Béisbol growth in Mexico, Ozzie celebrates La Virgen de Guadalupe and more from Winter Meetings
By Andy Martinez
Teammates become opponents
Yankees reliever Dellin Betances took to Instagram to express his excitement when the Yankees re-signed veteran CC Sabathia in early November. The two have clearly become good friends as teammates over the past seven years – good enough friends that Betances let him have it this week after knocking Sabathia out of their fantasy football league’s playoffs.
Mexican president promoting béisbol
Mexico’s new president Andrés Manuel López Obrador is a known pelotero. He’s a Dodgers fan and was invited to a Houston Astros playoff game by Jeff Luhnow, the first Mexican general manager and president of baseball operations in MLB history. So, it’s not shocking to see him express his desire to promote béisbol in Mexico and build baseball schools in the country. Hopefully, through his sports development plan, we can see more Mexican players with the caliber of Fernando Valenzuela and Mexico can combat its obesity problem.
Cora, Hinch, Boone discuss friendship
Managing three of the best teams in baseball, you’d think there’d be some sort of rivalry between Álex Cora (Red Sox), A.J. Hinch (Astros) and Aaron Boone (Yankees). But talking with Karl Ravech of ESPN during the Winter Meetings, the trio showed their amistad. Cora admitted to being a fan of the two and cheering them on. Hinch, who was manager of the World Champion Astros in 2017 when Cora was bench coach, admitted to exchanging text messages throughout the season with Boone and Cora.
Social post of the day
December 12 marks the celebration of the Virgen de Guadalupe – Our Lady of Guadalupe. Former White Sox manager and player Ozzie Guillén spent his morning honoring la Virgen and asking him to pray for his family, Mexicans and his native Venezuela.
Happy Birthday!
Ervin Santana (b. 1982)
OTD
1969 – Cleveland trades Luís Tiant and Stan Williams to the Twins for Graig Nettles, Ted Uhlaender, Dean Chance and Bob Miller.
1993 – Cleveland signs Nicaraguan pitcher Dennis Martínez to a two-year deal and Baltimore signs Rafael Palmeiro.
2007 – Houston acquires shortstop Miguel Tejada from Baltimore for Luke Scott, Matt Albers, Troy Patton, Dennis Sarfate and Michael Costanzo
2016 – The Dodgers re-sign closer Kenley Jansen to a five-year, $80 million deal
Featured Image: Ozzie Guillén Twitter