Bill Ladson had the following note:
Catcher Jesus Flores will not play in the Arizona Fall League after all. The Venezuelan Winter League denied Flores from playing in the league. According to Flores, he was promised that he will play everyday in his country. In the past, he was a bench player during the winter ball season.
Replacing Flores on the roster will be Devin Ivany. Ivany batted 237/293/352 in 63 games split between the GCL, Hagerstown, Vermont and Harrisburg. Ivany is considered the best defensive catcher in the Nationals farm system.
Scott M. Collins | 03-Oct-07 at 9:00 am | Permalink
“The Venezuelan Winter League denied Flores from playing in the [Arizona Fall League].”
How does that work?
JW | 03-Oct-07 at 9:01 am | Permalink
Why?
Brian Oliver | 03-Oct-07 at 9:29 am | Permalink
Not to turn this into a great political debate but I’d imagine that there are some certain expectations of Venezuelan baseball players to participate in their native country’s off-MLB-season league.
VladiHondo | 03-Oct-07 at 9:33 am | Permalink
As Brian quoted when rosters where initially announced:
One foreign player is allowed, as long as the player does not reside in a country that participates in winter ball, as part of the Caribbean Confederation or the Australian winter league.
Plus with the demise of the Puerto Rican Winter League, each of the remaining leagues will be more interested in keeping the AFL from poaching good players.