World Baseball Classic to be played March '06

Anyone else hear about this?

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http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/...d.php?t=316184
MLB and the MLBPA have let it slip that they've reached all the necessary agreements for the "World Baseball Classic" to be played next March during Spring Training.

16 teams in 4 pools, with one pool being played in Asia. Baseball America is projecting the pools as:

Pool A: Japan, S. Korea, Taiwan, China
Pool B: Puerto Rico, Cuba, Panama, Italy
Pool C: United States, Canada, Mexico, S. Africa
Pool D: Australia, Venezuela, Netherlands, Dominican Republic

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I think it would be pretty cool if this could some how be incorperated into baseball mogul. Kinda like the allstar game just let it pick players and put them onto teams and then show th results. Maybe you can even chose to manage the team or something.

This sounds really good, but I can't help wondering how mlb and the mlbpa will screw it up.:(

Well here's how I see it;
Japan
S. Korea
Puerto Rico
Cuba
United States
Canada/Mexico
Venezuela
Dominican Republic

Japan
United States
Venezuela
Dominican Republic

Then it kinda gets fuzzy but I say Japan's out and it's a good game and a close call for the other matchup and the Championship.

im not sure who put this together but how are they going to protect the Major League teams who have their players participating. Does the team giving the player a paycheck get any say in if they play? How are the Angels going to feel if Vlad got hurt and was out for the year? Plus how are MLB managers going to prevent over use of players, especially pitchers?

Great idea having a world cup, but someone has to solve the minor problems involved.

I'd think that there are a few respected managers who could be trusted with the players best interests. I hate to say it, but Torre comes to mind and Francona seems to be better at handling players since about last june, also Socia.

i dont doubt managers, but players might not be in the best shape that early in spring. pitchers are hardly going to throw complete games that soon in the offseason. Also players are going to want to win for their country, to give pride to their country, but what if Johan Santana is pitching and getting worn out, but his team needs him for 1 or 2 more innings, or on short days rest, and then he ends up hurting his arm. I dont think the Twins would be very happy.
Players know their bodies, but how far would they go to bring pride to their country?

It's not like baseball is that tough a sport....not like having a world cup of hockey! The injury risks are a lot less. I bet if they have this every 4 years then the players that have a good chance of playing for their respective teams will play more winter ball that fall in order to stay in game shape....if they're that committed to winning for their country.

I'd bet money that a lot of "A" list American stars would bow out citing a whole host of reasons. They probably just wouldn't want to cut thier vacations short and really who could blame them? I wonder if Pedro would show up as a player?

How about a month before the games start the World team plays a series of "winter training" games with guys like Arizona Fall leaguers or volunteers who want to start early. That way they get practice as a team and these young guys get experience with All-Stars (especially experience losing wich a lot of these guys haven't done since little league)

thats a good idea but still not a total solution. someone is bound to get hurt, even if the injuries are a lot less likely, and the team signing the paycheck would be pretty upset. plus Mariano Rivera, Gary Sheffeild, Randy Johnson, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and other Yankees (and other teams players) would suddenly come down with a sprained thumb or a broken toe like robin said. Maybe they might even iron their chest (i.e. John Smoltz) to get out of playing.

I think that the best time would be after the World Series. Everybody is still in pretty good shape, there is less stress after the season is over, and it would be a great chance for free agents to show thier stuff one last time, thereby motivating some to do well and releasing many teams from contractual obligations to the same. Injured players would get the opportunity to prove themselves healthy against top notch competition.(Nomar and Bonds come to mind here.)

Or maybe instead of the All Star game? I'd really try to watch that and the injury thing I am sure is already worked out in that situation, keep it as it is.

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Originally posted by robinhoodnik
Or maybe instead of the All Star game? I'd really try to watch that and the injury thing I am sure is already worked out in that situation, keep it as it is.

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I don't think Bud would want to give up the All-Star hype. Especially after making id decide WS home field advantage. Plus, the whole event would probably take almost 2 weeks at the least.

I agree, Bud wont want to give up an All-Star game. I honestly dont feel like there is a "right" for this. Its a great idea, very interesting and fun, but it has a bad reality.

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Originally posted by SFSteveG
I don't think Bud would want to give up the All-Star hype. Especially after making id decide WS home field advantage. Plus, the whole event would probably take almost 2 weeks at the least.

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I think I read one of the things they're considering is extending the all star break and inserted the tourny into that slot.

March seems like a pretty dumb time to have it.

Why not November? So if folks get hurt they can heal for 4 months.

You can play all the games in warm stadiums, like CA, FL, TX, Mexico, the Dominican, South America, etc.

Clay

how are they selecting the teams. Is it going to be like they selected the USA Basketball team or will it be fan vote?

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Originally posted by Clay Dreslough
March seems like a pretty dumb time to have it.

Why not November? So if folks get hurt they can heal for 4 months.

You can play all the games in warm stadiums, like CA, FL, TX, Mexico, the Dominican, South America, etc.

Clay

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That's just about the best idea I've heard. The only issue might be that pitchers will be tired and players on contending teams will get no rest and some will get a whole month.

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Originally posted by anaveragecow
how are they selecting the teams. Is it going to be like they selected the USA Basketball team or will it be fan vote?

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I'd imagine either the league or the country would put together a comission and send invites.

what I want to know is which countries get home field advantage. Are they going to have a way of determing that? And are all the games played in one place or around the world?

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Originally posted by anaveragecow
what I want to know is which countries get home field advantage. Are they going to have a way of determing that? And are all the games played in one place or around the world?

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What I'd liek to see is either consecutive days where you play the other team or a double-header where you each get home field advantage.

I'd imagine they'd be played in some of the parks in the south and west and maybe Mexico/Caribean

The only truly fair way would be to give home field by lottery the first time out. They would hopefully be bright enough to play like the soccer world cup (a few different stadiums in each country) to spread it around a bit. Football stadiums would probably have to be used for the crowd capacity. Could you imagine trying to shoehorn all of those people into Fenway or Wrigley?

1. Fenway and Wrigley are too far north to be viable in March.

2. I'd imagine that parks ised woulf probably be relatively new such as those in California and also possibly include some Caribbean/Mexican stadiums. Maybe the smaller stadiums in these regions for the lower fan drawing games.

I know that Fenway and Wrigley are too cold, just illustrating a point about size. They would probably have to use at least 60 to 70,000 seat stadiums for some games. I pray that they don't use any domes. I hate domes/convertibles. I understand that some regions have to have them, but I'd rather not see 'em used unless there was a drastic weather problem.

Also are they going to be DH or no DH?. How about roster size?

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Originally posted by robinhoodnik
Also are they going to be DH or no DH?. How about roster size?

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I'd imagine it would be very similar to olympic baseball but I can't find any of the rules for it so I'm kindo of lost. Does anybody else know?

Which team do you think Manny Ramirez would be on? He's now an American citizen but with the strange rules could he end up on another team? Asking 'cause Jason Simontacci played olympic ball for Italy because his ancestors were from there (Grandparents I think?).:confused:

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Originally posted by robinhoodnik
Which team do you think Manny Ramirez would be on? He's now an American citizen but with the strange rules could he end up on another team? Asking 'cause Jason Simontacci played olympic ball for Italy because his ancestors were from there (Grandparents I think?).:confused:

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In the Olympics you can play for your resident country or an ancestral country. I'd think he'd play for the DR but it's his call as far as I'm concerned.

Cool then I can play for England, Ireland, Scotland, or ewwwwww France. (i know; U.K. is Scotland too.)

Just so you know I think you need to have a very recent ancestral history and they would have to grant you citizenship but you don't need to say, have been born there or lived there long. It definately would help to have one though.

A few months ago, I made a .mog file with potential teams for this tournament. Should I post it?

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Originally posted by hawkeye3200
A few months ago, I made a .mog file with potential teams for this tournament. Should I post it?

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I'd like like to see it for sure. It sure does sound like it would be a fun sim.

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Originally Posted by robinhoodnik

Which team do you think Manny Ramirez would be on? He's now an American citizen but with the strange rules could he end up on another team? Asking 'cause Jason Simontacci played olympic ball for Italy because his ancestors were from there (Grandparents I think?).:confused:

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Simontacci actually played pro ball in Italy, too. When he first got to the majors and his having played in Italy was mentioned, that was the first time that I was even aware that there was professional baseball in Italy.

Anyway, I don't see why there is all the concern about possible injuries in a World tournament. I don't see the same concern with regards to NBA or NHL players playing in the Olympics, and certainly not with pro soccor players in the World Cup. Not that a team wouldn't be upset if one of their star players was injured, but I don't see why that would be more of a concern with baseball than with other sports.

I do think there will be a problem with some players begging off because of minor (if not imaginary) injuries, as we saw with NBA players during the last Olympics, but that actually might make the tournament more competitive if many of the major American stars don't play.

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Originally Posted by dps

Anyway, I don't see why there is all the concern about possible injuries in a World tournament. I don't see the same concern with regards to NBA or NHL players playing in the Olympics, and certainly not with pro soccor players in the World Cup. Not that a team wouldn't be upset if one of their star players was injured, but I don't see why that would be more of a concern with baseball than with other sports.

I do think there will be a problem with some players begging off because of minor (if not imaginary) injuries, as we saw with NBA players during the last Olympics, but that actually might make the tournament more competitive if many of the major American stars don't play.

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The issue is more that $7-10 million dollar players used to use this time to warm up for the season and now they will be competing fiercly as if they were in mid-season form. Imagine football players starting an all-star tournament at the begining of the training season. As far as injuries go I put baseball players in with football players and nobody would expect a football player to come off of 4 months rest (at least non competitive training) and play at top form with no health issues.

I would assume that anyone who wants to play on the national team is going to have to commit to a series of exhibitions and tune-ups leading up to it--that's how I would set it up anyway. That should avoid the problem of players not being in playing shape

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Originally Posted by dps

I would assume that anyone who wants to play on the national team is going to have to commit to a series of exhibitions and tune-ups leading up to it--that's how I would set it up anyway. That should avoid the problem of players not being in playing shape

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Now that makes perfect sense. Leading from this though, I would argue that some players, mostly pitchers, often get very physically tired by the end of the season. An extra 40 or 50 innings out of a starter could end up costing a team a trip to the playoffs, the series or even the WS itself.

With modern rotations, starters don't pitch enough innings in a year to get that tired anyway. They'll be fine, unless some idiot lets them throw 160 pitches in a game during the tournament or something.