2013 World Baseball Classic

[wbcno1fan]

For the WBC to become a huge worldwide event which will eventually happen and likely will take decades. I don't know much about soccer but wasn't the World Cup started more than one hundred years ago and with three or four European countries? The WBC was started to increase growth worldwide which which is beginning to occur. For example, Korea and the Netherlands. I read that MLB will soon be a nine billion dollar industry probably as soon as 2014 because of the new television contracts. If baseball continues to grow in China, Europe and Brazil and other parts of the world and it will, MLB will add billions more to their coffers. Sure MLB wants the American public to be more engaged but international growth is more important today. I wish the WBC could be televised on ESPN because I cannot imagine huge ratings on the MLB network this year so it will be difficult to gauge American interest. The television ratings were better in 2009 than 2006 so let's see.

The world cup was first played in 1934,and there were only eight countries that got there by invitation,just like the first two Classics were

[SDL]

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/88...visit-homeland

Could this ever work to have Cuban defectors on the team? Or is that still too touchy?

One thing I will say...Contreras would be an asset right now..he knows MLBers and you can bet that if he meets the Cuban team, they WILL be picking his brain.

[NewEnglandAmazins]

Justin Verlander still considering pitching in the WBC

[Cincy Fan]

The world cup was first played in 1934,and there were only eight countries that got there by invitation,just like the first two Classics were

and the English didn't even acknowledge it til the '50s

[Cincy Fan]

Players based on the provisional rosters that if they got gametime would have played in all 3 editions of the World Baseball Classic:

Hitters:

Justin Huber Australia
Brad Harman Australia
Luke Hughes Australia
Pete Orr Canada
Justin Morneau Canada
Yulieski Gourriel Cuba
Frederich Cepeda Cuba
Miguel Tejada Dominican Republic
Jose Reyes Dominican Republic
Karim Garcia Mexico
Jorge Cantu Mexico
Alfredo Amezaga Mexico
Adrian Gonzalez Mexico
Yurendell de Caster Netherlands
Yadier Molina Puerto Rico
Carlos Beltran Puerto Rico
Alex Rios Puerto Rico
Tae Kyun Kim South Korea
Jin Young Lee South Korea
Ramon Hernandez Venezuela
Marco Scutaro Venezuela
Miguel Cabrera Venezuela

Pitchers:

Adam Bright Australia
Jesse Crain Canada
Tao Bu China
Kun Chen China
Norberto Gonzalez Cuba
Alex Maestri Italy
Jason Grilli Italy
Toshiya Sugiuchi Japan
Rodrigo Lopez Mexico
Oliver Perez Mexico
Luis Ayala Mexico
Robbie Cordemans Netherlands
David Bergman Netherlands
Diegomar Markwell Netherlands
Fernando Cabrera Puerto Rico
Javier Vazquez Puerto Rico
J.C. Romero Puerto Rico
Taehyon Chong South Korea
Seung Hwan Oh South Korea
Francisco Rodriguez Venezuela

[Nutt]

I couldn't agree with you more with that statement, MLB has really paid no attention about increasing the pace of the game,there is way too much time wasted in between pitches and outs, i love watching the Yanks vs Red Sox but i hate the length of those games. I wouldn't be too upset if the season was cut to 120 games(will never happen too much money to lose). The Fall Classic should start no later than 7:30 pm whenever possible. I too do not watch entire season but a few selected games. I also prefer the WBC to the regular season. We live in a fast pace society,kids don't have a long attention span; so i believe it should be very important to speed the pace of the game,many young kids complain about the slow pace in baseball.

I actually disagree with the Yankees-Red Sox. I'm so sick and tired of watching them play over the last ten years, especially last year when Boston sucked. People tend to forget the "other" rivalry: Dodgers-Giants. It's saddening to see that Fox, ESPN and MLBN want to put all of their games on nationally when these two teams play four hour games and its more of a love/suck fest.

Leave the schedule at 162.

As for the World Series...I agree...the earliest first pitch for a World Series game in the last 20 years was in 2007 I believe....6:57 pm ET. The last day World Series Game was 4pm ET in 1987 for Game 6. If I was Fox, I'd put the game on at 5pm ET for Game 3 every year, to take advantage of the SEC, Notre Dame and ABC/ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU's Games of the Week at halftime.

[Rally Monkey]

Players based on the provisional rosters that if they got gametime would have played in all 3 editions of the World Baseball Classic:

That's great work. Thanks for posting it.

If not for injuries, Wang Wei (China) and Derek Jeter (USA) would've played in all three. There might be more.

Also, I'm really interested in why there's so much turnover in the China team. Can we infer from this that once the Chinese players are done with the MLB Academy, they're pretty much out-of-baseball?

[graveline]

I think Mexico. I've always wondered why a baseball country like Mexico with a large population and with excellent weather to train for baseball produces so little MLB caliber talent. Small countries like Puerto Rico (Lindor, Baez and Correa) and Curacao (Gregorius, Profar, Simmons) produce MLB shortstop prospects and Mexico maybe never did.

Baseball was mexicos number 1 sport in the 1940s and 50s....however th e domestic league bitterly fought having the games on tv- meanwhile soccer (both the domestic league as well as the euorpean leagues) was allways on.

[titorondon]

"...produce MLB shortstop prospects and Mexico maybe never did"

How quickly is Mario Mendoza forgotten!
Actually, the best Mexican SS of all time is Ruben Amaro, Sr,. but Mexicans only count them if they played a lot of Mexican League seasons. Gone are the days of "La Malita" Torres, Luis Gomez... but Alfredo Amezaga, Ramiro Peña and Luis Alfonso "Cochito" Cruz keep the flame alive, though forced to play other positions also as they have not hit enough to play short regularly... including benching Derek Jeter!
However, it is easier to develop pitchers if you start from not much (instruction, not talent).

[quinnystar27]

The WBC will grow. It may never get world cup big but it will I assume it will have a least 40 teams by the 6th edition of the classic.

Baseball is a growing sport and popular for people to play.

[quinnystar27]

One thing I will say...Contreras would be an asset right now..he knows MLBers and you can bet that if he meets the Cuban team, they WILL be picking his brain.

I dont think that contreras will have secret information. I mean MLB games are available to the public all you need a MLB.TV account. If there was important injury news the american media will probably cover it.

I think Cuba needs to worry more about Japan and Korea they wont be easy to beat.

[wbcno1fan]

I dont think that contreras will have secret information. I mean MLB games are available to the public all you need a MLB.TV account. If there was important injury news the american media will probably cover it.

I think Cuba needs to worry more about Japan and Korea they wont be easy to beat.

I think SDL might have been referring to the American's pitching mechanics not about the games itself,and by the way i don't think the average Cuban citizen has access to MLB games.

[quinnystar27]

I think SDL might have been referring to the American's pitching mechanics not about the games itself,and by the way i don't think the average Cuban citizen has access to MLB games.

I still dont think Jose can offer that much help.

Though it is hard for cuban citizen to have access to games. Many papers still print the information. And the ministry of sports has the information I am sure it.

Still cuba's biggest worry is Korea and Japan. I doubt they will play the US until the semifinals.

I am very interested in this cuban team, they lost quite a few stars and after the last classic they are going to be in predator mode. Cuba has struggled by their standards in a few international competition. One of my favorite teams I am very interested in what will happen soon.

[wbcno1fan]

I still dont think Jose can offer that much help.

Though it is hard for cuban citizen to have access to games. Many papers still print the information. And the ministry of sports has the information I am sure it.

Still cuba's biggest worry is Korea and Japan. I doubt they will play the US until the semifinals.

I am very interested in this cuban team, they lost quite a few stars and after the last classic they are going to be in predator mode. Cuba has struggled by their standards in a few international competition. One of my favorite teams I am very interested in what will happen soon.

Cuba has a true national team,they routinely tour the world,which the same cannot be said about most of the other nations,at any given day they can upset rather beat any country in the world.

[hiroshimacarp]

and in short tournament like the WBC,the team that plays the best as team will win, not the team with the best players .....japan ,korea and cuba who have no major league players ,but major league talent ,can compete with the usa ,venezuela and domicans .....

[Rally Monkey]

Bad news for Team Netherlands (and WBC fans): Jurickson Profar is out.

[dviera78]

Post edited below...

[dviera78]

There is no way Cuban "defectors" will be called upon to strenghten the Cuban National Team. Not yet. Contrera's visit to the island was not covered by the "national media" and sport news writers and radio commentators were banned from talking about Contreras publicly. Also, the Cuban government controls the internet usage so the average Cuban has no access to it. Cuba bans all type og MLB related news, especially those concerning Cubans in MLB. They see MLB riches as their worst enemies for the hearts and minds of their ball players.
The Cuban National Team will always be competitive, but this Classic's team will not be as good as the 09 team, in my opinion better still than the 06 team. This time around Cuba will not only have Aroldis Chapman, Leonys Martin, and Yoenis Cespedes, but missing from team will be seasoned veteran pitchers like Norge L. Vera and Pedro L. Lazo, both of whom have retired since 2009, Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez who recently defected to Costa Rica, Yadier Pedroso - thought by many to be Cuba's best pitcher today - and Dalier Hinojosa, both injured, two-time WBC participant lefty Yuliesky Gonzalez, recently separated from the preselection team under shady circunstances (rumored to be planning to defect) and all star second baseman Hector Olivera, sidelined since last year by a blood disorder illness. They will also be missing long time national team catcher Ariel Pestano, 38, due to a decline level of play this year and strong differences with Cuba's current manager Victor Mesa.
The only position where Cuba will be better off than the 09 team will on first base where newcomer Jose D. Abreu brings legitimate MLB power contrary to 06 where a contingency of players shared it without much success.

In my opinion Cuba's line up should look like this:

1) Rusney Castillo/Guillermo Heredia CF
2) Jose M. Fernandez (L) 2B
3) Frederich Cepeda (S) DH
4) Alfredo Despaigne LF
5) Jose D. Abreu 1B
6) Yuliesky Gourriel 3B
7) Alexei Bell RF
8) Elier Sanchez C
9) Erisbel Arruebaruena SS

* Another possibility is to play both, Castillo and Heredia as they both can play RF and CF, but I like Castillo more in CF.

The pitching staff will be anchored by Ismel Jimenez, Freddy Asiel Alvarez, and Vladimir Garcia. One young kid to keep am eye on will be 22-year-old Raicel Iglesias who usually sits around 96-97 MPH. My prediction is that despite Cuba's weaknesses, they should make it to San Francisco. Korea and Japan will also be lacking key players and this should play in Cuba's favor. Regards!

[cutchemist42]

I wonder why Profar, is he competing for an MLB job with the Rangers? Darvish also isn't playing, are the Rangers hard about the WBC?

[Rally Monkey]

I wonder why Profar, is he competing for an MLB job with the Rangers? Darvish also isn't playing, are the Rangers hard about the WBC?

Reports are that Profar has a real chance to make the 25-man roster, and was told that he'd be more likely to start in Triple A if he misses camp.

[NewEnglandAmazins]

I wonder why Profar, is he competing for an MLB job with the Rangers? Darvish also isn't playing, are the Rangers hard about the WBC?

I doesn't appear that the Rangers are undermining the tournament, they have seven other players committed to play. Most notably, Derek Holland (USA), Elvis Andrus (VEN) and Adrian Beltre (DOM).

Source: http://rangers.scout.com/2/1258817.html

[Rally Monkey]

Bad news for Team Canada: Scott Richmond is out.
http://www.mister-baseball.com/nick-...as-wbc-roster/

Potential good news, though, for the Netherlands: Profar may be back in.
http://rangersblog.dallasnews.com/20...-classic.html/

[Rally Monkey]

Terrible news for the WBC: Felix Hernandez is apparently out.
http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/blog/ey...eball/21670591

Here's hoping he stays on the roster to at least make an appearance in the semis or finals.

[Phantom Dreamer]

Terrible news for the WBC: Felix Hernandez is apparently out.
http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/blog/ey...eball/21670591

Here's hoping he stays on the roster to at least make an appearance in the semis or finals.

That's great news. As a Mariner fan, I couldn't care less about the WBC. The last thing the Mariners need is their lone attraction blowing his shoulder out in a meaningless game against Panama.

[Rally Monkey]

That's great news. As a Mariner fan, I couldn't care less about the WBC. The last thing the Mariners need is their lone attraction blowing his shoulder out in a meaningless game against Panama.

Fair enough. But that sentiment isn't likely to win you many friends on this board.

Oh, and with or without Felix, the Ms aren't winning more than 85 games this year. Not that anyone outside of the Pacific Northwest will notice. Or care.