Continuing as your source for the WBC, go below the jump for the latest update of players that are in, out or somewhere in-between of the WBC.
In/Out/In-Between of the WBC as of 9:00 PM on December 5, 2012
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Category Archives: Baseball
Winter Meetings Actions and Reactions: Part 4
Action:
Yankees have just been priced out of Jeff Keppinger and Eric Chavez. #mayanapocalypse
— Jorge Arangure (@jorgearangure) December 5, 2012
Reaction: It is true. The Yankees apparently were in on Jeff Keppinger and Eric Chavez, looking to get them to fill the black hole that has now emerged at 3B now that Alex Rodriguez is hurt. Neither of them signed: Keppinger went to the White Sox, and Chavez went to the Diamondbacks. And, let’s face it, even if you are a true seamhead, you may have trouble remembered who Jeff Keppinger even is.
So, the third choice (assuming that they even went after Keppinger and Chavez, as some say they never even made an offer to them) is… Kevin Youkilis.
How the mighty have fallen. How the mighty have fallen.
Action:
Jason Bay agrees to contract with Mariners dlvr.it/2bBSCH
— Rotoworld Baseball (@Rotoworld_BB) December 5, 2012
Reaction: Jason Bay isn’t what he used to be back during his days as the Pirates’ designated All-Star, having been worn down by age and injury, but really, the Mariners need all the help they can get and it’s just a one-year deal. Maybe if he shows flashes of his old self the Mariners will be able to flip him at the deadline for some prospects.
Action:
Strib reporting #MNTwins have offers to Saunders, Liriano (share same agency). Twins also interested in Lannan, McCarthy, Myers, others.
— Phil Mackey (@PMac21) December 5, 2012
Reaction: In other words, if you are breathing and can throw a baseball with anything resembling Major League ability, the Twins might offer you a contract. And can you blame them? The Twins had a 4.77 ERA last season, only two starters had winning records, and that was in a cavernous pitcher’s park. They need one or two starters to eat innings, protect the young arms, and possibly act as trade-bait if the Twins are out of it mid-year.
As of 10:03 PM of December 4, 2012, here’s who is IN and OUT of the 2013 WBC
Here’s an update of yesterday’s post. To save space, go after the jump to see the list.
Winter Meetings Action and Reactions: Part 3
Action:
Sources: Dan Haren in agreement with #Nationals, one year, $13M. Pending physical.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 4, 2012
Reaction: Dan Haren could very well end up being the fifth starter for Washington. Fifth. This is a three-time All-Star who until recently didn’t have many injury concerns and who doesn’t walk many people. A nice deal for both parties, barring an injury.
Action:
On other hand, #Marlins clearly would like to move Yunel Escobar. I count 4 teams definitely in on him: #Rays, #A‘s, #Yankees & #Cubs
— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) December 4, 2012
Reaction: I think Yankees Pacific Rim scout “David P.” sums it up nicely-
How soon before Jeffrey Loria tries to sell every player on roster for court-side Miami Heat tickets.#wintermeetings — Yankeesource (@YankeeSource) December 4, 2012
Action:
#Angels have checked in on virtually every SP: Anibal Sanchez, Kyle Lohse, Edwin Jackson, Ryan Dempster, Joe Saunders. Greinke first choice. — Mike DiGiovanna (@MikeDiGiovanna) December 4, 2012
Reaction: The Angels’ road to getting Greinke may be easier since the Nationals have now gotten a pitcher, but the fact is is that for the most part the entire pitching market seems to be in a stand-still as everyone waits for Greinke to sign. A similar thing is happening, to a lesser degree, with Hamilton and the hitters. Action:
Craig Kimbrel is looking forward to pitching for Team USA in the WBC. Rosters will be announced in January.
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) December 4, 2012
Reaction: Called it.
2013 WBC Provisional Roster Analysis: Japan
While most of the western WBC teams aren’t going to reveal their full rosters until January, Japan has already come up with a provisional roster of 34 players. Eventually, they will cut it down to 28 players, but for now, here’s an analysis of their provisional roster. As expected, they have no MLB players, due to the fact they all bailed out. Ichiro, for example, may be with a new team and apparently said after the ’09 Classic that he was unlikely to play in it again because he wants to have gone out on top. Yu Darvish is worried about how his body will be after throwing so much last season. Hiroki Kuroda is old.
So, instead, Japan will be sending an NPB all-star team. Many of these guys could play in MLB if they wanted to and some of them still may. One of them- Kazuo Matsui– was once an MLB player. And, of course, they will have been preparing for a month or more for the tournament, as opposed to the week or so that most of the western teams will.
Don’t underestimate them. Instead, go after the jump for my analysis.
At 8 PM of December 3rd, 2012, here’s who is IN the WBC and who is OUT of the WBC
Surprisingly, the provisional rosters for the WBC will be released in January this time around, at least for Team USA. I saw some rumors about this earlier, and it mainly has to do with the fact that the teams that had to go through qualifiers and some logistics dealing with the Asian bracket are what delayed it.
Expect the beginnings of more projections in the next few days, but here’s a list of players we KNOW have committed to the World Baseball Classic, as well as who we KNOW to be out. Go after the jump for it.
WBC News from the Winter Meetings (WILL BE CONSTANTLY UPDATED THROUGHOUT THE DAY)
This is the Winter Meetings World Baseball Classic update post. I’ll post links and news that I find on Twitter or other online sources about WBC news from the Winter Meetings here. Come back later as more stuff is added.
2:10 PM, Monday: The earliest schedule is up on the WBC website, although not quite complete (some games in the Asian pools are missing), it gives a good idea of what will be going on. Needless to say, there will be early mornings for me in March.
Next off, Chien-Ming Wang will be playing for Taipei in the WBC as a way to showcase himself for teams.
And finally, we have confirmation that Andruw Jones will play for the Netherlands.
3:24 PM, Monday: The schedule for the WBC on the website is no longer there, suggesting to me that somebody put it up before it was supposed to. Joe Torre will apparently be speaking later today, and although it likely will include lots of stuff about his role in the MLB front office, he will surely talk about his role as the manager of Team USA as well.
4:06 PM, Monday: WBC has released an early sheet of some of the notable players who will be playing for each country, although they seem to limit it to a maximum of two per country, presumably to save space on the list.
MLB players on the list include Liam Hendriks and Grant Balfour (for Australia- Balfour is a surprise since he hasn’t pitched for them in past WBCs), Yan Gomes (Brazil), Justin Morneau (Canada), Robinson Cano and Jose Reyes for the DR, Alex Liddi and Italian-American Jason Grilli for Italy, Adrian Gonzalez and Sergio Romo for Mexico, Andruw Jones and Roger Bernadina for the Netherlands, Yadier Molina and Carlos Beltran for PR, David Wright and Joe Mauer for the USA, and Miguel Cabrera and Pablo Sandoval for Venezuela.
4:26 PM, Monday: This is weird. The previous list has been replaced with this one, which has some differences. For example, it replaces Hendriks and Balfour with Ryan Rowland-Smith and Luke Hughes, it adds Brett Lawrie to Canada, it confirms Chien-Ming Wang for Taipei and replaces Sergio Romo with Jaime Garcia. I’m not sure why this is. Perhaps the first one they put up was a first draft or something.
More news if it comes out.
Winter Meetings Action and Reaction: Part 2
Part of a feature in which I react to the news coming from the Winter Meetings.
Action:
Hall of Fame 16 member pre-integration committee elected three new members: Hank O’Day (umpire), Jacob Ruppert (Yankees owner), Deacon White
— Scott Miller (@ScottMCBS) December 3, 2012
Reaction: An umpire, an owner and a player. The biggest surprise though is that more than one person was elected by the Veterans Committee- previously they haven’t put in this many.
Action:
Mike Napoli has deal in place with #RedSox. Source confirms @peteabe report of high AAV 3-year deal.
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) December 3, 2012
Reaction: Well, I guess the Red Sox are back to their old ways. The large amounts of salary they dumped on the Dodgers earlier this year means that they they once again will be able to spend. Mike Napoli has long been a good hitter, and although he likely is now on the downward part of his career, he should be a good fit in Fenway.
More actions and reactions will come semi-regularly throughout the Winter Meetings.
Action and Reaction, Winter Meetings, Part 1
Throughout the Winter Meetings, I’ll react to the acts that are going on in Baseball.
Action:
Free-agent reliever Brad Lidge has informed his agents, Rex Gary & Jim Turner, that he plans to retire. One of the all-time class acts.
— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) December 3, 2012
Reaction: I saw Lidge pitch once when he was with Houston. It was the year after he’d had his soul eaten by Albert Pujols, who sent a go-ahead home run in the NLCS so far into the night that I believe one of the Mars rovers recently discovered it. He got the save, if memory serves, but it was during one of the down points of his career. You see, Lidge was a player who was either lights-out or a heart attack waiting to happen, great one year but not-so-great the next, and injury-prone often (he mentioned on MLB Network this morning that he’s had 9 surgeries over his career). Overall, however, he had a good career, and as he retires he goes out with 225 saves, two All-Star Games, he played a role in a combined no-hitter against the Yankees, a World Series ring and appearances in two other World Series.
Action:
Hear exclusively Alex Rodriguez was playing with re-tear in surgically repaired hip Likely going for another surgery #Yankees (cont)
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) December 3, 2012
A-Rod will miss at least piece of ’13. Hope is surgery will allow for successful player again for #Yankees
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) December 3, 2012
Reaction: Oh, Alex Rodriguez. It never seems to end for him. With every successive year, his contract with the Yankees becomes even more of a albatross, and as his body breaks down and production decreases, it’s also becoming clear that the one saving grace the Yankees might have had- the attention that would come when Rodriguez could break Bonds’ HR record- is highly unlikely.
Action:
@ken_rosenthal reporting James Loney close to deal with the #Rays. James Shields on multiple teams shopping lists. He won’t come cheaply.
— Dan Plesac (@Plesac19) December 3, 2012
Reaction: And so it begins for the Tampa Rays, who many- including me- think will be a big mover-and-shaker at the Winter Meetings.They have an excess amount of good pitchers. Everybody wants good pitchers. And the Rays aren’t the market where they are able to sign lots of guys to long-term deals once they get expensive (with the exception of Evan Longoria, of course). To flip a pitcher could be a prudent move, for the right prospects. James Shields is the most likely to be dealt, but there have been on-and-off rumblings about David Price for about a year and a half. James Loney, meanwhile, seems like the type of guy who could turn out to be a shrewd move for the Rays. He had an off-year in 2012, but a rebound could give a good new cog to the Rays’ lineup.
Non-Baseball Action:
The 2012 #SISportsman of the Year: @kingjames // on.si.com/UkdUIR| twitter.com/SInow/status/2…
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) December 3, 2012
Reaction: Others might have been more deserving, but it is hard to argue with a MVP, a league title and an Olympic Gold medal.
Keep an eye open for more Action and Reaction throughout the Winter Meetings.
Q and A: The Winter Meetings
Baseball’s “Winter Meetings” are about to get going in Nashville. You may be wondering why this is happening, and what it is. So, here’s a little question and answer for those of you wondering about it.
What are baseball’s Winter Meetings?
Meetings by baseball people. In the winter.
Very funny, mind going a bit more in-depth?
Okay, technically, the Winter Meetings is a trade-show and convention. Baseball people- from the highest owners, GMs, agents and superstars to the lowest of job-seekers, salesmen and tourists confused as to why their hotel is so full- come to the meetings to discuss business, network, sell their wares, buy stuff, and honor some people over dinners. It’s usually held in a tourist mecca with big nice hotels, like San Diego, Orlando, or, this year, Nashville’s Opryland resort. Technically, the Winter Meetings are run by Minor League Baseball and it’s where many people try to get jobs with minor league front offices, but it’s the MLB parts of the meetings that get all the attention.
That’s it?
More or less. But, guess what? When people in Major League Baseball “discuss business, network, sell their wares, buy stuff and honor some people over dinners”, it’s far different than if, say, paper salesmen were doing that. No offense to paper salesmen. You see, the fact that almost every major baseball mover-and-shaker is in such a small place means that it’s a place where deals and negotiations can happen quickly. Instead of playing phone-tag or flying around in private jets to do negotiations, agents and GMs only have to go between hotel rooms.
Because of this, a ton of deals get made during the winter meetings, far more than the average day of the off-season.
Anything else?
Several announcements will be made during the Winter Meetings.
The Veterans Committee, for example, will be voting for the Hall of Famers on their ballot during the Meetings. Notable names include Bill Dahlen, Jacob Ruppert, Marty Marion and Wes Ferrell. Well, they are notable to seamheads like me, at least.
There will also be announcements about the World Baseball Classic, including a schedule and probably provisional rosters.
And maybe, just maybe, somebody will fall into a fountain and get caught doing it by a MLB Network camera.
How can I follow these… winter meetings?
Well, I’m going to be there, of course, so I’ll… I’m sorry, that’s not true. I’m not going to be there. I’d entered a contest to try and win a trip there, but I lost. Which is a bummer.
So instead, I suggest you follow baseball people on Twitter and watch MLB Network, and perhaps ESPN as well.
Okay, thanks.
You’re welcome.
The Baseball Continuum 