Panthers in talks for more Cubans

KITCHENER — The Kitchener Panthers are in negotiations to sign four Cuban players for the 2017 Intercounty Baseball League season, as they reload in an attempt to end their 16-year championship drought.

The team hopes three of those imports will be catcher Frank Morejon and pitchers Noelvis Entenza and Ian Rendon, who played in Kitchener last year under a historic agreement with Cuba’s baseball federation.

Two of those players — Morejon and Entenza — have been named to the Cuban national team that will play in the World Baseball Classic next month.

But their return north is in doubt after their Cuban league team, Havana Industriales, failed to make the playoffs, which some blamed on the fact Morejon, Entenza and Rendon missed the first few weeks of the season because they were playing in Canada.

“There was a lot of opposition. Fans were upset. A lot of people were saying, ‘If the Industriales didn’t have all these players on foreign contracts, we would have made the playoffs,’” said Mike Boehmer, the Panthers board member who is working on the deal.

“I’m pushing hard for the same three guys, but I think it’s 50-50.”

Entenza had a 9-4 record with 82 strikeouts in 15 appearances for the Panthers last season.

Morejon was the team’s everyday catcher while batting .321 with nine doubles and 25 RBI in 32 games.

Both Entenza and Morejon were picked up by another Cuban team after Havana fell short of the post-season — and went on to win the national championship in January. They were among six teammates on the Industriales given permission to play abroad in 2016, more than any other team in the Cuban league.

Boehmer is confident four Cubans will sign to play in Kitchener this summer, during the Cuban league’s off-season. He just doesn’t know which players it will be. “The decision is not really the team’s to make. It’s the Cuban government’s,” he said. “There’s a possibility no player from the Industriales is going to get a foreign contract this year.”

Ideally, the Panthers want two starting pitchers, a catcher and a reliever. It’s possible the Cuban baseball federation will send four players each from a different team, Boehmer said.

As Boehmer negotiates in Cuba, the Panthers are also working to fill a big hole at shortstop with the retirement of longtime infielder Mike Glinka. One of the reasons Glinka, 28, is leaving the team is for more time to focus on his kinesiology PhD.

His research into back pain means the slick-fielding shortstop will be travelling and working a lot, and couldn’t commit to another grinding schedule in the IBL. He has manned the position for almost a decade, hitting .295 last year.

“Growing up as baseball kid in Kitchener, I idolized the Panthers. So to be able to become one of those guys was really cool,” said Glinka, who’s also started a coaching gig with Blue Chip Sports.

“The commitment was always worth it for me, and I’ll be sad to leave the fellas behind. But I’ve got to focus on building my career outside of baseball now.”

Panthers general manager Scott Ballantyne says he’s in talks with Aaron Hornostaj, a former San Francisco Giants prospect, to potentially replace Glinka. Hornostaj is back in Waterloo after a professional baseball career that stretched almost 20 years across the minors, Australia and Europe.

“We’ll certainly miss Glinka. He’s been a stalwart for us for a long time, one of the best defensive shortstops in the league, and one of the better offensive ones, as well,” Ballantyne said.

Another new face on the roster will be pitcher Sean Ratcliffe, a former Toronto Blue Jays prospect who was released in the offseason by the Atlanta Braves. The Ajax native, included in Toronto’s Jason Grilli trade last season, has a 4.97 ERA in four seasons in the minors.

Ballantyne expects the core of the team will be back this season — and that includes slugger Sean Reilly and manager Dave teBoekhorst, who had said their return wasn’t guaranteed at the end of the team’s disappointing loss in the playoffs to Barrie.

First baseman Justin Interisano and second baseman Mike Andrulis are expected back. So are closer Phil Owen and relievers Mike Schnurr and Matt Vickers in the bullpen.

Ballantyne is also hopeful star centrefielder Tanner Nivins will return. Nivins played for the Quebec Capitales of the Can-Am league at the end of last year’s IBL season, and may be considering offers to play professionally elsewhere.

The corner outfield positions are also up in the air, with the retirement of Luke Baker and uncertainty surrounding the return of Terrell Alliman and Jonathan Brouse, who’s finishing his teaching degree.

Another notable departure will be David Whiteside at third base, who left to pursue a career in real estate. The Modesto, Calif., native, who has played three seasons for the Panthers, will be replaced by Mike Gordner.