Sunday, March 24, 2013
ESPN: Olney: Source: WBC to cover salaries
(m.espn.go.com)
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. Jim (jimmuscomp) posted on January 17, 2013 at 12:19 PM # hit 0 | hit 0What about defense though? I don’t know much about the defense of Braun, Jones or Stanton, and i expect the infield defense is far from their prime.
In other news I just found out that Jones and I share a birthday.
Holland has absolutely had streaks of greatness. He threw 4 complete game shutouts in 2011. His issue seems to be that when he's off, he's just abysmal.
The starting rotation really isn't all that important. Are any of those guys going to pitch more than three innings in a game?
Presumably the starter is Justin Verlander, who will be forced to pitch despite intense pressure from the Tigers when Bud Selig kidnaps Kate Upton and tells Verlander that if he doesn't go 6 against Venezuela she will be known as "Katherine Selig."
Bloomquist! Arencibia! Pestano! Collins!
Now, Pestano and Collins are pretty darn good set-up men, but it's still odd to think of them in this kind of position.
At least Francoeur's not on the team again.
*shakes head*
This always seems like an excellent opportunity to me to use American players plying their trade in Japan and succeeding. They'd jump at the chance at having what would amount to a try out.
We don't know how good the offense is because we don't know how many PAs are going to be given to Bloomquist. Since he's an all time HOF level "gamer" I expect him to start every game, play every inning, plus pinch hit, so he should be able to produce 5-7 outs at the plate per game on average.
That's roughly why he is there (although to be fair, he did hit .302 last season). That's also why Ben Zobrist is on the team, although he admittedly would be a good pick no matter what. Mark DeRosa had a similar role in 2009's classic.
Ben Zobrist
Oscar Salazar
Todd Frazier
Martin Prado
Fernando Tatis
Mark DeRosa
Omar Infante
Jerry Hairston
Ty Wigginton
Joe Inglett
Trevor Plouffe
Pedro Circiao
Ryan Roberts
Felipe Lopez
Jamey Carroll
Drew Sutton
Mike Aviles
Edgar Gonzalez
Willie Harris
Matt Downs
Eduardo Nunez
Elian Herrera
Jolbert Cabera
Sean Rodriguez
But Willie can bunt.
How many of those guys are:
a) better than Bloomquist now, and
b) available to play on the US team?
I agree Bloomquist looks like a bad joke, but citing what Willie Harris did 4 and 5 years ago (he played 24 games last year and had a -1 OPS+), or Mark Derosa ( 2 of the last 3 years was below 50 OPS+ and hasn't played SS since 2006) is a worse one.
Zobrist, Frazier, Plouffe, Roberts, S-Rod. Aviles is eligible, but might rather play for another team.
That leaves Todd Frazier, Matt Downs, Drew Sutton, Jerry Hairston Jr, Mike Aviles, Trevor Plouffe, Ryan Roberts, Sean Rodriguez, and Edgar Gonzalez. Probably a couple better options in there, but I don't see a big difference.
I agree, especially since he will be the last guy off the bench. I'm more concerned that the pitching staff doesn't include any of Verlander, Kershaw, Cain, Price, Shields, Hamels, Weaver, Halladay, Lee, or Sale.
Moylan is now with the Dodgers. Great story actually, since he was re-discovered by MLB scouts in the first WBC. I saw that Medlen is actually going to wear 58 in honor of Moylan since Chris Perez has 54.
Sounds like the same issue with Tulowitzki. He wanted to play but the WBC folks responsible for insurance wanted to see him play first.
Hey, remember back when people expressed a lot of doubt as to whether the WBC was going to be worth it? I very much remember people (around here, too!) predicting it would be a big bust. It's been fantastic every time. Still remember Bert Blyleven's Dutch honkballers making their run like it was yesterday.
You do have to say that when the fact that Team USA isn't as kick-ass as it could be is the thing people are complaining about the most, something is going right. I remember reading some person predicting that the first would also be the last. Now, however, it makes so much money (I remember reading somewhere that at one point there was a Venezuelan jersey being bought once every six seconds during a game a few years back) that it'll be sticking around for awhile.
Probably the wrong thread to delve into it, but the WBC is yet another reason why Bud Selig really can make a strong argument as the best Commissioner in MLB history, even despite the Strike and the steroids scandals and the fact that he has the personality of an enbalmed cucumber.
Carroll easily outplayed Bloomquist last year.
First off, he's not gonna need to play the outfield and even if he does, anyone agile enough to play shortstop can fake it in left and right without a whole lot of trouble.
My guys were Jerry Hairston, Plouffe, Sean Rodriguez, Ryan Roberts, Jamey Carroll, Jayson Nix, Jeff Keppinger, Aviles (who I guess isn't eligible), Logan Forsythe and Elliott Johnson. And that's excluding a bunch of middle infielders who I think could easily do it, but have been mostly used at one position because that's where they are most valuable. Hell, I think I could name at least three guys if not four five who played for the 2012 Diamondbacks who would be upgrades for the role over Willie: Aaron Hill (plenty of background at SS), Ryan Roberts, Stephen Drew, maybe John McDonald and maybe even Cody Ransom.
I mean that's why Willie's WAR hangs out around 0 so often, because he's just that replaceable.
He's got a lot of desire.
I still haven't actually seen him pitch despite him being a long-time personal favourite. I look forward to seeing him work. Not to mention Dickey and Arencibia (as what I assume is 3rd string catcher).
I'll be actively rooting against this team every game, and this news still excites me! The WBC can't come soon enough!
Arencibia is the 3rd-string/"If we didn't bring him, the Blue Jays would have found an excuse to block Dickey from partaking" catcher.
Probably confusing him with Peter Moylan.
I'm kinda surprised Hairston has never gotten this spot on the WBC team.* He's been at this a long time, always finds work and seems the kind of guy who would be kinda thrilled to do it. He's played at least 5 positions per year every year from 2004 except 2006 when he played only 4. There are only 11 guys with at least 50 games at 2B, SS, 3B, LF, CF and RF** -- he and Bloomquist are two of them. He's better than Bloomquist.
* OK, I pay pretty much no attention to the WBC, for all I know he's been on the team every season before this one
**Not sure how far back the LF/CF/RF breakdown goes for these purposes
I wouldn't count on that. Are the Twins really going to waste some of Mauer's precious but limited time at C on the WBC? I foresee a lot of Mauer at DH (who else from that roster? Victorino?)
<i>I don’t know much about the defense of Braun, Jones or Stanton<?i>
Braun seems to have become pretty good and is at least average, Stanton rates as one of the best RF in the game and Jones just won a GG. On the other hand, b-r rates Jones as pretty bad. Zobrist is also considered a good defender and Victorino has 3 GG (and still rates as average in CF so better in a corner). OF defense looks pretty good.
If you don't follow the Braves, they could be very easily confused. A couple years back, they were both long-shot righty relievers, who love tattoos, have surnames that go M--l-n, and are BFFs. However, if you actually see them in person, one is a strange, burly submariner, while the other is a tiny lesbian.
I get those guys mixed up all the time, too.
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