World Baseball Classic to be played March '06

[SFSteveG]

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.

[hawkeye3200]

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

[SFSteveG]

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

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

[dps]

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?).

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.

[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.

[SFSteveG]

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.

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.

[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

[SFSteveG]

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

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.

[dps]

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.