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Laying The Groundwork

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By MARC LANCASTER, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 16, 2007

Updated: 12/16/2007 12:14 am

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Game Is Their Life At Complex
Rays Not Deterred By Risks, Politics

GUACARA, Venezuela - For a quick gauge on the Rays' progress in establishing a name for themselves in Venezuela, all Ronnie Blanco has to do is check the heads of aspiring prospects.

"It's hard," said Blanco, the Rays' director of operations in Venezuela, "because all the kids, when you're hosting a tryout, they're going to be wearing a different cap than ours."

It's difficult to blame them; it's not as if Tampa Bay has given young fans here or anywhere else in Latin America a reason to care about Rays baseball during much of the franchise's existence. As the Rays organization spent its first decade mostly failing in its efforts to stockpile affordable talent to help build a winner at Tropicana Field, the vast resources of Latin America - the Dominican Republic and Venezuela in particular - were largely ignored.

In taking that route, the Rays were an exception among their peers.

Among the players on major-league rosters or disabled lists on Opening Day 2007, 29 percent were born in a U.S. territory or a foreign country. In the minors, the influence of foreign-born players is more pronounced. A whopping 46.2 percent of players under contract in the minors to open the 2007 season were born outside the U.S., the bulk of them from Latin America.

But the Rays didn't mount a serious presence there until 2006, shortly after Stuart Sternberg and his management group took over and vowed to make inroads in that vast, affordable talent pool. Tampa Bay entered into an agreement with the Dodgers to share their Dominican academy, Campo Las Palmas, while putting down roots of its own in Venezuela.

A staff led by Blanco began scouring the country for talent and the Rays signed their first Venezuelan player of note, third baseman Julio Cedeno, in March 2006. In the fall of '06, construction began on an academy that would be home exclusively to Rays prospects on the grounds of a Pirelli Tire factory in Guacara, a small city about 20 minutes outside Valencia. The academy officially opened in May of this year, and the Rays also hope to establish their own complex in the Dominican Republic.

The decision to make a strong move into Latin America was, in the words of one Rays official, a "no-brainer." Left unsaid was that it should have happened long before.

Remember the ill-fated $10.2 million bonus the Rays gave high-school phenom Matt White back in 1996? It will cost about that much to fund the Rays' entire Latin American operation - including staff salaries and signing bonuses for prospects - this year. The largest bonus handed out to a player currently at the Venezuelan academy was $175,000, and most of the others signed for significantly less. Construction of the academy cost between $3 million and $4 million - less than the Rays doled out to the combination of Casey Fossum, Shinji Mori and Dan Miceli in 2007.

Patience Is Key

By any measure in baseball's economic system, it makes sense for a lower-revenue team such as the Rays to be aggressive in cultivating Latin American talent.

"Just say you hit on one guy a year - just one in the Dominican and in Venezuela that are really exceptional," said Rays manager Joe Maddon, who visited both countries this past fall. "After five years, that's 10 guys that you really like. ... If you add 10 guys to your system that you think can dramatically impact your major-league team, that is immense."

The only catch is, it will take awhile for the Rays to see a return on their investment. Players in Latin America can sign professional contracts at age 16 1/2 , but the vast majority still need years of instruction and refinement in the minors before reaching the highest level, and most will flame out before they get that far.

"The Latin front should be the one that will push us up to be competitive, without any doubt," said Andres Reiner, a Rays special assistant who convinced the Houston Astros to open the first academy in Venezuela in the late 1980s. "Now, you can't expect that this will happen in one or two years, because it will not."

Added Jorge Moncada, the 23-year-old pitching coach at the Rays' Venezuelan academy: "To me, the first word for us as a staff is 'patience.'"

It is perhaps the most popular word among those involved with scouting and development in Venezuela, but a goal that isn't so far-fetched lurks behind that cautious front: Right now, on a field surrounded by rolling green mountains at the simple two-building complex inside a chain-link fence in Guacara, the next Johan Santana or Bobby Abreu may be going through his workouts.

The Rays hope to be able to spot that kind of talent at the earliest stages, and there is reason to believe they'll have success in that endeavor. It is rooted in the groundwork laid by Reiner, who maintains a vast network of contacts throughout the country and signed Santana and Abreu (among many others) as amateurs in the 1990s.

"Andres, especially in Venezuela, is really a legend, in my mind," said Rays senior vice president Gerry Hunsicker, who worked alongside Reiner in Houston. "Baseball-wise, I don't think there's a more respected person in the baseball industry than Andres."

It was Reiner who encouraged Carlos Alfonso, Tampa Bay's director of international operations, to seek out Blanco. A former lawyer and general manager of the Magallanes professional team in Valencia, Blanco signed with the Rays in the spring of 2006 and immediately began work on two tracks.

Building Blocks

On one side, he established a network of four scouts to cover the country in search of players. The Rays signed several Venezuelan players and a handful of others from Colombia and Argentina in 2006 as they began to build a base that should allow Tampa Bay to field a full team in the Venezuelan Summer League next year (the Rays shared a team with the Reds in 2007). Despite the array of talent available, the job isn't as easy as cherry-picking the best off a given diamond.

"You have to watch a lot of bad players to try and get the good ones," Blanco said.

On the other, he became a location scout, trying to find the most suitable place for the Rays to set up an academy. He focused on factories as potential sites because they are self-contained and security is already in place. At the Pirelli factory, not far from the Astros academy established by Reiner in the late 1980s, Blanco found a site that made sense. At the time, it consisted of two soccer fields "and a lot of bushes," but the Rays have made it their own.

The main building at the complex includes a clubhouse, offices and a locker room for the coaches, a classroom, storage space for equipment, a weight room and a training room for the medical staff. The original plan was to erect that building and figure out how to house the players until a dormitory could be built, but the Rays decided to accelerate the process. That led to the quick design and construction of a second building, which includes dorms, a rec room and a cafeteria, alongside the first.

There's nothing fancy about either building, but they have all the essentials, and the Rays believe their facility stacks up with any in Venezuela. The fact the Rays have chosen to put down roots when other teams have pulled out of the country to work exclusively in the Dominican should help Tampa Bay as it tries to become more of a player in Venezuela.

"We went in full-bore," Alfonso said. "I think the players are still there, and there will be players there. Maybe not the amount of total players from the Dominican, but there's enough players there. ... We feel that at the time other teams are leaving, that gives us more of a playing field."

The opportunity is there. And now that the Rays have the infrastructure in place, it's a matter of maintaining a flow of prospects and doing everything possible on the development front to give them a chance to succeed as they move up the minor-league ladder.

"The main thing is trying to get players to the States, trying to get players to Tropicana," Blanco said. "In the end, everything goes to there."

It could be years before names such as Julio Cedeno, Albert Suarez and Omar Bencomo are familiar to Rays fans, but the organization believes those young players and the prospects who will follow have a legitimate chance to make an impact in Tampa Bay someday.

If even one of them makes it that far, that will represent significant progress.

WHO'S WHO

Key people in the Rays' push into Venezuela:

ANDRES REINER
The 72-year-old native of Hungary is credited throughout baseball as a pioneer in bringing Venezuelans to the major leagues. In the late 1980s, Reiner pushed the Houston Astros to open an academy in Venezuela, and it wasn't long before it paid off, as the Astros signed the likes of Bobby Abreu, Johan Santana, Carlos Guillen and Freddy Garcia. Reiner left the Astros in 2005, and after a year with the Reds he joined the Rays as a special assistant in 2006.

CARLOS ALFONSO
A veteran of 40 years in baseball, Alfonso joined the Rays in January 2006 as their director of international operations after spending 19 seasons in various capacities with the Giants organization. Alfonso supervises all of the Rays' overseas work, particularly in the Latin American countries, but he also made a scouting trip to Japan this year.

RONNIE BLANCO
A former lawyer and self-described "baseball junkie," the 38-year-old directs the Rays' day-to-day operations in Venezuela. He came aboard in the spring of 2006 after a stint as the general manager of the storied Magallanes winter-ball team in Valencia, a city about 20 minutes from the Rays' academy. He oversees every aspect of the Rays' business in Venezuela, from making sure the kitchen is stocked to supervising Tampa Bay's scouts around the country and negotiating contracts.

THE COACHES
The Rays have a staff of five coaches in Venezuela: Marlon Roche, age 34 (manager, outfielders); Wuarner Rincones, 34 (hitting, infielders); Jorge Moncada, 23 (pitching); Reinaldo Ruiz, 27 (first base, catchers); and Esteban Gonzalez, 23 (third base). All except Rincones were signed as players by Andres Reiner when he was with the Astros.

RAYS' PROSPECTS

Five of the top prospects at the Rays' Venezuelan academy:

RHP Omar Bencomo, 18 — Rays' top Venezuelan Summer League pitcher in '07 has game in his bloodlines.

3B Julio Cedeno, 18 — One of Rays' first signees, hit .300 in VSL this year.

OF Ludson Isenia, 18 — St. Marteen native is athletic, has high ceiling at plate.

RHP Wilking Rodriguez, 17 — Budding closer is competitive, has impressive stuff.

RHP Albert Suarez, 18 — Big-league body (6-2, 220) with mound presence.

BY THE NUMBERS

849 — Players on major-league rosters, disabled lists or restricted lists on Opening Day 2007

246 — Players born outside the United States

208 — Players from Latin America or the Caribbean

98 — Players from the Dominican Republic

51 — Players from Venezuela

5 — Players from Latin America on the Rays' Opening Day roster

1 — Player from Latin America on the Rays' roster originally signed by Tampa Bay (Juan Salas)

Source: Major League Baseball

PROMINENT VENEZUELAN PLAYERS

PAST

SS Luis Aparicio (Maracaibo) — Rookie of the Year in 1956 and 10-time All-Star is lone Venezuelan in National Baseball Hall of Fame.

SS Chico Carrasquel (Caracas) — Four-time All-Star initiated trend of Venezuelan shortstops in the majors.

SS Dave Concepcion (Ocumare de la Costa) — Nine-time All-Star was defensive heart of Cincinnati's ''Big Red Machine.''

1B Andres Galarraga (Caracas) — ''The Big Cat'' spent 19 seasons in the majors, averaging 44 homers and 137 RBIs from 1996-98.

SS Ozzie Guillen (Ocumare del Tuy) — Current White Sox manager was AL Rookie of the Year in 1985; played final season for Rays in 2000.

PRESENT

Tigers 3B Miguel Cabrera (Maracay) — One of the game's most dangerous hitters, has been an All-Star in all four of his full seasons in the majors.

Tigers RF Magglio Ordonez (Caracas) — Runner-up in 2007 AL MVP voting after leading the majors in batting average (.363) and doubles (54).

Angels RHP Francisco Rodriguez (Caracas) — A postseason hero at age 20, "K-Rod" has become a dominant closer, averaging 44 saves the last three years.

Twins LHP Johan Santana (Tovar) — Two-time Cy Young winner and most dominant lefty in the game has been a full-time starter for only four seasons.

Giants SS Omar Vizquel (Caracas) — The modern standard-bearer for defensive shortstops (11 Gold Gloves) will play 20th season in 2008.

Reporter Marc Lancaster can be reached at (813) 259-7227 or mlancaster@tampatrib.com.

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