Venezuelan Bust, Baseball Boom: Andres Reiner and Scouting on the New Frontier

12. What Happened? Where Did the Prospects Go?

177 Chicago White Sox pitcher Freddy García was a product of the Astros’ Venezuelan academy as announcer Joe Buck noted during Game 4 of the 2005 World Series. That pipeline, he explained, “also included Johán Santana, Melvin Mora, Carlos Guillén, and Bobby Abreu, and all were signed for the Astros by Andrés Reiner.” “You could win a lot of games with those players” added his broadcast partner Tim McCarver. They did not have to point out the obvious —none were still with the Astros. By 1999 the word despilfarrado (squandered) accurately described how the Astros had lost some of the best players produced by their Venezuelan academy. When I began to write about the Astros’ academy in 1990, I envisioned an account describing how the Venezuelan players signed by Andrés fulfilled their big league dreams with the Astros. I never imagined that of the twenty-two players who made it to the major leagues, only twelve would make their debut with Houston or that by the time I was completing the book, only two academy alumni would be playing in the big leagues with the Astros. What happened ? As the academy players began to leave the Astros, I felt I had to explain why. My intention was not to embarrass the Astros nor to rationalize mistakes that had been made. It’s easy to understand the trade that sent García and Guillén to Seattle for Randy Johnson in 1998 or earlier trades that shipped Roberto Petagine, Oscar Henr íquez, Manuel Barrios, and Raúl Chávez to other organizations, but it’s difficult to explain why Abreu, Mora, and Santana went on to beWhat Happened? Where Did the Prospects Go? 12 178 What Happened? Where Did the Prospects Go? come stars with other organizations while the Astros received almost nothing in return for them. On November 11, 2004, Venezuelan fans, the media, and family of Johán Santana counted down the minutes as if they were anticipating the ball dropping at New York’s Times Square on New Year’s Eve. At 3:00 p.m., the Cy Young Award was to be announced by mlb. While all were cautiously optimistic that Santana would win, they were jubilant when they heard that the native son garnered all twenty-eight first-place votes. It was also an exciting moment for the staff of the Astros’ academy that developed Santana, especially for Andrés. “In particular I want to thank Mr. Andrés Reiner for having signed me for the Houston organization,” Santana told Venezuelan reporters in one of his first interviews after receiving the award. “He believed in me when he told me I would get to the major leagues in four years. Regrettably, Houston’s decision not to protect me was not in his hands, and I left there for Florida and Minnesota. But I followed his advice to work hard and I succeeded with the Twins.” I called Andrés in Houston a few hours after the announcement. He said he had been receiving phone calls from reporters wanting to know how he discovered Santana. I asked if anyone had inquired about how he felt that Santana was no longer with the Astros. One Caracas radio station had called: his response was, “We can find them, sign them and develop them. After that we can only hope that they get to the major leagues.” Santana has received almost every baseball award conceivable. He was selected the mvp of the Minnesota team. Meridiano named him Athlete of the Year in Venezuela. During the 2004 season, he won the first ever Premio Luis Aparicio given to the best Venezuelan in the major leagues. The governor of the state of Zulia presented him with the Orden Relámpago del Catatumbo (named after the unique lightning phenomenon in the state). The governor of the state of Carabobo gave him El Orden de la Batalla de Carabobo—in honor of one of Simón Bolivar’s decisive battles for the independence of Venezuela from Spain. What Santana had done for Venezuela was described in the local media as a gran hazaña—a great feat—the 179 What Happened? Where Did the Prospects Go? same expression used to describe the victory of Venezuela over Cuba in 1941. Indeed, Santana’s Cy Young celebration—along with the return of the los héroes del...