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I’ll Follow the Sun
While winter turns American sports fans' thoughts to football, baseball managers build careers in Caracas.

Ronald Young

11.25.03 - What’s a minor league manager to do with their off-season? Some go hunting or fishing, work in other businesses, or do talent evaluation for their organizations. A few with aspirations to be big league skippers know that some of the best winter baseball rises with the summer sun in Venezuela.

Blessed by an opposing summer season, South America offers players and managers alike an opportunity to build careers while snows and NFL football still bats and freeze footpaths in North America.

For aspiring club skippers, the Venezuelan league serves up a taste of what it might be like to helm a major league franchise.

It’s a steaming dish of great baseball, cooked under extreme pressure, combining the volatile ingredients of off-season major league stars, aspiring minor leaguers, and home-grown talent with something to prove.

There’s one more ingredient: They expect you to win.

Where the ‘W’s Really Matter

Most professional clubs expect you to win. So what?

The Venezuelans take the game with a level of seriousness and passion that make George Steinbrenner look like an absentee owner.

"In Venezuela, winning is the most important thing,” Pete Mackanin says. “"If you lose a couple of days in a row, you're in the board of directors office.”

Mackanin, the Pittsburgh Pirates bench coach during the regular season, helms a Venezuelan league club in the off-season. He led Zulia to the Venezuelan championship during the 1988-89 season and will be back to manage the same team this season.

Former big leaguer Willie Horton, who had the high pressure job of player-manager with the popular Magallanes team in the late-1970s, says, "I think it's tough because down there, they expect you to win."

"The main difference is in the minor leagues, development is number one,” Mackanin tells MLN. “You have pitch limits. You have certain players who have to play, certain players you really don't pinch hit for because they're top prospects."

The fans also keep the heat on teams and their skippers. Unlike the casual fans who come out to a ballpark in the minors to experience the moon bounce, or the core fans who realize that they’re watching developmental baseball, the Venezuelans show no mercy.

"It's their major league baseball. They take it very seriously," says Mackanin.

The situation becomes even more complicated if a team makes it to the playoffs or even the Caribbean World Series. For the CWS, teams are allowed to add players from other clubs that did not qualify for the post season.

When the Magallanes won the Venezuelan championship in 1980, it seemed the entire country clamored for Horton to add national hero and Cincinnati Reds shortstop Dave Concepcion to the roster.

Horton had a young shortstop named Alexis Ramirez who was playing well. He refused to put Concepcion on the team, resulting in many unhappy fans and even calls of protest from Venezuelan government officials.

"I couldn't have lived with myself if I had picked up Concepcion," says Horton. He went on to win the Caribbean Series. Had he lost, the call might have been the end of his managerial career in Venezuela

Broader Talent, Bigger Egos

Skippers in the Venezuelan league also have to deal with issues of team chemistry, and major league egos.

Many big league players play winter ball in Venezuela. Some are trying to turn around marginal seasons with their club to make the team the following spring. Some are Venezuelan or Latin American players who love playing for the South American fans. Others play baseball year-round because they want to keep in shape, or because they just love playing the game year-round.

The major league players arrive half-way through the season, expecting to play even when the younger players, who have been present from the outset are playing well.

This kind of experience can showcase the diplomatic skills of a skipper that are not tested as much on a farm system team.

Back to Fundamentals Management

American baseball has become more science than art. Pitch counts and spreadsheets with situational batting numbers influence major league managers’ decision-making. More and more that science also plays into the minor league game.

In Venezuela, performance is the name of the game.

Luis Dorante, manager of the Jupiter Hammerheads in the Florida State League, manages the Pastora team in Venezuela.

He uses the example of a starting pitcher who is getting shelled early. In the minors, a pitch count would likely dictate when the manager would remove the pitcher. In Venezuela, the score is what is important. He would not hesitate to remove a pitcher in the early innings before the game got out of hand.

A Roster Juggling Act

Minor league rosters are set more by the farm directors than by the skippers of the affiliated teams. In Venezuela, skippers do their own talent evaluations, often with unfamiliar players in a short period of time. They do not have the luxury of a long spring training.

According to Mackanin, in just a few short weeks or even days, "The thing about winter ball teams in Latin America is there are so many players you really don't know."

Mackanin believes that one of the difficulties of managing in Venezuela is putting together the best lineup early in the season before the big leaguers arrive. Managers get lots of contradictory advice on who should play. He stresses that for this reason, it is essential that the "import" players from the United States be ready to play from day one.
Minimizing Turnover

Players learn to play in the pressure-cooker, or face an early plane trip home. Even American players can find themselves winging their way back to their winter department store job if they don’t perform.

"The key to winning is the less turnover you have," says Horton. He has fought to keep players on the team, because it takes new arrivals a week or two to get accustomed to their new surroundings.
The Southward Migration of the Stars

“It's always a pleasure for any manager to anxiously wait for his stars to arrive," says Rouglas Odor, who was to manage the Oriente team this year until family issues forced him to withdraw.

"The big league players always get the respect of all the players in the league. Even if they arrive late in the season or even in the playoffs, they provide a positive influence,” he continues.
Odor recalls that during his own playing days, big leaguer Tomas Perez, now with the Phillies, was a major influence on his team.

A Tale of Two Seasons

For the first four to six weeks of the season, the league is made up of mostly AA or AAA-level players. In Mackanin's assessment, "the league is a lesser league than it becomes in December when the star players start playing."

These big leaguers can be both an advantage and disadvantage to a manager.

"[Younger players] can see the work habits a big leaguer has and they can do the same thing,” According to Dorante “Play hard, work hard. That pays off later in their career."

The major players put pressure on the developmental players to succeed, or face a trip home.

The arrival of big leaguers can be disruptive to team chemistry. The realities of dollar and name politics come into play.

"They’re going to take a spot because they are big leaguers," Dorante says.

Their popularity with the fans and the amount of money they earn often prevent managers from benching them, even if they might arrive out of shape.

A bigger dilemma arises when a younger players who is performing well occupies a major leaguer’s roster spot.

"What do you do with this kid who is helping you win?” shrugs Mackanin. “Obviously you've got to play the established guy."

Domestic vs. Imports

There are advantages to being a home-grown skipper.

"Being a Venezuelan manager gives you a little bit of an advantage because you've played in the Venezuelan League," says Odor.

Knowing the language and the culture without having to worry about adapting is also a plus.

Horton stresses that he relied heavily on his coaches to make the transition.

Resume-builder

Time in the Venezuelan leagues can help a manager’s resume. A winning record can show a manager’s skills off when left largely in charge of his own club.

In recent years helming a Venezuelan club has not landed a manager on the deck of a major league team as its skipper. It has, however, promoted one native son to the top of the minors.

Malave’s two championships in a row in Venezuela with the Cardenales de Lara helped him build his resume enough to become the first Venezuelan to manage at the AAA level. His next goal is to become the first Venezuelan to manage at the major league level.

"It would be great news for the country of Venezuela, " he says proudly.

One small step for Malave. One giant leap for Venezuelan skippers everywhere.