[ Start Of A Managerial Career ?? ]

VENEZUELAN LEAGUE PROFESSIONAL

Omar Vizquel will join Leones on October 28

The former big leaguer, who will be coaching for the Leones for part of the season, released the information through his account on the social network Twitter.

Caracas. -

Omar Vizquel is ready to wear the uniform of the Leones del Caracas. Former big leaguer reported through his account on the social network Twitter (@ VizquelOmar13) that next October 28 he will join the technical staff of the Leones team as a guest. Vizquel Permanence as coach of the team will be only for a few games. Although he has not yet defined the exact time but he is expected to be coaching for two to three weeks.

Baseball / Japanese Baseball

Baseball chief Kato to step down in October

Kyodo

Sep 19, 2013

Nippon Professional Baseball commissioner Ryozo Kato announced Thursday his resignation to take the fall for the uproar over the secretly altered baseball.

The 72-year-old Kato, who was elected to a third two-year term in July last year, said he will quit after the regular season, which ends Oct. 6, but no later than Oct. 25 — the day before the Japan Series starts.

“I caused a lot of problems over the ball, and that was a huge reason for my decision,” Kato said following an owners’ meeting at which he relayed his resignation to the 12 teams.

“I felt the faster we got off to a fresh start, the better. I still have a month, so I’d like to do whatever I can by then.”

No immediate announcement was made regarding Kato’s successor, nor the way in which the new commissioner would be chosen. An extraordinary owners’ meeting, however, has been set for Oct. 2.

The former Japanese ambassador to the United States had come under fire in June, when it was revealed that NPB had tweaked the specifics of the baseball used by its two leagues, making it a livelier ball.

Kato maintains he was never informed of the change, a confession which created ripples in and around baseball and called into question the authority of NPB’s chief executive.

A third-party panel investigating the coverup will submit a report by Sept. 27, it was decided by the owners on Thursday.

The players union sought his resignation, but Kato had steadfastly refused to step down. While the players got what they wanted in the end, they were confused over the timing of Kato’s announcement to say the least.

“We’re in the thick of the pennant race when it gets most exciting, and you really have to wonder about the timing of it all. Why now?” said ex-union chief Takahiro Arai of the Hanshin Tigers.

“Whoever it is next, we’d like it to be someone who can exercise strong leadership as the union has demanded all along.”

The government urged Japanese baseball to get its act together.

“Baseball is one of the most popular sports in Japan,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said. “We’d like to see the fans treated with respect, and we expect the officialdom in baseball to work hard in further improving the game.”

Going through some of my old files and found this:

KC's Mendoza named MVP of Caribbean Series

HERMOSILLO, Mexico --

Kansas City Royals pitcher Luis Mendoza, suiting up for Mexico's Yaquis de Obregon in the Caribbean Series, was named the Most Valuable Player of the six-game, double-round-robin portion.

The 29-year-old right-hander was a no-brainer after pitching 13 1/3 scoreless innings in his two starts. On Wednesday night at Estadio Sonora, Mendoza had a no-hitter through seven and wound up giving up just two hits in 7 1/3 innings, sending Mexico to Thursday's championship game against the Dominican Republic's Leones del Escogido.

Prior to the game, the Caribbean Series All-Stars were announced. They are as follows:

• Manager: Audo Vicente (DR)
• Catcher: Francisco Pena (DR)
• Pitcher: Mendoza
• First base: Donell Linares (DR)
• Second base: Jose Ramirez (DR)
• Third base: Mario Lisson (Venezuela)
• Shortstop: Miguel Tejada (DR)
• Outfielder: Marlon Byrd (Mexico)
• Outfielder: Ricardo Nanita (DR)
• Outfielder: Doug Clark (Mexico)
• Designated hitter: Barbaro Canizares (Puerto Rico)
• Right-handed pitcher: Mendoza
• Left-handed pitcher: Efraim Nieves (Puerto Rico)
• Relief pitcher: David Reyes (Mexico)
• Closer: Saul Rivera (Puerto Rico)

Boxscore for that 18 inning championship game:

http://mlb.mlb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp ... n_domwin_1

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HERMOSILLO, Mexico --

Caribbean Baseball Confederation president Juan Francisco Puello Herrera would like to see the Caribbean Series return to Miami and is in talks with the Marlins about utilizing their new stadium in Little Havana, Puello confirmed to MLB.com on Thursday.

Talks, however, are still in the infancy stages, and such a move would not take place any time soon -- probably not within the next four years.

The 1990 Caribbean Series took place at the Orange Bowl, located where Marlins Park sprung up last year, then moved to Bobby Maduro Miami Stadium, also since demolished, in '91. Those were rough times for the Caribbean Series, and Puello would like to recoup the event's image in the city with a heavy Latin influence.

One possibility is to include Miami in the Caribbean Series rotation, which currently consists of the four nations playing in the tournament -- Mexico, Venezuela, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.

"We've been in conversations through our representatives over there," Puello said in Spanish. "I think that, with a centrally located ballpark like they have, if we promote it right, things could go better over there."

Caguas already assured of pitchers Michael Nix, Derek Blacksher, Fernando Hernandez, Eddie 'Kid' Ramos and imported John Brownwell rights and Bryce Stowell.

Baseball / Japanese Baseball

Giants win pennant before beating Carp

by Jason Coskrey

Staff Writer

Sep 23, 2013

The Yomiuri Giants raced out of the dugout after the final out, as streamers and confetti rained down from the stands, and tossed their manager into the air eight times.

So what if the title had been secured a little more than three hours earlier? These moments don’t come around often, and the Giants were going to enjoy it.

The Kyojin snared the big prize before their first at-bat of the night, clinching a second straight Central League pennant with a loss by the Hanshin Tigers earlier in the day, but held off on the festivities long enough to beat the Hiroshima Carp 2-1 on Sunday night at Tokyo Dome.

“I have a warm feeling after finishing on top in the long pennant race,” Giants manager Tatsunori Hara said. “We really have a great team. We played as one and I am so proud of this team and what we accomplished this season.”

The Giants are CL champions for the 44th time in franchise history and can now look toward trying to win a second straight Japan Series title.

Yomiuri took the field Sunday knowing a win would secure the pennant no matter what the Tigers did, but any sense of drama dissipated two minutes into their game against the Carp.

That was when Tokyo Yakult Swallows reliever Taichi Ishiyama retired Tigers captain Takashi Toritani to close out a 7-6 win in Osaka that officially knocked second-place Hanshin out of pennant contention.

“We knew we had won after we heard Hanshin had lost their day game,” Hara said. “But we could not relax. We wanted to finish with a victory ourselves.”

Hara has now guided the franchise to six pennants (2002, ’07, ’08, ’09, ’12, and this season) as manager, eclipsing the five won by his former skipper, Shigeo Nagashima. Hara will be looking for his fourth Japan Series title as a manager when the postseason begins in October.

“Each year I start and don’t know how the season will go,” Hara said. “We’re not finished yet. I hope we can add more pennants in the future.”

Winning the league title gives the Kyojin an automatic one-game advantage in the final stage of the CL Climax Series, with every game also on their home field.

The Tigers will likely still finish second and host the first stage of the Climax Series against the third-place team, a spot on which the Carp have the inside track. The winner of that series meets Yomiuri with a trip to the Japan Series on the line.

Even though the Giants had already won the pennant, they wanted to celebrate it as winners and needed to beat the Carp to do that.

Rookie pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano added to an already solid resume with eight innings of one-run ball. Sugano (13-5) allowed three hits, struck out seven and walked two.

Backup catcher Ken Kato, starting in place of banged-up team captain Shinnosuke Abe, drove in the Kyojin’s first run on the night in the second inning, and Hisayoshi Chono had a tiebreaking RBI double in the fourth.

Abe entered the game as a pinch hitter in the eighth and caught the ninth, when Hara sent in the relief trio of Tetsuya Yamaguchi, Scott Mathieson and Kentaro Nishimura, the combination he’s leaned on for much of the year, to retire one batter each.

“I thought it was important we get Abe into the game and give Yamaguchi, Mathieson and our closer Nishimura a share in the ninth inning,” he said.

The Giants are scheduled to wrap up the regular season on Oct. 8 and will begin the second stage of the Climax Series on Oct. 16.

Yomiuri will be hoping to get through the long layoff without accumulating the rust that nearly got the team swept out of its first postseason series last year.

“We accomplished our first goal of winning the regular season pennant,” Hara said. “We still have to play in the Climax Series and then hope to go on and win our second consecutive Japan Series.

“With our players and the continued support of our fans, I know we can do it.”

Wear the crown: Wladimir Balentien has a chance to add a Triple Crown to his single-season home run record. | KYODO

Baseball / Japanese Baseball | NPB NOTEBOOK

Home run king Balentien nearing another conquest

by Jason Coskrey

Staff Writer

Sep 22, 2013

Wladimir Balentien has hit more home runs than any NPB player has ever hit in a single season and through Sunday had 13 games left to add to his record total which stood at 58.

As if Balentien’s year wasn’t already impressive enough, the Tokyo Yakult Swallows slugger is making a run at the first Triple Crown season by a Central League player since 1986.

After Saturday’s game against the Hanshin Tigers, Balentien led the CL with a .333 average, and the aforementioned 58 homers.

The one Triple Crown category Balentien doesn’t lead is RBIs, where he trails the Yokohama BayStars’ Tony Blanco 125-122.

There is no surprise to see Balentien at or near the top of the home run and RBI charts, but after hitting .247 in his first two years in Japan, his perch atop the batting average ranking is somewhat unexpected.

“I always believed that I could be a .300 hitter,” Balentien told the Japan Times recently. “I’m not saying I could win a title, because I’m a power hitter and sometimes it’s hard for power hitters to hit long balls and hit singles and have a high average.

“This year I have discipline at the plate. I think my best success so far is taking the walks (he has 97). I don’t try to do too much, I just take what the game gives me. I think when you get a lot of walks, that means you recognize the pitches and you’ve been swinging at good pitches. When you swing at good pitches, you have a lot of chances to be successful.”

There have been 11 Triple Crown seasons — by seven players — in NPB history.

The last came in 2004, when Fukuoka Daiei Hawks star Nobuhiko Matsunaka led the Pacific League with a .358 average and 120 RBIs while finishing tied with Hokkaido Nippon Ham’s Fernando Seguinol with a league-best 44 home runs.

Hanshin Tigers great Randy Bass was the last triple crown winner from the CL, hitting a single-season record .389 with 47 home runs and 109 RBIs in 1986. This after hitting .350 with 54 homers and 134 RBIs to win the triple crown in 1985.

Bass is one of two foreign players to win the Triple Crown, the other being former Hankyu Brave Boomer Wells.

Bass is also one of three players to win the Triple Crown in consecutive seasons, with Yomiuri Giants legend Sadaharu Oh (1973-74) and former Lotte Orions star Hiromitsu Ochiai (1985-86) the others.

Ochiai won his first in 1982 and is the all-time leader with three.

Giants catcher Shinnosuke Abe flirted with the Triple Crown last season, leading Japan with a .340 average and 104 RBIs. Abe finished the year with 27 homers, second to Balentien’s 31.

Hard to follow: Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles ace Masahiro Tanaka threw eight strong innings against the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters on Saturday afternoon to improve to 22-0 on the season.

Tanaka has given the Eagles a big boost on the mound, and the Pacific League leaders are 24-1 in his 25 starts this season.

The problem for Rakuten is finding a suitable follow-up act.

Since the start of the season, Rakuten is just 10-15 on the days after Tanaka starts.

Raciel Iglesias, Cuba unconfirmed defection

by Ray Otero

September 23, 2013

Rumors come and go, but the truth is that from the early hours of Monday Cuba's young pitcher for Isla de la Juventud, the righty Raciel Iglesias, presumably is gone in search of a career in American professional baseball.

[Another high ceiling prospect bites the Cuban dust. At this rate, the Cubans will have to cancel their baseball program in a few years. They will all be playing in the USA.]

Raciel debuted in the 2010-2011 season (50 SN) for the Pirates of the Isle of Youth at the age of 20 years (born on April 1, 1990), and early showed his qualities. He worked in that first season in the only role of relief, and saved 28 games and started 6 games in addition to compiling a 3-2 record (.600) and struck out 42 men in 64 innings pitched.

But far from his numbers, something that really attracted the coaches, media and fans, was the speed of his pitches because the righty could easily exceed 94 miles on his fastball and because of his age and lack of speed pitchers in the country, meant a first step to a bright future.

A season later he decided to settle right in as a relief pitcher and although he was always in the shadow of the great closer for the Pirates, Danni Aguilera, relieved in another 27 games with a record of of 1-1 (.500) but with a better ERA, 3.29 as opposed to his 4.22 at his debut, but also striking out 53 men in 76.2 innings pitched.

His big problem? Control, Raciel compiled a total of 54 walks, a disastrous pace.

A year later the 22 year old got a great opportunity. The retirement of veteran Aguilera opened the doors for Raciel to become the team's closer and he did not waste the opportunity.

In the first stage of the 52 National Series he effectively worked in 15 games - 13 in relief - getting 10 decisions 4-2 (.667) and a total of 6 saves.

In addition, the young pitcher became almost unhittable with a .198 average against. His ERA was only 1.68. The righty not only came close to striking out a man per inning (53.2) but his ratio SO / BB increased by 2.5%.

Raciel did not have a great second half in the 2012-2013 season, was able to finish it with a record of 4-9 (.308), 12 saves, 3.05 ERA and a ratio of SO / BB of 2.46%.

For his work in the first half of the tournament, the Cuban won a place on the Cuban national team in the third edition of the World Baseball Classic where he finished with a 3.86 ERA in 4 2/3 of work with one save and a 1.29 WHIP in 5 games relieved. In this tournament he is still remembered for his relief work in the first game of the tournament against Brazil in which he preserved the advantage for Cuba and picked up his first save for the Cuban national team.

Subsequently, the righty had a second chance with the Cuban national team taking part in the National series against Team USA in the United States during the month of July. In different cities of Des Moines, Omaha, Cary and Durham, Raciel showed his potential with four excellent relief outings compiling a clean 0.00 average over 5 2/3 of work with seven strikeouts and no walks issued. His mastery was such that he allowed only two hits of the 17 men he faced on this northern tour.

His departure from Cuba is a loss to the national baseball team as well as his team Isla de la Juventud. This is large - it could change the course of baseball on the island - considering his bright future and his possible participation in the Fourth World Classic event slated for 2017.

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MLB

Major League includes 59 Dominicans on the Extreme Fatigue list

24/09/2013 10:42 a.m.

Licey is the worst hit with 10 team

By Neftali Ruiz
Erick Aybar played for the Angels.

Came the most feared. Extreme Fatigue The list was published by Major League Baseball and this time are 59 Dominicans included.

The Licey Tigers are the most affected with 10 players, which must rest at least until December.

Los Gigantes del Cibao continue with eight unemployed, the Toros del Este, Cibao Eagles and Estrellas have seven and the Lions four.

Extreme Fatigue is a clause that gives power to MLB organizations to prevent their players from playing in the winter leagues, where works exceed standards established in the agreement. The list also includes players injured.

Licey List

Aroni Nina, Jesus Adames, Erick Aybar, Jorge Bonifacio, Antonio Cruz, Anderson Feliz, Jairo Heredia, Braulio Lara, Angel Sanchez and Dominic Santana.

List of extreme fatigue settled with LVBP

36 players in our league made ​​the list of extreme fatigue of players in Caribbean Winter baseball leagues

By: Luis Urbano / lurbano@cadena-capriles.com

CARACAS. -

On Monday night was published the list of extreme fatigue for players of Caribbean winter baseball between Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Mexico.

The list, which still does not include players who are on 40-man roster in the majors, looks as follows, according to ESPN reporter Enrique Rojas:

-Venezuela: 36 players.

-Dominican 59 players.

-Mexico: 18 players.

-Puerto Rico: 9 players.

Specifically, they are so far 9 of La Guaira, 8 Caracas, 5 of Zulia, 2 Lara, Magallanes, & Margarita, and 1 Aragua.

Well! Except for Alfredo Despaigne (the last of the best) and a few others, the Cuban Series National is pretty much void of any "super stars". They are all getting paid or in line to be paid major league salaries.

Imagine Price walking away from Tampa, Zimmerman and Harper from Washington, Phillips from Cincinnati, Pedroia from Boston, Cabrera from Detroit, Trout from LAA, Votto from the Red......oh well, I think you get the picture. This has to be frustrating for the fans.

Unlike the stars from Venezuela, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, etc., these guys can return home and play in front of their faithful fans. Not so in Cuba. There is no going back until the rules are changed.

There are many young prospects in Cuba waiting their turns to show flashes of greatness. The Cuban cupboard isn't completely dried up. They have a nice pipeline feeding their league. Until things change, Cuba will have another pipeline feeding baseball to the US of A.

I'm wondering how long it will take Alfredo Despaigne to defect. He's had a lot of chances. Most recently being "loaned" out to the Mexican Summer League. He played in Mexico for almost 2 months, plenty of time to figure out a way to leave.

Ticket punched: The Carp's Brad Eldred celebrates after two-run homer in the eighth inning on Wednesday against the Dragons. Hiroshima won 2-0 to clinch it's first ever berth in the CL Climax Series. | KYODO

Baseball / Japanese Baseball

Carp reach first Climax Series

Kyodo

Sep 25, 2013

NAGOYA –

The Hiroshima Carp will head to their first Climax Series after beating the Chunichi Dragons 2-0 Wednesday.

Bryan Bullington (11-9) pitched seven shutout innings to lead the Carp to victory, which secured Hiroshima a top-three finish in the Central League.

Brad Eldred went 3-for-3 including a two-run homer, his 13th of the season, that broke the deadlock in the eighth inning at Nagoya Dome.

“It took a while, but I just want to enjoy tonight,” Carp manager Kenjiro Nomura said. “There have been good times and bad times, but everyone worked hard to get this far.”

Fourth-place Chunichi missed the postseason for the first time since the Climax Series was incepted in 2007.

Hiroshima is currently third and in all likelihood will finish there. With six games left in the regular season, the Carp are 4½ games behind the second-place Hanshin Tigers with a 67-69 record.

With the Yomiuri Giants having won the pennant on Sunday, Hiroshima and Hanshin are all but set to meet in the first stage of the Climax Series from Oct. 12.

The Carp are in their fourth year under Nomura. The last time they finished as high as third was in 1997 and they have not won the Japan Series since 1984.

Swallows 7, Giants 6

At Jingu Stadium, Yakult rocked Yomiuri’s Ryosuke Miyaguni (6-7) for six earned runs over four innings and Wladimir Balentien went 2-for-3 with two RBIs.

Jesus Aguilar reported to the Leones del Caracas

The Venezuelan first baseman comes batting in 105 runs in 130 games at Double-A,

Wednesday September 25, 2013 11:44 a.m.

Caracas. -

Jesus Aguilar, the man called to bring the runs home for the Caracas Lions next season, today joined the preseason practices that takes place in the complex Guacara Venoco. Aguilar comes with 16 homers and his 105 RBIs in 130 games from the Akron Aeros, Double-A branch of the Cleveland Indians.

PITCHER

Raicel Iglesias leaves his team in Cuba, he deserted

Havana

The pitcher Raicel Iglesias, one of top baseball talents in Cuba, it was presented this week has left the island to seek a millionaire contract U.S..

A source who requested anonymity told Reuters that the ballplayer would have left the island illegally, but did not elaborate, while team sources confirmed hisr absence.

The information confirms the news source reported on Tuesday morning in the Café Fuerte a Miami website.

Iglesias, 23, is one of the leading prospects of relief pitching in the country and the team property of the Piratas de la Isla de la Juventud for the next local tournament that begins on November 3.

Iglesias would be the fourth defector this year from Cuban baseball teams, including the powerful hitter and first baseman Jose Dariel Abreu Cienfuegos, who received the residence in Haiti and will continue his career in the Major Leagues in the United States.

"Iglesias two days ago defected and is not here with us." mentor Armando Johnson Piratas de la Isla de la Juventud he said by telephone to Reuters.

The baseball player who has participated in three national series and has mark of 8-12, with 20 saves, follows in the footsteps of the pitchers Odrisamer Siverio Despaigne and Misael Siverio, who defected from the Cuban team in France and the U.S., respectively.

The defections are bleeding the sport in Cuba. Plans of seeking ways to stop the players from the constant exodus figures to be a challenge for those who try to prove their caliber of talent in foreign leagues.

"Today there are more Cubans than ever playing in the Major Leagues in the United States after the revolution in 1959", said an expert in sports requiring anonymity and mentions Alexei Ramirez, Yunel Escobar, Jose Iglesias and Adeyni Hechevarría, among others.

An estimated 30 major league players have left the island to sign lucrative contracts in the United States in recent years, including Yoennis Céspedes (Oakland Athletics), Aroldis Chapman (Reds) and Yasiel Puig (Dodgers Angeles).

Cuba's government has repeatedly denounced what they consider the theft of talent, at an attrition rate, as part of half a century of economic embargo of Washington over Havana, which prevents any transaction with athletes who live on the island.

The low wages of about $ 20 a month they get athletes in Cuba are the main catalyst to leave the country.

"He was here all last week. Monday and today (Tuesday) but today he has not come. Unknown causes of absence," said Labrada Lazarus, director of sports Piratas de la Isla de la Juventud , referring to Iglesias.

"There's nothing official. What is clear is that two days ago he came to training," he said.

Iglesias had pitched this year in the Third World Classic in Japan, and in five games got a save and had an ERA of 3.86 ERA.