Dominican prospect Andres Serrano contract terminated by MLB for age and identity fraud

Another day, another Dominican prospect busted for age and identity fraud. Dominican pitching prospect Andres Serrano had his deal with the Cardinals terminated by MLB due to age and identity fraud. It would have been the biggest deal for an international free agent pitcher for all signings last year.

Serrano claimed to have been born on May 29, 1994 date of birth, which would have made him 17 at the time of his signing and 18 now. Presumably he was actually older than he claimed and that's when MLB had to come in and terminate the contract. Though MLB did not release how old they think he may be.

This debacle ends up hurting Dominican prospect Andres Serrao. MLB declared Serrano ineligible to sign for one year, as of June 26, but under the new collective bargaining agreement the period from June 16-July 1 is a "closed" period when teams can't sign international free agents. His signing will not be able to come until July 2, 2013 and it will count towards the 2013-14 signing period.

So, to make a long story short, the Cardinals may not be in the running to sign him at that point. The new collective bargaining agreement gives teams spending limits and penalties in regards to international free agents, based on where they finish in the standings. Even if these new rules were not in play, lets be honest, even a big league club that has everything planned to the last detail may not know if they will be willing and able to sign Serrano on July 2, 2012.

It ends up a very bad mistake for Andres Serrano. He loses the $750,000 the Cardinals had given him, and who knows if or when or for how much money he will be signed again. But then again, they may not have given him that money if they knew how old he actually was, so is it a 'nothing ventured nothing gained' situation?

He is from Santiago, Dominican Republic.

Dominican prospect Andres Serrano contract terminated by MLB 

Dominican baseball dancers: Bailarinas de Estrellas Orientales

For the first time on the Dominican Baseball Guy blog, I have for you the dancers of the Estrellas de San Pedro de Macoris. Now the dancers from Licey and Escogido in Santo Domingo, and even the Aguilas in Santiago are employed throughout the whole season. The other three teams have to import dancers from the other big cities, and they may only have the budget to employ the Dominican baseball dancers for late in the season or just the playoffs. So, do not expect dancer at every baseball game in the Dominican Republic, but they should be at most.

This video is not as clear the footage of the Dominican baseball dancers from Licey, but you get the gist of what it means to have dancers at a baseball game. Think the ring girls and girls dancing outside the ring at boxing matches and MMA events. They are closer to that than they are to American football cheerleaders.

Without further ado, here are the Dominican baseball dancers from the Estrellas Orientales in San Pedro de Macoris:

Dominican models: Dallas Leclerc aka Ms. Jose Lima

Dominican pitcher Jose Lima had 6 kids with 6 different women before his death earlier this year. His most recent conquest and baby mama was Dominican model Dallas Leclerc, whom he had a daughter with. Leclerc is asking the MLB Players Association for money to support their daughter, but thus far they have refused since the two were not married.

It was rumored that Lima maintained relationships with several of his exes, and was living with a new girlfriend at the time of his death in 2010. Interesting that Declerc still has a photo of the two with their daughter on her Facebook page, so she must still be on good terms with his memory and just trying to support their daughter through legal means.

The Dominican model Dallas Leclerc is a former contestant of Miss Dominican Republic and the winner of Miss Tourism Dominican Republic in 2005. She represented Santiago, also the hometown of Jose Lima, so she must be from Santiago, Dominican Republic.

Not sure where her modeling career went after that. Since I could only find like three photos of her she must not have worked much after her Miss Dominican Republic run. But here is one pic of this hot Dominican model.

Dominican Model Dallas Leclerc

Dominican player of the week: Hanley Ramirez

Hanley Ramirez hit .500 with 4 HR and 6 RBI, and that wins him the Dominican Baseball Guy Dominican player of the week award.

Hanley had a down year last year, but has made the transition to third base this season, and he is having a good year at the plate thus far. Ramirez, and fellow Dominican player Jose Reyes have the Marlins in the playoff chase in the National League East.

He is from Samana, an awesome Dominican beach town on the east coast of the country.

Carlos Gomez of the Brewers also received consideration for the NL player of the week award. He is from  Santiago, Dominican Republic.

Dominican player of the week Hanley Ramirez, by SD Dirk on Flick

Brewers re-sign Dominican baseball player Carlos Gomez, Dominicano firma con Brewers

The Brewers re-signed Carlos Gomez, and in so doing they avoided arbitration with the player, who will be in his sixth big league season this year, all with the Brewers.  The Brew Crew has six other arbitration eligible players yet to resign.

Gomez has been a successful major leaguer over five seasons.  He was the youngest player in the NL when he made his debut with the Mets in 2007.  He was traded to the Twins in the Johan Santana deal and was the Twins everyday center fielder for two seasons.  For the last two years he has been a utility outfielder and pinch hitter for the Brewers.  He was an important part of their playoff run last year, even as a bench player.

He should fight for an everyday outfield spot this year, and should see the 90-plus games he saw the last two years.  Gomez is from Santiago, Dominican Republic.

Carlos Gomez with the Brewers, photo by Steve Paluch on Flickr

Houston Astros sign several Dominican players, add to Dominicans on roster

The Houston Astros have added some key arms to their roster this offseason.  First, they resigned Wandy Rodriguez (see the AP article).  The Dominican Baseball Guy thinks Wandy is an ace or at least a number two starter.  He won the Dominican Baseball Guy player of the month for August 2010.  Wandy is from Santiago, DR.

Next, they signed Enerio del Rosario.  He debuted for the Reds last year and should see time in the Astros bullpen this season, after he had a strong winter season in the Dominican Winter Baseball League (LIDOM).  They also resigned Jimmy Paredes, who is on the 40 man roster, but will most likely start next year in the minors.  Parades came to the Astros in the Lance Berkman deal.  Enerio is from Santa Lucia, DR and Paredes is from Haina, DR.  Brian Mctaggart reported these deals here.

Most recently the Astros resigned Alberto Arias (see the details from Sports Blog Nation Houston).  Arias missed all of 2010 with an injury, but should see time in the Astros bullpen if he continues to recover from the rotator cuff injury.  Alberto is from the capital of the DR, Santo Domingo.

These signings are in addition the following Dominican players on the Astros 40 man roster: Fernando Abad (La Romana, DR), Henry Villar (Bonao), Jorge DeLeon (La Cega Azua), and Aneury Rodriguez (Higuey).  There are also several non-roster Dominican invitees to spring training.

Orioles Dominican pitcher Alfredo Simon expected to be released

Baltimore Orioles reliever Alfredo Simon is expected to be released within the next 10 days, this according to Brittany Ghiroli and MLB.com.  Simon is facing involuntary manslaughter charges after someone was shot at a New Year's Eve party he was attending in Luperon, Dominican Republic.  Alfredo is from nearby Santiago, DR.

The Dominican Baseball Guy first blogged on this incident here.  The Orioles placed Simon on the restricted list and they do not know if or when he will join the team this year.  If he is found innocent hopefully he can rejoin the Orioles or some other team later this year, because he still has a promising career ahead of him.

Simon covers first base, by Cathy T on Flickr

Brittany Ghiroli has all the news on this story and all things Orioles, so check out Britt's Bird Watch.

Dominican Pitcher Alfredo Simon Suspect in Shooting Death

The recent news that Orioles pitcher Alfredo Simon is the main suspect in the shooting death of a man in his native Dominican Republic hearkens to the situation of Angel Villalona a year ago.  While both were involved in a shooting death, on further inspection the situations are quite different.

Villalona is accused of shooting a man in a night club after a disagreement.  The Dominican Baseball Guy added a couple updates on the Villalona situation which you can see here.  There are plenty of links to all the relevant stories from a year ago within these two blog posts.  Villalona is still awaiting trial, but according to this article, he is back playing baseball again, so may be able to make it back to the states some day.  Villalona is from La Romana, DR.

The case of Simon seems to be different.  While Villalona was a minor league player yet to reach the big leagues, Simon debuted 3 years ago for the Orioles and played in 49 games last year.  The other difference is that the shooting Simon was involved in seems to be accidental.  According to the latest AP story, Simon is being charged with involuntary manslaughter, as he either fired a gun in the air to celebrate New Year's Eve or had a gun go off accidentally while breaking up a fight between two women.  Simon's lawyer is saying he merely shot his gun in the air to celebrate the new year.  The saddest part is that the dead man was his cousin.  Alfredo is from Santiago, DR.

This brings up the inevitable "why is a multi-million dollar athlete carrying a pistol?"  Well in the states the Dominican Baseball Guy agrees, but the fact is the Dominican Republic is a very rough place and lots of people carry weapons.  Security in the country is sparse, especially in smaller cities, and Dominicans grow up in an atmosphere where fighting and weapons are widespread.  So, it is hard for professional baseball players to forget their upbringing in that environment.

The Dominican Baseball Guy thinks the best thing for these guys is to just stay away from the country, if they feel they will be tempted to visit their old stomping grounds.  But that would mean never seeing their family and friends again in many cases.  So, as you can see it is a vicious cycle.  Simon is just 29 and has a promising career ahead of him, so if it was an accident, hopefully he can make an arrangement with the family and  get back to the big leagues at some point.

Dominican Baseball Card #11 and #12: Felix Fermin

The #11 and #12 Dominican Baseball Guy Dominican Baseball Cards are two Felix Fermin cards.  The first is a 1990 Donruss #191.  The second is a 1990 Topps #722.

Felix had a long career in the big leagues.  The Dominican Baseball Guy was suprised to find out that he never made an All-Star team or had any major award.  He played for ten years in the big leagues, debuting with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1987.  He then spent 5 years with the Indians, and was traded to the Mariners for Omar Vizquel before the 1995 season.  He had probably his best year with the Mariners, as a Ken Griffey Jr. team won the AL West in 1995.  Fermin was an everyday player on that team.  Felix retired in 1996 after 11 games with the White Sox.

Felix is a popular player in Santiago, Dominican Republic, where he spent his Winter League seasons with the Aguilas.  He went on to manage the Aguilas after he retired.  He managed the Aguilas from 2000-2008, winning the Dominican Winter Baseball League 5 times in this period.  In 2009 he went on to manage the Gigantes del Cibao, and he led them to the Championship Series of the Dominican Winter Baseball League last season, before losing to Escogido in 9 games.  He is again coaching the Gigantes this season, and he remains very popular in Santiago, even though he manages their main rival.  Felix is from Mao, DR.

Dominican MLB August 2010 Players of the Month

Wow, this is gonna sound like "Groundhog Day," and there are going to be a couple of obvious choices for the prestigious Dominican Baseball Guy all-Dominican Team that will be announced at the end of the year.  But any time a Dominican wins one of the league player of the month or pitcher of the month awards, it is going to be hard for the Dominican Baseball Guy to give the Dominican player of the month award to another Dominican.

For the first time, there are co-Dominican Players of the Month.  Albert "Winnie the" Pujols won the NL Player of the Month for August and Jose Bautista won the AL award.  As the Dominican Baseball Guy has said before on this previous post, fullpitchcount.com has the best recap of the MLB players of the month.  Albert had another crazy month (.379, 11 HRs, 23 RBI) on the way to winning his 5th NL Player of the Month Award.  Jose Bautista won the AL award for the 2nd strait month with 12 HRs and 24 RBI.  He is the first Dominican to win the Dominican Baseball Guy's Dominican Player of the Month Award 2 months in a row.  Albert and Jose are both from the capital of the DR, Santo Domingo.

Even though Rafael Soriano won the MLB Delivery Man of the Month Award, and could certainly be given the Dominican Pitcher of the Month Award for a second strait month, the Dominican Pitcher of the Month goes to Wandy Rodriguez.  Wandy is a starter for the Dominican Baseball Guy's hometown Houston Astros and has pitched well for years.  He is an inning eater and has had an ERA hovering in the 3.00 range, while pitching around 200 innings the last two years.  Wandy received votes for the NL Pitcher of the Month Award and actually had the best overall numbers out of any NL Pitcher, other than the win-loss (2-1, 1.34, 43 SO, 40.1 IP).  But he plays for the Astros so what can he do.  Wandy is from Santiago, DR.

 

 Gotta love the Astros 1980's Nolan Ryan Era throwback jerseys.