WBC Brewers-Specific Discussion; Other WBC Talk in In-Game Thread Forum

[DocLuna7]

Thanks for clearing up some of the rules for me on the WBC roster policy. It just seems a bit odd, and maybe it really doesn't matter, but when you have an event billed as the "World Baseball Classic" you'd think that more of the actual world would be represented. I mean, granted its probably a bit extreme, but even the Dominican team is full of US citizens (A-Rod, Alou, Manny, Pujols, Ortiz), and if we (the US) really cared about winning this, we would actually insist on playing for the country you are a citizen of. The Italian example seems even more ridiculous, as anyone with an Italian last name would seem to qualify to play for a country that they may have never even been to.

[Invader3K]

Yeah, but then if all those guys basically had to play for the US, the US team would probably win handily, and the same people would complain that the thing is a pointless joke because of lack of competition. Can't have it both ways.

[DocLuna7]

I wouldn't want it both ways.... I like winning. Additionally, the Cuban and Japanese teams that made it into last Classic's championship game were actually teams with Japanese and Cuban players.

[Patrick425]

Thanks for clearing up some of the rules for me on the WBC roster policy. It just seems a bit odd, and maybe it really doesn't matter, but when you have an event billed as the "World Baseball Classic" you'd think that more of the actual world would be represented. I mean, granted its probably a bit extreme, but even the Dominican team is full of US citizens (A-Rod, Alou, Manny, Pujols, Ortiz), and if we (the US) really cared about winning this, we would actually insist on playing for the country you are a citizen of. The Italian example seems even more ridiculous, as anyone with an Italian last name would seem to qualify to play for a country that they may have never even been to.

The difference is that Manny, Pujols, and Ortiz were all born in the Dominican Repulic. I have no problem with a US citizen player who also happens to have been born and/or is a citizen of another country playing for that country. However, for a guy to play for Italy or the Netherlands or wherever just purely based on his grandparents having ties to that country is a bit of a stretch if you ask me.

Yeah, but then if all those guys basically had to play for the US, the US team would probably win handily, and the same people would complain that the thing is a pointless joke because of lack of competition. Can't have it both ways.

 

I'd rather see the US and other countries that actually have baseball talent have multiple teams (maybe an east and west team - kinda like they do in Little League). This would be better than forcing some sort of fake team from Italy or Germany or wherever.

 

 

 

[Invader3K]

The difference is that Manny, Pujols, and Ortiz were all born in the Dominican Repulic. I have no problem with a US citizen player who also happens to have been born and/or is a citizen of another country playing for that country. However, for a guy to play for Italy or the Netherlands or wherever just purely based on his grandparents having ties to that country is a bit of a stretch if you ask me.

Yeah, but then if all those guys basically had to play for the US, the US team would probably win handily, and the same people would complain that the thing is a pointless joke because of lack of competition. Can't have it both ways.

 

I'd rather see the US and other countries that actually have baseball talent have multiple teams (maybe an east and west team - kinda like they do in Little League). This would be better than forcing some sort of fake team from Italy or Germany or wherever.

 

 

 

 

Now that actually seems like a reasonable idea...maybe the four "biggest" baseball countries could each bring two teams, and the other "smaller" nations each bring one...assuming the US East and West team (or however they were decided) have similar talent, and one isn't clearly the "A level" and one the "B level." That could also leave room to expand the brackets and invite more countries down the line without weakening the overall pool too much.

[kalle8]

the "real" italian team has qualified eight in the last european (yes, european) tournament.

i think it will be embarassing for baseball itself sending a home made roster...

 

by the way, in the last 30 years italy and the netherlands have dominated the european scene, MLB is intersted in this two teams for marketing reason and the fact that in 2010 or 2011 mlb will sponsor new league both in holland and in italy - IBL (italian baseball league) stricktly connected with MLB.

 

being WBC a invitation tournament, MLB invited the top baseball markets countries.

[Patrick425]

the "real" italian team has qualified eight in the last european (yes, european) tournament.

i think it will be embarassing for baseball itself sending a home made roster...

 

by the way, in the last 30 years italy and the netherlands have dominated the european scene, MLB is intersted in this two teams for marketing reason and the fact that in 2010 or 2011 mlb will sponsor new league both in holland and in italy - IBL (italian baseball league) stricktly connected with MLB.

 

being WBC a invitation tournament, MLB invited the top baseball markets countries.

Kalle, I understand you are from Italy and I may have lost something in the translation. Are you for or against Americans being placed on the Italian roster?

[kalle8]

sorry for my english...

 

the answer is no.

without "american players with a italian name" italy will not be involved in the wbc.

we got 4/5 italians player in the minors (the best is Alessandro Maestri in the Cubs farm system) and that's it.

 

one of the star of the italian league is givanni carrara (yes, THAT giovanni carrara) the level, thus in devolpment is far far away, not only from MLB, but from japan, cuba, latin america as well.

 

so i'm happy there will be a team playing with the name italy, becouse it grants baseball some space in newspaper television.

 

last time the presence of mike piazza (by far the worst italian player in the tournament....ahahah) was something for italian baseball..

[DocLuna7]

Kalle, do you know which cities the IBL might be opening up in? How many teams? Etc.? I'd be really interested in seeing some of the details concerning that League.

[kalle8]

MLB is targeting Rome, Milan etc, but in italy there are only 4 or 5 ciies (better towns) in which baseball is like a religion:
grosseto (between rome and florence)
nettuno (near rome)
parma (the bigger of the three near Bolgne).
Also no team at all from south italy.

the main problem is there are no ballparks in which MLB can organize friendly match or happening.
you know, we only got soccer stadium, in which you can't play baseball at all not even a "one night only".
i heard about a project of a new park in Rome: Italy his hosting the next baseball world cup, so the italian baseball federation is riding this tiger trying to build this new park.

the park in milano is like the worst high school field you can imagine, like the "field of dreams" one, but without the ghost players....

IBL should start in 2011 with heavy investiment of MLB, but by now we don't know even the cities involved. i'm rather pessimistic about this project because in the big cities baseball will NEVER be followed, meanwhile in the small towns where baseball is one of the most followed, there is no real interest to spend money by the big brother MLB.

[crewcrazy]

Is there any way Melvin can forbid Yo from pitching? We kind of have a lot riding on that right arm of his this year.

I don't think there is anything Melvin can do in Gallardo's case, but I think I remember reading something saying that the Cards could block Pujols from participating since he had offseason surgery. I'm not positive on that, though...I'm still trying to find something to back that up.

 

I'm a little worried about Gallardo, but I'm not worked up about him being overworked. There wasn't a single MLB pitcher that threw more than 14 innings in the last WBC, but Nate Silver guessed the bad performances from the pitchers in the last WBC were more due to them being taken out of their routine. I'm also one of those hoping Mexico gets eliminated early, or at least guys like Oliver Perez, Matt Garza, and Jorge Campillo get more innings than him.

[Mass Haas]

Adam McCalvy at MLB.com:

Doug Melvin said that left-hander R.J. Swindle would decline an invitation to pitch for Canada in the upcoming World Baseball Classic so he could focus on winning a roster spot with Milwaukee.

[Mass Haas]

Rottino psyched about Classic

 

Vinny Rottino is on Italy's provisional roster for the upcoming World Baseball Classic in Toronto.

 

Rottino, the former St. Catherine's standout whose great, great grandfather Antonino Rottino was born in Patti, Sicily, recently got the blessing of Milwaukee Brewers assistant general manager Gord Ash to play in the Classic - even though Rottino could miss about seven spring training games.

 

"Obviously, I want to make the big leagues and I wanted to make an impression on the new coaches," said Rottino, referring to new Brewers manager Ken Macha and his staff. "But Gord Ash said, 'Go, play. It'll be a great experience for you.'

 

"I'm very excited. What an opportunity. This is the Olympics of baseball. Our pool includes the United States, Canada, Venezuela and Italy, so there are a lot of good players on each of those teams. It's going to be a lot of fun."

 

The 28-man rosters for the WBC will be set Feb. 24. The WBC games in Toronto begin March 7.

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

Santana isn't pitching in the classic. Why can't they make up something for Gallardo like that he is coming off major surgery in 2008?

[Mass Haas]

Looks like Adam Stern is a go for Canada, while Alex Periard and Brett Lawrie will not be (not surprising at all).

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

Maybe Gallardo isn't pitching in the classic overall. We'll see.

[ILuvDaBush]

I'm actually surprised that Lawrie isn't on the Canadian team. I was seriously excited at the prospect of seeing his bat (albeit off the bench) versus the best players in the world.

[lordofbrewtown]

Josh Wahpepah demands only natives be allowed on the American team.

 

But seriously, I think it's great that we have so many players on rosters (despite the paper-thin reasoning behind some of the "European" inclusions-Rottino should have a better case playing for the Danish because Denmark is in Wisconsin or the Belgians because Brussels is as well). As for Yo...disregard that it's an honor and just say NO. We need your arm and bat to be at their most potent.

 

Perhaps participating in the WBC will allow his arm to be at its most potent. I realize I'm in the minority here; but, I just don't see the correlation between playing in the WBC and injury. If someone gets hurt, they were likely to get hurt anyway, IMO.

[Patrick425]

This was brought up in the ST travel thread and I'm wondering if maybe it can be answered here. It's in regards to team practice for the WBC.

 

Do players practice with the team in advance of the first game? If so, where to they practice? How far in advance do they begin practice?

[Patrick425]

Nevermind...found an answer. At least for the U.S team. It's in this article:

 

http://web.worldbaseballc...amp;vkey=wbc&team=atl

 

The U.S. team will gather in Clearwater, Fla., on March 1 and play the first of three exhibition games two days later.

 

Also...sorry for the double post in two different threads. Seemed like an appropriate topic for both threads.

[lukevan]

Gallardo not likely to play in the WBC after all, according to Tom H.

 

Good news, we need as many innings as we can get out of him this season.

[craigharmann]

Yo said no

 

This is very good news. Get him a full spring training with the team, and let him focus on pitching for the Brewers. Awesome.

[BrewCrewForever]

Very happy Yo put the Brewers first. I'm sure it was a tough choice because he really wanted to represent his country but he knows its best to be in Brewers camp coming off the knee injuries last year. He will get another shot in 2012 I'm sure.

[RockCoCougars]

Thank god. The way things have been going this winter, he probably would have been hurt.

[RightFieldCoder]

I realize I'm in the minority here; but, I just don't see the correlation between playing in the WBC and injury. If someone gets hurt, they were likely to get hurt anyway, IMO.

I think it's a special case with YoGa since he didn't log many innings last year. Pitching in the Classic would eat up innings he could be saving for the regular season. I know he's going to pitch in ST, but ptiching some innings against the Angels in Az puts a lot less stress than facing Puerto Rico with tens of thousands watching in Mexico City.