For those who care (and have MASN) I've noticed they've been broadcasting some Hawaiian Winter League Games - I presume on tape. Not sure what the quake does to their season though.

The Aguilas in the Mexican Pacific League have a pitcher named Fernando Valenzuela Jr. Is that THE Fernando-Mania Jr.?

P Boone Logan (White Sox/Tiburones de La Guaira)

Other members of the White Sox organization playing for los Tiburones are: Josh Fields (the third baseman), outfielders Brian N. Anderson, Jerry Owens and Ryan Sweeney and pitchers Sean Tracey, Tim Redding and Heath Phillips. I think either Charlotte manager Razor Shines or Sox third-base coach Joey Cora is managing the team -- I've read references to both of them being the manager, and I'm not sure which will do it. Cora managed los Tiburones last year.

The Aguilas in the Mexican Pacific League have a pitcher named Fernando Valenzuela Jr.

Just to straighten this out: Valenzuela Sr (pitcher - the original) AND Valenzuela Jr (1B - the son) are both on the roster.

Other members of the White Sox organization playing for los Tiburones are: Josh Fields (the third baseman), outfielders Brian N. Anderson, Jerry Owens and Ryan Sweeney and pitchers Sean Tracey, Tim Redding and Heath Phillips.

Jorge Velandia and Stephen Randolph, both of whom played for the Knights in 2006, are there as well, along with Birmingham closer Ehren Wassermann. The Tiburones also have Atlanta's Gregor Blanco, Arizona's Enrique Gonzalez, LA's Dioner Navarro, Cincinnati's Ray Olmedo, Washington's Larry Broadway, Houston's Walter Young, and Yankee pitching prospect Gerardo Casadiego. The Tiburones' Web site lists Shines as the manager.

The Cubs' Buck Coats is playing for the Tigres de Aragua as well.

-- MWE

Jose Tabata is also playing in the Venezuelan league on the Caribes de Anzoategui. I think Luis Sojo is on his team, too.

Josh Fields (the third baseman)

Weird tangent, but I was shocked the other day to see that he's white.

LA's Dioner Navarro

From the nitpick police: that should read "Tampa Bay's Dioner Navarro"

The Tiburones' Web site lists Shines as the manager.

I must have missed that on the site. Thanks.

LA's Dioner Navarro

From the nitpick police: that should read "Tampa Bay's Dioner Navarro"

Actually, LA's Dioner Navarro is TB's Dioner Navarro's son.

(His BB-ref page has his season reversed, actually, showing his TB stats above his LA ones.)

Jose Tabata is also playing in the Venezuelan league on the Caribes de Anzoategui. I think Luis Sojo is on his team, too.

Sojo's on the Cardinales de Lara, along with Milwaukee INF prospect Hernan Iribarren, C Guillermo Quiroz (now with the Mariners), Dodger P Adam Thomas, and the (in)famous Lino Urdanaeta (who was in the Mets' organization last year).

The Caribes list a whole bunch of major leaguers: Cleveland's Edward Mujica, Houston's Fernando Nieve, Renyel Pinto and Jose Garcia of the Marlins, Milwakee's Corey Thurman, Tampa's Marcos Carvajal, LAA of Anaheim's Amalio Diaz, the Dodgers' Alberto Bastardo (one of my favorites), and the Carloses Zambrano and Silva. Only a few of these players have actually appeared in a game yet.

From the nitpick police: that should read "Tampa Bay's Dioner Navarro"

It should have - it just didn't :)

-- MWE

Not sure what the quake does to their season though.

Not much. There was no structural damage on Oahu -- just a long black out, because the tremors tripped off 2 generators, and then the whole system tripped off to avoid overloads.

We are back up today.

How do you (anyone) think these leagues compare to the AFL and HWB in terms of talent?

What is the primary reason for sending a player like Josh Fields out of the country to play this off-season?

How do you (anyone) think these leagues compare to the AFL and HWB in terms of talent?

HWB is the lowest right now; the talent level is between A and AA, with some minor leaguers from Japan in the mix. The AFL is typically on the level of AA. The Caribbean winter leagues are probably AAA quality, perhaps a little higher than that when the major leaguers start showing up (which many will in a month or so).

What is the primary reason for sending a player like Josh Fields out of the country to play this off-season?

Fields is close to a major league job, and in the Caribbean winter leagues he'll see better pitching than he would in any other winter league (plus, if all goes well, he'll play longer.)

-- MWE

Josh Fields (the third baseman)



Weird tangent, but I was shocked the other day to see that he's white.



He was a pocket passer at Oklahoma State, nothing screams stereotypical white guy like a QB that can't run.

Elijah Dukes to the AFL to play 1B.

The real fun is at La Liga Paralela. That's Spanish for "The Rucker Park League of Venezuela."

Jose Tabata is doing phenomenal (albeit in a small sample size) in the Venezuelan league right now, and is wowing scouts with his plate discipline. I won't post it since it's subscriber stuff, but Kevin Goldstein says "This is a special, special prospect."

It's going to be fun hearing the Hughes & Tabata vs. Pelfrey and Martinez debates. :-)

Evan MacLane-S- Diamondbacks Nov. 7 - 3:46 pm et


Evan MacLane allowed two runs in 5 2/3 innings and struck out five Monday for Licey of the DWL.

MacLane, who was acquired from the Mets in the Shawn Green deal, has a 2.30 ERA in 15 2/3 innings in the Dominican Republic. While he doesn't have much upside, he could figure into the mix for the fifth spot in Arizona's rotation in spring training. It's possible that he'll be a long-term reliever.

***

Evan MacLane's upside for AZ is the lack of Shawn Green's downside.

Just got back fron Les Murakami Stadium, watching the Honu play the Sharks.

Great ending -- in the top of the ninth, Rodney "Braddah" Choy Foo, local boy, hit a pinch hit 2-run homer, putting the Honu ahead 6-5, which turned out to be the final score.

This wasted a fine performance by Orioles prospect Jeff Moore, who pitched 5 innings of one hit, shut out ball, striking out 6 -- including 5 of the first 6 batters. The half dozen scouts - 50/50 U.S. and Japan -- got their money's worth from their radar guns with him.

Two Mets prospects stood out for the Honu -- Mike Carp made several excellent plays at first, and Robert Parnell pitched creditably in relief, after starter and Cubs prospect Scott Koerber gave up all 5 Sharks runs in the first inning.

Finally, somebody should tell Dodgers farmhand Cory Dunlap to lay off the kalua pig and lau lau -- to steal a line from Harveys Wallbanger, his stomache dun lap over his belt.

A great night for a ballgame.

in the first inning.

Sorry, that should have read the first three innings.

VWL Points of Interest:

Lower Division/ Liga Paralela

Average batting line: .266/.360/.384

Atlanta
Jean Garcia/ 20/ 145
Elvis Andrus/ 18/ 76

Anaheim
Jaspher Puga/ 20/ 123

Baltimore
Arturo Rivas/ 22/ 206

Boston (player/age/OPS+)
Tony Granadillo/ 22/ 178
Carlos Fernandez/ 20/ 174
Manny Arambarris/ 21/ 144
Christian Lara/ 21/ 144
Leo Sumoza/ 18/ 143
Ricardo Burgos/ 19/ 138
Argenis Diaz/ 19/ 129

Chicago (AL)
Jose Martinez/ 18/ 148

Chicago (NL)
Carlos Perez/ 19/ 127

Colorado
Daniel Mayora/ 21/ 184

Florida
Emilio Ontiveros/ 21/ 148

Houston
Amadeo Zazueta/ 20/ 122
Hernan Armas/ 19/ 117
Wladimir Sutil/ 22/ 117

Kansas City
Carlos Avila/ 21/ 135

New York (AL)
Marcos Vechionacci/ 20/ 114

New York (NL)
Yunir Garcia/ 24/ 193
Jesus Flores/ 22/ 129

Oakland
Walter Correa/ 20/ 140
Carlos Arriechi/ 21/ 139

Philadelphia
Francisco Murillo/ 20/ 139
Jesus Sanchez/ 19/ 105

Pittsburgh
Anderson Chourio/ 20/ 118
Victor Igsema/ 21/ 118

St. Louis
Jose Garcia/ 18/ 147

Texas
Victor Barrios/ 20/ 122

Toronto
Jesus Gonzalez/ 22/ 139
Yohermyn Chavez/ 17 / 100

First column is the name of the player, second is the age, third is un-park adjusted OPS+.

I gather that's Venezuela. Any info on AZ's three players there (Callaspo, Montero, CGonzalez)? Or you intentinally left htem out?

Yeah, I intentionally left them out to bother you, because the world is against you...or they're in the upper division and I did the lower division, as it clearly says on top. I tried to include anyone who has played well or anyone who is considered a prospect in this list.

Ah, being accused of the persecution complex. Gotta love that.

I wasn't aware of the "upper division/lower division" split. Much as I try to follow winter leagues, I don't know that much about the Venezuelan league. I do know that if your name is UUU, you're screwed.

Are you going to do the upper division as well?

The two divisions use different websites, and the lower division site sorts their stats in a manner that is more conducive to sorting. Alternatively, the upper division stats are available when you do a player search on milb.com. So you can search for Montero, Callaspo, or Gonzalez as you would during the regular season and it will list their winter league stats.

First line should read "more conducive to filing."

I'll add this since he was a bonus baby:

Toronto
Balbino Fuenmayor/ 16/ 63

Alternatively, the upper division stats are available when you do a player search on milb.com. So you can search for Montero, Callaspo, or Gonzalez as you would during the regular season and it will list their winter league stats.

I saw this. However, your translation of batting stats to OPS+ is extremely useful. That's what I was hoping to see. I understand that calculating the OPS+ for the upper division would be a pain

Chicago (NL)
Carlos Perez/ 19/ 127

Goodness, I miss the real Carlos Perez. A Gatorade cooler mouthed off to me the other day and I had no vindication.

Carlos Gonzalez has been making headlines with his play in the VWL...

Tim Leonard at MLB.com: [url=http://arizona.diamondbacks.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070119&content_id=1782662&vkey=news_ari&fext;=.jsp&c_id=ari]
lGonzalez on a tear in Venezuela[/url]

Carlos Gonzalez showed he could do it all in the California League this season. The right fielder batted an even .300 with 21 home runs and 94 RBIs in 104 games for Class A Lancaster. He also had 35 doubles and stole 15 bases.

So it comes as no surprise that Gonzalez went on a tear in the last week, going 6-for-18 (.333) to raise his batting average to .289 for Aguilas del Zulia in the Venezuelan Winter League playoffs. Gonzalez has a team-high 10 RBIs in the postseason, despite playing in only nine of the club's 12 games.

Ken Rosenthal: NOTES FROM VENEZUELA

"Just a few eye-openers here, most notably a kid with the Diamondbacks, right fielder Carlos Gonzalez. I'd never really seen much of the guy but he's impressed me here. Chance for legit power and I think he'll hit for average. Looks above-average in right field."

Nick Piecoro at AZcentral.com:
A promising development

Outfielder Carlos Gonzalez, one of the club's best prospects, had a strong season in the Venezuela Winter League, hitting .318 with nine home runs, tied for second in the league.

But here's the numbers that have A.J. Hinch, director of player development, most excited: 25/33 - Gonzalez's walk/strikeout ratio.

"I think he's growing up and maturing, hopefully," Hinch said. "A lot of times you learn that stuff from having success. You just walk a couple of times in critical situations, and then it kind of clicks for you."

Gonzalez split time between Class A and Double-A last year.

Exactly what the Dbacks need: another OF prospect...

Potential 2009 OF in AZ: Quentin in RF, Young in CF, CGonzalez in LF, Justin Upton DH?

OK, let's try that mlb.com link again...

Tim Leonard's article