Venezuelan Update
The difference between the top teams and the bottom teams is how well they play on the road. Every team in the Venezuelan league is either .500 or better at home. It is how they play on the road that separates them from other teams in the division. Caracas and Magallanes are the only two teams over .500 on the road and both teams are tied for first place, more than five games ahead of Margarita who can only play .500 on the road.
Caracas Leones (24-9)
Josh Thole has an impressive 22/8 walk to K ratio and is hitting .407. He had a streak where he walked eight times in five games without a strikeout. This week he was 6 for 17 with five walks and three strikeouts. Jesus Guzman is getting hot. He had seven RBIs in two games last week and finished the week 7 for 24. Prior to that he also had a 5 for 5 day with two homeruns and four RBIs. Jon Jay had a 7-game hitting streak, finishing 13 for 27 with six runs scored. He is hitting .333 for the winter league season forcing the Cardinals to place him on their 40 man roster.
Lance Broadway pitched six innings of no hit ball in his last start, walking two and striking out five. He didn’t get the win in the game since the score was tied 0-0 after he left. Caracas scored three in the seventh and a 2-run homer by Alberto Callapso in the ninth was the first hit in the game. Caracas won 3-2. Broadway now has a 2.87 ERA and the opposition is only hitting him at a .198 clip.
Magallanes Navegantes (23-10)
His brother got second place in rookie of the year balloting in the major leagues but Erold Andrus became a 6-year minor league free agent. He had a 10 for 26 week to up his average to .371. He had two four hit games within five days of each other. Perhaps Elvis can convince the Rangers to sign him. Robinson Chirinos stayed hot with a 9 for 19 week to keep his average at .385. He is second on the team in homers (6) and RBIs (20).
Jean Machi got saves in his last two appearances and now has nine saves on the year. He finished four innings of one hit relief for the week. His ERA is 1.16 after 19 appearances. Felix Doubront has had a big impact in the starting rotation. In three starts he has not given up more than one run and his ERA sits at a nice 1.74. His last start was his longest where he went four innings without giving up a run.
Margarita Bravos (19-15)
As Caracas and Magallanes duke it out for the top spot, Maragrita lurks behind waiting for an opening. Brett Pill got hot in his first three games with the club, going 6 for 11 with seven runs driven in. The Giants need some players that can hit the ball. Frank Diaz has crossed the plate 29 times, second in the league. He crossed the plate 11 times last week on an 8 for 21 streak. He walked seven times, including 5 walks in his last three games. Rene Reyes also had a productive week, going 8 for 23 with seven runs scored and seven runs batted in.
One of the greater names to pronounce, Alberto Bastardo improved to 3-0 with a start last week. He threw five innings of one run ball to improve his ERA to 3.38 after seven starts. Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez got his first two starts last week with mixed results. His first start he did not allow an earned run in four innings of work, striking out five. His second start he was bombed for five runs in five innings.
Zulia Aguilas (17-17)
Zulia is the only team with a home record not above .500. They are 9-9 at home and 8-8 on the road. Ernesto Meijia continues to be the Aguilas top hitter, going 8 for 16 in his last four games, scoring a run in each of those games. He is hitting .474 against lefthanders. He is also hoping to get help from Carlos Gonzalez, who recently joined the team. Carlos first week he was only 5 for 27, but three of his five hits were for extra bases.
Heath Totten pitched over 12 innings in two games and only gave up one run. He only got one win for his effort, but it was his first and improved his record to 1-4, lowering his ERA to 3.99. Chris Hernandez continues to pitch well, picking up two more saves and lowering his ERA to 0.66. After a month layoff David Austen got two starts, getting smacked around in one start to take his first loss and throwing three shutout innings in his second start.
Aragua Tigres (14-19)
Justin Huber will be going to Japan next year. His last game he played with Aragua was November 12th so his season may be over in Venezuela. Wilson Ramos continues to be the Tigres big hitter, though his RBI production slowed to one for last week. He finished 5 for 17 with only one extra base hit, though he is still hitting .373. Alex Romero was 9 for 26 for the week and has a .372 average. It’s a vanilla average since it has only driven in eight runs and allowed him to score just 11. For someone with a .456 OBA he has got to be scoring more than 11 times.
Yohan Pino has added stability to the Tigres rotation. His last four starts he has given up two or less runs, but he only has an 0-1 record to show for it since he has only gone past four innings twice. He’s still giving up too many hits as opponents are whacking him at a .310 clip. Wilfredo Ledezma had his second straight shutout appearance, pitching three innings of no hit ball while walking just one. He has a 3.45 ERA in four starts.
La Guaria Tiburones (14-20)
Max Ramirez is still striking out a lot, 32 times in 32 games, but he hit his team leading sixth homerun and drove in six runs in a 5 for 21 week. His defense at catcher is not good enough to play if his bat doesn’t provide significant offensive production. His winter league numbers of .220 with six homeruns and 21 RBIs would not get him in a major league starting lineup. Gregor Blanco has a five game hitting streak, upping his average to .319. He is 8 for 16 during that streak with five runs scored and a streak of 10 walks in a row without a strikeout. For the year he has walked 26 times to 9 strikeouts.
La Guaria can’t find anyone to pitch. Enrique Gonzalez and Chris Mason have their best ERAs at 4.91 and 4.50 respectively, but after that you need to go into the sixes. Stephen Randolph has provided some hope with three solid starts, none over four innings. His ERA is 1.69. Jon Link is stuck on seven saves and got slapped around a bit in relief, giving up two runs each in two outings. His ERA went up to 2.95 and lefthanders are feasting off him at a .323 clip while righthanders are only hitting .159.
Lara Cardenales (12-22)
With a 3-14 road record, the Lara Cardenales need to play better away from home if they want to escape the battle for the basement. Tom Evans leads the Venezuelan League in runs scored and is their leading hitter at .388. After scoring five runs in the first three games of the week, he went scoreless for the remaining three games, finishing the week 7 for 19 with only one extra base hit for the week. Alcides Escobar is continuing to dazzle with his smooth defense, but he has been providing some offense to the Cardenales clan, hitting .344 with six stolen bases in eight attempts while playing 16 games. Alcides has a seven game hitting streak where he is 12 for 29. During that streak he hit his first homerun of the year but that was only one of two extra base hits he had. Michael Saunders is smoking with a six game hitting streak where he is 12 for 25 with six runs scored and four driven in. He would like to find an outfield spot with the Mariners next year.
Stephen Shell was shelled for six runs in just over one inning of work. This was after two starts where he hadn’t given up a run in 14 innings of work. The horrendous start saw his ERA rise to 4.71. Vladimir Nunez made his Venezuelan debut yesterday going four innings and giving up only one run. Vladimir pitched in relief most of last year for the Braves AAA team, but the 34 year old Cuban would like to find a more permanent home on a major league roster. He has had only brief appearances in the Braves bullpen the last two years. If he can show teams he is an effective starter, this could add to his value.
Caribes Anzoategui (12-23)
Caribes is another team whose inability to win on the road (2-15) has relegated them to the basement of the Venezuelan League. Alexis Amarista is a player to watch for Caribes. He has yet to hit less than .319 in his time with the Angels and he is stroking the ball at a .372 average, leading the Venezuelan League with six triples. He had a 10 for 28 week, hitting two triples, both in the same game. He also has shown enough power to send two over the wall. Since being kicked out of Japan for failing a drug test, Luis Gonzalez would like to win another chance in the major leagues as a utility player. He has a four game hitting streak where he is 7 for 15 that has raised his winter league average to .314. He has also slugged four homeruns.
Travis Hughes (1.93) and Carlos Vasquez (4.63) are providing outstanding work from the bullpen. Travis picked up four saves for the week to run his total to six. He only gave up two hits in his four innings of work. Carlos won another game last week to improve his record to 3-1. He didn’t allow a run in three innings of work. Now if only Caribes could find some pitchers to squeeze in their starting rotation that would allow them to get to Travis and Carlos with a lead.