ORANGEMEN HOLD OFF MOCHIS, WIN 1ST HALF CROWN

Hermosillo pitcher Elian Leyva

    Schedule makers have rarely been as prescient as those who cobbled together the Mexican Pacific League's first-half schedule for the 2022-23 season. As luck (or “something”) would have it, that first half came down to its final day on Sunday before a champion could be crowned and given the 10.0 playoff points that come with finishing in first place.

    The Hermosillo Naranjeros, who had led the LMP standings most of the season, showed a 20-14 record and a one-game lead over 19-15 Los Mochis heading into Sunday's showdown between the two clubs at Estadio Sonora. If the Caneros prevailed, they'd have vaulted into a tie for first with the Naranjeros and the first-half championship by virtue of having more wins than losses against the Orangemen. In fact, the Mex Pac standings were so tight that a four-way tie for first was mathematically possible, which would've led to calculators (or slide rules for stubborn traditionalists) being brought out to determine just who DID finish first.

    Fortunately, the mathematicians have been spared as the Naranjeros recorded a 6-1 win over Los Mochis in front of 10,808 spectators. Hermosillo starter Elian Leyva, who has become one of the top pitchers in Mexican baseball, turned in a solid performance over six innings, allowing one run on three hits while striking out nine Caneros and throwing 63 strikes on his 95 pitches to even his record at 2-2.

    The game was tighter than the final score implies, however, as the score was knotted at 1-1 until the bottom of the sixth inning when veteran Tomas Solis replaced starter Luis Miranda on the mound for Los Mochis. It took three pitches for slugger Roberto Ramos to send a Solis delivery over the right-center field wall to give Hermosillo the lead and the Naranjeros went on to score four more runs in the frame, two coming in on a Jose Carmona single off another reliever, Miguel Vazquez.

    After that, it was left to ex-Padres starter Cesar Vargas and former Mets prospect Thomas McIlraith to shut down the Caneros on one hit over the final three innings to clinch first place and the points. Roel Santos, Ramon Mendoza and Jasson Atondo each had two hits for the winners (Atondo contributing an RBI single in the fourth to give Hermosillo a 1-0 lead). Isaac Rodriguez' game-tying single in the fifth was one of three hits on the night for the Caneros' leadoff hitter and second sacker. Miranda allowed his first run of the season in his seventh start on Atondo's single but it was Solis who took the loss for Los Mochis.

    Elsewhere in the winter circuit Sunday, Guasave snuck past Navojoa, 2-1, on Erisbel Arruebarrena's walk-off RBI single to overtake Los Mochis for second place (and 9.0 points) with a 20-15 record. The Mayos finished the half at 16-19 and in a three-way tie for sixth with Mexicali and Monterrey. Monterrey scored five times in the seventh as Alex Liddi stroked a two-run double to beat Mexicali, Mexicali, 8-3.

    Mazatlan and Obregon joined Los Mochis in a tie for third with 19-16 records. The Venados dropped a 5-0 shutout against visiting Jalisco (15-20) as U-23 World Cup star Alemao Hernandez blanked the Deer over five innings while Obregon snuck past Culiacan (14-21) by a 5-4 count when Juan Carlos Gamboa scored all the way from first on Allen Cordoba's walk-off single in the bottom of the tenth to send 10,228 fanaticos at Estadio Yaquis home happy.

    Monterrey's Roberto Valenzuela leads the batting race with a .385 average, well ahead of Jalico's Fernando Villegas (.348) and veteran third baseman Rudy Amador of Los Mochis (.341). Anthony Giansanti of Mexicali has nine homers to lead four other players with six longballs apiece. Obregon's 1-2 puch of Yadir Drake and Victor Mendoza share the RBI lead with 26 each, one more than Christian Villanueva of Jalisco. Hermosillo's Jose Cardona stole his first base in seven games to take a one-pilfer lead over Randy Romero of Mazatlan, 15 to 14. Romero swiped five bases in one seven-game stretch earlier this month.

    It remains crowded at the top of the pitching wins list with a cast of thousands (okay, okay, a cast of seven) showing four victories each. Among those hurlers, Nico Tellache of Guasave (1.66) and Juan Pablo Oramas of Hermosillo (1.69) trail only Los Mochis' Luis Miranda (0.24) in the ERA derby after the latter allowed his first run Sunday in Hermosillo. Oramas' Naranjeros moundmate, Touki Toussaint, leads the LMP with 41 strikeouts, just ahead of the 40 by Matt Pobereyko of Guasave while Culiacan vet Manny Barreda is third with 39 whiffs. Colombian closer Elkin Alcala of Mazatlan had two saves last week to bring his season total to 12, followed by the 10 of Guasave's Brandon Koch and Jake Sanchez of Mexicali.

    With everyone's slate wiped clean, six weeks of second-half action will begin Tuesday night with the first of five three-game midweek series.


LMB AWARDS: TOROS' PEREZ NAMED MVP FOR 2022

Mexican League 2022 MVP Felix Perez

    Tijuana Toros designated hitter Felix Perez has been named the Mexican League's Most Valuable Player for 2022. He becomes the second consecutive Tijuana player to be accorded MVP honors after outfielder Leandro Castro won in 2021 and first Cubano to win it since Monterrey's Michel Abreu in 2012. Perez was also named the Liga's Comeback Player of the Year.

    Perez, who celebrated his 38th birthday last week, is a Cuba native who played three seasons for his hometown Isla de la Juventud Toronjeros in the Cuban National Series before defecting from the island nation in 2008. He subsequently signed with Cincinnati and spent five seasons in the Reds system between 2010 and 2014, including two years in AAA Louisville, batting a combined .281 with 33 homers and 241 RBIs in 532 games.

    The 6'2” lefty hitter known as “El Nino” south of the border made his LMB debut in 2015 with Monterrey and hit over .300 for the Sultanes two years before signing with the Rakuten in Japan's NPB for the rest of the 2016 campaign, hitting .238 in 24 games. Perez returned to Mexico for good in 2017 and has also spent time with Aguascalientes and Leon before coming to Tijuana this year after only batting .200 with three homers over 17 games for the Bravos in 2021.

    Perez made the most of his first season in the border city in 2022 by hitting .323 with 38 homers and 109 RBIs over 87 games and missing just three contests for the Toros, who finished the regular season under manager Homar Rojas with an Liga-best 62-28 record before falling to rival Monterrey in the LMB North finals. Perez tied Saltillo's Rainel Rosario for most homers, was second to Rosario's 116 ribbies, finished in the top ten for total bases, slugging percentage and on-base+slugging and came in eleventh with 73 runs scored.

    Beyond the numbers, Toros sports manager Ricardo Williamson says the veteran Perez served as a team leader and mentor to younger TJ players. “He is a very important pillar for veterans and young people for their journey in baseball,” Williamson states. “He pushed others to be better. He is a great player and a great human being of good mood and happy.” Toros press officer Armando Esquivel confirmed Williamson's assessment of Perez. “He was an immediate leader,” said Esquivel. “There are natural leaders and Felix was integrated from the first days. He teamed up and was one of the most appreciated.”

    Other Mexican League postseason honorees include Yucatan skipper Roberto “Chapo” Vizcarra as Manager of the Year after leading the Leones to the 2022 pennant, Monterrey closer Neftali Feliz (24 saves) as Reliever of the Year, Sultanes starter Yohander Mendez (7-0, 2.78 ERA) as Pitcher of the Year, Veracruz pitcher Luis Marquez (9-1, 2.38) as Rookie of the Year and Union Laguna center fielder Edgar Robles (.990 fielding percentage) as Defensive Player of the Year.


LIGA RELEASES 2023 REGULAR SEASON SCHEDULE

Tabasco Omecas to host 2023 LMB All-Stars

    The Mexican League has announced its official schedule for the 2023 regular season. “Play ball!” will first be heard on Thursday, April 20 at Estadio Domingo Santana when the current champion Yucatan Leones visit the Leon Bravos.

    The regular season will open for the remaining 16 teams one night later (including when the Quintana Roo Tigres are welcomed by their longtime rival Mexico City Diablos Rojos at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú Stadium in the nation's capital) on Friday, April 21. The rest of the Friday night inaugurals will be Tijuana at Veracruz, Aguascalientes at Monclova, Saltillo at Guadalajara, Durango at Nuevo Laredo, Monterrey at Union Laguna, Tabasco at Oaxaca and Campeche at Puebla.

    The weekend of the All-Star Game, to be played in Villahermosa, Tabasco, will be from June 16 to 18. The Olmecas finished a surprising 47-37 under manager Pedro Mere in 2022 (who coaxed .311/7/24 numbers over 43 games from ex-MLB star Pablo “Kung Fu Panda” Sandoval), while playing home games at makeshift Estadio Angel Toledo Meza in Macuspana while renovations were being done on Parque Centenario de Febrero 27 in Villahermosa.The latter was opened in 1964 and served as home to Tabasco's Mexican League teams from 1975 until the federally-funded facelift began in late 2021. The ballpark will seat 16,500 spectators when it's reopened next year to house a team that averaged 1,911 in attendance for 2022.

    As in 2022, the LMB schedule will be 90 games per team (equivalent to 810 games in total for the regular season), and when the postseason is added there will be about 900 matches in all. The same competition system of 2020 and 2021 will be maintained, with a continuous season (no first or second halfs) and six qualified teams per divison based on the percentage of won and lost will qualify for the postseason.

    The regular circuit campaign will end on Sunday, August 6. The postseason will begin on August 8 in the South Zone and on August 9 in the North Zone. The “lucky loser” system will be used again in which winners of each of three first round series in each division will be joined in their respective Division Semifinals by a fourth club that fared the best among the three losing teams.

    In all, there will be four playoff stages, all in a best-of-7 format:
DIVISION FIRST ROUND (1v6, 2v5, 3v4) between August 8 and 16
DIVISION SEMIFINALS between August 18 and 27
DIVISION CHAMPIONSHIPS between August 28 and September 6
LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP (Serie del Rey) between September 8 through 16

    Here is a link to the complete Mexican League schedule for 2023:
    https://bit.ly/3XfMn1l

CHITO RODRIGUEZ URGES LMB TO CANCEL SEASON

Cuauhtémoc “Chito” Rodríguez

A widely-respected Salon de la Fama member with over four decades of Mexican League front office experience is calling on the LMB to cancel the 2020 season due to ongoing uncertainty regarding the Wuhan virus outbreak in Mexico.

Cuauhtémoc “Chito” Rodríguez was inducted last year in Monterrey after an executive career during which his Dos Laredos Tecolotes reached the playoffs 15 times (winning two pennants) before taking over as president of the flagship Tigres franchise in 1994 and overseeing six title-winning teams in Mexico City, Puebla and Quintana Roo before his 2018 retirement after Fernando Valenzuela purchased the team from Carlos Peralta. He was recognized as "King of Baseball" at the Baseball Winter Meetings in 2011.

When asked by writer Angel Villegas last week about the upcoming Mexican League season, Rodriguez was quoted as saying, "cancel it," in Puro Beisbol. "I don't think baseball being played in the LMB is possible this year. The country is immersed in the virus and we don't know when it will be solved."

Rodriguez elaborated that the Liga's plan to play games with people in the stands is impractical: “The situation in the country and in the world is very complex regarding the virus. I would not recommend playing with the public in the stands in the Mexican League. It will not be controllable until you have a vaccine to counteract this evil. Therefore, it is not practical for anyone to be in a sport that people go to the stadiums and I do not only mean baseball but also others such as soccer, basketball and American football."

Rodriguez at the 2011 Baseball Winter Meetings

He echoed LMB president Horacio de la Vegas by saying that teams can't afford to play behind closed doors either. “Doing it without an audience in the stadiums as the United States plans, if it takes shape, is very different," Rodriguez explains. "MLB has very strong television income. In this case, they'll try to get their season off for television rights and sponsors are not interested in whether or not there are people. It's a situation very different from that in Mexico."

Rodriguez suggests that calling off the season gives the Mexican League an opportunity to create peace with the winter Mexican Pacific League, who would not have to shorten their season to accomodate a Mexican League schedule stretching into November. "It is time for the two leagues to make amends," he says. "I would go with the LMB Board of Directors and would do the same with the Winter Council and tell them, 'Look, we must make peace. We did not do it for many years because there are difficulties between us so there was no approach. We've criticized each other, but now it's time to lean on each other.'

“It's a complicated situation so it would be best if the Mexican League told the winter league that they can start as usual in October, finish it and play their Caribbean Series. Everyone in peace."

DE LA VEGA: LMB WILL NOT PLAY GAMES IN EMPTY BALLPARKS

Mexican League president Horacio de la Vega

Although the 2020 Mexican League season is tentatively scheduled to open August 7, it's with the full knowledge that the Wuhan virus pandemic makes everything a fluid situation and that the season may not be played at all. One thing that isn't going to change, according to LMB president Horacio de la Vega, is that the Liga will NOT play games in front of occupied stands in 2020.

"We are not going to play behind closed doors. That is our determination. The only possibility is to do it with the capacity allowed," de la Vega said.

According to the Hitazo website, de la Vega explained that he expects to start the season on August 7 to end on November 10 with a 48-game campaign for each team in the regular season, but that will depend on how the pandemic plays out over the next few weeks.

Unlike leagues elsewhere, the Mexican League is not in the financial position to play without people in the stands because the LMB does not have deals with sponsors similar to those found in the United States, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan while the majority of its 16 teams are dependent on revenue from ticket, merchandise and concession sales to meet payroll and cover their other expenses. Games behind closed doors would almost certainly lead to franchises folding, perhaps even during the season.

Tabasco Olmecas will need fan in the seats 

As a case in point, the Korea Baseball Organization (where Hermosillo-born Roberto Ramos has become a star in his first season in Asia) has played in front of empty stands since opening their season on May 5. Although the KBO is in better financial shape than the LMB and has had their games beamed to a North American TV audience on ESPN, SportBusiness.com reports that some teams are reportedly beginning to struggle without ballpark revenues and corporate team owners may be forced to take out bank loans to meet front office and team payrolls. One KBO club official said, "We've been paying our players and employees in full but if we keep playing without fans in July, a lot of teams will run into extremely serious trouble.

The leader of Mexico's summer baseball circuit accepted that after the Wuhan virus, it will be necessary to change uses and customs of the game, such as spitting on the ground (something usual between pitches) or eating sunflower seeds.

"It will radically change the behavior of the players," de la Vega stated. "There is a protocol that will imply changes, not only for the players, but also for the fans."

BANUELOS CUT BY MARINERS, SIGNS WITH TEAM IN TAIWAN

Manny Banuelos with Culiacan in 2019-20

If nothing else, Manny Banuelos' passport has been getting a good workout this year.

The 29-year-old lefty will be playing in his fourth country since January after the 5'10" Laguna native signed a one-year contract with the Fubon Guardians of Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League last week. Banuelos will report this week to the team in New Taipei City, where the Guardians roster includes fellow moundsmen Henry Sosa, Mike Loree, Bryan Woodall and Ryan Bollinger.

Banuelos was once a highly-regarded prospect after signing a free-agent contract with the New York Yankees in 2008 at age 17. He rose as high as AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in seven years as a farmhand in pinstripes, but never appeared in the majors until after he was traded to Atlanta following the 2014 season. He made an impressive MLB debut for the Braves on July 2 against Washington at home, shutting out the Nats over 5.2 innings and striking out seven batters in a no-decision 2-1 win. Banuelos followed that outing with another good start five nights later in Milwaukee by holding the Brewers to one run in 5.1 frames and was credited with a 4-3 victory. Although he mostly pitched creditably the rest of the season, he lost his final four decisions, including an 8-4 shelling at Washington on September 6 in which he allowed six runs over two innings in his final outing. That was enough to raise his overall ERA from 3.33 to 5.13 to augment a 1-4 record.

After that, Banuelos was returned to the minors and bounced from the Braves to the Dodgers and White Sox organizations before returning to MLB in 2019 with Chicago, going 3-4 with a 6.93 ERA in 16 appearances, including eight starts. He had a great April for the Chisox, finishing the month with a 2-0 record and 2.70 ERA in six appearances (including four shutout innings on April 22 at Baltimore in a 12-2 laugher), but he allowed 27 earned runs in 20.1 entradas in May to lose four of five decisions and pitched sparingly for manager Rick Renteria after that. A Mexican-American, Renteria led the Mexican League in batting with a .442 average for Jalisco in 1991.

Banuelos spent last winter pitching in the Mexican Pacific League for Culiacan, going 1-1 with a 5.40 ERA in four starts. He began the year helping the Tomateros win the LMP title in the January playoffs, traveled with the team to Puerto Rico in February for the Caribbean Series (where Culiacan reached the semifinals, then went to Arizona for MLB spring training after signing a free-agent contract with the Seattle Mariners.

Banuelos made MLB debut in 2015

Banuelos made one Cactus League appearance with the M's, allowing two runs in as many innings on two hits, two wild pitches and a hit bastman. He appeared ticketed to AAA Tacoma when the Wuhan virus halted camps across MLB, but was among about 50 minor leaguers purged from the Seattle organization on June 2 in order to save the organization $400 a week per player.

Now, Banuelos will resume his career on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. He'll join a Fubon team that has made nine playoff appearances and won three pennants since their 1993 debut as the Jungo Bears, but currently sits third in the four-team CPBL with a 17-23 record after absorbing a 13-4 loss Sunday to the Uni-President Lions, whose roster features former MLB pitchers Ryan Feieraband and Josh Roenicke.

While Taiwan is not where he expected to be when the year began, Manny Banuelos will have one decided advantage over the 750 major leaguers and thousands of remaining minor leaguers he left behind when he departed from North America last week: He'll be playing baseball.

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.

Training camp opens for 15 Liga teams...then there's Tabasco

Tabasco Olmecas team president Juan Luis Dagdug

As February heads into its final week of 2018, training camp is in full swing for all 30 Major League Baseball teams as well as 15 of their counterparts south of the border in the Mexican League.  Then there are the Tabasco Olmecas.

The Villahermosa-based team staggered through a moribund season last year, finishing a Liga-worst 38-69 on the field to come in 26 games out of first place in the mediocre South Division.  The poor showing was reflected in the box office at Parque Centenario 27 de Febrero, where only 71,829 souls passed through the turnstiles over 50 dates for an average of just 1,437 per opening.  The ballpark itself was plagued by electrical problems throughout the campaign, with power outages a common occurrence, which didn't help attendance at all.  The nadir of the Olmecas season came Sunday, July 2, when only 178 were in the stands to witness a 5-0 loss to Monterrey.  It was that kind of year in Tabasco.

Former team chairman Carlos Jose Dagdug, who resigned from his club duties after the 2017 schedule was completed, told Tabasco Hoy last fall that it would take about 40 million pesos (approximately 2.2 million US dollars) to field a competitive team in Villahermosa this year under manager Alfonso "Houston" Jimenez.  The former MLB shortstop had yet to convene training camp for the squad as of late last week, however, as rumors float that cash shortages in the front office have led to the delay.  Whatever the cause, the situation mirrors the late starts by newcomers Durango and Leon last year, with both teams playing on the road for the first month of the season while their own ballpark upgrades were being performed.

One positive bit of news coming out of Tabasco is that renovations to Parque Centenario 27 de Febrer, which turns 54 Tuesday, are underway and hoped to be mostly completed when the regular season opens in late March.  LMB president Javier Salinas toured the facility last week with new team president Juan Luis Dagdug (Carlos' brother)  as part of a visit to the troubled franchise, calling the Olmecas one of the "pillars" of the Mexican League due to their continuous play since starting in 1977.  Renovations will include a paint job, restroom upgrades, remodeled locker rooms maintenance to the grandstand roof.  Hopefully a call to an electrician is also on the agenda.


Acereros undergoing makeover for 2018 season

Former Monclova SS Amadeo Zazueta (now with Leon)

When the already-strong Monclova Acereros were able to pluck most of the players from the 2016 Mexican League champion Puebla Pericos after Pericos owner Gerardo Benavides purchased the Acereros last winter, Monclova was considered a favorite by many to win the LMB flag in 2017.  Indeed, the team did well during the regular season by going 67-41 to finish third in the tough North Division, but were swept in four games by Monterrey in the first round of the playoffs.  Meanwhile, the roster-ravaged Pericos managed to pull things together under new manager Tim Johnson and reached the LMB Championship Series before falling to Tijuana. 

Never the type of person to sit idly even in the best of times, Benavides was expected to rearrange the landscape of his preferred hometown team.  He started with his manager, Jorge Luis Loredo, who took over the team after the Wally Backman experiment failed and steadied the ship before the Acereros' ignominious postseason exit.  Loredo was not rehired and will coach for Houston Jimenez in Tabasco this year while former MLB and LMB catcher Dan Firova was hired to manage in Monclova.

A six-player "trade" with Puebla shortly after the season ended netted shortstop Alberto Carreon, third baseman Issmael Salas and catcher Cesar Tapia while the Acereos only gave up catcher DJ Dixon and pitchers Julio Felix and Romario Gil, but Salas has already been returned to Puebla without ever suiting up for the Steelers.  Then shortstop Amadeo Zazueta, who played in the All-Star Game at Campeche and had a terrific year at the plate with a .341 batting average, was shipped to Leon without a player coming in return from the Bravos.

Finally, Monclova worked a deal with Tijuana last Friday in which speedy centerfielder Justin Greene and solid right-handed pitcher Hector Galvan were sent to the Toros in exchange for reserve outfielder Chris Valencia and righty pitchers Jordan Aboites and Edwin Quirarte, a deal that at first glance seems to clearly favor the defending champions.  Another head-scratching transaction was the importing of former MLB second baseman Jemile Weeks, who hit .303 for Oakland in 2011 but has otherwise been a bit of a journeyman, appearing for four big league teams between 2011 and 2016.  What Firova will do with Weeks is uncertain, given that he already has arguably the best Mexican second sacker in the game on his roster in Manny Rodriguez.

Whether all the personnel moves result in Monclova winning the city's first LMB pennant since the Acereros made their debut in 1974 (Benavides' grandfather was owner) remains to be seen, but Firova himself may need a scorecard to keep track of who's playing for him on any given night.


Venados' owner willing to host 2019 Caribbean Series, if needed

Artist's conception of remodeled Mazatlan ballpark

If the Caribbean Series is going to have to be moved a second year in a row, another Mexican Pacific League team (at least their owner) has let it be known they'd be willing and able to pinch-hit as an emergency site for the Crown Jewel of Latin Baseball.  This year, of course, the Jalisco Charros stepped up to host the event after political and economic turmoil in Venezuela led the tournament organizers to move the CS out of Barquisimieto to Guadalajara, making it two years in a row that Mexico has held the Serie del Caribe (Culiacan was the site in 2017).  Barquisimieto will get another crack next February if conditions in Venezuela stabilize but if things don't work out again, the Mazatlan Venados owner says he's interested in bringing the CS to the Pearl of the Pacific for a second time.

Venados owner Antonio Toledo tells Puro Beisbol's Fernando Ballesteros that if Venezuela has to drop out as CS host, "The Dominican Republic would be the second option but in case they're not in condition to take over, we could get in."  After years of jockeying for an all-new ballpark north of the city's tourist zone, it was decided instead to completely renovate Estadio Teodoro Mariscal, which has been home to the Venados since its 1962 opening.  While various maintenance and repair projects (including a 2000 seating expansion) have been performed at the 15,000-seat ballpark, which sits between the Zona Dorado to the north and downtown Mazatlan to the south, this is the first-ever major overhaul of the facility.  "Our remodeled stadium should be ready by the beginning of October," Toledo told Ballesteros, "but if it's not, it's possible we can play a few series on the road to start the season."

Mazatlan is one of five LMP cities that typically rotate as Caribbean Series hosts, along with Mexicali, Hermosillo, Culiacan and now Guadalajara.  The tourney itself historically has rotated between Mexico, Venezuela, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic over the past four decades, although Miami was the site for two ill-fated attempts to bring the CS to the United States in the early 90's.  Mazatlan has hosted the tournament four times (1978, 1985, 1993 and 2005), with the Venados becoming the only host team to win the CS in front of its own fans in 2005.

Barquisimieto is scheduled to host the Caribbean Series in 2019, followed by San Juan, Puerto Rico in 2020 and Mazatlan in 2021.  There has been talk of Havana, Cuba being a potential site, although the needed infrastructure may not yet be in place to handle the influx of fans from other countries, while both Panama and Colombia have also been mentioned as COPABE president Jose Manuel Puello seeks to expand the event to other nations.  However, Mexico has proven to be the most supportive of the participating countries since the turn of the century, so it would not be wise to count out Mazatlan two years early...just in case.

Culiacan finishes CS at 1-3; Caguas cops title (again)

Culiacan's Sebastian Elizalde scored the first run of the game from third base after Dominican shortstop Abiatal Avelino made a fielding error on a Jesse Castillo grounder in the top of the first inning as the Mexican Pacific League champion Tomateros went on to trounce the Cibaenas Aguilas, 8-1, last Tuesday to close out the host team's appearance at the Caribbean Series in Guadalajara.  The Mexicans finished the round-robin stage of play with a 1-3 record to fall a game short of the semifinals.  Cibaenas went on to reach Thursday's CS final before falling to Puerto Rican titleist Caguas, 9-4, to give the Criollos their second straight Serie del Caribe championship.

The Tomateros raised their lead to 3-0 in the top of the fifth courtesy of another Aguilas infield error, this time a wide throw to first by third baseman Hector Gomez on a Joey Meneses grounder that allowed both Justin Greene and Elizalde to score on the play.  The Dominicans were their own worst enemy in the field by committing an astounding six errors in the contest, although only one Mexican run was unearned.  Cibaenas scored their lone run in the bottom of the fifth when Gomez scored from third on Gustavo Nunez' sacrifice fly to Greene in center field, but Culiacan effectively salted the game away with a four-run outburst in the top of the sixth.

In that frame, the retiring Alfredo Amezaga rapped a triple to right off Samuel Deduno that plated Walter Ibarra and Gabriel Gutierrez to make it a 5-1 score, followed by a Greene homer to left to bring in Amezaga, giving Mexico a 7-1 advantage.  Japan-bound slugger Japhet Amador completed Culiacan's scoring for the game (and series) by launching an insurance homer over the center field wall against Cibaenas' Esmerling de la Rosa in the top of the seventh in a game that was played without much drama after the Mexicans were mathematically eliminated from Final Four contention the night before.

Mexican starter Sergio Mitre (6 innings, 1 run) got the win while Domincan hurler Angel Castro took the loss after letting in one run in three entradas.  Elizalde, Greene and Amador each had two of the Tomateros' nine hits on the night while Gomez' three safeties paced the eight-hit Dominican effort but four Culiacan relievers combined to fire three innings of two-hit shutout ball the rest of the way.

Tuesday's win was perhaps the lone bright spot for manager Benji Gil's Tomateros, whose MexPac championship team added 15 reinforcements prior to traveling east to Guadalajara.  A natural lightning rod who received widespread criticism (and a fine from the LMP) by making an obscene gesture following Culiacan's pennant-clinching win in Navojoa, Gil was plagued by bullpen collapses in Mexico's first two losses against Puerto Rico and Cuba's Granma Alazanes before falling to Venezuelan kingpins Anzoategui in a game they never led.  Surprisingly, the Tomateros had the lowest ERA of the five-team field at 4.37 but the highest WHIP of the tourney with a 1.66 mark.  They came in last in team batting by turning in a .273 average, respectable enough but well behind the Venezuelans' smoking .356 figure.  Greene and Rico Noel both hit .333 to lead the "home" team but the Mexicans' power shortage (only three homers at hitter-friendly Estadio Charros) didn't help and only Elizalde recorded more than two RBIs with three.  Reliever Jose Isidro Marquez, son of longtime closer Isidro Marquez, had three hitless appearances out of the bullpen, striking out four.  Despite the controversy and lack of success at the CS, Tomateros owner Hector Ley says that Gil will be back as manager in Culiacan next winter.

Ultimately, however, it was a flat performance by the Tomateros, who missed the LMP playoffs last winter when Culiacan hosted the Caribbean Series.  Guadalajara was pressed into service as hosts this time around when Venezuela's unstable political and economic situation forced the Caribbean Baseball Federation to pull out of Barquisimeto last year.  They'll try Venezuela again in 2019 but while CBPC president Juan Francisco Puello spoke bravely about big things in the CS' future, talk has already started up that Mazatlan may be similarly called upon as Guadalajara was.  The Venados are scheduled to host the CS in 2021 as part of the event's four-nations rotation, but current renovations at Estadio Teodoro Mariscal may bring the tournament to the Pearl of the Pacific two years early.  Puerto Rico is due to serve as hosts in 2020, depending on how efforts to bring the island back from last fall's devastating hurricane have gone by then.  Puello also says that Panama, Nicaragua and Colombia (who all send their winter champions to the lower-level Latin American Series) are under consideration for future inclusion in the Caribbean Series, although it's hard to see how any of the three would be contenders for a title anytime soon.

In all, Guadalajara received high marks for how the city (and host Jalisco Charros) staged the tournament, as Charros owner Armando Navarro continued his high-wattage effort to raise his hometown's baseball profile in the wake of last spring's World Baseball Classic first round games there that also earned high marks.


Jimenez, Picota to fill last two LMB managerial vacancies

Former major league shortstop Alfonso "Houston" Jimenez has been hired (as expected) to manage the
Mexican League's Tabasco Olmecas in 2018 while well-travelled former pitcher Lenin "Len" Picota will be dugout boss for the Saltillo Saraperos.  Both moves come with training camps set to open later this month and the regular season six weeks away.

The hirings complete the LMB's 16-man managerial roster for their upcoming Apertura season, set to run from late March through June with 57-game schedules followed by a month of playoffs.  The 2018 Clausura will mirror that format from July through mid-October.  While the league isn't actually using either term, the Liga Mexicana soccer circuit for whom LMB president Javier Salinas once worked, has employed Apertura ("Opening") and Clausura ("Closing") for their own two-season approach that has been quite successful for them over the years.  We'll use them here, for now.

The 60-year-old Jimenez is a Mexico City native who reportedly got his nickname from a character in a TV western (perhaps "Temple Houston," a 1963-64 series about a frontier lawyer?).  As a player he was similar to another Mexican shortstop, Mario Mendoza: Solid defenders but light hitter in the majors whose bats warmed up enough in the Mexican League to bring Salon de la Fama elections to both.  Another parallel between Jimenez and Mendoza is that both have spent most of the past two decades as managers in Mexican baseball, a peripatetic existence that has brought pennants to neither as a skipper.  Jimenez was let go in Oaxaca last September after two seasons at the helm of the Guerreros.  He went 40-67 in 2017 for a two-year record in Oaxaca of 78-119 in his second go-round with the franchise (this will be Jimenez' second job in Villahermosa as well).  This will be his eleventh MXL managerial job since 2001 but Jimenez has enjoyed a measure of success, going 879-777-3 in seventeen seasons dating to 1999.  He was a coach on Mexico's 2009 WBC team and elected to the Salon in 2013.  The Olmecas finished last in the LMB South in 2017 with a 38-69 record.

Unlike Jimenez, Picota's new job in Saltillo will be his first managerial gig in Mexican baseball.  However, the 51-year-old former pitcher is no stranger to the game south of the border.  A former Cardinals prospect who rose as high as Class AAA, Picota eventually moved on to independent ball, Taiwan, South Korea and Mexico, with LMB stops in Oaxaca, Nuevo Laredo, Laguna and Aguascalientes between 1996 and 2006 (going 19-13 over all or part of four seasons).  He pitched for his native Panama in the 2006 World Baseball Classic at age 39, later coached for the Panamanians in two more WBCs and served as Panama National Team assistant manager under new Monterrey skipper Roberto Kelly in 2014.  More recently, he has managed the Chinandega Tigres to the two most recent Probeis Panama winterball pennants and Latin American Series titles after winning the Probeis penant and a berth in the 2016 LAS managing the Panama Nacionales.  Picota will take over a Saraperos team that came in seventh in the LMB last summer with a 44-64 mark.

Here's a list of managers who will be piloting Mexican League teams when the 2018 season opens next month (new managers in italics, always subject to change):

NORTHERN DIVISION-Aguascalientes, Homar Rojas; Durango, Matias Carrillo; Union Laguna, Ramon Orantes; Dos Laredos, Eddy Castro; Monclova, Dan Firova; Monterrey, Roberto Kelly; Saltillo, Len Picota, Tijuana, Pedro Mere.
SOUTHERN DIVISION-Campeche, Daniel Fernandez; Leon, Luis Carlos Rivera; Mexico City, Victor Bojorquez; Oaxaca, Jose Luis Sandoval; Puebla, Lorenzo Bundy; Quintana Roo, Tim Johnson; Tabasco, Houston Jimenez;  Yucatan, Roberto Vizcarra.


Tix to Dodgers-Padres series in Monterrey will cost plenty

While baseball fans across Mexico are duly excited about the three-game National League regular season series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres in Monterrey, they might be forgiven for taking a pause to let the price of tickets sink in.  On the basis of one US dollar being the equivalent of $18.72 in Mexican pesos (as of Sunday, February 11), a single-game ticket will cost as much as US$205 for a seat in the Platinum VIP seats behind home plate, the cheap seats on the outer edges of the upper deck looming above the left and right field corners will go for US$21 while outfield bleacher seats are priced at US$25.  The catch is that fans will be required to buy tickets to all three games of the series, each accompanied by those ubiquitous Ticketmaster fees loved by sports and music fans across both borders.

The upshot is that the first MLB regular season series in Mexico since 1999 is going to be out of the price range of many baseball lovers in Monterrey and elsewhere.  Even if a family of four were able to score tickets to the series in the upper-deck cheap seats, it would set them back US$246.79 before the Ticketmaster fees are even approached, a lot of money in a country where the GDP-based per capita income in 2016 was US$9,707 per year, or about one-fifth of what the average US resident brought in.  Here's a look at the Estadio Monterrey seating chart with corresponding per-peso ticket prices (remember to convert to US currency using that 18.72:1 ratio we mentioned in the first paragraph):

The Mexico Series will take place May 4, 5 and 6.  Estadio Monterrey is currently undergoing renovations that will modernize the ballpark, which was opened in 1990.  The upgrades will remove five thousand seats to bring the capacity down to 22,000.  The last time a regular season MLB series took place in Mexico was on Opening Day of 1999, when the Padres sent Mexican baseball legend Fernando Valenzuela to the mound against Colorado.  El Toro actually threw out the first pitch before shutting out the Rockies through six innings and earning the win in what ended up a wild 15-10 Padres triumph over their National League West rivals.

Culiacan sweeps Mexicali to reach MexPac title series

Culiacan DH Joey Meneses

Although it took the “lucky loser” rule for the Culiacan Tomateros to avert elimination from the Mexican Pacific League playoffs, luck had nothing to do with the Culichis’ sweep of defending champion Mexicali in the semifinals to punch their ticket to the LMP championship series.

The Tomateros began last week with a 7-4 Game Seven loss at home to Jalisco as Agustin Murillo had three hits (including a two-run homer) and three RBIs to give the Charros the deciding victory in their first round set.  However, Culiacan’s three wins in the series was enough to give them a berth in the second stage due to Mazatlan winning two games in their loss to Mexicali and Hermosillo earning just one triumph in their defeat to Navojoa.

Given that reprieve via LMP rules, the Tomateros then took on a Mexicali team that ran away with the second-half title and dismantled them easily, starting with a 6-2 win in the border city last Wednesday behind starter Edgar Gonzalez’ six innings of two-run pitching and Rico Noel’s single and double with two RBIs and one run scored.  Manager Benji Gil’s squad then took Thursday’s Game Two in Estadio B’Air, 5-4, with Joey Meneses’ ninth-inning single driving in LMP batting champ Sebastian Elizalde with what proved to be the game-winning run as Culiacan closer Chad Gaudin came turned in a 1-2-3 inning for the save.

After a travel day, the series shifted to Estadio Tomateros for Game Three on Saturday, with the hosts shutting out the Aguilas, 6-0, as Anthony Vazquez went all the way with a four-hitter for Culiacan, aided and abetted by Ali Solis’ three-run homer in the seventh.   The Tomateros put a wrap on the series and Mexicali’s season with a 6-4 win Sunday, with Issmael Salas’ sixth-inning bunt single driving in Ronnier Mustelier from third to break a 4-all tie.  The Tomateros picked up 38 hits over the four games while Mexicali’s defense broke down with ten errors, four of them coming in Sunday’s series-ending contest.

While the Aguilas will call it a winter, with players and manager Pedro Mere left to wonder how they so grandly missed a second trip to the Caribbean Series, the Tomateros will await the outcome of the Navojoa-Jalisco series to learn who they’ll face next in their attempt to bring an eleventh MexPac pennant to Culiacan.

Mayos one win away from LMP championship series berth

Navojoa (and Boston) RHP Hector Velazquez

The Navojoa Mayos are poised to move into the Mexican Pacific League championship series in their quest for the team’s first pennant since 2002-03 after taking a 3-games-to-1 lead over Jalisco in their LMP semifinal series.  Navojoa is not one of the LMP’s traditional powers, with just three titles in their 63-year franchise history, and the team is seeking its second trip to the finals since 1997-98.

The Mayos topped the Charros, 9-4, Sunday night in Guadalajara after jumping on Jalisco starter David Reyes for four runs on four hits, including a two-out single up the middle by Fernando Flores that scored Jesse Castillo and Jovan Rosa.  Willie Romero’s charges went on to take a 7-1 lead into the sixth inning and cruised to the win.  Designated hitter Max Ramirez had a big night for the visitors, belting two homers and driving in three runs while leadoff hitter Angel Gonzalez contributed three singles and a double, scoring once.  Eddie Gamboa earned the win after allowing two runs in five frames for his third postseason victory.  Reyes was tagged with the loss.

Navojoa opened the series at home last Wednesday and beat the Charros, 4-1, behind a decent five-inning outing from starting pitcher Hector Velazquez.  The Red Sox hurler allowed eight hits but only let in one run as Cardinals farmhand Randy Arozarena socked a solo homer in the bottom of the first to give Velazquez and the Mayos a lead they’d build on and hold the entire game.  Game Two on Thursday ended with Jalisco prevailing 4-3 in their lone win of the series thus far.  The Charros opened with two runs in the top of the first inning, including a game-opening homer from Yordanys Linares, and added two more in the second on a Linares triple.  Starter Tyler Alexander carried a shutout into the fifth and pitched through the sixth for the win, giving up five hits and two walks, striking out six Mayos batters as Jalisco erased Navojoa’s home-field advantage.

The series shifting to Guadalajara, however, has done the Charros no favors.  The Mayos won both weekend encounters, including a 6-3 Saturday tilt in which both Ramirez and Gonzalez lofted two-run homers in support of opener Barry Enright.  The former Diamondbacks starter went 7.1 strong innings for the win, scattering five hits and two runs while whiffing four.  Sunday’s win put the Charros in must-win mode for Monday’s Game Five at home.  Velazquez will seek his third playoff win for the Mayos while Jalisco skipper Roberto Vizcarra will send out Octavio Acosta, who’s followed up a standout summer with Mexico City (14-1, 2.99) with a solid winter for the Charros (7-3, 3.94).  Acosta has been rocked for an 8.59 ERA and a loss in two postseason starts, however.

Four LMB teams still without managers as training camps approach

Houston Jimenez with Tabasco in 2015

With training camp for the Mexican League’s two 2018 seasons about a month away, four LMB franchises are still shopping for a manager.  The Tabasco Olmecas are searching for a new leader to replace Vicente Palacios, the Saltillo Saraperos still have a vacancy after Marco Antonio Romero was not rehired and the Monterrey Sultanes have gone back to the drawing board after Miguel Ojeda spurned an offer to take a similar job in Durango (although the Generales’ unsettled ownership situation makes that a tentative commitment).

While the term “managerial job security” is an oxymoron in Mexican baseball, Tabasco may stand out even by the status quo south of the border.  The franchise as run by the Dagdug brothers is a perpetual also-ran on the field (one pennant in 53 years) and a fiasco off of it, with ongoing electrical problems at 53-year-old Parque Centenario 27 de Febrero serving as a symbol of sorts for the poorly-supported Olmecas, who averaged an LMB-worst 1,437 fans per game last summer.  While Villahermosa is not a preferred destination for men on the Mexican managerial merry-go-round, rumor has Alfonso “Houston” Jimenez returning for his second tour of duty with the Olmecas, including a 2015 season during which the ex-Twins shortstop marked his 800th career win as a Mexican League helmsman.  Jimenez was fired during the 2017 season as skipper from his tenth managerial job last summer in Oaxaca.  

Then you have the once-proud Saltillo Saraperos, who less than a decade ago won two consecutive Mexican League pennants and led all of Minor League Baseball in attendance under the ownership of deep-pocketed Juan Manuel Ley, whose family continues to own the Culiacan Tomateros in the wake of his death.  However, the Saraperos have fallen upon hard times since the Leys sold the franchise in 2013 after fourteen seasons in the Coahuila city, missing the playoffs in 2017 under managers Orlando Sanchez (fired after failing to recapture the glory days of 2008-10 under his watch) and Romero, once one of Mexico’s top sluggers.  With Romero gone, some observers expected Lino Rivera to be named Saltillo’s new skipper until the team board of directors publicly ruled that out, shifting attention to Panamanian Lenin Picota as a potential dugout boss.

Next we come to the Monterrey Sultanes, who’ve had an interesting year after owner Jose “Pepe” Maiz sold half the team to Grupo Multimedios last February.  While the Sultanes, under new general manager Guillermo “Willie” Gonzalez (who replaced fixture Roberto Magdaleno in the front office after the sale) were able to induce enough people out to Estadio Monterrey to lead MiLB with an average attendance of 11,575 per game, the team fell to Tijuana in the LMB North championship series for the second year in a row, leading to the decision to not bring back Felix Fermin as skipper (although Fermin remains on the roster as a third-base coach).  A deal between the Sultanes and Ojeda, who led Mexico City to the Liga pennant in 2014, was believed to have been worked out until the former big league catcher backed out to manage in Durango instead.  Since then, nobody’s name has surfaced as front-runner in Monterrey.

Finally, let’s talk about Durango.  The Generales’ difficulties in their first year have been exhausted here (you can check the archives in BBM’s right-hand column to review the carnage), but the underfinanced team drew well in the state capital even after their season went south following a surprisingly respectable showing during a month-long road trip to open 2017 as renovations to Estadio Francisco Villa were hurriedly being done.  Cuban skipper Joe Alvarez went from too-early “Manager of the Year” talk to unemployed after embattled owner Virgilio Ruiz fired Alvarez after the season.  While Ojeda has been named as the new skipper in Durango, Ruiz is said to be trying to sell his virtually-insolvent franchise that the league had to take over down the stretch and any new owners would not necessarily be obliged to honor a deal that Ruiz made with Ojeda.