Chicas Se Fue Loca

This is too funny (and not just the mug shot). In case you were wondering what Rich Garces was up to, the Boston Herald tracked him down:

El Guapo, who played in Boston from 1996-2002, was serving as the Magallanes Navigators' closer in the Venezuela Winter League but failed to show for the team's final game on Jan. 17. The 33-year-old, who was to be honored as the team's Comeback Player of the Year, disappeared for 10 days, prompting his family to file a missing persons report and instigating speculation he was the latest sports-related figure abducted in South America.

Garces, however, reappeared safe and sound last week and disclosed he was at a beach party on Venezuela's central coast, according to a report on ESPNdeportes. The rotund right-hander acknowledged that he neglected to inform his family of his fiesta plans and the missing persons report was promptly withdrawn. Already in trouble at home, one can only hope that Garces doesn't turn up in the background of future "Chicas Se Fue Loca" -- "Girls Gone Wild" -- tapes.

Awesome. Nothing like a 33-year old disappearing for a week and a half -- without telling anyone in his family -- to party at the beach. A couple of things. First, I'm guessing that Garces is pretty recognizable in his country, and the fact that he's parading around shirtless at the beach should make him even more so (if for no other reason than beach-goers tend to gawk at fat guys who insist on wearing Speedo's and nothing else; add the fact that Garces is semi-famous, and it's nearly impossible to lose the guy). As soon as Sidney Ponson tried to beat up a cop in his home country of Aruba over the holidays, everyone knew about it (and while Ponson is definitely chubby, he wasn't even wearing a Speedo). Second, for a guy trying to make it back to the big leagues, shouldn't you think about finishing the winter league season before going on spring break? I mean seriously, that's like Manny Ramirez deciding not to play in a series because he was "sick," only later to find out that he was having drinks at a hotel bar while the game was going on.