Wbc

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Originally Posted by filihok

*Emphasis is added by me

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/ar...articleid=8420

Can someone explain this argument to me? I never understood it and though that it should be up to the player. To put it simply, most of us here have jobs, and I doubt that most of us feel our ultimate loyalty is to our employer (even those of us that do contract work).

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I agree with you - but if you get hurt doing something outside of work your employer will have no problem firing you. As long as a team is allowed to cut a player, without cost, if that player gets hurt at the WBC such that they can't resume playing, then I agree with you. As a second consideration, the player has signed a contract to be at spring training on Feb.15th - so to play in the WBC they probably need to alter the terms of their contract - which makes it partly the teams problem.

It, obviously, should be up to the player. I wouldn't fault a player for wanting to play, but I also wouldn't fault a player for not wanting to play. From Joe Sheehan's article today on BP:

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What's an acceptable risk, anyway, of injury or diminished performance? One percent? Two percent? Twenty percent? Does it vary by talent level, by salary, by position, or by franchise? I don't have good answers to any of these questions, which is why I think there is no bad decision to be made by players, and why I think each and every one of them should be above criticism when it comes to the choice they make.

So don't begrudge Santana, or Josh Hamilton, or Nick Markakis, or anyone else who chooses to pass on the tournament. It's not that they're rejecting their country; it's that they're putting the WBC in its proper place, which is behind MLB.

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I agree with all of that except this bit of snark

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it's that they're putting the WBC in its proper place, which is behind MLB.

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I don't see how the WBC is equal to or ahead of the MLB, but to each his own.

I actually DO agree with the teams on this. If I'm paying a guy $20 million a year, he damn well BETTER be ready to play for ME and try and earn that money. I don't give a flying crap about some tournament I'm not making money on and that isn't giving me anything, and I sure as Hell wouldn't want to see one of my players out there possibly getting hurt and leaving my (the guy PAYING him) up sh*t creek.

I feel the same way with Olympic hockey. The last tournament absolutely KILLED a few teams when Vancouver lost 3 of their top 4 defensemen to injuries, and Ottawa lost Hasek to one (and that year was likely their best shot at a Cup). Do I enjoy it as a fan? Yes. However, you can't expect a baseball owner who has invested a small fortune in this guys to NOT look at it from a pure business point of view. And from a business point of view, the WBC stinks.

You could say they were putting MLB first, or you could say they were putting their salary first. If the national teams had insurance on each and every player - then it would be interesting to see who would play.

Players owe their teams, owners, and front office staff all the loyalty that they get from them in return.



Oh wait, that's actually zero loyalty. Never mind then.

Players should be loyal to THEMSELVES, and no one else. Steinbrenner don't like it? Too bad, not your call. Fred Wilpon don't like it? Give some more money to Bernie Madoff and deal with it. In this day and age when hall of famers are kicked to the curb because they want 1 mil more than their billionaire owner would like to give them, and when star players on bad teams are shipped out overnight because no one else on the team can play, I don't want to hear one God damn word about what the players owe their owners.

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Originally Posted by HoustonGM

I don't see how the WBC is equal to or ahead of the MLB, but to each his own.

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Hmm. I think that I'd argue that since MLB is one of the main forces, if not the main force, behind the WBC, that there's really no choice to be made between the WBC and MLB, but rather between what's good for baseball as a whole vs what's good for the team the player is signed with.

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Originally Posted by dps

Hmm. I think that I'd argue that since MLB is one of the main forces, if not the main force, behind the WBC, that there's really no choice to be made between the WBC and MLB, but rather between what's good for baseball as a whole vs what's good for the team the player is signed with.

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And if you're the owner or GM of one of the team, you don't give a flip about a stupid international exhibition.

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Originally Posted by Arctic Blast

And if you're the owner or GM of one of the team, you don't give a flip about a stupid international exhibition.

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So?

Go cuba

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Originally Posted by Arctic Blast

I actually DO agree with the teams on this. If I'm paying a guy $20 million a year, he damn well BETTER be ready to play for ME and try and earn that money. I don't give a flying crap about some tournament I'm not making money on and that isn't giving me anything, and I sure as Hell wouldn't want to see one of my players out there possibly getting hurt and leaving my (the guy PAYING him) up sh*t creek.

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I agree with this. Players owe their employer. The exhibition play is fine...until someone gets hurt and the injury affects their ability to perform in MLB. Then it isn't OK.

Team Canada

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The big question marks for Canada will revolve around ace starters Ryan Dempster and Rich Harden when provisional rosters for the World Baseball Classic are unveiled Monday.

Jeff Francis is a go right now, although there are murmurs the Colorado Rockies aren't thrilled with the thought of their ace taking part again.
Toronto Blue Jays hopeful Scott Richmond is a go, as are relievers Jesse Crain and Eric Gagne, but things get dicier from there.
National team stalwarts like Mike Johnson and Steve Green are sure to be on the provisional roster, and likely the final team as well.

From a positional standpoint, Canada has been fairly set for a while.
Catchers Russ Martin and Luke Carlin, first basemen Justin Morneau and Joey Votto, infielders Pete Orr, Chris Barnwell and Stubby Clapp, third baseman Mark Teahen, and outfielders Jason Bay, Matt Stairs and Nick Weglarz are all on board.

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Filihok, how does an American living in Sweden, know so much about Canadian
players?:D...Anyway, I'm grateful for your mention of the, hitherto, unknown
names...I can add them to the Pardones' (Canajun Ehs farm team) next season.

http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/..._wbc_released/

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HUGE WBC update: Rosters for WBC released!!!

(Link: Team-By-Team listing of what players from what MLB teams are on preliminary 45-man rosters)

MLB has released the initial up-to-45 man rosters (i.e. not the final rosters) for the WBC. They don’t, alas, have a list of what organizations each player is with, so it is up to someone else to figure out where the non-MLB players are coming from.

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