MEXICO KO’D IN SEMIS, FINISH 3-3 AT CARIBBEAN SERIES

  After dropping their first two games at the Caribbean Series, Mexico bounced back with consecutive shutout wins over Colombia, Puerto Rico and Panama to qualify for the semifinals. However the magic ended last Wednesday in Santo Domingo as the host Dominican Republic eliminated the Mexicans, 2-1,at Estadio Quisqueya Juan Marichal to advance to Thursday’s title game against surprising Colombia, who’d lost all their games in two prior Serie del Caribe appearances before going 3-2 in this year’s first round and crushing Venezuela, 8-1, in the first semi game.

Following their 1-0 victory over Colombia last Sunday for their first win of the 2022 Serie del Caribe, last Monday featured a 5-0 triumph over Puerto Rico that evened Mexico’s first-round record at 2-2 while eliminating the Boricuans from final four contention. Nick Struck whitewashed the Puerto Ricans over 5.2 innings, allowing five hits and three walks while striking out two. Struck and four relievers got all the support they’d need when Esteban Quiroz belted a two-run homer off Oscar de la Cruz in the first inning after Jose Cardona led off the game with a single. Mexico scored twice more in the third when Victor Mendoza doubled Cardona home and then came in on a Japhet Amador single. Felix Perez scored the final run of the game in the sixth when he touched home plate on an Agustin Murillo single.

Mexico then set a Caribbean Series record with their third straight shutout last Tuesday when they blanked Panama, 1-0, punching their ticket to the knockout stage in the process. This time it was longtime veteran righty Javier Solano who got the start (and win) with six solid frames, allowing just two hits and two walks as Mexico ran their consecutive scoreless innings total to 29, another Serie del Caribe record. After Jose Cardona hit a two-out single and stole second in the bottom of the fifth, Quiroz stroked a single to left off reliever Luis Ramos that saw the speedy Cardona motor in with what would be the winning run. Roberto Osuna struck out Rodrigo Orozco to end the game and earn the save, his second of the tournament.

Mexico then faced the host Dominicans in the Final Four Wednesday night. Although Brennan Bernardino had a good outing, scattering seven hits and allowing one run in 5.2 innings, the game belonged to Dominican starter Tyler Alexander. The Detroit Tigers swingman carried a perfect game into the ninth inning and threw 71 strikes among 88 pitches before being pulled after allowing a leadoff double to Isaac Rodriguez. Last year’s LMP batting champion eventually scored on a Cardona groundout but reliever Juan Minaya retired Quiroz on a 4-3 grounder to end the game. DR rightfielder Moises Sierra singled in Henry Urrutia in the bottom of the second inning for the first run of the game (breaking Mexico’s record string of scoreless at 30) and a Sierra sacrifice fly in the eighth brought Robinson Cano from third to make it a 2-0 contest. Urrutia and Cano combined for five hits, four of them doubles.

The Dominicans then fell in the Serie del Caribe title game, a surprising 4-1 loss to Colombia, a country which had failed to win a single game in their two previous appearances at the tournament. Perhaps in anticipation of a Dominican championship, journalists named six players from the host country as part of a 12-man Dream Team before the final game while including just two Colombians. One Mexico player, leftfielder Felix Perez, was named to the team. Perez hit .263 with one homer and one RBI over six games. 

CARIBBEAN SERIES FIRST ROUND STANDINGS:Dominican Republic 4-1, Colombia 3-2, Venezuela 3-2, MEXICO 3-2, Puerto Rico 1-4, Panama 1-4.
SEMIFINALS: Colombia 8, Venezuela 1; Dominican Republic 2, MEXICO 1.
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: Colombia 4, Dominican Republic 1

FOUR MEXICAN LEAGUE TEAMS NAME MANAGERS

With the 2022 Caribbean Series in the history books, attention south of the border has shifted to the Mexican League’s upcoming season, which will get underway on April 22 this year. The later start means later openings of spring training for the LMB’s 18 teams but most have been busy signing players and, in the case of four franchises, naming new managers. Quintana Roo, Guadalajara, Veracruz and Monclova have all announced new skippers since the first of the year.

In Cancun, the Quintana Roo Tigres are bringing in Luis Antonio “Tony” Rodriguez as dugout boss, replacing Oscar Robles (who took over when Adan Munoz was fired early during the 2021 campaign despite a winning record. A 51-year-old native of Puerto Rico, Rodriguez was signed by the Red Sox as an infielder in 1991 and played 27 games for Boston in 1996, batting .239 with one homer. He ended up playing seven years in the Bosox system and one as a Mariners minor leaguer before spending eight years with Nashua and Bridgeport in the independent Atlantic League, plus short stints in Taiwan and Puerto Rico.

After retiring as a player in 2005, Rodriguez has been an assistant GM with Puerto Rico’s Santurce Cangrejeros as well as a third base coach in Nicaragua for the Chinandega Tigres over the past three winters. Remarks made during his introductory press conference suggest that fans in Cancun might see their share of smallball this summer. “I am a person who likes to play the game as it should be,” he said. “I was a baseball player and I played the basic game: touch, sacrifice, move the runners, move the base and that is what will be seen in the team this year.” Rodriguez, who has never managed a professional team, will wear number 13 this season.

Meanwhile, the Guadalajara Mariachis have hired a familiar face to replace Benji Gil, who resigned as manager to take a coaching job with the Los Angeles Angels. Sergio Gastelum, a former All-Star second baseman over a 22-year playing career who has had success as a manager, will take over the second-year team. Gastelum was a .316 batter and won multiple pennants as a player over 1,675 games before retiring. His first job as a manager was with Oaxaca in 2018, when he took the chronic underdog Guerreros to the Serie del Rey in the Fall season before losing to Monterrey. After another winning season in Oaxaca in 2019, team owner Alfredo Harp Helu hired him to manage the Mexico City Diablos Rojos (who Harp also owns). That’s when things got weird.

     Gastelum led the Diablos in their 2020 training camp until the Mexican League canceled the season in reaction to the Wuhan virus. Then the Diablos did some shuffling that resulted in Miguel Ojeda being bumped from the front office to manager and Gastelum being bumped from the ranks of the employed without ever managing a regular season game in Mexico City. He did manage in Monterrey in 2021 after Homar Rojas was fired 15 games into the season. The Sultanes had a 26-25 record and made the playoffs but Gastelum was sent packing after Roberto Kelly (who’d managed the Fall 2018 champs) agreed to return to Monterrey. Gastelum also managed Obregon in the Mexican Pacific League and won Manager of the Year twice, but was let go after the Yaquis lost their opening round playoff series last month. 

Another second-year Liga team, the Veracruz Aguilas, have picked Emmanuel Valdez as their new helmsman, replacing Leo Rodriguez III. A 43-year-old Tijuana native nicknamed “El Peque” (“The Little One”), the 6’3” 230-pound Valdez spent 19 LMB seasons as a catcher-first baseman for five teams. He was a steady hitter in the .280 range who hit 224 homers, including a career-high 25 longballs for Saltillo in 2013. Valdez also played eight winters in the Mexican Pacific League between 2005 and 2013, batting .241 with 43 homers in 302 regular season games for Mexicali and Culiacan.

Like Rodriguez in Quintana Roo, Valdez has never managed a team but he brings impressive credentials as a former player to Jalisco. He was a regular on LMB pennant-winning teams for both the Tigres and Campeche and was a silver medalist for Mexico at the Central American and Caribbean Games in Puerto Rico. Valdez was part of a select group of Mexicans certified by MLB to train coaches around the world, he’s been an instructor in the national ProBeis program and most recently served as a catching coach with Guasave in the MexPac.

Finally, Mickey Callaway has been elevated to manager of the Monclova Acereros’ Mexican League squad after leading the Steelers to the Mexican Winter League championship last year. Callaway was a 1996 Tampa Bay draft pick out of the University of Mississippi and made his MLB debut with the Rays three years later. He eventually spent all or part of five seasons pitching in the Majors, three years in South Korea and one year in Taiwan, where he was a member of the 2009 Taiwan Series champion Uni-President Lions.

After retiring following the Taiwan Series, Callaway became a pitching coach in the Indians system and served manager Terry Francona in that role for Cleveland between 2013 and 2017, including the Tribe’s American League title season of 2016. Callaway then managed the New York Mets in 2018-19 (leading them to a 163-161 record over two years) and was hired to be the Los Angeles Angels pitching coach for 2020 before an investigation into sexual harassment allegations led to his suspension by MLB through the upcoming seasons and his firing by the Angels.

MITRE FOUND GUILTY OF MURDERING 1-YEAR-OLD GIRL

(Warning: This is not a story for the faint of heart)

Sergio Mitre, who pitched in parts of eight major league seasons and won a World Series ring with the 2009 New York Yankees, likely will spend the rest of his life in prison after being found guilty of the murder of his ex-girlfriend’s infant daughter.

Mark W. Sanchez of the New York Post reports that Mitre was convicted in Saltillo (where he last pitched for the Mexican League Saraperos in 2019) and sentenced to 50 years in prison for the July 2020 sexual assault and killing. An autopsy showed the 22-month-old, who is identified only as Ines by authorities, had been sexually assaulted before her death, according to the report, as the result of hypovolemic shock, in which severe blood loss prevents the heart from pumping enough blood through the body. 

Prosecutors said Mitre punched Ines in her lower back after an argument between him and the girl’s mother. The girl’s mother rushed her to Saltillo Children’s Hospital after she began vomiting and fainting, and she was later declared dead.

Mitre was born in Los Angeles and raised in Tijuana. He was drafted in 2001 out of San Diego City College and debuted with the Cubs in 2003. He had stints with the Marlins, Brewers and Yankees, with whom he pitched from July through September of their title-winning 2009 club. The now 40-year-old posted a 6.79 ERA in 51 ⅔ innings that season and was left off the postseason roster.

Mitre last pitched in MLB with the Yankees in 2011 after compiling a career 13-30 record with a 5.21 ERA over 143 games, 64 of them starts, between 2003 and 2011. He then pitched for teams south of the border, including stints with Leon, Tijuana, Dos Laredos and Saltillo in the Mexican League (going 17-8 with a 5.10 ERA in three seasons) as well as Mexicali in the Mexican Pacific League, where he went 9-10 and 3.38 over three winters. 

The 6’3” right-hander, who had a 12-5 record in 2019 for the Tecos and Saraperos, was on the Saltillo roster during the suspended 2020 LMB campaign at the time charges were filed and he was taken to jail. Mitre had been arrested the previous season on domestic violence charges at a Quality Inn in Saltillo and while he was suspended “indefinitely,” the team quietly reinstated him prior to the 2020 season and even included him in promotions for the campaign, which was eventually canceled.

     Mitre, who earned an estimated $5.2 million as a Major League pitcher according to Spotrac, was ordered by the Saltillo court to pay $66,429 in restitution damages related to the sexual assault and murder case. He is far from the first recent Mexican League player or manager to have run afoul of the law on domestic violence or sexual assault charges, as we will learn next week in a translated column by Beatriz Pereyra for Mexico City’s Proceso magazine.

JALISCO TAKES 2-0 LEAD IN TITLE SET OVER CULIACAN

  If the Mexican Pacific League’s two-time defending champion Culiacan Tomateros hope to make a run at a 3-peat (trademark held by Pat Riley), they’ve got a two-game hole to dig out of first after dropping the first pair of LMP finals contests to Jalisco. Manager Roberto Vizcarra’s Charros are seeking a return to the Caribbean Series after a two-year absence and they’re two wins away from doing just that.

The Charros won the first two games of the series at home in Guadalajara, starting with Friday’s 2-1 thriller over Culiacan in 12 innings. Jalisco struck first in the bottom of the first when Jose Juan Aguilar hit a leadoff double and later scored on Japhet Amador’s two-out single. Charros starter held the Tomateros scoreless on three hits over 5.1 innings, but Culiacan broke through for the tying run in the seventh when Jose Guadalupe Chavez’ single off David Richardson brought in Stevie Wilkerson. The score remained at 1-1 into the bottom of the 12th, when Amador lofted a sacrifice fly that allowed Esteban Quiroz to scamper home and end the game.

No extra innings were required Saturday night but the Horsemen were able to pull off another one-run victory, 3-2, over the visitors at Estadio Charros. Culiacan took an early lead in the top of the first when Emmanuel Avila singled home reinforcement Victor Mendoza, who made it a 2-0 tilt with a solo homer off Jalisco starter Javier Solano in the fourth. Tomateros starter Nick Struck carried a shutout into the bottom of the sixth, when Christian Villanueva singled two outs before Dariel Alvarez launched a two-run homer to knot the score at 2-2. The Charros took the lead for good one frame later when Jared Serna’s sac fly scored Amadeo Zazueta from third on a disputed play.

The series now shifts to Culiacan for Game Three on Monday night.

Jalisco reached the finals by outlasting Monterrey, 4 games to 3, in one semifinal series. The Sultanes crushed the Charros, 15-5, last Tuesday in Guadalajara. Jalisco held a 2-1 lead in the top of the fourth before Solano allowed three Monterrey runs to give the visitors a 4-2 advantage, but it was a nine-run Sultanes outburst in the fifth that decided the game for all intent and purposes. Fernando Perez and Anthony Giansanti combined for four hits, two homers and four RBIs for the winners.

The Charros won Wednesday’s Game Seven, 3-0, as Jalisco starter Brennan Bernardino blanked Monterrey on two hits until he was replaced with two out in the sixth inning. The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fifth, when Zazueta punched a single off Sultanes starter Mike Devine to bring home Missael Rivera. Amador made it a 2-0 contest when the Mulege Giant lined a homer off Luis Gamez in the seventh and Rivera scored a second time on Fernando Flores’ double to right in the same frame. Rivera, Amador and Flores combined for six hits, two runs and two ribbies as Monterrey went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position and left eight runners stranded.

Culiacan had an extra day’s rest after topping Guasave, 4-0, last Tuesday on the road at Estadio Francisco Carranzo Limon to win that semi set, 4 games to 2. Manny Barreda tossed six shutout innings to earn the victory for the defending champs, allowing two hits and striking out six Algodoneros although he did issue five walks. Jesus Fabela gave the Tomateros all the scoring they’d need by doubling off Guasave starter Jordan Kipper and later scoring on Sebastian Elizalde’s sac fly. Mendoza drove in runs in the fourth and sixth innings while Wilkerson’s RBI double completed the scoring in the eighth.

TWO-TIME LMP MANAGER OF YEAR GASTELUM FIRED

Nowhere does the time-worn phrase “What have you done for me lately?” apply more than in managing a Mexican baseball team. It’s something commented upon endlessly on this blog but one of the biggest object lessons in that fact of life south of the border recently came to pass in Obregon, where “the decision was made to end the employment relationship with manager Sergio Omar Gastelum,” according to a Yaquis press release issued last Monday.

The decision to cut the 43-year-old loose might have been curious if only the current season was examined. The Obregon-born Gastelum was a star infielder for 22 seasons in the Mexican League with the well-traveled Tigres franchise, Laguna and Mexico City as well as Culiacan and Mazatlan in the Mexican Pacific League before retiring after the 2017 LMB season (during which he hit .273 over 59 games for the Diablos Rojos). Gastelum hit .310 over his Liga career with 82 homers and 1,054 runs scored while playing on five pennant winners.

Gastelum made his managerial debut in the LMB’s Fall 2018 season when he replaced Joe Alvarez at the helm in Oaxaca. The Guerreros lost their first six games under Gastelum to fall to 14-22 before going 12-8 the rest of the short season, squeaking into the playoffs with a wild-card game win over Leon to kick off an amazing postseason run that saw Oaxaca reach the Serie del Rey before losing to Monterrey.  

He piloted the Guerreros to a 68-51 record and a second-place finish in the LMB South in 2019 before falling to eventual champion Yucatan in the first round of the postseason and was rewarded that December with a “promotion” to manager of the Diablos Rojos by Alfredo Harp Helu, who owns both teams. Gastelum led the Red Devils in training camp during 2020 before the season was canceled before being surprisingly fired in January 2021 without managing the team in a regular season game. He was replaced three days later by Miguel Ojeda, who managed Mexico City and was working in the Diablos’ front office before a shakeup landed him back in the dugout.

Gastelum was hired as skipper for his hometown Yaquis in 2018, replacing Oscar Robles, and led Obregon to a 37-19 overall record that winter, reaching the LMP finals before losing to Jalisco. He was named Mex Pac Manager of the Year for his work. The 2019-20 season brought more of the same, as the Yaquis had an LMP-best 42-21 overall record and reached the semifinals before losing to Mazatlan in seven games, earning Gastelum his second straight Manager of the Year award. The Yaquis had the best overall record in the winterball loop again last season, going 47-22 before falling to Culiacan in the semifinals. 

This winter’s 36-32 mark and first-round loss to Guasave was enough for Obregon president Rene Rodriguez to jettison Gastelum despite a composite 162-94 record and .633 won-lost percentage, four consecutive winning season and playoff berths and the aforementioned pair of MOY trophies. Given his credentials, Gastelum shouldn’t be out of work for long but he’s already become familiar with the Mexican manager’s mantra: “Rent, don’t buy.”

MAESTROS OF MEXICO: Miguel Suarez, OF (1971-87)

While Miguel Suarez does not immediately leap to mind as one of the great batsmen in Mexican League history, his record indicates that he was consistently productive over his 17-year career. While he had neither power nor great speed on the basepaths, Suarez was nonetheless a perennial .300 batter as one of the best leadoff hitters ever in Mexico.

Miguel Suarez Lopez was born September 29, 1952 in Guasave, Sinaloa. The tiny 5’4” 140-pounder began his pro career with Tampico in the Class A Mexican Center League as a 16-year-old in 1969. He played two years in Tampico, batting .314 in 1969 and followed up with a Liga-best .393 in 1970. He showed surprising power, knocking out 26 homers over those two seasons, but the longball was not his style as Suarez would go on to hit only 23 circuit clouts during his LMB career (and never more than three in one season).

Suarez debuted with the Mexico City Diablos Rojos in 1971, and led the Liga with 188 base hits en route to a .372 average and a selection as the LMB Rookie of the Year.  That would set a pattern for his career, as Suarez only failed to hit .300 once in his first eleven seasons, when he batted .297 in a strike-split 1980 season for Reynosa and the Mexico City Tigres. He came back with a .303 mark for the Tigres in 1981 and later turned in .320 and .332 campaigns for Tabasco and Nuevo Laredo in the early 1980’s.  After consecutive .259 seasons for Veracruz in 1985 and Monterrey in 1986, he called it quits at the age of 33.

Suarez ended his Liga playing days with 2,444 career hits for a .323 average, including a .345 mark in eight seasons with the Diablos.  While he only had 63 stolen bases (and was actually caught stealing 96 times), he did swat 86 triples, reaching double figures in three-baggers four times between 1973 and 1979. Suarez is the only player ever to top the circuit in hits three times, including a record 227 safeties in 1977 when he hit .370 for the Red Devils, and led the Liga in triples with 13 in 1973.  He was not nearly so successful in the winter, with a career mark of .259 in 14 Mexican Pacific League seasons, mostly with his hometown team in Guasave.

Nicknamed “Mister Hit” during his playing career, Suarez was inducted into the Salon de la Fama in 1994. He died at age 65 in 2017.

3.5 GAMES SEPARATE TOP NINE LMP TEAMS

   As the Mexican Pacific League’s regular season heads into its final month, the second half standings are very tight, with only three-and-a-half games of daylight between the top two teams and the ninth-place squad and only one club apparently out of contention for a postseason berth in January.

Navojoa and Mexicali have both won six of their last ten games to remain tied for the lead with 12-8 records, one game ahead of 11-9 Hermosillo and Mazatlan while 10-9 Monterrey sits in fifth place. Obregon and Guasave are tied for sixth at 10-10, two games out of the top slot, defending champion Culiacan is three games back in eighth at 9-11 while Jalisco is a half-game behind the Tomateros at 8-11. The only team that looks to be out of the running is Los Mochis, who are following up their last-place finish in the first half (finishing five games out of ninth at 9-23) with a 6-14 ledger for the second half.

Navojoa is firing on all cylinders under manager Matias Carrillo, with five batters hitting .302 or above and a solid, if not invincible, pitching staff featuring a five-man rotation with an aggregate 21-12 season record and a respectable 3.65 ERA plus one of the Mex Pac’s top closers in Carlos Bustamante. The Mayos, who have the LMP’s top overall record at 32-20, swept a three-game midweek series in Los Mochis before splitting two games at home against Obregon. 

Mexicali is likewise doing well in winning 12 of their first 20 games under new manager Gil Velazquez, who replaced Bronswell Patrick in the dugout after the Aguilas came in ninth in the first half with a 14-18 record. The Eagles dropped two of three tilts in their midweek series at Hermosillo before taking two weekenders over Guasave at home in El Nido. Despite their strong second half showing, Mexicali is last in the LMP with a .232 team batting average so Alex Liddi and his .215 average with seven RBIs over 29 games was placed on the Reserve List and former MLB first baseman Ryon Healy was brought in. Healy hit .257 with seven homers over 67 games  for Hanwha in the Korea Baseball Organization this summer after belting 69 longballs in five major league seasons. So far, he’s hit .389 in his first five games for the Aguilas.

Hermosillo is a game off the pace in third under another new manager, former Mexican National Team helmsman Juan Gabriel Castro. Castro, who was fired as leader of the Verdes Grande shortly before the Olympics after leveling criticisms about funding and leadership against CONADE (Mexico’s national sports commission) and director Ana Guevara, a former Olympic track athlete and an ally of president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. He was replaced by current Culiacan manager Benji Gil, who took the team to an 0-3 record in Tokyo.  

While Monterrey is a competitive 10-9 under second-year manager Gerardo Alvarez, who now has the aforementioned Bronswell Patrick on his staff as bench coach, the Sultanes made more news off the field last week by announcing that Roberto Kelly would be back as manager of their Mexican League team. Kelly, who went 143-89 in 2018 and 2019 (winning the LMB’s Fall 2019 pennant along the way), chose not to return to Mexico last season due to pandemic concerns and a stated desire to work with a son who had aspirations of entering pro ball. Homar Rojas began the 2021 season as Monterrey’s manager but was fired eight games into the season after the Sultanes had lost their first five games en route to a 2-6 start and replaced by Sergio Gastelum, who went 26-25 over the rest of the schedule before losing to Guadalajara in the first round of the playoffs. 

MEXICAN PACIFIC LEAGUE Second Half Standings

Mexicali 12-8 (4.0), Navojoa 12-8 (10.0), Hermosillo 11-9 (5.5), Mazatlan 11-9 (4.5), Monterrey 10-9 (5.0), Guasave 10-10 (9.0), Obregon 10-10 (7.0), Culiacan 9-11 (6.0), Jalisco 8-11 (8.0), Los Mochis 6-14 (3.5). First Half playoff points are in parentheses

OFFENSIVE LEADERS

Batting: Tirso Ornelas, NAV (.369); Victor Mendoza, OBR (.368); Yadir Drake, GUA (.331) 

Home Runs: Kyle Martin, NAV (15); Felix Perez, JAL (10); two players tied with 8 each

Runs Batted In: Felix Perez, JAL (39); Kyle Martin, NAV (37); Joey Meneses, CUL (36)

Stolen Bases: Dairon Blanco, CUL (21); Alonzo Harris, OBR (15); Ramon Rios, MAZ (14)

PITCHING LEADERS

Wins: Raul Carrillo, NAV (6); nine pitchers tied with 5 each

Earned Run Average: Elian Leyva, HER (1.17); Arturo Lopez, OBR (2.08); Hector Velazquez, OBR (2.42)

Strikeouts: Octavio Acosta, NAV (49); three pitchers tied with 47 each

Saves: Jake Sanchez, MXI (19); Fernando Salas, HER (12); Carlos Bustamante (NAV (11)

MONCLOVA, PUEBLA CLASH FOR LIM CROWN

The rebooted Mexican Winter League is holding its Prince Series (Serie del Principe) after the Monclova Acereros and Puebla Pericos won the North and South division playoffs, respectively, last week. Game One of the best-of-five set was slated for Sunday afternoon at Puebla’s Estadio Hermanos Serdan.

The two four-team divisions played intramural schedules with no crossover games. Monclova finished first in the LIM North with a 16-7 record, four games ahead of 11-10 Monterrey, who nudged out 12-12 Union Laguna for second place. Saltillo came in a distant fourth at 6-16. The Acereros are managed by former New York Mets dugout boss Mickey Callaway, who was suspended by Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred through the 2022 season earlier this year after an investigation into Callaway regarding sexual harassment. 

Acereros owner Gerardo Benavides saw no problem bringing in the former pitcher, who played in South Korea and Taiwan (including the 2009 CPBL champion Uni-President Lions) after pitching for three MLB teams between 1999 and 2004, and was rewarded when Callaway led Monclova to a three-game sweep over Monterrey in the LIM North Finals. 

The Steelers won Game 3 last Thursday with a 9-0 blowout as the winners scored four first-inning runs and never looked back. Ethan Lopez had three hits for Monclova while another four Acereros had two safeties each, including LMB veterans Rodolfo Amador and Ricky Rodriguez. Obregon native Jasiel Ocosta aided the mound cause with four shutout innings on three hits. Another Mexican League vet, pitcher Carlos Teller, took the loss for the Sultanes after allowing five runs on nine hits.

Puebla defeated Veracruz-Yucatan, four games to one, to win the LIM South playoff title after finishing the regular season in first at 18-13, one game ahead of the 17-12 mark of Veracruz-Yucatan (who played their home games in Xalapa and also had players from Durango on the roster). Mexico City finished third in the South at 15-15 while Oaxaca, with Guerreros regular season skipper Erick Rodriguez at the helm) was dead last at 9-20. 

In their series-clinching win last Monday night, the Pericos outlasted Veracruz-Yucatan, 12-11, in Xalapa. Puebla went up 1-0 in the top of the first but Oliver Carrillo knotted the game up for the home side with an RBI single in the bottom of the frame. 

The Parakeets exploded for five runs in the third, including a tiebreaking two-run single by Armando Aguilar and a two-run double from Miguel Gamboa to make it a 6-1 contest. Puebla’s lead eventually reached 12-5 before Veracruz-Yucatan scored five times in the bottom of the seventh and a Carrillo solo homer in the eighth made it a one-run game before Pericos closer Cristian Alvarado shut the door on the series in the ninth.

Carrillo, a Yucatan prospect, was named the LIM’s Most Valuable Player after leading the South with eight homers and 46 RBIs while finishing second to Mexico City’s Pedro Castellano in batting with a .441 average. Castellano topped the division with a .448 average and 47 hits. A 19-year-old outfielder who played two games for the Leones last summer, Carrillo has spent time at the team’s academy in Mazatlan and also played in various national and international tournaments.  He was also named the LIM South MVP while Monclova’s Roberto Castro won similar honors for the LIM North.

MEX PAC ROAD TRIP (Stop #10): Guadalajara, Jalisco

The final jump on our virtual road trip to all ten Mexican Pacific League cities is also the longest. From Mazatlan, Sinaloa, we’ll drive 300 miles for about six-and-a-half hours south on Highway 15 through the state of Nayarit into Jalisco, curving inland until reaching Guadalajara, home of both the LMP’s Jalisco Charros and the Guadalajara Mariachis of the Mexican League.

Guadalajara has a metropolitan population of 5.3 million, making it Mexico’s third-largest metro area. It’s a far cry from the city’s humble beginnings in 1542, when conquistador Cristobal de Onate founded it as part of what was then called New Spain. By the 18th century, Guadalajara had already become Mexico’s second-largest city. During the Mexican War of Independence in the early 1800’s, Miguel Hidalgo established a revolutionary government there and Guadalajara later flourished between 1876 and 1911 under the three different presidencies of Porfirio Diaz, whose harsh methods created hardships among the people but also built the country’s economy and infrastructure.

Present-day Guadalajara is an international business and cultural center. It’s home to Mexico’s largest U.S. expat population, drawn by its relatively temperate climate, low cost of living and lively cultural scene. It’s home to numerous landmarks, including Guadalajara Cathedral, the Teatro Degollado, the Templo Expiatorio, the Hospicio Cabañas, and the San Juan de Dios Market (the largest indoor market in Latin America). Guadalajara hosts the most important film festival in Mexico as well as the International Book Fair, the largest such event in the Western Hemisphere. Two of the country’s most highly-rated colleges, the University of Guadalajara (founded in 1792) and the Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara, are here.

Professional baseball made its debut in Guadalajara when the Jalisco Charros played in the Mexican League in 1949 and lasted three seasons. After the Charros folded following the 1951 season, the Guadalajara Blue Sox entered the old Pacific Coast League in 1952-53 and also lasted three years. The city later fielded LMB teams on three different occasions between the 1960’s and 1990’s, winning two titles, but baseball never really built a local following until the Mexican Pacific League’s Guasave Algodoneros were bought and moved to Guadalajara in 2014. Named the Jalisco Charros, the franchise has become one of the Mex Pac’s most valuable. The Mariachis LMB team was formed last winter and played its first season in 2021, finishing first in the North Division, but crowds for the Liga side failed to approach their winterball counterparts.

Both teams play at 16,500-seat Estadio Charros, also known as Estadio Panamericano because it was built for track and field events at the 2012 Pan American Games. Although the design of the facility makes for less-than-desirable sightlines for baseball, even after a number of renovations over the past decade, Estadio Charros has hosted the Caribbean Series, World Baseball Classic and WBSC Premier12 tournament while the Charros have been among the top-drawing LMP teams since their arrival.

CASTRO OUT AS MEXICO MANAGER AHEAD OF OLYMPICS

Juan Castro fired as Mexico Olympic manager

    With little more than a month prior to the planned opening of the Tokyo Olympics, Juan Gabriel Castro has been fired as manager of Mexico's Olympic baseball team. Castro himself tweeted that he had been relieved of his duties, as has the team's general manager, Kundy Gutierrez.

    “Just to give you the very sad and unfair news that we received today,” Castro's tweet opened, “the FEMEBE (Engineer Enrique Mayorga) and the president of the Mexican Baseball League (Horacio de La Vega) made the decision to let us know that they do not want us to continue leading the team.

    “The details? Many of you already know them, but in a little while we will let you know the same ones through this and many other means. Thank you and we remain at your service.”

    Castro has been serving as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies coaching staff this season under manager Joe Girardi. He led Mexico in the 2019 Premier12 tournament as the Verdes Grande qualified for their first-ever Olympic baseball appearance after replacing Dan Firova at the helm weeks before the tournament began. Gutierrez, a 42-year-old Mexican American, had been the National Team GM after a career in the construction business. Mayorga has been the head of FEMEBE (Mexican Baseball Federation) since 2017 while de la Vega was hired to run the Mexican League in late 2019, replacing Javier Salinas.

FEMEBE leader Enrique Mayorga

    At least one Mexican journalist speculates that president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had a hand in the exits of Castro and Gutierrez. Both had complained publicly about expected funds for the trip to Mexico not being released by CONADE (National Commission for Physical Culture and Sport), an agency charged with overseeing Mexico's Olympic effort this summer.

    CONADE's director, Ana Guevara, is a 44-year-old former Olympic track athlete from Sonora who served in the Mexican Senate before being appointed by AMLO to her current post in late 2018. Both Guevara and Lopez Obrador have past political ties to the National Action Party (PAN). While it would not be out of the realm of possibility that Lopez Obrador, a self-described baseball fanatico, was involved in Castro's and Gutierrez' firings, there is no evidence that he had a hand in the move.

    The firings have created a backlash among the players. Tito Escobar of El Jonronero tweeted that more than two dozen of the 100 players under consideration for Mexico's Olympic team have opted out of the trip to Tokyo in protest: “They tell me more than 30 renowned players and considered in the Mexican baseball pre-selection list, that after what happened with Castro and with GM Kundy Gutierrez, they get off the boat due to the mismanagement of the FEMEBE and the rest of those involved. They prefer not to attend.”

    Castro's replacement has not been named and Ii's a safe bet that this episode is far from over.

ROJAS FIRED AS MONTERREY SKIPPER, GASTELUM BROUGHT IN

Homar Rojas canned after ten games

    The often-referenced “Mexican Managerial Merry-Go-Round” was fired up just two weeks into the 2021 season, but this time the Mexican League's Monterrey Sultanes have done a housecleaning that included their front office as well as their manager and coaches.

    After the legacy team won just two of their first eight games on the abbreviated schedule, manager Homar Rojas was fired last Wednesday, with the usual “wishing you the greatest of success in the projects you decide to undertake in the future” line inserted into the team's press release announcing the veteran skipper's removal. Rojas managed the Sultanes' Mexican Pacific League team last winter before taking over their Liga club after Roberto Kelly decided to not manage this summer due to stated concerns over the pandemic.

    One of Rojas' coaches, Antonio Aguilera, ran the team on an interim basis before Sergio Gastelum was brought in to manage the Sultanes. Then Aguilera was summarily fired, along with pitching coach Arturo Gonzalez (an LMB legend whose 232 career wins ranks sixth among Liga hurler) and all other members of Rojas' staff after Gastelum arrived with five coaches of his own. Puro Beisbol editor Fernando Ballesteros reports that two of the fired coaches are considering suing the Sultanes, who are co-owned by the Grupo Multimedios conglomeration and longtime Monterrey baseball figure Jose “Pepe” Maiz, a member of Mexico's 1957 Little League world champions.

    Gastelum is expected to shake up the playing roster as well, and he'll have a new front office working with him toward that end. In addition to the firing of Rojas and his staff, the purge included both sports director Manuel Flores and sports manager Grimaldo Martinez. Flores was replaced as sports director by Jesus Valdez, Junior (son of longtime Mazatlan GM Jesus “Chino” Valdez, who now holds a similar role with the expansion Veracruz Aguilas). Valdez will oversee both of Monterrey's LMB and Mexican Pacific League teams. Martinez was let go to make room for Manuel Velez, who will serve as an advisor for the Sultanes' Sports Directorate.

Sergio Gastelum new skipper in Monterrey

    Monterrey began the season with five consecutive losses for the first time since 1978 and were tied with Durango for the LMB North basement when Rojas was fired after a 14-3 road loss last Tuesday to the Dos Laredos Tecolotes. The Sultanes ranked ninth in the Liga with a .283 team batting average but the pitching was second to last among the 18 teams with a 7.15 ERA.

    Gastelum has jumped on and off the merry-go-round since leading Oaxaca to an unexpected appearance in the Fall 2018 Serie del Rey, where they ironically lost to the same Monterrey team he's now managing after finishing the regular season with a 26-30 record and having to win a play-in game at Leon to qualify for the playoffs. Following a 2019 season in which the Guerreros finished second in the LMB South with a 68-51 mark before a first-round playoff loss to Yucatan, the 42-year-old Obregon product was named manager of the Mexico City Diablos Rojos.

    The former star infielder (who played 22 years in the LMB) led the Red Devils in training camp last year before the 2020 season was canceled due to the Wuhan virus, then was let go after team eecutive Miguel Ojeda was sent back to the dugout after a front office battle that resulted in GM Francisco “Pollo” Minjarez' firing.

TOROS, PERICOS LEAD TIGHT EARLY LMB STANDINGS

 

LMB batting leader Isaac Rodriguez

   Tijuana and Puebla have taken the lead in their respective Mexican League divisions after two-plus weeks of the LMB's 66-game 2021 schedule, but nobody is running away with things as three teams are within two games of the Toros in the LMB North while only a game-and-a-half separates the Pericos from four other squads in LMB South.

    Tijuana completed the weekend with an 11-4 record with a 7-6 loss Sunday in Monterrey after winning the first two games of the series. The final contest was tied at six runs apiece going into the bottom of the ninth inning, when the Sultanes loaded the bases off Toros reliever Josh Corrales, who then gave up a walkoff walk to Ramon Rios on five pitches to push Andres Martin across home plate to complete Monterrey's first win in three games under new manager Sergio Gastelum. The Sultanes went 2-0 under interim helmsman Antonio Aguilera before he was sent packing Friday in last week's team housecleaning.

    Expansion team Guadalajara is a game behind Tijuana with a 10-4 ledger after taking two of three games in Mexico City. The first two tilts were slugfests, with the Mariachis taking an 8-7 Friday win as Adrian Gonzalez up-the-middle single in the top of the 14th scored Luis Sardinas from second with what proved to be the winning run the go-ahead run. One night later, Guadalajara piled up 20 hits en route to a 10-5 victory with Gonzalez, Niko Vasquez and Beau Amaral each collecting three hits (and Amaral scoring three times). The Diablos avoided the sweep Sunday with a 7-3 triumph, capping a weekend in which the two teams combined for 40 runs on 75 hits over the three-game set.

    In the LMB South, Puebla held on to first in the standings at 10-5 despite losing two of three weekend games in Leon. The Bravos outscored the Pericos, 5-3, Sunday thanks in part to ageless Chris Roberson, who homered, doubled, walked and scored three times in a 3-for-3 afternoon batting second ahead of another former longtime Monterrey star, Agustin Murillo. With the win, Leon won for the eighth time in their last ten games to pull within a game of Puebla at 9-6, also trailing 9-5 Mexico City and 8-5 Yucatan.

    The Leones have leveled off after a hot 8-0 start to the season by splitting their last ten contests, including a solid 9-2 win in Merida Sunday over rival Quintana Roo. Yucatan got solo homers from both Art Charles and Humberto Sosa, who'd gone hitless his first seven games before going 2-for-3 Sunday as a seven-run sixth broke the game wide open. The Tigres outhit the Leones by a 12-9 margin hurt themselves by only batting 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position and leaving nine baserunners stranded.

Masaru Nakamura in NPB days

    As might be expected in the early season (especially in a hitter's league like the LMB), batters are ahead of pitchers. Even though only five teams are hitting above the .300 mark after 15 games, with Guadalajara leading the way at .356, twelve teams have collective ERAs above 5.00. Durango's staff is allowing a generous 8.79 per game, which might explain their 4-11 record.

    Tijuana second baseman Isaac Rodriguez heads a list of 14 batters at .400 or above with a .473 average after 14 games, ahead of Guadalajara's Vasquez (.465) Eliezer Ortiz of Aguascalientes (.458). Oaxaca infielder Orlando Pina and Saltillo first baseman Henry Urrutia are tied for the lead with seven homers each and Guadalajara's Sardinas is tops with 21 RBIs, two up on three other batters who have 19 ribbies each. Reigning MVP Alonzo Harris of Oaxaca leads the LMB with 11 stolen bases, four more than TJ's Rodriguez.

    Two hurlers are tied for the lead with three wins apiece, although neither has much else to brag about. Guadalajara starter Masaru Nakamura is 3-0 but with an ERA of 5.53 while Puebla middleman Yosshel Hurtado's 3-0 record comes with a 9.45 ERA after eleven appearances. Nakamura toiled nine seasons in Japan's NPB for the Nippon Ham Fighters before making his Liga debut this season. 

    Pitching hasn't been totally hapless in the LMB thus far in 2021. Seven starters sport ERAs below 2.00, with Tigres veteran Wilfredo Boscan's 0-0 record after three starts betraying his 0.53 ERA. Oaxaca's Hector Hernandez is 0-2 and 7.29 after four starts, but his 25 strikeouts in 21 innings leads the loop. Three closers have five saves each: Tijuana's Fernando Rodney, Carlos Bustamante and Laguna's Jenrry Mejia. Rodney is still the roller-coaster ride he was in MLB with four walks over seven innings in as many appearances, but he's also whiffed eight batsmen and has a 1.29 ERA.

CULIACAN WINS GAME 7, SECOND STRAIGHT LMP TITLE

LMP Finals MVP Jesse Castillo

    It took them a tenth-inning win in Game Seven to do it, but the Culiacan Tomateros were able to overcome their sixth-seed postseason berth to complete their second consecutive Mexican Pacific League championship season. Manager Benji Gil's squad was able to defeat Hermosillo, 7-6, on Saturday to take the series, 4 games to 3, and seal the pennant for the Tomateros. The team then took a charter flight from Hermosillo to Mazatlan after the game to represent Mexico at the Caribbean Series.

    Hermosillo opened the title series on January 22 by beating Culiacan, 2-1, at home as Ryan Verdugo allowed just five hits over seven scoreless innings to take the win. Yadier Hernandez doubled in one Naranjeros run off Tomateros starter J.C. Ramirez and scored their second in the bottom of the first to give Verdugo and his relievers all the support they'd need.

    Culiacan came back one night later for a 6-1 win as Efren Navarro, Sebastian Elizalde and Yoelkis Guibert all homered while Anthony Vasquez allowed the lone Orangemen run on six hits over six innings, striking out seven without walking a single batsman.

    The series shifted to Culiacan for the next three games, beginning last Monday with Hermosillo's 5-4 comeback win. The Tomateros had taken a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the sixth when Navarro plated Elizalde and Joey Meneses with a single and later scored on a Guibert safety. Julian Leon became the hero for the Naranjeros after belting a two-run homer off Sasagi Sanchez with Niko Vazquez on base in the top of the eighth.

    Hermosillo then brought themselves to within one game of winning their first Mex Pac pennant since 2014 last Tuesday with a 1-0 whitewash of the home team. This time it was Jose Samayoa tossing magic from the mound, mesmerising the Tomateros over seven shutout innings by allowing two hits, striking out six and walking none. Manny Barreda pitched a complete game for Culiacan, but gave up the tilt's only run in the seventh when Isaac Paredes doubled home Jose Cardona with what was the eventual game-winner as the Orangemen took a 3-games-to-1 advantage.

    The Tomateros fought back Wednesday with a 4-3 comeback victory after trailing 3-1 in the fifth inning. Jesus Fabela opened the bottom of the entrada with a single and later scored on Ramiro Pena's double to make it a one-run game. Fabela tied the game in the seventh by whacking a leadoff double, chasing Hermosillo starter Verdugo, and later coming in on a two-out Elizalde single to right off reliever Marcelo Martinez in a remarkable duel that lasted 15 pitches. Elizalde, the league MVP, stroked a one-out single off Wilmer Rios in the bottom of the ninth, then stole second, moved to third on a Rios wild pitch and ended the game by scoring on Michael Wing's walkoff single to bring Culiacan to within a game of Hermosillo.

Jose Samayoa pitched strong Game Four

    After Thursday's travel day, the series resumed with Game Six at Estadio Sonora, a 6-2 Culiacan win Friday as Navarro went 3-for-4 with a triple, two runs and two RBIs while Meneses and Jesse Castillo each had two hits and a ribbie. It was a 1-1 game until the top of the sixth, when the Tomateros scored four times and sent LMP Pitcher of the Year Juan Pablo Oramas to the showers. Vasquez turned in his second strong outing of the finals by going six innings and letting in one run while scattering seven hits and striking out five as the title set went to Saturday's seventh and deciding game.

    In Game Seven, Hermosillo took a 1-0 lead in the first inning but the Tomateros scored four times in the top of the second (driving out Orangemen starter Cesar Valdez), with Guibert's two-run single highlighting the outburst, and eventually built a 6-2 lead in the top of the fifth. The Naranjeros fought back with a run in the bottom of the fifth and then tied the game at 6-6 in the seventh when Paredes poleaxed a three-run homer off reliever Carlos Torres. The score held firm until the top of the tenth when vet slugger Jesse Castillo hit his second solo homer of the night (this one off LMP Reliever of the Year Fernando Salas) to give the Tomateros a 7-6 lead, then closer Alberto Baldonado set down the Orangemen 1-2-3 in the bottom of the tenth to seal the win and title, Culiacan's 13^th overall and fourth under manager Gil.

    Castillo, whose career was placed on hold for over a year after the two-time Mexican League MVP suffered a leg injury during the 2018 Serie del Rey, was named the Finals' Most Valuable Player after batting 8-for-20 with two homers and four RBIs. He finished the LMP postseason with a .410 average with a league-leading five homers and 15 RBIs. The MVP award could have gone to Anthony Vasquez just as easily. The Tomateros left-hander won both his starts, allowing two runs and striking out 12 batters with two walks in 12 innings.

SERIE DEL CARIBE OPENS WITH TRIPLEHEADER IN MAZATLAN

Anzoategui's Herlis Rodriguez

   It was out of the frying pan, into the fire for the Culiacan Tomateros, who eschewed a long postgame celebration of their Mexican Pacific League pennant Saturday night to catch a late charter flight to Mazatlan, where they played their first Caribbean Series less than 24 hours later in a tripleheader nightcap against the Barranquilla Caimanes, champions of Colombia's Professional Baseball League (LBP).

    After winning the LMP title, it was announced the Tomateros are adding no fewer than seven reinforcements to their active roster: Pitchers Fernando Salas (Hermosillo) and Edgar Gonzalez (Monterrey) and catcher Julian Leon, infielders Isaac Paredes, Juan Carlos Gamboa and Victor Mendoza plus outfielder Jose Cardona (all from Hermosillo). Culiacan is also activating reliever Derrick Loop from their reserve list.

    The 2021 Serie del Caribe opened play Sunday when the Panama Selects, a handpicked All-Star team representing a league that didn't bother with a regular season or playoffs this winter, defeated Venezuelan champions Anzoategui, 6-3. The Caribes qualified for the CS by posting a 24-16 record during the season, then playing another 35 games in the playoffs, capping things off by sweeping the Lara Cardenales in four games for the LVBP title.

    Herlis Rodriguez homered and doubled in the loss while Danry Vasquez, Luis Sardinas and Jesus Sucre each collected a pair of hits for the Caribes, with Sucre swatting a solo homer. First baseman Balbino Fuenmayor, who spent part of his winterball season with Mexicali, went 0-for-4. David Martinez (5 IP, 2 R) had a decent start for Anzoategui but Mayckol Guaipe, who pitched parts of two seasons in Seattle and was 4-5 with five saves over two years with Durango in the Mexican League, gave up three runs in the sixth and was tagged with the loss.

    In Sunday's second game, Dominican title-winners Cibaenas overcame an early 1-0 deficit by scoring three runs in the third inning and two more in the fourth, then cruised to a 5-1 triumph over Puerto Rican pennant-winners Caguas. The winning Aguilas, whose 16-14 regular season gave them a tie for first with Este and Cibao in the LiDom before winning two playoff series that went the full seven games, topped Caguas behind the bat of centerfielder Juan Lagares, who belted a three-run homer and hit a two-run single to account for all five Cibaenas runs. Robinson Cano added a pair of singles for the Aguilas and Melky Cabrera singled twice and scored a run. Aguilas starter Carlos Martinez got the win, pitching 5.2 innings and allowing one run on three hits. Luis Castillo, Wirfin Obispo and Fernando Abad combined to allow one hit after Martinez was pulled in the sixth.

    Caguas won all four games over Mayaguez in the Roberto Clemente League championship series to qualify for the Caribbean Series after going 14-4 in the four-team loop's abbreviated regular season. The Criollos' lone run against Cibaenas came in the top of the the first, when leadoff hitter Jarren Duran singled and eventually scored on a Jose Miranda base hit. Caguas would only pick up two more hits the rest of the way, a Yadier Molina double and a single from Jeremy Rivera. Starter Luis Medina lasted two outs into the fourth inning before being replaced by Jason Garcia after giving up all five Dominican runs (two unearned) on seven hits. Garcia combined with three other relievers to hold the Aguilas hitless the rest of the game, but the Puerto Rican champions' offense never woke up to close the gap.

Culiacan 3B Joey Meneses

    Culiacan then wrapped up Day One by making short work of Barranquilla, 10-2. Jesse Castillo's hot bat carried over from the Mex Pac championship series as the 37-year-old went 2-for-3 on the night, including a three-run homer off Caimanes reliever Jalen Miller in the top of the ninth inning. Joey Meneses singled and doubled, scoring twice and driving in two more runs while Jose Cadona singled twice and added two more RBIs. Starting pitcher Manny Barreda allowed one earned run and six hits over five innings, striking out five and walking one en route to the victory.

    Barranquilla gathered five hits in the game, one of them a Dilson Herrera single up the middle off Barrera that scored Evan Mendoza to tie the contest, 1-1, in the bottom of the first. The Colombian champions actually took a 2-1 lead in the fourth when Herrera scored from third on a Carlos Martinez sacrifice fly, but the Tomateros put the game in their hip pocket by scoring six runs in the top of the fifth. Meneses' two-run double was a key hit, as was a Cardona single that brought in two more. Oakland prospect Jordan Diaz had two of the Caribes' seven hits.

    The Caribbean Series this year will involve a first round of tripleheaders between Sunday through Thursday, followed by a Friday semifinal involving the top four finishers in round-robin play and a champioinship game on Saturday. All games are being played at Estadio Teodoro Mariscal, scene of the 2005 Serie del Caribe.

CUALICAN TOMATEROS
2021 Serie del Caribe schedule
FIRST ROUND
SUN, Jan. 31 Culiacan 10, Barranquilla Caimanes (Colombia) 2
MON, Feb. 1 vs. Cibaenas Aguilas (Dominican Republic)
TUE, Feb. 2 vs. Caguas Criollos (Puerto Rico)
WED, Feb. 3 at Panama Selects
THU, Feb. 4 vs. Anzoategui Caribes (Venezuela)
FRI, Feb. 5 SEMIFINALS
SAT, Feb. 6 CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
All Tomateros games scheduled for 9PM local time

DIABLOS FIRE GASTELUM BEFORE FIRST GAME

Sergio Gastelum out in Mexico City

    Readers familiar with the “Mexican Managerial Merry-Go-Round,” the never-ending coming and going of managers in Mexican baseball, shouldn't be surprised that another helmsman south of the border has been given the pink slip. However, even in an environment in which managers get the axe within two weeks of their first game, this firing is unusual.

    According to columnist David Braverman, one of the country's most respected baseball scribes, the Mexico City Diablos Rojos have let go skipper Sergio Gastelum before he managed a single game for the Red Devils after coming to the club from their de facto farm team in Oaxaca after the 2019 season.

Gastelum was Manager of the Year in Oaxaca

    A popular second baseman who spent four seasons with the Diablos at the end of his 22-year Mexican League playing career before retiring at the end of the 2017 season with nearly 2,000 hits and over 1,000 runs scored, Gastelum was named Oaxaca manager prior to the 2018 two-season schedule. During the Fall 2018 season, he led the Guerreros to the LMB South title and an appearance in the Serie del Rey before losing to Monterrey, earning Manager of the Year honors. Gastelum returned for another year with Oaxaca in 2019 and brought the team to an overall 68-51 record (second-best in the LMB South) and a second straight playoff appearance.

    That was enough for the Diablos Rojos to pluck Gastelum from their little sisters and name him as manager in Mexico City for 2020, replacing Victor Bojorquez (who'd brought the Diablos to a 67-49 ledger and a berth in the LMB South championship series). Although Gastelum ran the team during training camp last year, the season was postponed and then ultimately canceled due to the pandemic before ever managing the Red Devils in a game that counted in the standings. And now he's been let go less than four months before the LMB season is slated to open in May.

    Puro Beisbol editor Fernando Ballesteros attributes Gastelum's surprising ouster to a battle for power within the Diablos Rojos' front office, saying sports manager Francisco Minjarez left the team weeks ago while a “massive dismissal of scouts” has also taken place. Ballesteros speculates that team president Dr. Othon Diaz (who has apparently won the power struggle) wants ex-MLB catcher Miguel Ojeda to return to the dugout, where he managed Mexico City to the 2014 pennant. However, it remains to be seen whether Ojeda wants to leave his current position of Diablos' vice president.

    Gastelum recently concluded his third season managing Obregon in the Mexican Pacific League, taking the Yaquis to an LMP-best 37-22 regular season record, a first-half title and a first-round playoff win over Jalisco. He was named the Mex Pac Manager of the Year for 2019-20.