Sending out the search party for Ronald Belisario

Won’t you come home, Ronald Belisario, won’t you come home?

To your baseball home, that is. To the Dodgers, currently working daily in the Arizona sun to prepare for the coming season.

All of them, that is, but you. It’s Day 12 without Visa Man. Twelve days without a true explanation.

Don’t think the Dodgers aren’t miffed, either. The Dodgers have already graduated from frustration to irritation.

"I think it’s a problem now," Manager Joe Torre said Monday. "The pitchers need all this time. Of course, he did play winter ball. But I can’t really tell you [his condition]  until I see him."

That would require he get his 237-pound derriere out of his native Venezuela and to Phoenix. Which would require a visa.

Now the Feb. 20 reporting date for pitchers and catchers was hardly a moving target. It didn’t exactly sneak up on anyone. Visa requirements were known.

Yet as the Dodgers prepare to play their first spring game Friday, the big right-hander remains MIA. Can’t get a visa. A lot like last spring.

Of course, that worked out all right for both him and the Dodgers. After spending eight years drifting around the minor leagues, he made the Dodgers out of camp despite having pitched in only four spring games because of visa problems.

And then he became an unexpected rookie sensation. Belisario ended up pitching in 69 games and leaving with a 2.04 earned-run average. He proved to be an invaluable setup man.

Let’s face it, the man can throw gas. The Dodgers need him. And understandably want him in camp.

Staying away again is not going to build any extra  cred with teammates, many of whom would prefer spring training were more a three-week affair.

Belisario’s agent, Paul Kinzer, hardly shed any light on the situation in talking with The Times’ Dylan Hernandez.

Kinser said he didn’t know whether Belisario was late applying for the visa or missed an appointment, delaying the process.

He did acknowledge the visa process was taking longer for Belisario because of drunk-driving charges the reliever faces, but said he had no concern the visa would not be granted.

"As far as I know, it's a matter of when," Kinzer told  Hernandez.

When, like before the season opener? Or when, like any day now?

No one really seems to know. A regular baseball mystery.

And if it’s hard to fathom that Belisario is completely guiltless in this affair, it’s harder to fathom the Dodgers being OK with the situation. Two years in a row looks beyond suspicious.

Belisario owes it to the organization and his teammates to get to camp.

-- Steve Dilbeck in Phoenix

Photo: Ronald Belisario delivers during a game against the Philadelphia Phillies on June 6. Credit: Gary A. Vasquez / US Presswire

Comments

[Greg]

Obviously Belisario is the culpable one here but the Dodgers are not totally blameless, in an age where professional sports teams baby their assets, why weren't the Dodgers more proactive in making sure one of their key assets would be in camp?

[Jon Weisman]

"Belisario owes it to the organization and his teammates to get to camp."

Steve, are you suggesting that Belisario is resisting coming to camp? I can understand that he was possibly sloppy or delinquent in getting his visa stuff done, but what's done is done, and I don't quite understand the idea that he has any control over the situation at this point.

[Steve Dilbeck]

Jon: Jon, Jon? As in our old Jon? Maybe just another Jon wanna-be? Anyway, being the cynical sort, I am suggesting its reasonable that if you suspect he was delinquent in getting his initial paper work done in a timely manner, he might not be timely in any follow-up requests. Particularly since neither the team nor his agent seem to know what is going on. But then, I am the cynical sort.

[LV Blue]

Doesn't he have an agent who takes care of the business side of his career? This would seem like an important thing to take care of, if Belly doesn't get paid I would see no reason for the agent to get his cut of the salary.

[Rokrik]

Maybe Hugo Chavez is sticking it to us - the evil, greedy American capitalists - by having Belisario's visa held up in bureaucratic limbo. He's done much crazier things...

[These Dodgers Suck]

I dont see what the problem is here,
"being late" is a southern califonia tradition.
(or is it a life style choice?)

[Zen]

Let Our People Go, Hugo!

[Eric Stephen]

Belisario was late last season, too, because of visa problems, but that's not why he only pitched in four games in big league camp. He was sent to minor league camp last March 6, and was primarily working on that side of camp (although he did make three of his four appearances in big league camp after the demotion).

[David Young (AKA El Lay Dave)]

Belisario is lucky he's trying to get into the U.S. If he played for Toronto, his visa might be denied by the Canadian gov't because of the DUI arrest.

[oscar]

STEROIDS!!! Just like Manny last year milking every day so that the stuff got out of his system and he still got caught with PED's. Ronny was a nobody for 8 years and now he has the stuff??? I guess in todays times, it is more acceptable since most of the MVP's have done it...

Dude is still in his native land so that he cleans out his system...

[Package]

Steve
Believe me that sure sounds like Jon. When it is completely clear that someone is accountable, he will not jump on that bandwagon. Of course Belisario is accountable. We are all accountable for our own actions. If nothing more, he owes the Dodgers a legitable explantion and the fans and his teammates. This is an easy one. Usually a person gets fired for not showing up for work.

[Package]

I will give credit to Jon for one thing. The posts were seen almost immediately.

[HI Dodger Fan]

Belisario is an employee of the Dodgers. If any employee is told to report somewhere on a certain date, he/she must report to that place on that date, or have a good explanation why not. Just because he is a baseball player doesn't change that. The fact that this has occurred two years in a row is all the more troubling. He's risking his spot on the roster with these shenanigans and if I were the Dodgers, I'd demote him to minor league camp for the first week and maybe suspend him for the first game of the season so he can't participate in Opening Day. At the very least, the Dodgers deserve a detailed explanation. His agent is not doing him any favors either by feigning ignorance.

[bob cuomo]

It seems to me that Belisario's agent should have been a bit more involved in the process...at least to make sure the visa business was started in time because the drunk-driving charges might cause a problem. That being said, yes, Belisario is a key member of the bullpen and the sooner he gets to spring training, the better.

[Tribble24]

Blame it in Hugo Chavez.

[oldbrooklynfan]

If Belisario is still with the team when the season ends he should be locked up, so he can't escape to his homeland.
If he wants to play winter ball, let him play only where he doesn't need a visa to come back.
Two years in a row, that enough.

[Danny Bradley]

I'd like to see Blake Dewitt get a genuine shot at second base this year. After all, the really good talent in this organization has always come from within. Let's keep this Dodger tradition alive by adding another talented youngster to play along side Loney, Kemp, and Ethier.

[Jon Weisman]

Yes, it's me.

There are two separate events.

1) Belisario is delinquent in getting his visa paperwork rolling. Contrary to what Package said, I had no trouble assigning him responsibility in this in my 8:30 a.m. comment.

2) Belisario is stuck in Venezuela. And it's here where it seems to me that assigning him responsibility is objectively out of place. It's certainly speculative. He could have every desire to get to Spring Training now - and there's no reason to think that he doesn't - but if it's in the hands of the government, there's not much for him to do.

Belisario might be sloppy, but it's a big leap from sloppy to actively avoiding Spring Training, as others seem to be saying.

"I think it's tied up in Washington," Dodgers manager Joe Torre said today. "I'm not sure he can do anything about it at this point. I'm not saying that was always the case, but that is where it is now."

[Steve Dilbeck]

The Real Jon Weisman: Apparently the situation as of now is out of Belisario's hands, at least based upon Torre's curious update this afternoon. Let's hope he's put a little more effort into the entire procedure in the future. And it's good to hear from you, Jon.

[Jon Weisman]

Thanks, Steve. Very much enjoying the blog.

[cons]

give me one more week...he´ll be there...