2013 World Baseball Classic

[Rally Monkey]

For geeks like me who love the details of this kind of stuff, here's a cool PDF of the current provisional rosters, including player positions, current club, and the like.

http://static.eluniversal.com/2013/0...ssicosters.pdf

(These rosters seem to be more complete then the one I posted yesterday.)

[Rally Monkey]

I’ve been pouring through these rosters. Lots of interesting stuff there. Obvious stuff, like the absence of some of the players we expected to see—Albert Pujols, Johnny Cueto, Andy Pettitte. (According to press reports, Albert is definitely out. But Cueto, like his teammate Joey Votto, is waiting to get a team physical in spring training before he gives the green light.)

But there are less obvious things to look at, too--like who did and who didn’t make the rosters on the qualifying teams.

Here’s a quick overview.

BRAZIL’s provisional roster has 27 players. 13 pitchers, 1 catcher. The most glaring omission is Yan Gomes, who has a legitimate shot at winning a roster spot with his new team, the Cleveland Indians. According to reports, he still hasn’t made up his mind whether the play in the WBC. With only one catcher on the current roster, that final spot is clearly being left open for him.

The only other player who competed in the qualifiers and didn’t get named to the current roster is Daniel Missaki, a RHP. You might remember him as the 16-year-old who retired the final two batters in in Brazil’s game against Colombia, with two men on in the ninth. Missaki’s roster spot has been filled by Luiz Gohara, a LHP in the Seattle Mariners system.

SPAIN’s roster, currently with 26 players, has more of a makeover. Remigo Leal, a RHP from Cuba who’s pitched in Italy, has been dropped. So has catcher Blake Ochoa, a Venezuelan who reached as high as AAA in the Mariners organization and played last season in the Spanish Elite League. Other players dropped from the roster include Franklin Tavares (a Venezuelan outfielder who’s played in the Spanish league), IF Juan Salazar (another Venezuelan who plays in Spain), Nestor Perez Jr. (a Cuban infielder and longtime mainstay of the Spanish national team), Leo Hernandez (a Venezuelan catcher), and Sammy De Los Santos (a Dominican RHP who played briefly in the Diamondbacks organization). In addition, LHP Manny Olivera, a longtime member of the Spanish national team who is one of its few players born in, you know, Spain, isn’t on the roster.

In their place are mostly current major leaguers: Paco Rodriguez, a 21-year-old LHP on the Dodgers 40-man roster; Rhiner Cruz, a Dominican RHP who’s on the Houston Astros roster; Jesus Merchan, a Venezuelan organizational 3B, currently with the Padres AAA team in Tucson; Fernando Martinez, a Dominican outfielder who plays for the Astros; and Solomon Manriquez, a Venezuelan catcher and former Mets organizational player.

CANADA, not surprisingly, has gone even further in revamping its roster. Currently, it has 27 players, including 13 pitchers. That final spot, I think, is pretty clearly being held open for Joey Votto. Ryan Dempster, I think it’s fair to say, is out.

The list of Canadian players who’ve been dropped is pretty long. So I’ll focus here on the 11 WBCQ players who earned a spot on this team. We’ll start with Andrew Albers, LHP in the Twins organization. The other pitchers are Shawn Hill, RHP with Detroit AAA, Mark Hardy (LHP, San Diego AA), and Trystan Magnuson (RHP, Toronto AAA).

The infielders who made the cut are 1B James Van Ostrand (the hero of the qualifiers who plays for Washington AAA), Chris Robinson (C, Orioles AAA), and Jonathan Malo (who plays in the Can-Am independent league and will likely be the team’s starting SS). The outfielders are Tyson Gillies (Phillies 40-man roster), Adam Loewen (Toronto AA), Tim Smith (Orioles AA), and Rene Tosini (Milwaukee AA).

Notable absences on this roster include Nick Weglerz (who started in leftfield for Team Canada in 2009 and in the WBCQ), Mike Johnson (a starter for Canada in ’09 who was also on the WBCQ roster), and, of course, 2009 starters Mark Teahan and Jason Bay.

I haven't gotten around to studying the Chinese Taipei roster. But it's obvious that it's been upgraded tremendously, with the addition of seven or so players from MLB affiliated teams and NPB. More and more, I like their chances to win their opening pool.

[Unit312J]

BONUS POINTS (Doesn't really get me bonus points, but I'm doing it anyway)

2016 (for 2017) qualifying groups will feature the four last place teams in 2013, the second and third place teams from last fall (since the winner went to the WBC) and four new teams - Sweden, Hong Kong, Pakistan, and Argentina. France, Czech Republic, Nicaragua, and Thailand will not participate as they finished last in qualifying. Each group will feature a last place finisher, two middle finishers, and a new qualifier, though not necessarily from the same group as before.

Group A (letters/numbers of groups may be different, I have no way of guessing that) at Beijing's Olympic baseball stadium (I forget the name)

China
Philippines
Israel
Hong Kong

Group B (somewhere in Australia, possibly wherever they played baseball at the Olympics in 2000)

Australia
New Zealand
South Africa
Pakistan

Group C (in Rod Carew Stadium, Panama)

Spain
Panama
Colombia
Argentina

Group D (in Germany or Italy)

Italy
Germany
Great Britain
Sweden[/QUOTE]


You have the addition of four new countries and the subtraction of France and Czech Republic. There is absolutely no way this will happen. There may, MAY, be an addition of one or two teams, but definitely not four, and there is absolutely ZERO chance of France and Czech Republic being dropped.... and that's from pretty good sources..

[Unit312J]

The only other player who competed in the qualifiers and didn’t get named to the current roster is Daniel Missaki, a RHP. You might remember him as the 16-year-old who retired the final two batters in in Brazil’s game against Colombia, with two men on in the ninth. Missaki’s roster spot has been filled by Luiz Gohara, a LHP in the Seattle Mariners system.

Another 16 year old by the way.....Saw them both in the 2011 16U World Championships!

[Blue387]

Question: I was listening to the Baseball America podcast on the American WBC roster. Who assembled the American roster? And is the roster limited only to players with teams as opposed to free agents?

[SDL]

The only other player who competed in the qualifiers and didn’t get named to the current roster is Daniel Missaki, a RHP. You might remember him as the 16-year-old who retired the final two batters in in Brazil’s game against Colombia, with two men on in the ninth. Missaki’s roster spot has been filled by Luiz Gohara, a LHP in the Seattle Mariners system.

Another 16 year old by the way.....Saw them both in the 2011 16U World Championships!

Wonder if Brazil approached Dante Bichette Jr. His mother is Brazilian.

[Cincy Fan]

Question: I was listening to the Baseball America podcast on the American WBC roster. Who assembled the American roster? And is the roster limited only to players with teams as opposed to free agents?

Joe Torre and no.

...and Jonathan Malo (who plays in the Can-Am independent league and will likely be the team’s starting SS).

So short stop is a struggle in the Great White North?

[NewEnglandAmazins]

For those interested in Attendance: Hot ticket sales for Taiwan games at 2013 World Baseball Classic

[Rally Monkey]

Question: I was listening to the Baseball America podcast on the American WBC roster. Who assembled the American roster? And is the roster limited only to players with teams as opposed to free agents?

Good question about who assembles the rosters. It's not clear. My guess is that it's some combination of USA Baseball, the Player's Association, and MLB. And Joe Torre (who, of course, is a senior executive in MLB.)

The roster is limited only to players who meet the WBC's uber-generous eligibility rules. That's it.

[Rally Monkey]

For those interested in Attendance: Hot ticket sales for Taiwan games at 2013 World Baseball Classic

No surprise there. As Unit points out here time and time again, the Taiwanese fans will show up to support their team. So we should expect fervent sell-outs for games featuring the home team. Not so much the other teams. (The promoter says in that article that they're expecting 3,000 fans to travel from Korea. If that's it, I wouldn't be surprised to see Team Korea's games top out at, oh, 5,000 fans.)

[cutchemist42]

Anyone think the teams' fans will travel well for 2nd round games in Japan?

[jeter2]

Espn deportes will broadcast all the gameshttp://http://www.ibaf.org/en/news/2...9-ee8f202ccd15

[NewEnglandAmazins]

Anyone think the teams' fans will travel well for 2nd round games in Japan?

It's hard to say, but maybe South Korea will.

[USA101]

Good question about who assembles the rosters. It's not clear. My guess is that it's some combination of USA Baseball, the Player's Association, and MLB. And Joe Torre (who, of course, is a senior executive in MLB.)

The roster is limited only to players who meet the WBC's uber-generous eligibility rules. That's it.

Its selected by a committee of scouts and team officials. I'm sure MLB has some say, but from what i read in "Miracle on Grass" it was mainly people working with or for USA Baseball. That is if they use the same procedures as they did in selecting the olympic teams.

[Nutt]

Am I the only one who thinks that eventually if it becomes as popular as the FIFA World Cup or the FIBA World Championships (that's probably as close as it will come, the WC is a dream), that every country, with the exception of the host country (or countries) would have to qualify?

I'd prefer for the 2017 event the EIGHT Teams who didn't make it, the eight teams who won a qualifier game in 2012, the four two-and-done teams from the 2012 qualifiers and the four new teams mentioned above all having to qualify.

Hold the first round of qualifiers in 2015:
China, Brazil, Australia, Netherlands, Spain, Puerto Rico, Italy, Mexico all fail to qualify for Second Round
The 12 teams from the 2012 Qualifiers
The 4 new teams

Put them in either six groups of four or four groups of six.

Scenario 1: Four Groups of Six
Round Robin Play
All four winners qualify for 2017 as the top two in each group have a championship game
The last place teams in all four groups are eliminated from qualifying
Split Tournament - Second Chance in 2016
The teams who finished 2nd thru 5th in each are set in the 2012 qualifier format and divided 4x4 (modified double elimination) with the group winner going onto 2017.

Scenario 2: Six groups of Four
Modified Double Elimination
All six winners advance to 2017
The six two-and-done teams are eliminated
Second Chance Qualifier
Round Robin or Double Elimination With two groups of six, winning teams advance.

[wbcno1fan]

Am I the only one who thinks that eventually if it becomes as popular as the FIFA World Cup or the FIBA World Championships (that's probably as close as it will come, the WC is a dream), that every country, with the exception of the host country (or countries) would have to qualify?

I'd prefer for the 2017 event the EIGHT Teams who didn't make it, the eight teams who won a qualifier game in 2012, the four two-and-done teams from the 2012 qualifiers and the four new teams mentioned above all having to qualify.

Hold the first round of qualifiers in 2015:
China, Brazil, Australia, Netherlands, Spain, Puerto Rico, Italy, Mexico all fail to qualify for Second Round
The 12 teams from the 2012 Qualifiers
The 4 new teams

Put them in either six groups of four or four groups of six.

Scenario 1: Four Groups of Six
Round Robin Play
All four winners qualify for 2017 as the top two in each group have a championship game
The last place teams in all four groups are eliminated from qualifying
Split Tournament - Second Chance in 2016
The teams who finished 2nd thru 5th in each are set in the 2012 qualifier format and divided 4x4 (modified double elimination) with the group winner going onto 2017.

Scenario 2: Six groups of Four
Modified Double Elimination
All six winners advance to 2017
The six two-and-done teams are eliminated
Second Chance Qualifier
Round Robin or Double Elimination With two groups of six, winning teams advance.

I agree that achieving the success of the World Cup is just a dream now,but remember dreams are achieved with hard work and determination not just wishful thoughts meaning MLB has a long way to go to make this dream come true. Now comparing with FIBA' s world cup i m not quiet sure is a good comparison in the sense that FIBA does not have the financial power that MLB has,and at this young age of the WBC this event has more recognition than FIBA's,and besides the marquee event for international basketball is the olympic games,unlike football that has the WC as its marquee international tournament.

[NewEnglandAmazins]

View the Past, Present & Future Baseball-Fever forums of the World Baseball Classic.

[Rally Monkey]

Wondering if the signing of Jair Jurrjens today by the O's to a major league contract with incentives will make it less likely to pitch for the Netherlands. Jurickson Profar, too, is a question mark: He's told the press that he hasn't made up his mind yet.

Without these guys, the Orange's odds look bleaker.

[cutchemist42]

The Royal Canadian Mint in my city of Winnipeg are minting special coins for the World Baseball Classic.

http://www.mint.ca/store/buy/sports-...oins-cat210014

[cutchemist42]

I also saw that Jurrgens and immediately assumed he's out.

When it comes to participation, would most here agree pitchers are the most sensitive?

[jalbright]

I also saw that Jurrgens and immediately assumed he's out.

When it comes to participation, would most here agree pitchers are the most sensitive?

From the team perspective, I wouldn't worry too much about healthy position players participating. Pitchers are for more fragile, and more of a concern for that reason.

[NewEnglandAmazins]

Medlen withdraws from World Baseball Classic. Any idea on who will replace him?

[Rally Monkey]

Medlen withdraws from World Baseball Classic. Any idea on who will replace him?

Bad news for Team USA. Puts added pressure on Verlander to say Yes?

[WBC Wind Up]

Check out my blog for everything about the WBC... I'd love some feedback and possible ideas on new articles!

Its http://wbcwindup.blogspot.ca

[NewEnglandAmazins]

Which nation would gain the most from winning the 2013 WBC? How much would baseball gain in general, if Japan Three-peats or the United States wins without its biggest stars? If a different nation wins it, does that mean that MLB Scouts will increase their presence it that country, if it isn't already there?