Category Archives: Baseball

Quick Hits: Baseball Hoaxes

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To the best of my knowledge, there has never been a hoax in baseball quite like the one that is going on with Manti Te’o, but there have been a few “good” hoaxes:

Tim Johnson was the manager of the Blue Jays in 1998, guiding them to a surprising 3rd place finish that left them only four games out of the Wild Card. Throughout the year, he motivated his players with tales of his time in Vietnam. Only thing is, he’d never been to Vietnam. He’d been a reserve during the war and the most he ever did was train troops at Camp Pendleton. He was let go before the 1999 season and has never managed in the big leagues since.

Sidd Finch was a more good-natured hoax, a pitcher who was reported in the April 1, 1985 issue of Sports Illustrated to be able to throw a fastball up to 168 MPH. It was never meant to be taken seriously, an April Fools joke by George Plimpton. Still, some people apparently fell for it, despite the fact that I’m reasonably sure that a 168 MPH fastball is physically impossible for a human being to throw.

As part of his defense against his doping scandal this season, Melky Cabrera‘s handlers allegedly created a fake website that they claimed was for a supplement that Cabrera took that unknowingly contained banned substances.

There have also been phantom ballplayers, players who were reported to have played in the big leagues but who didn’t because the games weren’t official or, in some cases, were inventions of wisecracking telegraph operators. Wikipedia (which admittedly, shouldn’t be taken as a definitive source by any means) has an article on it.

Late WBC news for Jan. 17, 2013 and preview of tomorrow

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Only one last bit of news tonight: Hainley Statia, a Brewers minor leaguer, will be playing for the Dutch.

Now, tomorrow’s schedule:

MLB Network’s Hot Stove will be the de-facto Team USA announcement special, with the announcement itself due at about 10 PM Eastern, barring something else coming up. I intend on having an initial profile of Team USA up by around noon, 1 PM.

The rest of the rosters will be revealed at 4 PM Eastern, also on MLB Network. I’ll probably hit most of those rosters quickly but go in more detail in the coming days.

So, until tomorrow, feel free to look at all of the content here at the Continuum, and also consider checking out Joe Connor’s guide.

 

Late WBC News for Jan. 16, 2013 (Part 2 of ?): Cuba’s roster

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Cuba has released their roster through their state-run Latina Prensa. 

Here’s how it looks:

Catchers: Yulexis La Rosa, Frank Camilo Morejon and Eriel Sanchez.

Infielders: José Dariel Abreu, Luis Felipe Rivera, José Miguel Fernández, Andy Ibañez, Yulieski Gourriel and Barbaro Arrebarruena.

Outfielders: Frederich Cepeda, Alfredo Despaigne, Rusney Castillo, Alexei Bell, Guillermo Hernandez Heredia and Yadiel Hernandez.

Pitchers: Freddy Asiel Alvarez, Ismel Jimenez, Raciel Iglesias, Odrisamer Despaigne, Norberto Gonzalez, Darien Nuñez, Wilber Perez, Yulieski Gonzalez, Vladimir Garcia, Alexander Rodriguez, Danny Betancourt, Vichyoandri Odelín and Yander Guevara.

Manager: Victor Mesa

Head Coach: Jorge Fuentes

Now, you might not recognize many of those names, since they are all part of the state-run Cuban league (where everyone is technically an amateur), so here are some you should know about:

Yulieski Gourriel is probably the best known of this group, an infielder (primarily 3B) who, especially when he was younger, would have MLB teams fighting for the rights to sign him if they could. He hit .273 in the 2006 WBC and .333 in the 2009 edition, where he also hit two home runs.

Alfredo Despaigne is another veteran of past WBCs, an outfielder who played for Cuba in 2009. He holds the Cuban National Series (the aforementioned “amateur” league) record for home runs, which he set when he hit 36 in the 2011-2012 season.

Amongst the pitchers, a name to watch is Ismel Jimenez, a right-handed veteran of the ’09 Classic who currently leads the Cuban National Series in strikeouts this season.

More WBC news as it comes out.

Late World Baseball Classic news for January 16, 2013 (Part 1 of ?)

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Okay, some more WBC news to go over as you ponder the bizarre tale of Manti Te’o…

More WBC news if it comes out. Also, don’t forget that all 16 rosters come out tomorrow. The Continuum will have lots of coverage, so don’t forget to come here. Also, if you are a fan of international baseball, you may be interested in the guide from Joe Connor.

Rosters (and possibilities/non-possibilities) of the World Baseball Classic as of 12:30 PM of Jan. 16, 2013

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While we all wonder if Justin Verlander will change his mind and join the WBC (he’s leaning to no, at least for the initial round), here’s the latest news:

  • Xander Bogaerts, one of the top prospects of the Boston Red Sox, will be representing the Kingdom of the Netherlands (he’s from Aruba).
  • The Korean press is apparently a bit worried about the Taiwanese team, which, unlike Korea, will have some of it’s MLB-experienced talent with it. Of course, Taiwan also will have some domestic players: new names revealed in the article include Lamigo Tigers star SS Chih-Sen Lin and young pitching phenom Jen-Ho Tseng, who, although only 18, has already pitched well for Chinese Taipei in international competitions.
  • Edited in at 12:48- Drew Butera, of Italian descent, will play for Italy in the WBC.

As usual, you can find it the whole list after the jump, and more news will be posted as it is revealed, in addition, you might be interested in Joe Connor’s World in a Ballpark:

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Rosters (and possibilities/non-possibilities) of the World Baseball Classic as of 1:17 PM of Jan. 15, 2013

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Today’s WBC news:

  • The third catcher for Team USA will be J.P. Arencibia. Perhaps not coincidentally, he’s one of the catchers for the Blue Jays, and will be one of the people responsible for trying to catch R.A. Dickey‘s knuckleball this season.
  • As expected, Dustin Pedroia won’t be playing. He was expected to take part only if his surgically repaired ligaments in his finger was 100%.

As usual, you can find it the whole list after the jump, and more news will be posted as it is revealed, in addition, you might be interested in Joe Connor’s World in a Ballpark:

Continue reading →

Now available for purchase: Joe Connor’s “World in a Ballpark”

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The Baseball Continuum is proud to offer for purchase the World Baseball Classic guide, World in a Ballpark: Baseball Goes Global, written by published international baseball writer Joe Connor. Connor is a world-traveling freelance writer who has written about baseball in more than 30 countries. His work has appeared on ESPN.com, NBCSports.com, MLB.com and other respected outlets. Connor has, since 2001, written a series of travel guides about baseball on many topics, including international baseball such as the World Baseball Classic and the Caribbean Series. World in a Ballpark focuses on baseball in countries all around the world, including all 16 participants in the 2013 WBC. It is available for purchase below.

World in a Ballpark: Baseball Goes Global

A 275-page guide detailing what’s happening on the ground across the globe, with scouting reports on the growth of baseball across six continents and in more than 100 countries. $24.99, PDF file will be e-mailed to you.

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The guide is also available for purchase on the “Joe Connor’s WBC Guide” tab at the top of the page.

So, here’s how Team USA looks right now (and how it may look on Thursday)

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World Baseball Classic rosters are made up of 28 players, of which 13 of them must be pitchers and two of them must be catchers. So far, these are the players who have been confirmed or all-but-confirmed to be playing for the United States in the 2013 Classic:

  1. Joe Mauer, C (Minnesota)
  2. David Wright, 3B (NY Mets)
  3. Ryan Braun, OF (Milwaukee)
  4. Giancarlo Stanton, OF (Miami)
  5. R.A. Dickey, SP (Toronto)
  6. Adam Jones, OF (Baltimore)
  7. Shane Victorino, OF (Boston)
  8. Andy Pettitte, SP (NY Yankees)
  9. Craig Kimbrel, RP (Atlanta)
  10. Chris Perez, RP (Cleveland)
  11. Luke Gregerson, RP (San Diego)
  12. Brandon Phillips, 2B (Cincinnati)
  13. Vinnie Pestano, RP (Cleveland)
  14. Ryan Vogelsong, SP (San Francisco)
  15. Jonathan Lucroy, C (Milwaukee)
  16. Mark Teixeira, 1B (NY Yankees)
  17. Glen Perkins, RP (Minnesota)
  18. Jimmy Rollins, SS (Philadelphia)
  19. Jeremy Affeldt, RP (San Francisco)

That’s 19 players: three starting pitchers, six relievers, two catchers, a first-baseman, a second-baseman, a shortstop, a third-baseman and four outfielders. Put it another way, there are 9 spots still unrevealed, and at least four of them are pitchers (with at least one of them probably a starter). So, it also follows that at most five of the remaining players are position players. Team USA still needs some more infielders, maybe a utility guy, and perhaps another catcher (reports say that Team USA will have three catchers).

Here’s my predictions of how the rest of the roster will shape up (not that I assume that Troy Tulowitzki and Dustin Pedroia are held out due to injury concerns):

20. Either Justin Verlander or Kris Medlen

Justin Verlander isn’t on the provisional roster right now, but apparently that more has to do with the fact he hasn’t said yes or no yet. He’ll apparently be making that decision by early March. Meanwhile, Kris Medlen had been mentioned as a possibility for the team, but hasn’t been mentioned in the past few days. I’m going to guess that this basically means that the fourth spot in the rotation will either be Verlander or Medlen. So either the best pitcher on the planet or the pitcher who’s team won 22 consecutive games that he started. Not a bad set of options.

21. Matt Wieters, C (Baltimore Orioles)

The third catcher isn’t Buster Posey, so it’s likely either Wieters or another American catcher like A.J. Ellis or Alex Avila or somebody like that. After pitchers, catchers are the hardest players to get to commit to the WBC.

22. Joe Nathan, RP (Texas Rangers)
23. Tyler Clippard, RP (Washington Nationals)
24. James Russell, RP (Chicago Cubs)

Okay, so now they bullpen is filled up. Nathan definitely has received an invitation and was considering, the other two are just guesses based on guys who’d fit well. One thing to note is that it’s possible (but unlikely) that Medlen could remain on the roster as a long reliever if Verlander were to pitch

25. Paul Konerko, 1B (Chicago White Sox)

It was reported that Konerko was on at the very least an early list for Team USA, so I’ll put him down for now.

26. Jay Bruce, OF (Cincinnati)

Was reportedly on a early roster but hadn’t heard yet. Would make a great bat-off-the-bench and outfielder for those days where one of the other OFs are DHing.

27. Ben Zobrist, Utility (Tampa)
28. Ian Desmond, Shortstop (Washington)

Finishing the roster by adding in a guy who can play anywhere and another shortstop.

It’ll be interesting to see how well my predictions turn out.

Late World Baseball Classic news for January 14, 2013 (Part 2 of ?)

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More WBC news that has come out (or that I just found) since earlier:

More World Baseball Classic news later (if there is any).

Late World Baseball Classic news for January 14, 2013 (Part 1 of ?)

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News on the World Baseball Classic front since my post this morning:

  • Anthony Rizzo IS going to be playing for Italy.
  • According to Troy Renck, The question of Troy Tulowitzki, much like that of Joey Votto, is based on that of insurance. However, Tulowitzki is probably less likely than Votto. Also, Wilin Rosario, also of the Rockies, is also passing on the WBC, where he would have been a catcher for the Dominican Republic. Although his Twitter feed also has a post from him saying there is still a chance.
  • Enrique Rojas writes that the two catchers for the Dominican as of now are Carlos Santana and Miguel Olivo, but that there is a chance there will be a third emergency catcher (it’s possible that Rosario is that, and that he will play if Santana or Olivo become injured).
  • Evan Grant writes that Matt Harrison of the Rangers received an invite for Team USA but declined. It’s probable that had he signed up, Andy Pettitte might not have been approached, since they both are lefties.
  • One last Rockies/WBC note: Nolan Arenado is on the Puerto Rican preliminary roster but is unlikely to take part due to the fact he is fighting for the starting 3B spot in Colorado.

 

More WBC news throughout the day…