Today we find more Ex-Mariner treasure – those not named Abraham, Martín, or Juan (or Robi) – among distant oceans and byways of offshore baseball.
Aguilas Cibaenas of the Dominican Winter League (LIDOM) is locked in a seven-game semifinal Dominican Series battle with los Toros del Este. This year’s Aguilas squad included ex-Mariner Vidal Nuno III, he of 8-21 over five MLB teams in six seasons. Nuno didn’t make the Aguilas’ playoff roster.
But maybe you’ve heard of the Aguilas’ manager. A guy named Felix Fermin. El Gato was a stalwart Mariner middle infielder in the 1994-95 glory years. He’s been on the job since 2000, with a 2-year break to skipper los Gigantes de Cibao. But the Aguilas got him back, he’s an icon of Dominican ball, and he’s looking to add another title to his trophy shelf.
Meanwhile, over on the Toros, where they do these awesome clubhouse victory celebrations (if you click on just one link in this post, you gotta click this one) , recent ex-M Hunter Strickland has stepped off the field and serves as a pitching coach. And when you think about it, who wouldn’t want to coach for The Bulls of the East?
But the big Toros news is your reigning Ex-Mariner of the Year Fernando Rodney. Take a deep breath before you read this… Our man was last seen in summer 2020 pitching one inning for the Ross Eversoles, er, Sugarland Skeeters — an independent club in the Constellation Energy League. As a gauge of how far our reigning champ had fallen, the League cashed in on pandemic braindead reality TV with the mullet-logo’d Reyes del Tigre. Order a shirt here while they’re hot.
On July 31, the Astros signed him to a free agent contract at age 43, but he never took the field for Houston and he was out the door on September 2. He headed for the DR to rejoin his winter pals on the Leones del Escogido. And my oh my, if you dig another great clubhouse celebration, check this one. Rodney appeared in eight Leones games with a 1.13 ERA before their elimination from the playoffs. In a Houdini move*, the Toros snatched him right up for the semifinals and, just days ago, he worked a scoreless inning against Fermin’s Aguilas. Think about that, this is a guy who signed his first pro contract in the last millennium. And he’s still pitching for pay.
Carlos Peguero, a giant of an ex-Mariner at 6’-6” 260, plays, appropriately enough, for los Gigantes. The M’s signed him at age 19 out of Hondo Valle, DR, in 2006. His strength and speed were touted around Seattle as the future of the team. Bummer he couldn’t hit major league pitching. We kept hope alive and kept Carlos under contract for eight seasons before he danced between Royals, Red Sox, Rangers, and Cards. His last contract with a MLB organization was five years ago. But along the way he’s played ball in Korea, two Japanese leagues, Mexico, and his annual return engagements in Dominican winter ball. Here’s a stat. In 15 seasons of pro ball, Peguero has played in over 1,550 games. Just 103 of those were in the majors. That’s hope, desire, persistence, and that’s just a straight love affair with the game of baseball.
You know you spend too much time on this stuff when you see Jonathan Aro’s name on the Tigres del Licey roster and you go “hey… that guy was a Mariner,” then you look him up and he threw 0.2 innings in 2016. And you’re, like, man, I gotta get out more.
Los Tigres also feature Jose Mesa Jr., who was not a Mariner but his dad was, and I can’t think of Jose Sr. without seeing my own 80-year-old father screaming at the TV, “Goddammit, if you’re gonna pay him a million bucks to throw that shit, save yourself some money! I’ll take half that much and throw the same shit!” That was fun, but I pointed out Jose Sr. was earning north of $3 mil – at which point, Dad’s eyes bugged out, he slapped his forehead, and the mumbles went pretty much incoherent.
Welington Castillo rapped out a .160 in six M’s games in a 2015 stopover between the Cubs and D-Backs. His Tigres are out, he’s a free agent, hanging by the phone. Who knows… maybe the Toros will call…
At the helm, managing los Tigres, we find Mariner fan favorite, El Gato’s teammate in those fuzzy mid-90’s memories, is Luis “Everybody Scores” Sojo. Not a candidate for ex-M of the Year since anyone who left here and got four World Series rings with the Yankees doesn’t need that kinda recognition, but hey let’s take a look back anyway…
Let’s move to Taiwan, yeah really, Taiwan, to the Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions (aka Unilions) of the CPBL, where dozens of cheerleaders dance on the dugouts. Remember Ryan Feierabend? What, you don’t? Our mangling men of play-by-play called him “FARE-uh-bend” when the German word is “FIRE Ah-bend” which means “end of the working day” and was correctly pronounced, often at the end of the working day, for fifteen years by denizens of Seattle’s fine German pub of the same name, which sadly perished last month, a casualty of Rona-strictions, and coincidentally, in a way, Ryan’s baseball career was a victim too. According to the Unilions, he and the team parted ways when he decided he’d rather be home in the USA with his family than isolated from them with his teammates due to that same Rona. He was replaced on the roster by a guy named Brock Dykxhoorn, not an ex-Mariner, but still proving the Unilions’ affinity for awesome names, though we’re not sure what that one means, but if this was Ryan’s swan song after 17 seasons in pro ball, well, a) choosing family over baseball is a hell of a good way to go out; b) he’s worth a look as our ex-Mariner of the Year; and c) he can pronounce his name any way he wants.
Segovia: no ex-M, but these people take their postgame MVP dances seriously.
We stick with CPBL baseball for our hard-luck story of the Offshore Bonus Bracket. The 2020 version of the Chinatrust Bank Brothers, whose mascot is an elephant (no word on where they keep it or what they feed it) featured Cuban-born ex-M Ariel Miranda. He stuck it out in spite of the Rona, started 25 games, threw 156 innings, and worked a complete-game victory in game three of the Taiwan Series against the Unilions. Formerly Feierabend’s Unilions. But remember Brock Dykxhoorn? With the Brothers up 3-1 in the series, Dykxhoorn got the game five victory for the Unilions to turn the momentum, and two nights later our man Miranda took the mound to start game seven. A full season of toil on his strong back, he tried to carry the team to victory himself. He ground it out into the seventh inning, 120 pitches deep, saw a couple unearned runs go the wrong way, and just couldn’t make it happen, halfway around the world from home and absolutely nothing left in the tank. And to complete the cycle of irony, who should come into the game for the Unilions to save the 7-4 victory and complete the series comeback? Yeah, Dykxhoorn, the guy they picked up when Feierabend went home, sealed the Taiwan Series for the Unilions.
Late breaking ex-Mariner news in the CPBL, the Rakuten Monkeys have signed Dillon Overton to a 2021 contract. 2017 ex-Mariner of the Year Munenori Kawasaki urges us, be like a monkey. Eat your bananas. And watch for Dillon in next year’s balloting.
Kawa: Every day, three bananas.
What a tangled web these ex-Mariners weave. Cast a ballot in the comments. We’re suckers for tragic heroes over here. Change our minds.
*Apparently there no rule against PEDs in the Dominican League (see Robi Cano’s two jonrons in his first two ABs this week), and Rodney’s sudden hop to the Toros is evidence there’s no trade deadline either. Your team gets eliminated, just wait by the phone cuz y’never know…