Washington Post: Boras May Explore Japan for Strasburg (RR)

The Major League Rules is a sprawling, dense, little-known, 254-page document, periodically updated, that governs the business side of baseball. Among other things, it lays out, in painstaking legalese, the process and guidelines for the sport’s annual draft, and in recent years, these sections have provided a road map for a certain notorious agent bent on circumventing the draft itself.

In 1996, agent Scott Boras exploited a loophole to help gain free agency for four draftees who did not receive contract offers from the teams that selected them within 15 days of the draft, as required. A year later, he unsuccessfully attempted to make Philadelphia Phillies draftee J.D. Drew a free agent by taking him to the independent Northern League and thus changing his official status from “amateur” to “professional.”

This summer, Boras has another high-profile client, San Diego State pitcher Stephen Strasburg, for whom he would love nothing more than to blow apart baseball’s draft system, allowing Strasburg to be compensated in line with his talent—his asking price is believed to be around $50 million—as opposed to within the parameters of the current system, in which no player has ever received more than $10.5 million.

Even before talks began with the Washington Nationals, who made Strasburg the first overall pick June 9, Boras was dropping hints privately that he is preparing to explore a new frontier in his ongoing draft-busting crusade: Japan.

Pirates make offer to Sano

Pretty much nothing of news value in the article, other than confirming that the Pirates did, in fact, make an actual offer to the young Dominican.  Go Gayo!!!

Two sources confirmed today that the Pirates have, indeed, made an offer to elite Dominican prospect Miguel Angel Sano. Neither source—one inside, one outside the team—would divulge the dollar figure or otherwise characterize the offer.

Fanhouse: Cuban Pitcher Aroldis Chapman Defects

And pulling a Jose Osoria...he now ar Bob.

ESPN’s Jorge Arangure relays a report from a Cuban website that 21-year-old Cuban pitcher Aroldis Chapman walked out of the Cuban national team’s hotel room in Rotterdam, the Netherlands today and plans to defect to America to pitch in the major leagues in the near future. What happens next is all speculation at this point, but Arangure says Chapman is the best Cuban prospect since Jose Contreras and could command more than $30 million on the open market.

...Baseball America’s John Manuel relayed this quote from a scout in his story today about Chapman:

“There were rumors heading into Mexico that he wouldn’t be there because they were afraid he would defect, but he was there and was lights out. ... You’ve got honestly just one or two tweaks that could be made but he could go straight to the top of a big league rotation. He’s got a great body, definitely has high pockets, absolutely. He’s on top of the hitter, his release has extension, he’s got the ball coming out of there at 100 mph. He’s absolutely electric.”

Olbermann: Well, You Can Call Me Ray, Or You Can Call Me Jay… UPDATED

Update, 12:15 AM EDT 7/2: I forgot! The aforementioned Mr. Wally Jose Bryan was also a little off on his age, which invokes the greatest baseball biography ever written, on the back of the 1964 Phillies’ Rookie Card featuring Dave Bennett (the top one here). If the wonderful image of a man getting younger before your very eyes doesn’t register, read the write-up outloud.

Baseball America: Indians Prospect Faked Age, Identity

Major League Baseball has caught another high-profile prospect from the Dominican Republic misrepresenting his age and identity.

MLB’s latest catch is Indians shortstop Jose Osoria, who signed for $575,000 last year on July 2. Indians assistant general manager John Mirabelli confirmed that Osoria’s real name is Wally Bryan and that Bryan is 20 years old, three years older than he had presented himself. Bryan ranked as Cleveland’s No. 30 prospect entering the season.

“We still like his ability,” Mirabelli said. “We still like his talent. I’m not going to try to pretend there’s not a difference between 17 and 20. There certainly is in terms of projection, but the fact of the matter is he isn’t who he said he was.”

Bryan does look a lot older…

NBC Sports: Baseball rookies from India near pro debuts

The Pittsburgh Pirates may soon find out if an investment of $20,000 can produce a couple of million-dollar arms.

Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel, their two India-born pitchers who had never seen a baseball game before being the top two finishers in a TV reality show designed to find potential major league arms, are nearly ready to make their professional debuts.

Neither had picked up a baseball, much less thrown one, until little more than a year ago. Aspiring cricket players, they had no idea that American athletes could make so much money playing a sport they knew nothing about.

Now, after a busy year crowded with TV show appearances, basic baseball instruction, fitness workouts, constant throwing and adjusting to a pro athlete’s life in a new country, they are about to take the mound for the Bradenton Pirates of the rookie-level Gulf Coast League.

“It’s going to be fun,” Pirates general manager Neal Huntington said.

Korean Times: Choi Back on Track in Home Run Race

The Tigers star hitter led the team’s offence with seven homers in each of April and May, but opposing pitchers seemed to figure him out after that.

The first baseman, who recorded a .321 batting average in April, hit just .260 in May and has hit just .152 through 16 games in June.

However, Choi still wants to be the home run champion at season’s end and thinks Sunday’s blast could be the turning point.

``When I was struggling in the slump, it was really hard. I am hoping that this home run will help me turn things around and I will find my old form,’’ Choi said.

After the big Tiger got caught in a deep swamp, some professional managers said it’s hard for local players to compete with the imports in the home run race.

But, Choi is proving he is one of the few Korean players who can compete with the imports. World Baseball Classic (WBC) slugger star Kim Tae-kyun of the Eagles has struggled since suffering a stroke on April 26. Kim has missed most games since then while recovering.

Cardinals sign Wagner Mateo

Cardinals sign Wagner Mateo - 16 year old Dominican outfielder - reportedly giving him a bonus of $3.1 million.  This would be both the largest bonus ever given to a Dominican hitter, and the largest amateur bonus ever given by the Cards - J.D. Drew signed for $3 million.

This is good news; finally the much-hyped Dominican connection is coming through.  As long as this doesn’t impede them from signing Shelby Miller, the Cards’ system is looking up.

Ponson positive for stimulant at WBC

Kansas City Royals pitcher Sidney Ponson tested positive for a stimulant during the World Baseball Classic and has been banned from international competition for two years.

Major League Baseball will not suspend Ponson. Under the drug rules, he will be treated as a first-time offender and is subject to a medical review and fine....

The International Baseball Federation said Ponson tested positive for Phentermine, a stimulant and appetite suppressant.

Bleacher Report: The Coolest Tricks in All of Sports

This one begins and ends with baseball with a lot of other in between (some cool stuff, I had never seen the Jason Williams elbow pass) but this needs to be viewed by every living person who has ever seen a baseball game just to see Josh Womack’s trick to lead things off.  The description does not do it the smallest amount of justice:

Another recent addition to the inter-webs, minor leaguer Josh Womack is creating a huge stir with his famous bat trick.

In the video (below, left), as you can see, Womack starts his swinging motion, snaps his wrists to fling the bat around, then catches it and finishes his swing.

I’m sure this isn’t exactly what the Mariners had in mind when they drafted him in the second round in 2002, but hey, more people have seen this video than have seen the Mariners play this season.

That is just...I don’t know what it is, but it’s something.

Standard-Examiner: Departing Cruz likes current crop of Raptors

OGDEN—Henry Cruz’s return to Ogden didn’t turn out like he expected.

Cruz, who served as hitting coach of the Ogden Raptors two years ago, was prepared to perform the same role this season. Instead, Cruz will be heading to the Dominican Republic to become the director of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ baseball academy and scouting efforts there, where players from all over Latin America come for their shot at the big leagues—and often to escape poverty.

The Dodgers are the major league affiliate of the Raptors.

“The Dodgers have a need down in the Dominican for someone of Henry’s talents,” Ogden manager Damon Berryhill said. “He’s looking forward to doing it. He’ll be missed here, obviously. I was looking forward to working with Henry.”

Cruz’s work at the Dodgers’ Las Palmas baseball academy in the Dominican Republic can still impact the on-field product fans see at Lindquist Field. Eleven of the 29 players currently on the Raptors’ 29-man roster are from Latin American countries.

“All the Latin American players from Venezuela, Panama, all the international players, they’re all going to go through the Dominican Republic first and we’re going to be evaluating them, we’re going to be teaching them the Dodger way so when they come to the States they’ll be at the same level as the other guys,” Cruz said.

Cruz will also have scouting responsibilities as well as being the director of the complex and will consult with Dodgers assistant general manager over scouting Logan White on signings.

International players can sign with major league teams at the age of 16.

BA: IBAF Makes Second Push For Olympics

Aspects of the pitch include:

• Baseball will offer a five-day, eight-team tournament which will allow for maximum participation of the top players from countries that qualify for the 2016 Olympics. The qualifier for 2016 would be held during the 2015 off-season.
• Major League Baseball in North America will not broadcast any games directly against the Olympic baseball schedule in 2016.
• All four potential host cities—Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo—have established baseball stadiums.

My guess is that this won’t happen, but this is (on the surface) a stronger pitch than I thought they’d make (depending on what that second bullet means).

Japan’s knuckleball girl takes loss

Japan’s first female professional baseball player struggled with her control and took her first loss.

Eri Yoshida, a 17-year-old who throws a sidearm knuckleball, took the mound in the ninth inning with the score tied 2-2.

With two outs and a runner on third base, Yoshida threw a wild pitch allowing the winning run to score Friday as the Akashi Red Soldiers won 3-2 against the Kobe Cruise 9.

Yoshida also hit a batter with a pitch and threw wildly to first base trying to hold a runner before recording the final out with a strikeout.
...

The 5-feet, 114-pound Yoshida has appeared in only three of the Cruise 9’s 22 games this season.

You know SOMEBODY (I’m not going to say who) has an opinion on this.

Diamond Notes: Subway has found a new Jared, and his name is Hong-Chih Kuo

“Subway has found a new Jared, and his name is Hong-Chih Kuo. The Dodgers setup man is the sandwich chain’s pitchman in Taiwan and the star of this bizarre commercial in which he dons a No. 69 Subway jersey. If you’re wondering why, the six-inch subs cost NT$69, which comes out to two bucks in the states. If the advertising can be believed, it appears scarfing some Subway might help him come off the DL.”

Rob Neyer: Draft unfair … but lucrative

Look, here’s the way it works: The player (and his agent) can ask for whatever they like, and the teams can offer whatever they like. If the player doesn’t like what he’s being offered, he can delay his professional career for one, two or three years while playing high school, college, or independent baseball. Eventually, though, he’ll again be subject to the draft, and the whims of whichever team chooses to draft him.

Is that fair? No, not particularly. But the system is what it is, and the players and their agents make a great deal of money while working within that system (a system that, by the way, has been collectively bargained by the owners and the players). Scott Boras wonders what Stephen Strasburg would do, if he had been born in Tibet. Well, that’s a cute little rhetorical trick, but if Strasburg had been born in Tibet he probably wouldn’t throw 101 miles an hour and he probably wouldn’t have become a future multimillionaire while pitching for San Diego State.

I’m sorry, but I simply don’t have any tears to spare for a young man who’s soon going to be worth $15 million instead of the $50 million he so obviously deserves.

Jim Bowden Breaks His Silence On 9NEWS NOW And WUSA9.com

Gonzalez was a 16-year old prospect out of the Dominican Republic that Bowden signed and paid a remarkable bonus of $1.4 million. There was only one problem: Gonzalez and his Dominican handlers lied about his age and identity. His real name is Carlos Lugo. He wasn’t 16, he was 20. Its a fact, which had the Nationals known, would have severely decreased his value.

“Our people in the Dominican didn’t find it out. MLB didn’t find it out. The government didn’t find it out,” Bowden explains. “Sure it was embarrassing. Absolutely.”

At the same time, Bowden was part of an investigation by the FBI looking into allegations he and other baseball executives had skimmed money from the signing bonuses paid to Dominican prospects.

“There’s just no truth to it,” Bowden insists. “I don’t know where it all comes from.”

With both of those scandals originating in the Dominican Republic, some say more diligent oversight by Bowden of the Nationals’ operations in that country might have nipped some of the problems in the bud. But Bowden admits in his 5 years with the franchise, he had never once stepped foot on Dominican soil.

“I sent our top executives down there to oversee it and at no time did I ever come back with feedback from them that there were any problems,” Bowden explains. “In retrospect, if I had to do it again, would I go down there? Of course I would NOW. But 20-20 hindsight is easy after the fact.”

Thanks go to Shysterball for the link.

Fired Angels scouting supervisor is subject of bonus-skimming probe

The Los Angeles Angels international supervisor of scouting fired on Monday is a subject of an ongoing Major League Baseball Department of Investigations probe into the skimming of signing bonuses given to prospects from Latin America, SI.com has learned.

The Angels dismissed Clay Daniel—who joined the club nine years ago and oversaw the signings of, among others, pitcher Ervin Santana and shortstop Erick Aybar, both from the Dominican Republic, and first baseman Kendry Morales from Cuba—a month before the July 2 international signing day, the most hectic time on the international baseball calendar. Scouts in Daniel’s position are often making final evaluations and brokering deals for top-level talent in Latin American countries at this time.

The Angels declined to elaborate on Daniel’s firing when contacted by SI.com on Thursday night, saying only that he was no longer with the club, but sources tell SI.com that the team grew concerned about possible financial misdeeds by scouts in Venezuela under Daniel’s supervision. One baseball source tells SI.com that the Angels also dismissed several of their Venezuelan scouts along with Daniel.

Skimming = Bad
That is all.

Cuban Baseball: Molinet Happy to Be Champ

Soft Americans and their anxiety issues. Patooey!

Habana’s baseball teams regular second baseman, Ernesto Molinet, stated Friday he will come back home with his head high after the triumph of his team at the Cuban national baseball championship finals.

Molinet made exclusive statements to Prensa Latina in which he assured that the fielding error he made in the fourth match against Villa Clara, which helped Villa Clara get ahead in the score, has already been left for forgotten, after several hours of suffering.

“I wanted the earth to swallow me at that moment. Nobody can ever imagine what I suffered because of my error. But we finally won,” he stated.

“I could not sleep that night. But when the fifth game started, I felt better, and I always thought that we would be the champions,” he said.

“I thank my entire team, because they came to my room to cheer me, one by one, and they told me it was important to think of the victory,” he added.

In the 9th inning, Molinet hit a home run to close his playing season quite high.

He also thanked Habana’s manager Esteban Lombillo for his faith and trust, and offered his excuses to all the fans of his team.

Kidnapped son of Rockies’ Torrealba rescued

Holy ####!

Rockies catcher Yorvit Torrealba’s nightmare is apparently over, his son safe and tension eased as he makes plans to fly his family to the United States after a kidnapping was resolved safely.

His 11-year-old son, Yorvit Eduardo, and two of the 11-year-old’s uncles, were kidnapped Tuesday morning in the Venezuelan city of Guarenas. The three were rescued Wednesday night in Araira, according to the Caracas newspaper De todo en diversiones.

Torrealba’s son, and his uncles, identified as Daniel Antonio Alvarez, 31, and Agrey Alexander Marquez, 27, were kidnapped, and their captors were identified in a lineup.

A source who has been in constant communication with Torrealba through this ordeal told The Denver Post today that the 11-year-old and uncles were intercepted as they drove the boy to school.
Torrealba flew from Houston, where he was with the Rockies, to Venezuela immediately upon hearing the news of the kidnapping. The kidnappers demanded a $1 million ransom. He was told to keep his presence in the country private, with authorities fearful that the kidnappers would demand more money and delay the return of the captives.

A dropoff location was established but Yorvit Eduardo and the brother-in-law were able to reach a safe house and telephone authorities before the ransom was paid, according to the source.

“Our organization is relieved that the situation was resolved with the safe return of Yorvit’s family members and we will continue to support Yorvit and his family through what has been an extremely emotional situation. Yorvit knows that he can take the time he needs and will rejoin the Club when the time is right,” said Rockies president Keli McGregor.

Torrealba plans to bring his family to the United States tomorrow and spend a few days with them before considering returning to the Rockies next week in Milwaukee.

Holy ####### ####!

SoccerLens: The 15 Greatest Sports Cheats of All Time

There are three baseball entries in the list.  Before you look at it, see if you can name the three.  One of them is a decent surprise, when you’re talking about the biggest cheaters ever.  I wouldn’t expect his name to come up for the average person.

7. 1919 Black Sox

The 1919 Black Sox scandal is probably the most famous example of athletes throwing a contest of all time. The 1919 World Series pitted the heavily favored Chicaco White Sox against the Cincinnati Reds. Rumors of the series being fixes were rampant even before things got underway, which caused an influx of money to come in betting for the Reds. The rumors were true, and eight members of the White Sox conspired to throw the series, led by first baseman Arnold “Chick” Gandil. All eight players were eventually banned for life, which had the effect of making Shoeless Joe Jackson, one of the greatest players in baseball history, ineligible for the Hall of Fame.

Somewhat surprising fact: The players were motivated to throw the series in part because they hated White Sox owner Charles Comiskey, a legendarily cheap SOB made their players pay for their own laundry, inevitably causing dirty uniforms and the nickname of “Black Sox” which existed well before the throwing of the World Series. So the next time you feel compelled to complain about escalating athlete salaries remember that they are helping to ensure games are fair and on the level, since there’s no monetary motivation to take a fall.

That one’s the gimme.  I don’t know if that really counts as ‘cheating’, per se, I think the word has an implication that you’re trying to do better, but whatever.  That said, doesn’t that have to be higher than #7?  And off-topic, where’s the Russian Olympic basketball team?

Klapisch: Don’t count out Bobby V

The Day the 音楽 Died…

How does that relate to Valentine? Only that he remains the most logical response for the Wilpon family if the Mets fail to conquer the Phillies this year. The longer Valentine has been away from Flushing, the kinder history looks upon his reign; it’s clear his firing by Steve Phillips in 2002 was driven solely by personal dislike and not by sound baseball judgment.

Phillips’ acumen largely has been discounted now that he works for ESPN and mindlessly decrees, among other things, that the Mets can’t win with Carlos Beltran. Not that Valentine is gloating or even talking about his former boss. To the contrary, Valentine has his hands full with his present-day employers, the Chibba Lotte Marines, who decided months ago to fire him after this season.

Valentine laughs when he says, “It’s a challenging situation.” All-out war is more like it. Fans loyal to Valentine are protesting, conducting daily vigils to convince Marines’ ownership to bring him back.

Valentine, however, doesn’t expect a thaw.

“I really don’t think they’re going to say, ‘We made a mistake, we were only kidding,’ ” Valentine said. “You either appreciate what I’ve done here or you don’t. And they don’t.”

For our international friends: New MLB deals for TV abroad

Major League Baseball International renews four broadcast agreements and signs one new television deal.  Press release titles are boring.

Here are some new deals/extensions for countries where there are some Primates (I think):

MLBI reached a five-year extension with Rogers Sportsnet to be the exclusive Canadian television broadcaster of the State Farm Home Run Derby, MLB All-Star Game and MLB Postseason. Rogers Sportsnet has announced that it will carry at least 250 games each year. MLB 2009 Opening Day rosters featured 13 Canadian-born players in the Major Leagues.

MLBI reached a new agreement in Australia with Network Ten to broadcast no fewer than three live regular season games per week, “This Week In Baseball” presented by Pepsi and the MLB Postseason on their recently-launched, free-to-air digital sports network, ONE. MLB 2009 Opening Day rosters included three Australian-born players in the Major Leagues.

Man behind Cavs deal to promote baseball in China

A Chinese-born financier at the center of a deal to buy a stake in the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers has announced plans to invest in baseball in his homeland.

QSL Sports Limited, led in part by Jianhua Huang, has formed a long-term binding partnership with the Chinese Baseball Association to develop the China Youth Baseball League, the company said Monday in a statement.

QSL said it will invest several million dollars over the next 10 years to “spearhead the drive to raise China’s profile and standards in the sport.”

The China Youth Baseball League will develop youth programs and host tournaments as well as broker sponsorships and broadcast rights, market baseball merchandise and manage players.

“It is my belief that China, as a sports-loving nation, has immense potential in offering great talent to the world of baseball at the highest levels,” Huang was quoted as saying.

Our new Chinese overlords finally find some money to run their post-Olympics baseball system.

(Korean) Baseball sees longer-lasting games in ’09

Korea Baseball Organization fans have been treated to quite a few slugfests and nail-biters this season.

But the offensive fireworks have come with a trade-off: The games are taking just a bit longer.

On average, the length of games last season was three hours and 18 minutes. So far this year, games are taking an average of three hours and 23 minutes.

One reason is that more games than usual have gone into extra innings.

A total of 11 games have gone the maximum 12 innings compared to just three games in the same span last season.

And some games this year have stretched into the wee hours of the morning. The KBO game between the Kia Tigers and the LG Twins in Gwangju on May 22, for example, lasted more than five hours and 58 minutes, concluding well past midnight and setting a record for the league’s longest game ever. The two teams fought to a 13-13 draw.

Rarely see anything about the time it takes games in other parts of the world. Might be interesting to compare.

mlbtraderumors.com:  Rangers, Dodgers Eyeing Yusei Kikuchi

Kikuchi is highly regarded, but how does he compare to Junichi Tazawa?  Newman told me:

The way I look at it is, Kikuchi is younger, taller, and lefthanded, whereas Tazawa was a older, more polished and had faced better competition. Kikuchi appears to have similar velocity to Tazawa. Tazawa was definitely closer to the big leagues; you wouldn’t sign Kikuchi and have him start the season opener in AA. But Kikuchi is a better prospect than Tazawa was when he was 18. So Kikuchi may have a little more upside, but I don’t think he would command the same kind of offers Tazawa got. A key difference is that Tazawa had basically made up his mind to come to America by the time I started writing about him. We don’t know what Kikuchi’s plans are.

NYT: Japanese Fans Mobilize to Keep Valentine as Their Manager

After nine innings of sustained chanting and singing, about 150 of the most loyal fans remained behind in silence with their banners raised over their heads, the Japanese characters on the 70-foot signs shouting out in protest from the right-field bleachers.

“We would rather fight with Bobby, who says we’re the world’s best fans,” one sign read, “than with a front office who calls us worthless.”

“Bobby stands behind us. We stand behind Bobby,” read another.

It was the third consecutive game in which the fans had staged this unusual protest, all part of a campaign to force the Chiba Lotte Marines to reverse course and keep Bobby Valentine, a baseball lifer from the United States, as their manager beyond the current season.

For six weeks, the fans of the Marines have been engaged in a battle with the front office over the fate of Valentine, who was told over the winter that his contract would not be renewed for financial reasons, despite his success with the team.

With more than 50,000 signatures on a petition to keep Valentine, this is a struggle, the fans believe, that goes to the heart of Japanese baseball. They see Valentine as a positive influence who is leading the team and the sport toward a more viable future by promoting more access to players and more fan-friendly marketing concepts.

At the same time, they view the current front office, led by the team president, Ryuzo Setoyama, as more interested in the status quo, under which, they contend, fans have been treated less as coveted customers and more as people expected to attend games out of a sense of duty. Although the team insists that Valentine simply makes too much money to be retained in 2010, the fans believe other factors may be in play.

Can the Zen of Bobby V survive?

New York Times: Japanese Fans Mobilize to Try to Keep Valentine as Their Manager

CHIBA, Japan — After nine innings of sustained chanting and singing, about 150 of the most loyal fans remained behind in silence with their banners raised over their heads, the Japanese characters on the 70-foot signs shouting out in protest from the right-field bleachers.

“We would rather fight with Bobby, who says we’re the world’s best fans,” one sign read, “than with a front office who calls us worthless.”

“Bobby stands behind us. We stand behind Bobby,” read another.

It was the third consecutive game that the fans had staged this unusual protest, all part of a campaign to force the Chiba Lotte Marines to reverse course and keep Bobby Valentine, a baseball lifer from America, as their manager beyond the current season.

For six weeks, the fans of the Marines have been engaged in a battle with the front office over the fate of Valentine, who was told over the winter that his contract would not be renewed for financial reasons, despite his success with the team.

With over 50,000 signatures on a petition to keep Valentine, this is a struggle, the fans believe, that goes to the heart of Japanese baseball. They see Valentine as a positive influence who is leading the team and the sport toward a more viable future by promoting more access to players and more fan-friendly marketing concepts.

At the same time, they view the current front office, led by the team president, Ryuzo Setoyama, as more interested in the old status quo, when, they contend, fans were treated less as coveted customers and more as people expected to attend games out of a sense of duty. Although the team insists that Valentine simply makes too much money to be retained in 2010, the fans believe other factors may be in play.

Thanks go to Matt S. for linking to this in today’s(05/20/09) Mets-Dodgers chatter.

Mariners continue to come up short at short

First time I saw Yuniesky Betancourt, four years ago in spring training, the Cuban refugee was telling his Coming to America story with the help of a Spanish interpreter. Betancourt wasn’t expansive on the details of his boat ride to freedom – he feared for the safety of family and friends still in Cuba – but as I noticed the look of serene determination on his face, it occurred to me that anything was possible with this guy.

On Tuesday, Betancourt finally proved me right: Six days after what was supposed to be a wake-up-call benching in Texas, the lights upstairs were still dim – so dim that ever-tolerant Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu benched him again.

Yep, anything is possible with Yuniesky Betancourt.

Japan Times: NPB commissioner wanted to ban foreign players 25 years ago

There are 66 foreign players currently registered in Japanese pro baseball, along with two foreign managers, a farm team manager and three coaches. But, 25 years ago this month, the commissioner of Japanese baseball wanted to ban non-Japanese from playing in the Central and Pacific Leagues.

Trouble began just three days into the 1984 season, when American outfielder Jim Tracy, then of the Yokohama Taiyo Whales, suddenly quit his team after going through spring training and preparing for his second season in Japan.

Yes, he’s the same Jim Tracy who served major league tenures as manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates. The country-style Tracy had enjoyed a better-than-halfway-decent first year in Japan in 1983, hitting .303 with 19 home runs and 66 RBIs, good enough to earn him a second season in Yokohama.

At 29 years of age, Tracy could have been one of those long-term foreign players in Japan with a career extended over five or six seasons. He had played briefly in the majors with the Chicago Cubs in 1980-81 and appeared to be one who had found his niche playing in Japan.

However, on Sunday of opening weekend in 1984, he suddenly announced he was leaving the team and the country. He was upset about being taken out of that third game of the year after he walked in the ninth inning of a tie game and was removed for a pinch runner by Whales manager Junzo Sekine.

Tracy later said he could not agree with the decision. His thinking was that his bat might be needed should the game go into extra innings, whereas Sekine was obviously trying to win the game in the ninth. Over that seemingly trivial difference of opinion, the player took his pride and went home.

Westtown’s Czech mate dazzles on baseball diamond

The chink, chink, chink sounds bounce off the empty gymnasium walls, waft through the halls and down the stairwells and out into the cool spring evening breeze. If you follow the noise, it will lead you to Vasek Hasik, hitting baseballs off a black batting tee into a lacrosse net. He seems to carry that tee with him almost everywhere on the Westtown School campus.
He wears no batting gloves, which might explain the calluses that cover his hands. Chink, chink, chink . . . he just keeps hitting. It’s his constant devotion to a game he picked up half a world away, in Prague, Czech Republic, and through some guidance from the Phillies.

The 6-foot, 175-pound, switch-hitting shortstop could be one of the best-kept secrets in the area. The Westtown junior is hitting an even .500 (22-44), with 10 runs, six doubles, four triples and 20 runs batted in for the Quakers, who carry a 9-6 overall record and 5-5 mark in the Friends School League.

But how did Hasik get here? And how does a teenager from Prague wind up at an elite boarding school like Westtown, which borders Newtown Square and Delaware County?

It’s a journey that began by sheer happenstance.

No one in Prague knew too much about baseball, but spurred on by watching the movie “Major League,” Hasik and his older brother, Ota, thought they would try it.

Jobu. Just a bit outside. It’s too high. You run like Mays but you hit like.....