In a sad note, Preston Gomez passed away a few days ago. The former major league pitcher, coach and consultant had been a member of the professional baseball community since 1944, most recently with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

In 1969, baseball pioneer Gomez became just the second Latin American manager in the history of MLB when he was hired to lead the expansion San Diego Padres. After his 1972 firing, he also managed the Houston Astros (1974-75) and Chicago Cubs (1980).

Prior to Gomez, the only other manager born in Latin America was a fellow Cuban, Miguel Angel “Mike” Gonzalez, who led the St. Louis Cardinals on an interim basis in 1938 and 1940, reported the LA Times.

Gomez first joined the then-California Angels organization in 1981 as their major league third-base coach. After four seasons in the role, he became a special assistant to the general manager in 1985.

Gomez was also very active in baseball in Latin America, first leading the La Guaira Sharks of the Venezuelan League back in the winter of 1972-73 and serving several stints in the role.

Fast forward to 1997 when UCLA shortstop Troy Glaus became the Angels’ first-round pick in the June draft, taken third overall. After long negotiations, he finally signed in September, receiving a substantial signing bonus of $2.25 million.

As a result of the late signing, Glaus first headed to Arizona for the Halos’ fall instructional league camp. There, in a most unusual move, Gomez convinced Glaus to travel to Venezuela to make his professional debut for La Guaira that winter.

It was feasible for Glaus to take such a step because of his advanced development as a player. He had been the San Diego Padres’ second-round pick coming out of high school in 1994, but did not sign. With the Bruins, he led his club to the College World Series, batted .344 over three seasons, was the Pac-10 Player of the Year and shattered Mark McGwire’s single-season conference home run record.

In the 1996 Olympics, Glaus was the starting third baseman for Team USA and among his accomplishments was hitting four home runs at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, then the Atlanta Braves’ home park. His minor league career would only last four months before his first call up to Anaheim in July, 1998.

Though the media guides of the various clubs for which Glaus later played do not acknowledge this, he became the first and only future major league player to make his professional debut when he suited up for La Guaira in the 1997-1998 Venezuelan Winter League, according to the Sharks.

As it turned out, Glaus’ memories of the event were not fond ones. According to reports at the time, Glaus battled stomach ailments during his stint in Venezuela and lost 25 pounds. Accordingly, his on-field results were less than stellar, as he hit only .233 with two home runs in 50 games.

“The food and water were bad,” Glaus told the LA Times at the time, “but it made you learn how to try to be successful even when you don’t feel very well.”

Fast forward to today. Ironically, one of the top candidates to replace Glaus as the Cardinals third baseman in 2010, David Freese, was among organizational farmhands sent to Venezuela this winter.

Like Glaus, Freese’s Latin American stint was generally unfulfilling. The 25-year-old hit .235 with three home runs and eight RBIs in 14 games playing for the Caribes de Anzoategui of the Venezuelan League.

One report out of Venezuela was that Freese’s services were terminated due to results on the field. Another article hinted of a financial dispute. Freese himself attributed his early return home to a left wrist injury that required examination in St. Louis.

Whatever the reason, the Cardinals as an organization remain committed to Venezuela all year round.

Under the watchful eyes of former Cardinals Gulf Coast League manager Enrique Brito and Minor League Hitting Coordinator Dan Radison, a number of farmhands played there this winter, including Springfield’s Luke Gregerson and Jose Martinez. The Cards also had scores of younger players competing in a pair of winter minor leagues in the country.

The Cardinals have 38 players under contract on their Venezuelan Summer League roster, most of whom are natives. Up the line in the Cardinals system, there are another two dozen Venezuelans, including second baseman Martinez as well as a pair of exciting teenagers, pitcher Richard Castillo and outfielder Frederick Parejo. Former Cards shortstop Cesar Iztruis also calls the country home.

Director of International Operations Moises Rodriguez told me this recently: “Our plan is to build an academy in Venezuela, operate in the same manner as we do in the Dominican Republic and our goal is to produce players. We feel there is talent to be had there,” Rodriguez said.

Note: For more details on Cardinals players competing in winter ball, make sure you check out the “Cardinals Winter League Notebook” at Cardinals Best News Links.

This is the time of the year when organizations are seriously taking stock in the players they have and comparing that with what they need to start the 2009 season.

As a result, the St. Louis Cardinals now have three fewer players in the fold in the US as they released first baseman Carlos Pupo, infielder Ross Oeder and outfielder Nick Peoples. All three played a majority of their time in 2008 with the Quad Cities River Bandits of the Midwest League. With the bat last season, none were able to reach the Mendoza Line.

Nine other players from their overseas academies in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela have also been cut.

The USA three

Carlos Pupo. The well-traveled first baseman leaves the Cardinals organization after just one complete season. The 23-year-old played for four different colleges in four years, ending with Purdue in 2007, where his line as a senior was a not-so-lusty .175/.262/.298.

Not surprisingly, Pupo went undrafted. He played locally in Florida where he caught the eye of a Cardinals scout. After working out in Jupiter with the Gulf Coast League Cardinals, he was offered a contract. After 11 solid games in the GCL, the right-handed hitter skipped up to Quad Cities, more appropriate for a player of his age and experience. In the Midwest League, he struggled. In 38 games and 141 at-bats, Pupo hit just .184/.223/.319 with four home runs and 17 RBIs.

Ross Oeder. A utility infielder, Oeder, 23, was taken by the Cardinals in the 28th round of the 2007 draft from Wright State University. That season, the Ohio native batted .270 with no home runs and eight RBI in 148 at-bats for the short-season class-A Batavia Muckdogs of the New York-Penn League.

In 2008, Oeder did not make a full-season team initially, instead joining Quad Cities in mid-June. His line was .183/.252/.349 in 109 at-bats over 32 games.

Nick Peoples. The outfielder/second baseman played college ball in his hometown of Austin for the University of Texas. A broken collarbone in the 2007 NCAA Regionals caused Peoples to remain on the draft board until the Cardinals took him in the 19^th round.

The injury delayed the 24-year-old’s professional debut until the 2008 season. Peoples also did not come north with a full-season squad, instead remaining behind in Extended Spring Training. He was assigned to Quad Cities in late May, but didn’t deliver with the bat. Peoples’ season line was .183/.270 /.272. The right-handed batter had just ten extra base hits in 180 at-bats and struck out 46 times.

Nine away from LA

In addition, it is not a major surprise that the Cardinals have trimmed nine players from their Dominican and Venezuelan Summer League rosters. After all, I’ve documented many of the organization’s recent signings in Latin America, both in July and during the fourth quarter. (Sorry, the second article is Scout subscribers-only.)

It only stands to reason that when new players arrive, others must leave. While handfuls have made the big step up to play in the US, others miss the cut, either due to poor performance or Father Time. These academy players may only remain under contract for up to four years before either being required to either move up or out.

The nine cut loose include one Nicaraguan, four Dominicans and four from the Venezuelan roster. The contracts of two were technically voided due to questions about their identity and/or date of birth, including one of their July 2^nd signings in 2008. They are:

DSL	Home	Pos	Comments
Dennis Montero	Dominican	RHP	July 2 sign. DOB 11/20/91 reported. Commanded four pitches. FB 88-90.
Walter Santos	Nicaragua	LHP	6.19 ERA over two DSL seasons. Career opposing BA: .324.

The other seven were simply released:

DSL
Juan Jaquez	Dominican	RHP	6.59 and 6.75 ERAs in second and third DSL seasons.
Carlos Mejia	Dominican	RHP	2.10 ERA this summer. Only one here to play in DWIL this winter.
Randy Santos	Dominican	LHP	21 BB in 22.1 IP and .306 opposing BA in debut.
VSL
Billy Bolivar	Venezuela	OF	Hit .214 in 3rd VSL season coming off .215 BA in 2007. 6 OF errors in 54G.
Peter Jaspe	Venezuela	OF	Career .191 BA over two VSL seasons.
Miguel Lopez	Venezuela	LHP	39 K, 36 BB in 61 pro innings over two years. 4.87 career ERA in relief.
Wilson Perez	Venezuela	OF	Improved from .096 BA in 2007 to .275 in 2008. Apparently not enough.

In a side note, in the Dominican Winter League stats I published at The Birdhouse (sorry, subscriber-only again), the Randy Santos there (DOB 8/21/88) is the older one, a right-hander who pitched for Johnson City in 2008. The alleged birthday of the released Randy Santos, the left-hander listed here, is 6/4/91.

Glad we’ve got that cleared up. Now, if we could just do something about the two Angel Tapias!

New! Roster matrix coming very soon

Even after these moves, the organization still has 306 players under contract from the 40-man roster down through the academies. In a new feature coming Monday, I will be sharing (and maintaining throughout the year) a roster matrix of all these players, by position and level, from top to bottom – all ten teams, all in one place.

This is a feature you simply won’t find anywhere else. Look for the roster matrix this coming week exclusively here at The Cardinal Nation.

Though under the ownership of Drayton McLane, the Astros have reportedly cut back on scouting and player development, this news was still a surprise to me. Houston was the first MLB organization to enter that market 20 years ago and as a result mined premier talent such as Bobby Abreu and Johan Santana.

That initiative was started under the leadership of the well-respected scouting and development executive Andres Reiner, who is now planning a similar long-term investment initiative in Brazil on behalf of the Tampa Bay Rays.

Speaking to MLB.com, Houston officials seemed to go out of their way to explain that the changes have nothing to do with the on-going political unrest in Venezuela, or the economy. Instead, they want to deploy their resources to try to get players to the majors sooner.

The Astros will continue to scout players in the country going forward. As did the Cardinals two years ago, the Astros are adding a Gulf Coast League club, but in their case, it is trading one off for the other, not an incremental addition.

The Astros aren’t alone. In 2008, the 12-year-old Venezuelan Summer League ran with just eight teams, including Houston. Other organizations that had previously participated but no longer field VSL teams include Boston, Cincinnati, Florida, San Diego and Baltimore.

The Cardinals are heading in the opposite direction, increasing their commitment in and to Venezuela. Not two weeks ago, I was trying to reach Cardinals Director of International Operations Moises Rodriguez only to find he was out investigating an untapped territory in the country.

Rodriguez explains. “It’s a very large country so you need more than one scout there as the regions you need to cover are so vast. You can’t just do it with one or two guys.”

The Cardinals deploy three scouts in the country along with the assistance of Latin American cross-checker Juan Mercado.

Rodriguez is clearly bullish on the country. “Venezuela has really made some strides in the last ten years in the area of player production. The last time I checked, Venezuela had over 1000 players in the minor leagues under contract to major league clubs. That is a pretty significant number. They are really producing players,” he explained recently in an October subscriber-only interview I ran on Scout.com.

Rodriguez went on to note that the corresponding number of players under contract from the Dominican Republic is only about 1600-1800, making the difference much smaller than most, including me, would have guessed.

The Cardinals are planning to move their Venezuelan academy into a new leased facility with a target opening date of mid-2009.

“Our plan is to build an academy in Venezuela, operate in the same manner as we do in the Dominican Republic and our goal is to produce players. We feel there is talent to be had there,” Rodriguez said.

The Cardinals believe that having in-country facilities should at least give them “a slight edge” when trying to sign 16-year-olds. Some players or their parents might have concerns about youngsters having to head overseas to Dominican academies instead of being able to train in Venezuela.

“Venezuela is not a country you can ignore, in my opinion,” Rodriguez summarized.

Links to the October Rodriguez interviews on Scout.com (subscriber-only):

- Rodriguez on Cards’ International Operations

- Cards Director of Int’l Ops, Moisés Rodriguez