WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC

2009,  Luis Soto was the manager of the Venezulan team, besides being a minor league manager in the Yankees organization.  Twice is used Francisco Rodriguez for more than 3 outs.  If he had done that to Riveria Steinbreener would have castrated him with a chain saw.  Same year, Oliver Perez came back to the Mets having gained weight.  In the 16 days with the Mexican team he pitched twice for 6 2/3.  Perez was too undisciplined to be unsupervised.  His 2009 Mets workload.....14 GS, 66 inn., 6.82 ERA and 1.92 whip.  The WBC is a Selig created cash cow that also serves as a bandaid on his beatup legacy.   

Johan will be pitching. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

I think the WBC has to insure Johan.

I rarely watch this stuff. College basketball in full swing basically eats up my sports TV time from now until spring training so it's just another thing eating up hours.  Still though if Santana is pitching I'll watch a little just to see how he looks.

In general my feelings on the whole thing depend on how players treat it.  If they just think of it as a warmup for the season, a kind of extended spring training, it can be fine.  You don't want Johan throwing at full effort or anything or pitching more than he would gearing up for the season anyhow but if he throws a low number of pitches, great.

Yogi, I don't know if Selig is making the decision to have this alone.  There are lots of people with interests in this sort of thing, and they all have a voice.  I'd think that without the agreement of many players on the world front that it wouldn't happen.  

Yogi, I don't know if Selig is making the decision to have this alone-thomasam



However you do know that it isn't happening without him.  The key to the complete answer is "follow the money".  I can't tell you how much will be generated by the WBC because there are 7 different venues.  I also have no idea who shares in the gate receipts, parking, concessions and nationalistic uniform sales.  But I can tell you that MLB will profit from every Johan jersey sold in Venezuala and from every David Wright jersey sold.  They will profit from every ad shown during the 37 game tournament on the MLB Network and will possibly take a piece of the forementioned stadium revenues.  The MLB profits lead to the MLB Central Fund which is ultimately distributed to each team.  In a usual year this is a 30 M revenue stream that has nothing to do with gate, parking, concessions, internal advertising, or local  TV/radio.  Following the money leads to ownership because that usual 30 M is expected to double this year because Selig is going to find himself ass deep in large denomination currency. 

The players are paid with nationalistic pride and as some of that MLB sharing trickles down, maybe a slightly larger contract.    

Agree crazy, this guy should not be pitching in this tournament! He owes it to the Mets very foolish Johan, this guy gets hurt in anyway In his final Year of this huge contract he will be in line for a lot heat to to giving out!

I don't think he will pitch.  Johan Santana will be 34 after this season and will be a free agent after the Mets refuse to pick up the 25 M option.  If he intends to continue his career, he needs this season to wash away the bad taste of the past 4 years.  75 GS and 480 inn. aren't red flags for a 25 year old just getting started, but for an aging pitcher that has not completed a season since 2008 it is major alarm bells. 

If Santana takes the ball for Venuzula, it tells me he is OK with taking the 177 M, returning home and calling it "career over" next Sept. if he goes down again. 

The pools have been trimmed and there are only 6 teams left standing.  Surprises are Cuba and Korea are gone, Italy and the Netherlands are not.  David Wright has been big for the US while RA was not.  From the MLBN viewpoint the perfect pairing for the finals would be for the US to make it and for Italy to be eliminated.  This would pull in the Carribean with either the DR or Puerto Rico,  Europe already has the Netherlands as an interest.  Japan increases the far east viewers and the US keeps the lights on at home.

Yogi I think the players take the WBC seriously. The teams outside of the USA love the idea of beating their rivals. If I was a owner I'd put a clause in players contracts stating they void their contract if playing any non MLB games and incurring injury. They would have to take a physical prior to going to compete and upon their return buut what high salaried player would risk everything? 

I think baseball should do what they do at the minor league level in the "Futures Game" and have the teams allow their brightest prospects to play but the tournament should be in January allowing those prospects rest and a chance to compete fully unhindered in spring training.

Who wouldn't want to watch this team in Jan compete:

USA

1B Singleton (Astros), 2B Rendon (Nationals),SS Baez (Cubs),3B Olt (Rangers),C Zunino,OF Myers (Rays),OF/SS Hamilton (Reds) andOF/3B Castellanos (Tigers)

Starters/Pitchers: Bundy (Orioles), Cole (Pirates), Walker (Mariners), Taillon (Pirates), Bradley (Diamonbacks), Hultzen (Mariners), Skaggs (Diamondbacks), Bauer (Indians), Wheeler (Mets), Fernandez (Marlins)

Bench:OF Yelich (Marlins),OF Marisnick (Marlins),OF Springer (Astros),3B Arenado,SS Russell (A's),SS/2B Franklin (Mariners)

The D.R., P.R., Cuba, Venezuala, Mexico, Japan, Korea would all have stacked teams too 

Who wouldn't want to watch this team in Jan compete:

I don't think GMs would be happy about the idea of during the winter, pitchers stretching out their arms, only to cool them again for a month before reporting again for pitchers and catchers.

Additionally, if you have them pitch straight through, thats a long season and I'm sure you'd see a lot more arm fatigue, if not more serious injuries. 

How ever you view it, the WBC has a scheduling issue.  Pitchers who have pitched in Japan have returned and have a career rejuvenation that they credit the Japenses practice of throwing 2000 pitches in ST.  An MLB pitcher probably throws half that between games and bullpens.  Maybe the right approach is more work instead of cookies and milk.  It's not that long ago that 40 GS and 250-300 innings didn't raise an eyebrow. 

Start the tournament in December, allowing minor league players 60-90 days to rest and start to work out again.  The entire term of play with days off could be fit into 2 weeks, add 3-5 days for team practice and it's over before the holidays and two months before pitchers and catchers.  An added bonus is that the best of the prospects may be more inclined to play since they won't ever get another chance. 

Mercifully it is almost over, but not without collateral damage.  I also know that injuries incurred playing in the WBC could have happened in the Grapefruit or Cactus Leagues but they didn't, they happened in a series of meaningless exibitition. 

Yogi I think the players take the WBC seriously. The teams outside of the USA love the idea of beating their rivals. If I was a owner I'd put a clause in players contracts stating they void their contract if playing any non MLB games and incurring injury. They would have to take a physical prior to going to compete and upon their return but what high salaried player would risk everything? -cj

  
Good thought, but now we also know the answer to your question.  It was a "disappointed" and in uniform David Wright who was removed from the lineup against the DR after his week long concealment of an injury came to the awareness of the Mets who had given him a 138 M contract just months before.   There are a number of ways to view Wright's mind set, some idealistic and others self-centered.  Pick the one you like. 

thomasam  encapsulates my opinion of the WBC as "conspiracy theory and hatred".  My interpretation would be fact and fact.  The WBC is about money for MLB and the owners who will share in that windfall.  It is also a grandious plan by Selig to repair a damaged repution by masking the WBC as the foundation of a global World Series.  If it is about money, how much money?  The following is an excerpt from the MLB Constitution;

The Commissioner, with prior advice and consent of the Executive Council, has the exclusive rights to sell on the clubs behalf, “in any and/or all territories worldwide, exclusive or non-exclusive television and radio or other video and radio or other video or audio media rights (including Internet and other online technology and live or taped) to the World Series, League Championship Series, Division Series, All-Star Games, regular season championship games, spring training games and exhibition games”, and that no broadcasts of this nature outside of the 50 U.S. States and Canada, where Canadian clubs exist, can sold otherwise than by the Commissioner.  The Commissioner, as an approved agent of the clubs, collects and deposits the sale of these broadcasts or royalties into the Major League Central Fund, and payments are made to each of the clubs in equal portions.

It is estimated that the WBC net proceeds will exceed one billion dollars.

Now Selig;  Commissioner Peter Ueberroth advised baseball owners led by Allan Huber Selig and Jerry Reinsdorf to hold down salaries by not competing for other teams free agents, this led to Donald Fehr, Exc. Dir of the MLBPA, filing collusions charges in 1985-1987.  The result of which was the MLBPA being awarded 280 M and an adviserial relationship between Fehr and Selig.  In 1990 then Commissioner Fay Vincent told ownership;
The single biggest reality you guys have to face up to is collusion. You stole $280 million from the players, and the players are unified to a man around that issue, because you got caught and many of you are still involved.
Marvin Miller viewed the owners collusion as "tantamount to fixing, not just games, but entire pennant races, including all post-season series."
The fallout of the collusion and subsequent distrust generated have been baseball expansion creating the Rays, Marlins, Diamondbacks and Rockies to pay for the 280 M award.  The failure to address the growing PED issue.  Continued charges of collusions and the labor problems of the '90s' including the 1994-95 strike.

Selig has survived the past 20 years and has generated a lot of money for players, owners and agents.  Have baseball fans flourished?  Is attending games today a financial burden beyond many?  Is the scheduling of post season games fan friendly and cultivating the next generations of fans?    
 

I've enjoyed it more than I thought I would, but also feel like it's not quite what it purports to be.  Still though to act like Selig thought this up himself and pushed it on everyone else seems like a stretch.  There had to be a lot of collaboration among a lot of people.

The Wright injury is not what team needs right now but he also was swinging the bat well and enjoying a winning atmosphere.  That might not be a bad thing and outweighs the injury. 

The manager and GM may be different, but medical information needs to be taken with a large dose of salt.  Ike Davis didn't have Valley fever or he did?  Daniel Murphy, out with a similar if not the same injury as David Wright, returned to a minor league yesterday played 5 innings and didn't swing a bat.  Today he is "too stiff" to play.  He was injured 2/20, 24 days ago.  After four years of misinformation I'll admit to being skeptical about when Wright will return.