BBTF.org/m/world_baseball_classic : WBC Day 8 Chatter

Sunday, March 24, 2013

ESPN: Olney: Source: WBC to cover salaries

(m.espn.go.com)

posted on March 24, 2013 at 09:50 PM by bobm to injuries, world baseball classic | 7 comment(s)

Players injured during the World Baseball Classic will have their salaries paid by the WBC organization while they are unable to play for their major league teams, according to an MLB source.

That would mean that players such as Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira and Dodgers shortstop Hanley Ramirez will be paid by the WBC during their respective absences.

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1. Weekly Journalist_ posted on March 08, 2013 at 11:47 AM # hit 0 | hit 0

Honkballers vs. NPB all stars for a trip to the semis!

Taiwan vs. Japan was an absolute classic.

2. Gamingboy posted on March 08, 2013 at 12:39 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Reminder that Italy-Canada has been moved indoors due to rain storms hitting Arizona. Apparently people who have their Cactus League game rained out can get into a WBC game (which, given the fact that USA-Mexico is close to a sellout, basically means "Italy-Canada") for 5 bucks.

3. Gamingboy posted on March 08, 2013 at 03:02 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Okay, Canada-Italy.

4. Bitter Calculus Instructor posted on March 08, 2013 at 03:18 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Canada-Italy under way. For those wondering, Maestri is a former Cubs prospect who spent last season in Japan.

5. Bitter Calculus Instructor posted on March 08, 2013 at 03:21 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Adam Loewen is an outfielder now?!

6. Gamingboy posted on March 08, 2013 at 03:21 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

He did pretty well in Japan, too.

7. Bitter Calculus Instructor posted on March 08, 2013 at 03:29 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Italy strikes first again!

8. Meatwads stronger now, ready for the house posted on March 08, 2013 at 03:31 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

backed there way into that run!

9. Gamingboy posted on March 08, 2013 at 03:36 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

And number 4.... Orr!

10. Bitter Calculus Instructor posted on March 08, 2013 at 03:39 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Honestly, Canada's lineup doesn't look that much better than Italy's. Votto and Morneau obviously are the difference makers. But otherwise it's minor league and marginal major league talent. And Italy has got a mix of major league and minor league talent as well.

11. Bitter Calculus Instructor posted on March 08, 2013 at 03:43 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

"Mike Costanzo grounds out, pitcher Shawn Hill to second baseman Pete Orr to first baseman Justin Morneau."

For not being a double play attempt, this sounds strange.

Edit: ground ball tipped by Hill, fielded by Orr?

12. Gamingboy posted on March 08, 2013 at 03:43 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

I was thinking earlier today what it'd be like if Team USA had a travelling posse like national soccer teams or the Japanese have. Like, we could rewrite the lyrics to patriotic songs to be more baseball related or something and sing them, or something.

13. Gamingboy posted on March 08, 2013 at 03:45 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Oh, screw it, I'll give it a shot:

Yes we'll rally round the plate, boys, we'll rally once again,
Shouting the battle cry of victory,
We will rally from the cities, we'll gather from the plain,
Shouting the battle cry of victory!

The pastime forever! Hurrah, boys, hurrah!
Down with the pitcher, hit the ball far;
While we rally round the plate, boys, rally once again,
Shouting the battle cry of victory!

14. Yardape posted on March 08, 2013 at 03:57 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Honestly, Canada's lineup doesn't look that much better than Italy's. Votto and Morneau obviously are the difference makers. But otherwise it's minor league and marginal major league talent. And Italy has got a mix of major league and minor league talent as well.

I agree. Without Lawrie, Martin and any major-league pitchers, Canada isn't that loaded. It seems like the 2009 edition was stronger. And then lost to Italy.

15. Gamingboy posted on March 08, 2013 at 03:58 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

I agree. Without Lawrie, Martin and any major-league pitchers, Canada isn't that loaded. It seems like the 2009 edition was stronger. And then lost to Italy.

If memory serves, the Canadians greatly underestimated Italy, and didn't start Scott Richmond (who was the best MLB starter they had at the time), hoping to save him for a game against the loser of USA-Venezuela.

16. Good cripple hitter posted on March 08, 2013 at 04:00 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Adam Loewen is an outfielder now?!

He has been since 2009. The Jays signed him and tried to rehab him as a batter. Spent a year in high A (.236/.340/.355) a year in AA (.246/.351/.412), and 2011 in AAA (.306/.377/.508 in Las Vegas) and a brief stint in Toronto as a September callup (.188/.297/.313 in 32 ABs over 14 games). Last year he played with the Mets AAA team (.227/.328/.391, primarily at 1B), and now he's back in the Jays organization.

Toronto would have loved for that 2011 to be anything other than a desert mirage, but right now it looks like he's stalled out and there's certainly no space for him with the big league team.

17. JJ1986 posted on March 08, 2013 at 04:01 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

They also could have had Oscar Taveras.

18. Good cripple hitter posted on March 08, 2013 at 04:02 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

If memory serves, the Canadians greatly underestimated Italy, and didn't start Scott Richmond (who was the best MLB starter they had at the time), hoping to save him for a game against the loser of USA-Venezuela.

They didn't even get a single inning out of Richmond. Whitt got blasted for his managing that year, but he's still got his job.

19. Meatwads stronger now, ready for the house posted on March 08, 2013 at 04:03 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

huge double play there with rizzo up to bat now with 2 outs

20. Gamingboy posted on March 08, 2013 at 04:10 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

I welcome our new Italian overlords.

21. Meatwads stronger now, ready for the house posted on March 08, 2013 at 04:10 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

another run for italy

22. Meatwads stronger now, ready for the house posted on March 08, 2013 at 04:11 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

it would be odd to see them and the Netherlands in the semi's

23. Good cripple hitter posted on March 08, 2013 at 04:11 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

I'm not sure if Italy advancing to the next round would be worth watching Canada lose to them twice... Probably.

24. Meatwads stronger now, ready for the house posted on March 08, 2013 at 04:12 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

wow the double play is even bigger now....home run to make it 5-1

25. Good cripple hitter posted on March 08, 2013 at 04:14 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

I want Ernie Whitt to put on a pair of gloves and have a mound visit. Something needs to be done to stop the Italians.

26. Gamingboy posted on March 08, 2013 at 04:15 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

I want Ernie Whitt to put on a pair of gloves and have a mound visit.

Victor Mesa FTW.

27. Good cripple hitter posted on March 08, 2013 at 04:19 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

I'm not going to lie, I'm tempted to stay up until / wake up at 5 AM just to see if Mesa's still wearing gloves for the game vs Chinese Taipei.

28. Gamingboy posted on March 08, 2013 at 04:22 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

I think I heard somewhere that if you were to remove the ringers, Italy would probably be a little better than Brazil: competitive, but not much depth, and mainly made up of guys who either sucked at soccer or who have some type of connection to a baseball country (the hubs of Italian baseball are around places that have history with American troops, for example).

But with the ringers... and, well, look at what's going on.

29. Good cripple hitter posted on March 08, 2013 at 04:23 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

I like the ringers. Makes things interesting. Had "Team Israel" advanced to this round it could've been a fun team to watch.

30. Gamingboy posted on March 08, 2013 at 04:28 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

I like the ringers. Makes things interesting. Had "Team Israel" advanced to this round it could've been a fun team to watch.

I feel like in the future, though, as some of these countries get better and better, they either remove or limit them. It'd be a good sign if in the 2033 WBC the Italian national team was mostly made up of people who were actually Italian or were at the very least very close to it (like having a parent from Italy, instead of somebody three or four generations ago who was Italian).

31. Gamingboy posted on March 08, 2013 at 04:31 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

I wonder: Would guys like Adam Loewen and Rick Ankiel be able to be super-emergency pitchers if an MLB team was in, like, the 18th inning? And would they be even slightly as good as they might have been back when they were just pitchers?

32. Good cripple hitter posted on March 08, 2013 at 04:34 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

In Ankiel's case, I'm sure he wouldn't be a super-emergency pitcher. They'd use anybody else first.

IIRC, Loewen's got chronic injuries, I'm not sure he'd be better than a random OFer.

In both cases, teams would likely prefer to use a utility infielder who just threw the ball over the middle over them.

33. Der_K posted on March 08, 2013 at 04:34 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

I'd like to see Europe do well in the abstract but am rooting against Italy - these ringers are just silly ('my great grandfather was born in Palermo in 1892').

34. Weekly Journalist_ posted on March 08, 2013 at 04:40 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Teams like Italy and Spain are a farce. Enough already. Team Italy? Team Gabagool more like.(said as an Italian American)

35. Gamingboy posted on March 08, 2013 at 04:46 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Now, Weekly Journalist, at least give Alex Liddi and Alessandro Maestri some respect. They are real Italians.

But, yeah, I highly dislike Spain's way of it. They didn't even pretend to try and find Spanish players (I think they only have one). And, unlike the Italians, I highly doubt the Spanish ringers have even the slightest appreciation of the culture they are representing. At least the Italians and the Israelis were probably being harangued by grandparents and such, and may well have even visited the countries they were representing.

What's really sad is that apparently Spain actually once had a pretty robust Baseball culture, but they got so frustrated getting their asses whipped by the Netherlands and Italy that they basically have been trying to use as many ringers as possible since then, at the expense of actually giving the actual Spaniards experience.

36. Jarrod HypnerotomachiaPoliphili(Teddy F. Ballgame) posted on March 08, 2013 at 05:02 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

I have a Real Madrid cap from a baseball squad sponsored by the soccer giant in the 1930s. They do have a baseball tradition of sorts. And yes, Italy uses ringers to some extent, but they also have one of the best national leagues in Europe.

37. Gamingboy posted on March 08, 2013 at 05:07 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Canada needs a big inning.... now.

38. Der_K posted on March 08, 2013 at 05:08 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Oh, I root for Liddi and friends in the States - and am cool w/, say, Granato - but this is just comical.
As for Spain, some of the Cubans now have real a connection to the country, right? Also, the Braves have an academy in Tenerife, iirc ... the infrastructure is making baby steps.

39. Gamingboy posted on March 08, 2013 at 05:10 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

As for Spain, some of the Cubans now have real a connection to the country, right?

Yeah, some of the Cubans- usually the ones who aren't good enough to go to the majors- move to Spain or play in the semi-pro league there or in other countries.

40. Gamingboy posted on March 08, 2013 at 05:19 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

That was not the big inning.

41. Yardape posted on March 08, 2013 at 05:28 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Whitt's (non)use of Richmond in '09 was questionable, but really Canada should score more than 2 runs against Italy. In either year.

42. Good cripple hitter posted on March 08, 2013 at 05:33 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Yes, bunt for a hit down 4 in the 7th. That's a great idea.

43. Yardape posted on March 08, 2013 at 05:33 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Yes, bunt for a hit down 4 in the 7th. That's a great idea.

Still better than the sac bat earlier in the game.

44. Good cripple hitter posted on March 08, 2013 at 05:41 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

That didn't look like it hit Morneau at all.

45. Gamingboy posted on March 08, 2013 at 05:42 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Do not go gently into that good night, eh?

46. Yardape posted on March 08, 2013 at 05:43 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

At least it's not 6-2 anymore. I was getting sick of that score.

47. Weekly Journalist_ posted on March 08, 2013 at 05:45 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

I didn't know Canada lost Lawrie. That's a huge blow.

48. Gamingboy posted on March 08, 2013 at 05:49 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Big thing here though is that Italy's bullpen doesn't have Grilli. This is a whole new game.

49. Weekly Journalist_ posted on March 08, 2013 at 05:50 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Now a guy named Sweeney is pitching for Italy...

50. JJ1986 posted on March 08, 2013 at 05:51 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Brian Sweeney relieving Dan Serafini sounds like an Atlantic League game. From 2010.

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Sunday, March 24, 2013

ESPN: Olney: Source: WBC to cover salaries

Reader Comments and Retorts

World Baseball Classic Think Factory