MEX PAC RELEASES 2020-21 SCHEDULE

The Mexican Pacific League office has released its regular season schedule for the upcoming winterball season. The calendar has all ten teams playing 68 games spread over two halves, beginning in mid-October and running through the end of December, with Mondays used as a travel day (as has been the case for years).

One unusual feature is that the traditional two-game, home-and-away inaugural sets between rival teams are being discarded for 2020-21. While those series typically result in packed ballparks across the circuit, the possibility that no fans will be allowed in the stands due to the panicdemic has compelled the LMP to take no chances.

Instead, the regular season will open with five four-game series commencing Thursday, October 15: Mexicali at Obregon, Hermosillo at Navojoa, Mazatlan at Los Mochis, Guasave at Culiacan and Jalisco at Monterrey.

It appears that the Monterrey Sultanes may have backtracked on their plans to play home games in Mazatlan this season, although the team website wasn't even displaying a Mex Pac schedule or ticket information as this story was being written on Sunday afternoon. Sultanes sports manager Jesus Valdez Jr. was quoted in SeptimaEntrada.com as saying he was confident that the team will get the okay from Nuevo Leon state government officials to play in Monterrey with people in the stands. The Sultanes will train in Mazatlan prior to the season opener.

The first half will consist of 35 games and run through Sunday, November 22. The second half will open Tuesday, November 24, with 33-game schedules being played through Wednesday, December 30. A full eight-team, three-stage

postseason will be staged in January to determine a champion that will represent the LMP and Mexico at the Caribbean Series in Mazatlan, scheduled to run from late January into early February.

Who else will participate in the Serie del Caribe is another matter due to health, economic and political concerns in other nations. Cuba was already uninvited earlier this year due their pullout from the 2020 tournament just prior to it being held in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Colombia joined 2019 champion Panama to make it a six-team field with champions from traditional CS countries Mexico (represented by LMP title-winner Culiacan), Venezuela, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.

ISMAEL VALDEZ SELECTED TO LATIN BASEBALL HALL OF FAME

Former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Ismael “Rocket” Valdez was named last month as a 2020 inductee to the Latin American Baseball Hall of Fame in La Romana, Dominican Republic. Valdez will join Panamanian Mariano Rivera as the newest members of the pantheon, which was opened in 2010. Induction ceremonies have been delayed due to the panicdemic.

A native of Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, Ismael Valdes (who changed his surname to Valdez later in his career) was signed at age 17 in 1991 by the Dodgers out of the Pasteje Academy in Mexico City, a forerunner to the current Mexican Baseball Academy near Monterrey. Valdes was assigned to the Dodgers' Gulf Coast League Rookie Team in Florida that summer and went 2-2 with a 2.33 ERA in ten starts.

Three years later, after stops in AA San Antonio and AAA Albuquerque, Valdes made his big league debut at 20 in Los Angeles on June 15, 1994, tossing two innings of scoreless relief in a 4-2 loss to Cincinnati in front of over 51,000 onlookers at Dodger Stadium. His first win came July 5 in relief as the Dodgers pulled out a 2-1 victory in ten innings at home as the 6'3” right-hander pitched mostly out of the bullpen in 21 outings, finishing 3-1 with a 3.18 ERA. It was a nice debut for Valdes but gave no indication of what was to come.

Los Angeles manager Tommy Lasorda moved Valdes into the starting rotation early in 1995 and was rewarded when Valdes turned in a 13-11 record and 3.05 ERA (fourth-best in the National League) that included six complete games, two of them shutouts. He started a League Divisional Series against Atlanta and got a no-decision after pitching seven innings of in a 5-4 loss to the Reds, allowing a two-run homer by Reggie Sanders in the fourth.

Still, it was a good year for Valdes, who finished seventh in Rookie of the Year balloting, and began a string of five seasons in LA in which he won 58 games and turned in a sub-4.00 ERA each year before he was sent the the Chicago Cubs as part of a five-player trade in December 1999. After an ineffective stint with the Cubs (2-4, 5.37 in 12 starts), Valdes was sent BACK to the Dodgers for two minor leaguers and cash in July 2000, struggled his way to three more losses in eight starts and was declared a free agent after the season.

Valdes signed a contract with the Anaheim Angels for the 2001 season but became a bit of a baseball vagabond for the rest of his career, changing teams five times before tossing his final MLB pitch for the Florida Marlins in 2005. He had limited success along the way, going 14-9 in 2004 (after changing his surname to Valdez before the season), but ending that year with a 5.19 ERA and being traded by San Diego to the Marlins in midseason. Valdez' final big league appearance was on October 1, 2005 when he threw five relief innings against Atlanta, allowing three runs on five hits in a 6-4 win over the Braves in Miami. He then retired from baseball just weeks after his 32nd birthday. In 12 Major League seasons, Valdez had a 204-205 record and a 4.09 ERA, striking out 1,173 batters over 1,827 innings.

Valdez came out of retirement in 2013 when, at 39 years of age, he pitched eight games (including two starts) for the Mexican League's Quintana Roo Tigres. It was not the swan song he may have hoped for, going 1-1 with a 10.91 ERA before retiring for good in June, but his signing did draw the Cancun team some extra nationwide attention and he did contribute a win for manager Matias Carrillo's pennant-winning club.

He now becomes the twelfth Mexican named to the Latin American Baseball Hall of Fame. Hector Espino and Beto Avila were among the first inductees in 2010 and have been followed by Mel Almada, Chile Gomez, Angel Castro, Felipe Montemayor, Vinny Castilla, Nomar Garciaparra, Aurelio Lopez, Ted Higuera and Fernando Valenzuela. Garciaparra is actually California-born but his father Ramon is a Mexico native; Nomar is “Ramon” spelled backwards.

LIQUIDITY: THE GENERAL PROBLEM OF THE LMP

Writer Tito Escobar of ElJonronero.com recently wrote a story outlining the problems the Mexican Pacific League will face as they move forward in anticipation of playing a 2020-21 season. According to Escobar, the main problem will be the ability of Mex Pac teams to pay the bills in the face of the current panicdemic. Here is a Google translation (slightly edited) of his column:

El Jonronero cronista Tito Escobar

We already know all the effects that the devastating pandemic has brought worldwide. Mexico is one of the countries hardest hit by infections and deaths, but the drive and the desire to move ahead with order while following the instructions of the federal health authorities have encouraged the reactivation of the economy in different business areas. The decision was made to carry out the 2020-21 campaign of the Mexican Pacific League but, like all entrepreneurs, today they are experiencing a complicated situation on the issue of liquidity.

This reporter has talked with owners, brands, sponsors, advertising agencies and with all those involved in the mechanics of advertising and getting sponsorships, brand managers and advertising sellers. They have found as a barrier in their work: the obvious problem of lack of liquidity.

Even so, the Mexican Pacific League remains firm, but at the moment things are complicated collectively and with almost all clubs. We know who the clubs are that have the most economic power due to their locations, but they are all important and the efforts are aimed at them: Having advertisers, the best players and, therefore, having liquidity to face the campaign.

As an example and unofficially, the negotiations with the players have flowed, but if there are cases where we will soon find out about players who (given the decision not to accept the reduction that exists as a league agreement to lower the payroll to 50%) have rejected the offers and will not play. There is everything, those who demand discreetly and those who publish private conversations such as the Cuban Félix Pérez of the Monterrey Sultans.

Each one handles their situation differently and faces the pandemic in a different way. Most understand that the easy thing was for the owners to say NO to play and voila'…they leave the player to his own devices. But that's not the case. The player is going to play with everyone sacrificing something in the face of the difficult situation because having a job in these times is a blessing.

And as many owners have mentioned to El Jonronero, with a player who does not want to play there is no problem: he stays at home, next year things are better in every way and contract negotiations begin on a regular basis. But, of course, there are no loans to other clubs for this year in the case of players who wish not to sign with their club for not wanting to accept the mandatory reduction in salary.

On the topic of brands, El Jonronero received unofficial information that two of the main advertisers at the LMP level have said no for this campaign: One prestigious brand of fried foods and a major sportsbook that has been enthusiastically supporting winter baseball year after year. But obviously, the economic damage caused by the effects of the pandemic leads them to step aside this year. Sponsoring brands are obviously also experiencing economic problems in this chain of problems unleashed by the global pandemic.

The beer brands have individual contracts with the LMP clubs and are normally one of the strongest sponsorships, but today they are in serious economic difficulty to be able to participate according to contracts. There are cases in which they want to be absent this season, as there are those who can only contribute 25% of what was agreed to and thus help in some way. Each city and each beer brand is different. The soft drink brands that distribute bottled soft drinks, tea, and natural water are waiting mainly for what is the number of people who will be authorized by the federal health authorities to enter each ballpark of LMP. They go through that as a sales projection exercise and it is logical in their business.

And so hundreds of examples, like the dealers who are seeing if they bet on selling their products like other years, are waiting. The sale of seats is a very complicated topic among fans. Buying tickets or not is what fans have in mind in all the cities and to a certain extent, it is understood. The work of each club in this sense is titanic when it comes to the bet they have made that the Mexican Pacific League season is going to be played.

All the actors in the different areas should cooperate to boost the Mexican baseball economy and try to normalize as soon as possible this great game that we all enjoy in Mexico.

LMP SEASON REAFFIRMED, THREE TEAMS WORRIED

LMP teams say they're committed for 2020-21

The Mexican Pacific League held a Board of Presidents meeting last Thursday and while the LMP reaffirmed their intention to play a full schedule in the upcoming 2020-21 season, one website reports that at least three teams broached the possibility of sitting out the campaign due to concerns originating from the Wuhan virus.

Tito Escobar of ElJonronero.com reports sources told the website that three unnamed franchises expressed their concerns over operating at all next winter while discussions were held to address difficulties in securing advertising, contract disagreements and readjustments regarding beer and soft drink brands sold at ballparks and the uncertainty over how many fans will be allowed to attend games (if health authorities allow people in the stands at all).

Another worry brought up among the owners was the status of the Caribbean Series which is scheduled to take place in Mazatlan from late January into early February. Caribbean Professional Baseball Confederation president Juan Francisco Puello has already spoken of the possibility of affiliated leagues not playing their season because of the Wuhan virus, which would necessitate a Plan B of sorts if the Serie del Caribe is to be salvaged. One possibility is that a de facto all-star team consisting of players on LMP rosters could be cobbled together, in a fashion similar to how National Teams are formed, to represent Mexico in the Crown Jewel of Latin Baseball.

In the end, all the hesitant teams agreed to move forward, however tenuously, toward playing the upcoming winterball season. Although the Monterrey Sultanes will be playing their home games in Mazatlan, sharing Estadio Teodoro Mariscal with the hometown Venados, no other similar arrangements were announced, even though there's been talk of the Mexicali Aguilas moving to Hermosillo for the season and alternating home series with the Naranjeros. Another rumor involved the less-likely prospect of the Jalisco Charros wintering in Culiacan and playing at Estadio Tomateros. Guadalajara, which also hosts the LMP office, is closer to other Mex Pac cities than either Monterrey or Mexicali while Charros ownership would be loathe to want to ship their team out of town for the season. The LMP was scheduled to announce the regular season schedule on Monday, August 10.

Locker rooms to be empty for player safety

The SeptimaEntrada.com site reported that safety protocols for the season were discussed. LMP president Omar Canizales said during a videoconference that there are a number of steps the Mex Pac and its ten franchises will take to help ensure the health of players, coaches and team staff. The first step, Canizales said, is to talk with players and staffs, asking them to stay away from any risk and to isolate themselves and monitor their health for 15 days before they think they'll report to their teams.

He said the next step would be to test everyone for the Wuhan virus upon their arrival to training sessions, with those testing positive quarantined according to procedure. Finally, players and coaches will be instructed to leave their hotels for games already in uniform, while waiting upon their return to change in order to avoid the use of ballpark dressing rooms, where players would be in close proximity to each other while dressing before and after games.

YOANYS QUIALA SIGNS WITH CPBL FUBON GUARDIANS

Yoanys Quiala pitching for Los Mochis

The Mexican Pacific League's 2019-20 Pitcher of the Year has signed a one-year contract with a team in Taiwan after his anticipated summer with the Tijuana Toros was scuttled when the Mexican League pulled the plug on playing games in 2020.

Cuban right-hander Yoanys Quiala inked a pact last month with the Fubon Guardians of the Chinese Professional Baseball League, who also signed Mexican pitcher Manny Banuelos s an import in June. The CPBL is the only league in the world to begin its season on time in April and play a full schedule (minus rainouts) while other loops have delayed or canceled their seasons altogether due to the Wuhan virus. Quiala will undergo a physical and two-week quarantine in New Taipei City before being activated.

The 26-year-old Quiala was born in Mayari, Cuba but defected from the island nation prior to signing a free agent contract with the Houston organization in time for the 2015 season, when he posted a 2-0 record with a 1.54 ERA in nine appearances (four stats) for

an academy team in the rookie Dominican Summer League.

Quiala as an Astros prospect

Quiala pitched in the Astros minor league system for four years, appearing in the 2017 Carolina League All-Star Game while pitching for Buies Creek. However, his 2018 season with AA Corpus Christi ended early after he received an 80-game suspension for using steroids. Quiala was subsequently released by Houston and signed a minor league free agent contact with San Francisco for the 2019 campaign. He was 6-8 for the Giants' AAA Sacramento affiliate and had a 6.68 ERA for the River Cats before he was released on August 10. The 6'3” righty, who tips the scales at 235 pounds, signed with Tijuana last November.

Expectations weren't high when Quiala reported to Los Mochis last season. He'd pitched for the Caneros in 2018-19 and went 3-5 with a 4.37 ERA as a swingman, which had been his usual role over five professional seasons. However, after he was used solely as a starter with Sacramento, Caneros manager Victor Bojorquez gave Quiala the ball every fifth game and he rewarded Los Mochis with a 9-2 mark (for a 32-36 team), leading the MLP in innings pitched (87.2), wins (9) and WHIP (0.98) while coming in second in ERA (2.57) and strikeouts (71) en route to an easy win as the Mex Pac Pitcher of the Year.

Quiala was set to help fill Tijuana's starting rotation this year before the season was called off and rumors began circulating early last month that he was in talks with Fubon to pitch in Taiwan. The CPBLstats.com website reports that five days later, the Guardians filed a hiring application for a new player with the Ministry of Labor and Quiala was confirmed as that player. At last report, Quiala was awaiting results of a test for Wuhan virus and hoping to arrive in New Taipei City by early August.

LMB TEAMS TO LOSE 1-3 MILLION PESOS MONTHLY IN SHUTDOWN

Yucatan's Estadio Kukulkan sits unused in 2020

According the Beatriz Pereyra of Mexico City's Proceso.com.mx, the Mexican League's sixteen franchises stand to lose between one to three million pesos (US$45,000-135,000) per month now that the LMB has cancelled its 2020 schedule. LMB president Horacio de la Vega called off the season in late June for the first time since its 1925 inception due to ongoing concerns over the Wuhan virus, which has taken a steep toll in confirmed cases and deaths south of the border.

The possibility of playing games behind closed doors was considered until it was determined that most Liga teams could not afford to put teams on the field without ballpark-related revenue. Owner decided that their losses would be reduced by not playing a shortened regular season followed by playoffs. Although there are a handful of franchises like the Mexico City Diablos Rojos, Monterrey Sultanes and Tijuana Toros who have the financial strength to withstand what will be a year's worth of red ink without income generated at their home stadiums, most of the teams were already operating on the margins even before the pandemic arrived last spring, causing an initial delay in the LMB's anticipated April openers.

Empty coffers to devastate LMB teams

Even though the anticipated monetary losses will cause further damage to the league's Have-Nots, LMB franchises will spend money to help finance the league office in the nation's capital, including financial support for ballplayers and the circuit's 36 umpires, because the loop does not have sponsorship resources allowing it to fund itself at the executive level. Pereyra says the league office issued a statement saying, “The LMB and its 16 teams have agreed to provide financial support to the players, as well as to the corps of umpires.”

As a result, each team will analyze what percentage of salaries for their rostered players as well as coaching staff members. Pereyra states that the average player in the Mexican League is paid US$6,700-7,600 per month, although there are novice players earning US$2,000-2,250. At the higher end of the payroll, star players may receive up to US$22,500 per month during the season, although the range for them is usually closer to US$13,500-18,000 every 30 days.

With the 2020 campaign abandoned, the LMB is moving ahead with plans to open their next season in April 2021 and using their extended offseason to invest in a “digital and technical transformation,” as the league office says, while addressing a television and media infrastructure that de la Vega considers a “weakness.”