Baseball Latin America – Baseball Brazil

March 28, 2011

Brazilian Outfielder Paulo Orlando To Start Season in Triple A?

Filed under: Baseball in Brazil — Andy @ 7:35 am

 

photo credit - dailylife.com

Looks like if the numbers on the Kansas City Royals big league squad shake out in his favor, Paulo Orlando could be starting the season for Triple A Omaha.

According to the Sacramento Bee, Orlando could be in the Omaha Storm Chasers outfield mix if Jarrod Dyson or Gregor Blanco do not start their seasons in Triple A. The Royals have since optioned Jarrod Cain to Omaha.

Orlando has had only two at-bats with the big league club this spring training, though he went 1-2 with a stolen base.  According to The Baseball Cube, the only other Brazilians to have reached as high as Triple A have been pitcher Jo Matumoto, with Syracuse (TOR) in 2008, and pitcher Jose Pett, with Syracuse (TOR) in 1996 and Calgary (PIT) in 1997.

March 16, 2011

Liga Paulista de Beisebol Team Websites

Filed under: Baseball in Brazil — Andy @ 6:14 pm

With the Liga Paulista de Beisebol All-Star Game set for this Sunday, March 20, at Nikkey Santo Amaro, and the LPB season getting underway shortly thereafter, I thought this would be a good opportunity to look at the websites some of the teams we hadn’t covered previously. It is great to see more  of these amateur Brazilian teams getting exposure on the world wide web!

First, here is the updated LPB website link for the 2011 season. There are 16 teams participating in the LPB this season, and the season schedule should be posted shortly.

One of the teams participating in the LPB this season is São Bernardo Base Ball Clube, which was founded in 1986 in the city of São Bernardo do Campo.

The Clube Cultural e Recreativo Nipo-Brasileiro de Piracicaba, located in the city of Piracicaba, will also be fielding a team in the LPB this season. On an unrelated note for you American readers, Piracicaba happens to be the site of a very large Caterpillar manufacturing plant.

Bats Baseball, located in the city of Parelheiros, probably has one of the cooler mascots and websites. I also love the team photos of these guys, including the bat boys!

The Nômades de Americana came in third place in the LPB last season, and surely will look to finish strong again in 2011. On a historical note, Americana is a city that was founded by American southerners after the U.S. Civil War who didn’t want to live under the Union government. There are descendants of these original settlers still in Americana today, though I don’t think they play much baseball.

Probably my favorite team name thus far, Underdogs Baseball is aptly named given that they will be in the same conference as defending LPB champion Bacamartes this season.

Special credit goes to Ricardo Segre, who has been compiling all of this information on the LPB Facebook page. Again, it is great to see more and more information about Brazilian baseball getting out there.

March 9, 2011

What Happened With Oliver Perez?

Filed under: Baseball in Mexico — Andy @ 10:16 am

photo credit - metzilla.com

Lefthanded pitcher Oliver Perez of Culiacan, Mexico seemed to have so much promise when he came up with the San Diego Padres in 2002. Perez was only 20 years old at the time, and with Jake Peavy at age 21 it seemed like the Padres were going to have an imposing one-two punch at the top of their rotation for many years to come. Everybody knows about Peavy’s career, but what happened to Ollie, and how in the world do the Mets owe him $12 million for this season yet might be on the verge of releasing him?

The Padres traded Perez to Pittsburgh in 2003, and it seemed like Perez would become yet another forgotten soul in the Pirates organization. In fact, his combined total numbers for that season was 4-10 with a 5.47 ERA and 1.63 WHIP.  Perez bounced back, however, in 2004 and went 12-10 with a 2.98 ERA and 1.15 WHIP. He then followed that up with an injury shortened 2005 season where he went 7-5 in 20 starts, but posted a 5.85 ERA and 1.67 WHIP. After starting the 2006 season with a 2-10 record, Perez was traded to the Mets, and he finished the season a combined total 3-13 with an ERA and WHIP not even worth mentioning.

Perez did bounce back in 2007 and 2008 and went a combined 25-17 over those two seasons, earning him a huge payday in the process. Then the wheels fell off again in 2009 with Perez battling injuries and only starting 14 games. 2010 was even worse, where Perez was taken out of the rotation and sent to the bullpen. Then he refused to take an assignment to Triple A to work on his mechanics.  

In summary, for the $24 million that the Mets paid Perez for 2009 and 2010, they got in return 21 starts, 34 appearances, a 3-9 record, an ERA of 6.80 and a WHIP of over 2.00. If the Mets release him before 2011 even starts, they will have spent $36 million for that aforementioned performance.  Mets GM Sandy Alderson has proposed making Perez a left-handed specialist coming out of the bullpen. $12 million seems to be a lot of money to pay a left-handed specialist, but I suppose the Mets have bigger economic issues anyway.

March 1, 2011

Major League Baseball Clinic in Brazil Now Concluded

Filed under: Baseball in Brazil — Andy @ 9:07 am

The first Major League Baseball clinic to be conducted in Brazil successfully concluded in São Paulo last week. The list of athletes and coaches who participated is posted on the CBBS website.

Here is a video, in Portuguese, covering the clinic at the Mie Nishe stadium in the neighborhood of Bom Retiro: Major League Baseball no Brasil

BTW: I plan on being in São Paulo the weekend of April 2, and hope to catch a Campeonato Brasileiro Inter-Clubes game at Mie Nishi while I’m there.

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