World Baseball Classic

by VegasAces on Sep 18, 2008 8:56 AM EDT Comment 10 comments

A couple of thoughts here for this post: One, I am wondering what everyone thinks of the WBC. I have my own feelings on it, but I'll keep them to myself for now. I'm more interested in seeing what everyone here thinks, than spreading my own opinion.

Two, I am also looking for thoughts on who from our organization may be considered for Team USA (and other countries as well). Some are a given (ex., Thorman for Canada). Something tells me FYF won't be a big part of Team USA's plans this time around.

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I love it.

“Hey, Johan Santana’s taking on a lineup of Miguel Tejada, Albert Pujols, and David Ortiz,”

It’s not perfect, but the way I see it, it’s the same game, with different flavors.

It’s an event, like the Olympics, that I feel should matter more to players, because it is the opportunity to represent their countries, but sadly does not, due to the risk of potentially harming their actual money-making careers. But the ones that do show up, there is something clearly different driving these players, and it makes for some really good baseball.

Who would have ever guessed South Korea’s run in 2006? Did the Cubans actually surprise anyone with how well they played? How did lineups of Tejada/Ortiz/Pujols and Jones/Rodriguez/Teixeira fail? Lots of great baseball material there.

Baseball is a sport that physical size and stature mean less, which opens the door for more countries to play, even more so than soccer/futbol, and the field of competition might be a little limited for the time being, but the ones that do play, play pretty well.

Random quips:
• Julio Franco serving some sort of management/coaching position on the 2009 Dominican Republic squad, over/under?

• South Korea has to look like a contender going into this one, with its ‘06 performance and it’s Olympic gold medal, so they aren’t going to take anyone by surprise this time

American lineup I wouldn’t mind seeing:
C: McCann
1B: Howard
2B: Kinsler/Pedroia
3B: Longoria
SS: Tulowitzki
LF: Braun
CF: Sizemore
RF: McClouth

SP: Webb, Lincecum, Sabathia
RP: Papelbon, Ziegler, Lidge, Wilson

I’m sure that come the winter and rosters will be debated, tons of superstar/marquee guys are going to decline, and a Steinbrenner is going to talk about how dumb the WBC is and attempt to bar his players from representing their countries.

But, for what it’s worth, I do enjoy/llike the World Baseball Classic.

No wonder nobody likes you, Tuttle... everything's a (Pujols) damn debate.

by royhobbs on Sep 18, 2008 9:32 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

McCann, Mauer
Fielder, Teixeira
Kinsler, Pedroia
Rollins, Hardy
Wright, Longoria
Holliday, Braun
Sizemore, Granderson
Markakis, Hart

SP – Peavy, Lincecum, Sabathia, Webb
RP – Nathan, Papelbon, Jenks, Lidge

I love the WBC, but there I think it’s placed wrong. I’d rather it be at the all-star break then during spring training because last time there was definitely a bit of WBC hangover going around among the pitchers. I was hoping to catch some games during my spring training trip but I guess it’s in Toronto rather than Orlando. Disappointing, but still cool.

by 17843 on Sep 18, 2008 12:35 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Have to disagree...

..with it being at the All-Star Break. At least with it during ST if someone is injured they can at least make it back and it wont effect much. But if you have a guy that’s in the middle of a stellar season and breaks something they’re basically lost for the rest of the year and for teams in contention that could really impact the post season.

Same could be said about ST. But playing it during the AS break – is a very bad idea.

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by RainDelay on Sep 18, 2008 1:19 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Playing the WBC itself is a terrible idea for teams. From injury risks to interrupting spring training I can completely understand why some teams don’t want their marquee stars participating. If you’re going to have it though, I’d think teams would want to mitigate the hangover effect on their pitchers rather than avoid the minor possibility of a season ending injury hurting their playoff hopes. Players are just less likely to be impacted by the two weeks of competition in July than in the two weeks competition that’s substituting for their training March.

And we need an equal system for all teams to be able to deny players. There should be no special dispension for the Yankees’s stars to not have to play while the Phillies’s are coerced to let their stars play.

by 17843 on Sep 18, 2008 5:08 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

It's hard to get my thoughts into words here

But I think it’s something like that players treat the game of baseball too much like their jobs, and not enough of it as the same game they played growing up. All the worries of risk and injury stand as this gigantic obstacle to all pro-athletes. Yes, these are grown men (mostly) playing, and in pro-sports, hamstring pulls and muscle tweaks are as common as skinning your knee, or jamming your finger as children.

In a financial aspect, WBC might not profitable, but I’d have to imagine the product of winning the tournament or showing well in it would still be worth something substantial. So I question those athletes who turn down international play because it’s pro-bono.

I agree that pitchers are the most heavily affected; there was more than enough statistical evidence that showed the so called hangover effect, and Luis Ayala ruining his elbow and requiring TJ surgery as a result was evidence enough for most ML squads.

It might be a terrible idea now, but I wonder what it would have been like the 1992 era – nobody seemed to be complaining about the NBA Dream Team, and how playing in those “exhibition games” might have hurt the chances of Ewing, Robinson, Malone, Stockton, and then Jordan and Barkley whom both were in the NBA finals the following season. Imagine if a Team USA in a time where the injury worry-warts and naysayers were fewer: Eckersley, Winfield, McGwire, Carter, Larkin, Bonds, Mattingly, Ripken Jr, Lee Smith, Griffey, Maddux, TP, etc…

I think the WBC should be on a volunteer basis, to which it might already kind of be. Players to be held accountable for their own actions and consequences as they may or may not happen. If Hideki Matsui wants to join team Japan, or Jorge Posada wants to represent Puerto Rico, there should be nobody, even a Steinbrenner, who should have the right to try and stop them. Representing one’s home country should be a privilege that so few actually get a chance to do on a grand stage, not treated like some kind of economic risk.

Out of all the ML’ers I saw in the WBC last year, only three looked like they were taking the whole thing seriously, and it reflected with them being on the winningest and/or the championship squads. Chan Ho Park and Jae Seo, both whom are seen as ML scrubs, pitched like Cy Youngs for Korea. And Ichiro Suzuki, might’ve crossed the line a few times, but showed a passion and seriousness towards the tournament that was comparable to none, and he delivered hit after heart-wrenching hit when it mattered the most.

Like I said, it’s hard to get it all into words. I love the idea of the WBC, but there’s no real good time for it ever, because pre-season is too cold, players are too ill-prepared, and post-postseason, players are too tired, and it’s beginning to get too cold again. Middle of the season is an interesting thought, but the tournament is far too long, and taking marquee stars away from their respective squads would never go over, especially if not equally dispersed.

No wonder nobody likes you, Tuttle... everything's a (Pujols) damn debate.

by royhobbs on Sep 19, 2008 12:26 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

MLB could make a two week break work midseason if they wanted to. MLB already makes concessions for MLB in China, MLB in Japan, and the WBC next year. Preliminaries could last a week in the spring and the tournament could be played in the first two weeks of July. Why couldn’t you push back seasons end 3 days and push seasons beginning up 11 days. Start March 25 or whatever and end October 5th or whatever.

I was waiting for a WBC since ’99; love the idea.

by 17843 on Sep 19, 2008 1:44 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Texiera has already said that he isnt going to play again because he wants to give the younger guys a chance to play.

I am sure they will put Jeter on the team again because he is the face of USA baseball, like it or not.
Also, Joba Chamberlain and Paps have already said they both want to play, so im sure they will be part of the team.

by BillBrasky on Sep 21, 2008 1:10 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I strongly doubt Joba will. Pencil an ESPN story about it for February.

And yeah, he probably will be, he shouldn’t be though.

by 17843 on Sep 22, 2008 12:32 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I went to the first round in Orlando the first time and I had a blast. It’s always fun seeing guys play for their country.

I’d have to agree, It seems pretty likely that McCann will be on the US team. Jair Jurrjens will probably be on the Netherlands team too and Phil Stockman on the Australian team. I doubt Thorman will still be with the organization by the, he’s a minor league free agent, but yeah, he’ll be on the Canada team.

Steve Kent and Matt Kennelly might also find themselves on the Autralian team depending on how some of the other players from that team perform. Can’t think of any other minor leaguers off the top of my head that might qualify for their country’s team.

by cbwilk on Sep 18, 2008 11:39 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Thanks everyone for your thoughts

Personally, I love the WBC, even though there are plenty of problems with it as far as scheduling, etc. I think the comments pretty much hit on all the issues. I had read somewhere last year, I think it was a Stark column, where he proposed having the prelims during ST, then the championship round during the AS break (which would be extended to a full week).

That still wouldn’t please everyone, but it seemed like a pretty good compromise.

by VegasAces on Sep 23, 2008 11:02 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs