THE GAME OF BASEBALL

Margarita (Venezuela) - The Escogido Leones (5-1) beat 7-4 the Caracas Leones (1-5) and claimed the Carribean Series title for the 3^rd time in club history and for the 18^th time for the Dominican Republic. Escogido won the last Carribean championship in 2000 in Miami. The Mayaguez Indios (4-2) beat Hermosillo Naranjeros (2-4) 8-2 finishing second in the standings. Mets prospect Fernando Martinez (.348, 2 HR, 2 DB, 4 RBI , 4 R in 6 G) was named the MVP of the series.

The All-Tournament team: SRHP Nelson Figueroa (DOM), SLHP Raul Valdez (DOM), RRHP Pete Parise (PUR), RLHP Efrain Nieves (PUR), C Edwards Guzman (PUR), 1B Kevin Barker (DOM), 2B Pablo Ozuna (DOM), SS Angel Sanchez (PUR), 3B Vinny Castilla (MEX), RF Armando Rios (PUR), CF Jesus Feliciano (PUR), LF Fernando Martinez (DOM), DH Raul Padron (VEN), Manager Mako Oliveras (PUR). For complete results of the Carribean Series click here.

The prestigious magazine Baseball America released the top 10 Prospect lists for each MLB organization entering the 2010 season. A depth look reveals the international growth of the game, even in those countries in which baseball is not the national sport. Players from Italy, Germany and Netherlands figure among the top prospects: Italian 3B Alex Liddi is the 4^th best Mariners prospect; Dutch OF Greg Halman is 8^th in the same organization; while German OF Max Kepler is the 10^th best Twins prospect.

I've been analyzing international transactions during the offseason. The following file gives a look at the most important transactions concerning players who will leave the affiliated baseball to play overseas (principally Japan). The contract of a first-year foreign player in Japan is around $500K ($200-300K in Korea). So, most of the players will get well above the ML minimum and well above what they got last season. Some of the transactions regard international free agents not playing in U.S. International transactions.pdf