers by holding on to a tie for first with Yucatan in the South after a 12-6 win Sunday in Durango to lift their Spring 2018 record to 11-4.  Third baseman Brian Hernandez had five of the Tigres' 20 hits on the night, doubling twice and scoring two runs while driving in two more.  The Leones kept pace with an 8-3 victory over Union Laguna in Torreon as former MLB All-Star Freddy Garcia tossed five innings of four-hit ball for the victors, allowing one unearned run for Garcia's first LMB win in three decisions.

Sitting one game behind the leaders with identical 10-5 records are the Mexico City Diablos Rojos and Puebla Pericos.  The Red Devils completed a three-game home sweep of defending champion Tijuana with a 3-1 win over the defending champs Sunday.  Ricardo Valenzuela's two-run single with the bases loaded in the fourth inning broke a scoreless tie and starter Luis Niebla (4 IP, 0 R) combined with closer Jean Machi and two other relievers to make the lead stand.  Puebla stayed even with the Diablos by recording a 7-2 triumph in Monclova over their big-brother Acereros, thanks to Jesus Arredondo's three-run homer in the third and starter Rogelio Bernal's 6.2 innings of one-run pitching against his former teammates.  Oaxaca, Leon, Tabasco and Campeche are all under .500 and in danger of falling out of contention early in the shortened format, but the LMB South overall has fared better thus far in 2018 than they collectively showed last summer.

Monterrey struggled a bit on the road against South teams last week, dropping two of three games against Tabasco in Villahermosa before rebounding to win twice in Campeche, maintaining their three-game LMB North leadership with an 11-4 record after winning eight of their first nine games of the year.  The Sultanes missed their chance for a three-game sweep of the Piratas Sunday by dropping a 6-4 contest as Uriak Marquez had three hits with a run scored and another driven in for the hosts.  Even so, Monterrey is up three games on the only other North team with a winning record, the 8-7 Aguascalientes Rieleros, who rode a two-hit shutout from starter Guillermo Trujillo and four relievers.  Olmecas opener Alejandro Astorga (2 R, 4 H) pitched seven strong innings but lacked support in absorbing a tough loss.

Dos Laredos, Tijuana and Durango are all tied for third in the LMB North with 7-8 marks while Monclova sits a game behind in sixth at 6-9, but the season has gotten off to bad starts in Saltillo (5-10) and Union Laguna (3-12).  Mexican baseball has never been the most secure for managers and drumbeats in Torreon and Gomez Palacios for Algodoneros skipper Ramon Orantes' replacement only got louder after Sunday's home loss to Yucatan and Freddy Garcia.

None of the upcoming midweek series would make the menu at a five-star restaurant, but the most interesting set may be when Monclova visits Merida to take on Yucatan in a matchup between two the Liga's top teams.  Next weekend's fare looks more palatable, with longtime rivals Mexico City and Monterrey squaring off in the northern city for three games.


Ricky Alvarez off to torrid start in first year with Sultanes

Monterrey Sultanes first baseman Ricky Alvarez

It would be hard to blame first baseman Ricky Alvarez if he got off to a slow start with Monterrey this spring.  After all, the Sultanes are the Tijuana-born slugger's third Mexican League team since he was traded by Laguna to Yucatan late last June in a seven-player swap even though he was leading the LMB with 75 RBIs in 66 games and mentioned often in early MVP conversations.  Alvarez cooled off over 43 games with the Leones, playing home games in Merida's pitching-friendly Parque Kukulkan, and finished the 2017 campaign with a .311 average and 17 homers to go with his 105 RBIs to nudge out Saltillo's Rainel Rosario by one ribbie for the crown.

What ended up a solid season by any standard wasn't enough to keep Alvarez in Yucatan, however, as he was a centerpiece in a major offseason deal between the Leones and Sultanes that sent Alvarez and outfielder Francisco Lugo to Monterrey for shortstop Walter Ibarra and designated hitter Luis Juarez.  Rather than struggle to fit in with yet another new team or wonder what it takes to keep from having to change teams, the 5'11" 220-pounder is off to a torrid start for the Sultanes.  Alvarez hit three homers over the weekend in Campeche to take LMB lead with six roundtrippers in his first 15 games while his four RBIs at Estadio Nelson Barrera on Saturday and Sunday gave him 16 for Spring 2018 to put him in a five-way tie at the top in that category.   With a .410 average, the former Tigers farmhand ranks sixth on the batting derby table.   Now in his seventh Liga season after debuting with Monterrey back in 2012, Alvarez has LMB career totals of .293/82/365 over 552 games while going 50-of-69 on stolen base attempts.  In short, it doesn't appear to really matter whose uniform Ricky puts on because he's going to produce for that team.

Leading the LMB bat race through last weekend is Tijuana outfielder Maxwell Leon, a journeyman utility player who spent five years in the Detroit Tigers system before his 2011 LMB debut with Minatitlan, where he hit .341 with 14 homers and 43 RBIs in 57 games for the Petroleros.  While the Mexico City native didn't approached those numbers over his subsequent six seasons with four teams, Leon has proven to be a useful player who can plug a defensive hole while offering a .290 hitting average with some gap power.  Leon has taken the lead in the Mexican League batting race with a .515 average, 33 points higher than Durango's Yadir Drake and 53 points up on Drake's Generales teammate, newcomer Dustin Geiger.  Drake and Geiger are tied with Alvarez, Quintana Roo's Brian Hernandez and Monclova's Manny Rodriguez (who else?) for the RBI lead with 16 each while Tijuana's Justin Greene and Jeremias Pineda of Dos Laredos are knotted up at eight stolen bases in what is already shaping up to be a tight race for both 2018 seasons in Mexico.

Four Liga pitchers are carrying identical 3-0 records, but the hurler who's gotten the most out of the least amount of time on the mound is Yucatan middleman Jesus Barraza, who has yet to be scored upon over eight innings in seven appearances out of the Leones bullpen.  Monterrey's Marco Tovar has a 0.96 ERA in three starts (tops among LMB starters) while Puebla's Mitch Lamson's effectiveness has been an even 2.00 per nine innings.  Javier Solano of Monterrey, the fourth 3-0 hurler and a past Mexican Pacific League Pitcher of the Year, saw his ERA rise to 4.20 after being touched for four runs on ten hits in five innings at Tabasco last Wednesday.  Josh Lowey's 24 strikeouts for Monclova is one better than the 23 of Tiago Da Silva, who is in Durango's starting rotation after being one of the LMB's top closers in 2017.  Three men are tied with four saves apiece: Yucatan's Ronald Belisario, Anthony Carter of Aguascalientes and Campeche's Pedro Rodriguez.


Villanueva swats three homers in single game for Padres

San Diego Padres third baseman Christian Villanueva

Third baseman Christian Villaneuva's impressive major league debut for San Diego after a September callup last year (.344 with four homers and 7 RBIs in 12 games) wasn't enough to keep the Padres from reacquiring former first-round draft pick Chase Headley to play some third base at Petco Park in 2018 along with incumbent starter Cory Spangenberg, another onetime first round pick who hit .264 with 13 homers and 11 steals in 2017.  The crowded situation at the hot corner carried over throughout spring training, when there was some speculation that Villanueva might be sent back down to AAA El Paso (for whom the Guadalajara product was .296/20/86 over 109 contests while splitting time between third and first base).

Villanueva, who has appeared in two winterball seasons with Obregon (winning BBM's Most Valuable Player award in 2015-16 for his play with the Yaquis), ended up sticking with the parent club and has been the starter at third for most games thus far.  While he's had his ups and downs, like most rookies, Villanueva solidified his standing by belting three homers in a home game against Colorado on April 4 as the Padres topped the Rockies, 8-4.   With his trio of longballs, Villanueva became the fourth Mexican-born player to whack three homers in a single MLB game, joining Erubiel Durazo (2003, 2005), Vinny Castilla (1999, 2002) and Roberto Avila (1951).  For the record, he went deep with two homers off Colorado starter Kyle Freeland in the second and fourth innings while touching Antonio Sentazela with a three-run blast in the seventh.  All three roundtrippers were to left field at Petco Park, one of the hardest ballparks to homer at in MLB.

After the game, San Diego manager Andy Green sagely allowed as to how Villanueva's outburst would probably earn a little more playing time.  Word does travel and pitchers are now working the 26-year-old a lot more carefully than they might have and the subsequent five games have seen him go 3-for-18 at the plate with eight strikeouts to drop his batting average from .429 to .240.  Still, no matter what Villanueva does the rest of the season (or his career, for that matter), he'll have had a night that precious few of his countrymen have experienced at the highest level of the game.

Dodgers-Padres series in Monterrey sells out in two hours

Fans waiting to buy Dodgers-Padres tickets in Monterrey

If any question remained as to whether the May series in Monterrey between the National League champion Los Angeles Dodgers and their NL rivals from San Diego is a big deal, those doubts should be dispelled by the fact that only two hours were required to sell out 22,000-seat Estadio Monterrey for all three games. 

According to Puro Beisbol's Hector Bencomo in his Imparable column on Saturday, ducats went on sale Friday via Ticketmaster and were quickly snapped up, with a few seats to be offered to Padres VIPs reportedly the only tickets remaining.  Although ticketbuyers were required to purchase a three-game package, there's no doubt that a large number of single-game tickets will be made available through secondary sellers like StubHub (at a premium, of course).  Bencomo says that while ticket sales at the offices of the host Monterrey Sultanes was fully staffed, only about 800 walk-up fans were able to buy tickets before the series was sold out, with another frustrated 700 would-be ticketbuyers still standing in a line that stretched through the parking lot.

The so-called Mexico Series will mark the first regular season appearance of Major League Baseball teams south of the border in 19 years, when the Padres and Colorado Rockies opened the 1999 campaign with a single game in Monterrey on April 4.  Three years earlier, San Diego and the New York Mets competed in the first-ever MLB series in Mexico, also at Estadio Monterrey in August 1996.  The ballpark, which opened in July 1990, is currently undergoing a retrofit that will lower the capacity from 27,000 to 22,000 seats but make the facility (Mexico's largest baseball stadium) more user-friendly.

The series will feature a number of marquee names among the playing ranks, mostly among the Dodgers, who'll bring Clayton Kershaw, Cody Bellinger, Justin Turner, Corey Seager, Chase Utley and Yasiel Puig.  San Diego will have notable performers Wil Myers, Hunter Renfroe, Clayton Richard and likely Christian Villanueva, a third baseman from Guadalajara who impressed the Padres during a September callup last year by batting .344 with four homers in 32 at-bats over 12 games.


Heras fails to reach terms on loan to Monclova, returns to Yucatan

Yucatan (for now) outfielder Leo Heras

Close observers of Mexican baseball have no doubt noticed the practice of teams "loaning" players to each other.  It's a decades-old system in which one franchise facing a surplus of players at one position will loan a player to another league club with a need at that position for the season, with the loaning team holding the player's rights while the receiving team often picks up the salary of the player being transferred. 

Sometimes such deals can reach ridiculous proportions when the two teams involved are under the same ownership, creating a situation where clubs like Union Laguna and Puebla serve roles with Yucatan and Monclova (respectively) similar to how the old Kansas City Athletics were considered a de facto "farm team" for the New York Yankees in the late 1950's.  Players usually have no recourse, but there are exceptions to the rule and outfielder Leo Heras is the latest to buck the system.

Heras is a 27-year-old Tijuana native who will be entering his twelfth year of pro ball after debuting with his hometown Tijuana Potros in 2007 at age 16.  The 5'9" lefty hitter has built a reputation as a reliable batsman with gap power, some speed and good enough with a glove to be able to play all three outfield slots and fill in at second in a pinch.  He's a career .313 batter over eleven Liga seasons and collecting 67 homers and 115 stolen bases in 741 LMB games, appearing on four All-Star Games along the way. 

Last summer, the one-time Astros farmhand hit .293 with three homers in 95 games for Yucatan after a March trade from Mexico City to the Merida club before turning in a .253/0/19 winterball campaign for Obregon.  While he was toiling for the Yaquis last December, the Leones shipped him on loan to Monclova and the status quo appeared to be undisturbed (with Heras even appearing at an Acereros press conference announcing his arrival) until Heras did the unusual: He balked at the deal.

The issue appears to be money, as Heras and the Steelers were unable to reach an agreement as to how much the outfielder would earn for the 2018 season.  Puro Beisbol's Hector Bencomo weighed in on the subject, speculating that Heras considered the move from Yucatan to Monclova a sale and not a loan, and that the veteran flychaser wanted a percentage of the sale price.  The reason for the fallout and Heras' subsequent return to Merida has never been broached by either side, but the issue of a player seeking compensation when he's sold dates back to the days of legendary slugger Hector Espino. 

Espino's disputes over salaries and sales, mostly with the Monterrey Sultanes, are legendary among Mexican baseball cognoscenti.  A very quiet man by nature, Espino was also every bit as proud and aware of his value as both a player and a man and not afraid to dig in his heels against ownership.  That's something almost unheard of among ballplayers south of the border even today, so Heras' stance ensured his return to Yucatan last week and has likely punched his ticket to another LMB franchise who'll be willing to meet his price.


Diablos GM Minjarez suspended for role in "Rookiegate"

Francisco Minjarez (while a Tigres employee)

Several months after Quintana Roo Tigres owners Fernando and Linda Valenzuela lodged a complaint with the Mexican League over the suspicious transfer of five Tigres prospects to the Mexico City Diablos Rojos while the Valenzuelas were purchasing the Cancun franchise, there has been a response from the LMB office.  Diablos general manager Francisco "Pollo" Minjarez has been suspended indefinitely by the Liga office after having been employed in the Tigres front office prior to last February's sale before moving to Mexico City to serve as the Red Devils GM, and is believed to have played a pivotal role at both ends in the prospect transfer.

Minjarez was working in the Cancun front office under longtime Tigres GM Chito Rodriguez while owner Carlos Peralta was in the process of selling the franchise to the Valenzuelas in a deal finalized a year ago.  Shortly after the Tigres changed hands, Rodriguez retired and Minjares took the GM job in Mexico City under Diablos team president Roberto Mansur, who retired after last season, stating health concerns.  During this timeframe, five Tigres prospects on a master player roster the Valenzuelas claim they had in January 2017 became property of the Diablos in February in what Minjarez told Proceso reporter Beatriz Pereyra was a "gentleman's agreement" between the two sides.  He did not specify whether the agreement was between Peralta and Red Devils owner Alfredo Harp Helu or between Rodriguez and Mansur, two decades-long powers within the LMB, or any combination thereof.

That deal exploded in importance last June when the Diablos sold two of the five former Tigres prospects, 15-year-old infielder Fernando Villalobos and 16-year-old pitcher Damien Mendoza, for US$1.5 million and US$1.2 million, respectively.  The bone of contention with the Tigres and the Valenzuelas is that since they were not informed of the transaction, the rights to the five prospects (including Villalobos and Mendoza) still belonged to them and that they should receive proceeds from the two sales.  For his part, Minjarez told Pereyra that the transfer of the prospects is common among some LMB teams and that the deal had already consummated before the sale of the Tigres was finalized.

There's speculation that Minjarez may return to his former GM position in Obregon, now that a five-year suspension he received from the LMP in 2013 after not paying players promised bonuses after winning their third straight pennant has ended.  The Diablos are not taking this quietly, however, as new team president Othon Diaz wrote a letter to Mexican League president Javier Salinas protesting Minjarez' suspension and a formal protest is not being ruled out.  That would put Salinas in the difficult position of a first-year league president going head-to-head with his league's richest owner and be a real test of his leadership and power.

As for the Valenzuelas, they're still waiting to hear how much of that US$2.7 million they'll be getting.  While Fernando may be a better known figure in Mexico and the USA than Harp (he's no doubt more popular), baseball has always been a tough sell in Cancun, the once-proud franchise may face some difficult times ahead.