2023 World Baseball Classic

andyb 2023-01-17 19:21:37 UTC #1

Starts in 2 months. A bunch of Phillies likely to participate. Team USA should have Realmuto, Turner, and Schwarber even with Harper hurt. I wonder if they'll ask Nola or Wheeler also. Venezuela could have Alvarado and Suarez. Dominguez for the Dominican and Stubbs for Israel (apparently Dalton Guthrie could play for Israel too but wants to focus on making the team). Taijuan Walker for Mexico!

There are always some loose international affiliations. Tommy Edman will play for South Korea. I remember Mike Piazza playing for Italy. 20 countries this year with the US in pool C along with Mexico, Colombia, Canada, and Great Britain. Games start March 8 in Taiwan and Tokyo with the Phoenix and Miami sites starting on March 11. Games on Fox, FS1, FS2, and Tubi (install your apps people).

Philsmania 2023-01-17 20:02:47 UTC #2

If I had my druthers, none of our pitchers would participate.

If I had additional druthers, the WBC would take place in January and early February prior to ST.

andyb 2023-01-17 20:10:06 UTC #3

There is just no way to do it in January or February since pitchers need to be stretched out a bit. Assume there are pitch limits that practically mean nobody goes more than 3 innings. I also get the "no good time to do it" reality. Even in short outings one assumes that there will be more stress in those outings than normally.

The best time would be midseason in terms of conditioning. Nobody wants to stop the season for 10 days though even if part of that would have been the All Star break.

julio 2023-01-17 21:03:30 UTC #4

It really doesn't matter when the WBC is held. By definition, WBC games played by major-league players are innings that do not contribute to their teams' success, that are played outside the terms of the very attractive contracts these players command. Arguably, no player on a 40-man roster should participate.

Prospects — kids not on 40-man rosters —could participate, if the WBC were scheduled sometime during the regular minor league developmental cycle. Players would be fully in playing condition, and the innings would substitute for innings the players would otherwise play in the minor leagues.

But the WBC is an exhibition, a spectacle. Players on 6-figure to 9-figure contracts should not be risking their health participating in such a spectacle, any more than they should be playing football in the off-season. I mean, can you imagine J.T. Realmuto playing in the WBC, and blowing out a knee in a non-Phillies game? Stuff happens, but it's just nuts to go looking for it.

andyb 2023-01-17 21:10:32 UTC #5

But what if there were adequate insurance for the players and teams on player value? Plus the international marketing value for MLB must be large enough to keep doing it. If the thing generates enough money and publicity, why shouldn't it be held? If players want to play and MLB/owners want to grow the game then they should play it.

More sports should do this. It is why the World Cup is the best sporting event out there. The NHL needs to figure out a World Cup if they are not going to do the Olympics. The NBA is probably closer to baseball with the threat of injury but even then they have decided the Olympics are worth doing even if the FIBA world championships are pretty lame.

Baseball prospers from worldwide exposure especially in Asia and Europe and Latin America. This will only help.

julio 2023-01-17 21:21:57 UTC #6

Your response is all about the money. But point by point:

Who is insuring what? If a player on a guaranteed contract is injured... yes, teams could probably take out insurance that would offset the cost of paying an injured player. The player would continue to be paid. But what if the injury affects a player's career beyond his current contract? There isn't going to be any insurance to cover that. And yes, that's a risk every time a player takes the field - and that's exactly why player contracts tend to prohibit such activities outside the official ones.
I'm sure the international marketing benefits justify MLB's direct costs. But risks to players? Since when does MLB care about that? They can just get another body if a player goes down. The number of marquee players whose loss would impact the industry, at a level MLB cares about, is what? Is it greater than zero?

Besides, I'm really not convinced that the WBC has much effect on building baseball's market. I mean, if they're really concerned about building market appeal, there are lots of things they could do that don't entail disrupting seasons, or interrupting pre-season preparations, or risking injury to players. Lower ticket costs. Televising games through channels that don't require premium cable or streaming subscriptions. But of course, those things would impact short-term revenue; schedule disruptions and possible player injuries don't have short-term revenue impacts (generally, that is; a major injury to a key player like Realmuto, followed by a club falling out of contention, might very well impact a single club's revenues).

I guess I'm just not into marketing circuses.

zambonir 2023-01-17 21:22:03 UTC #7

Players want to play "for their country," the only difference is the Olympics and World Cup have the tradition, and the sportswashing to obfuscate the fact that it's a business endeavor just like anything else, and the WBC does not. I imagine the non-American players are also a lot more jazzed about playing in it.

The off-season hockey tournament the NHL has done was also a lot of fun.

xogfog 2023-01-17 21:24:22 UTC #8

The World Cup Sucks! A tournament where games are decided after a hard fought game by a skills contest. It's worse than the NHL, but at least the NHL abandons their stupid regular season overtime/shootout rules for the playoffs.

andyb 2023-01-17 21:27:26 UTC #9

I agree that I don't really trust MLB to fully compensate the players, but your answer seems to be that MLB should try to make less money to keep people happy. That seems to be a selfish fan-oriented response. Why shouldn't players and teams participate in a thing that will generate more money and potentially some good will to grow the game internationally?

Change can be good, even if it generates more money.

zambonir 2023-01-17 23:52:23 UTC #10

Nobody truly loves penalties, but they are exciting. It would just not be physically possible for soccer to have unlimited overtime... unless there were like 30 players on every roster and they played in shifts like hockey.

I would also say the NFL is overly reliant on kickers, even if blocking, tackling and field position all contributes a lot more to their success than soccer penalties (or college football OT, though, as little as I like that I still think it's probably better than the NFL regular season rules).

What do the players actually get paid to play in the World Baseball Classic, and by what organization? Of course even if it's $1 that's more than they get during spring training.

I would think Nola and Wheeler will not get anywhere near the thing (and the team will indeed urge them not to) given the lengthy seasons they had last year.

Lucky_Beagle 2023-01-18 00:03:23 UTC #11

Why don't they save on all pitching arms and use a pitching machine Someone can stand on the mound and select the type of pitch they want to throw!

Austinfan 2023-01-18 00:25:03 UTC #12

Then it can be like racing, a "sport" where you compete more on money than skill (building a superior car).
We could have teams compete building the best pitching machine!

zambonir 2023-01-18 02:18:03 UTC #13

Just make the whole thing a home run derby.

LoneStarPhan 2023-01-18 06:12:23 UTC #14

I for one will be very happy when this WBC is over. I have never really followed it in the past and likely will not follow it this year. I would prefer to have no Phillies ML 40 man roster players participate.

That's my feelings. I am sure others feel differently.

andyb 2023-01-27 19:23:07 UTC #15

Cuba mixes major leaguers and its own league's players for the first time:

And Lars Nootbaar is Japanese! Though I am most excited to see Roki Sasaki. The guy who almost threw 2 perfect games in a row and is still 21. A couple other future imports too on the roster.

andyb 2023-02-10 05:05:40 UTC #16

Mac 2023-02-10 06:29:56 UTC #17

WBC is a joke.

julio 2023-02-10 13:05:59 UTC #18

I’m not particularly a fan of the WBC, but the thing Mac linked is just…silly.

“The WBC is a made-up event. It’s not real. There’s no history to it.” Yadda yadda yadda.

Just for a minute, imagine it’s 1966, mid-December. (I was 12 years old; most of you weren’t!). Radio sports commentator on some clear-channel AM station (WBZ Boston? WFIL Philadelphia?) makes the same kind of comment Francesca made about the WBC:

“The Super Bowl is a made-up event. It’s not real. There’s no history to it.” Well, his statement wouldn’t have been “wrong,” in the moment. And I assure you, there were lots of people in 1966 who considered the Super Bowl to be “a joke.” I mean, what is the NFL thinking, playing a “super” game against that pathetic AFL nonsense, and pretending it’s anything other than a made-up stunt to get some TV money?

Fast-forward 57 years. I don’t have any idea how the WBC will be seen in 50 years, if it survives. I’m not going to be around to find out, either. Some of you may - and you may find that the WBC just went away, or… it may not have. I do know that sometimes, things that seem silly and contrived take on a life of their own, and become “traditions” of their own.

[Aside about “traditions.” I’m old enough to remember when the corporation that makes/made French’s fried onions, Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup, and one of the “ladies” magazines, decided to introduce the “green bean casserole” as a Thanksgiving side dish. This thing became a tradition, too, and lots and lots of people seem to think the Pilgrims somehow had deep-fried onions in a can. But there you go; inanity becomes “tradition,” becomes almost a necessity.]

BostonRoss 2023-02-10 13:25:19 UTC #19

I don’t particularly like the WBC, but I like it better than green bean casserole.

julio 2023-02-10 14:15:08 UTC #20

That’s a very low bar, BostonRoss!

I think of green bean casserole as one of those things you “eat to remember.” What I remember is how this “tradition” was ginned up by American food corporations to foist a new “tradition” on people - and it worked! And no, I’m not a fan of the dish either.