Late WBC News for March 2, 2013

Posted on March 2, 2013 by danglickman

Some final WBC news before tonight’s games (go here for news from earlier in the day)… after jump.

Mid-Day WBC News for March 2, 2013

Posted on March 2, 2013 by danglickman

Just a few bits of WBC news before tonight:

The replacement for Chris Perez is David Hernandez of the Diamondbacks. Earlier reports had him switching from Mexico to Team USA (bringing the hackles from the WBC’s critics), but it turns out he had already had to drop out from Team Mexico due to a lack of documentation to prove he fit the eligibility criteria for them. Brad Ziegler, a Diamondbacks teammate and member of the 2009 WBC team, was the one who broke this story, of all people.

A groin strain has put Yovani Gallardo in doubt for the WBC. This could be huge, as Gallardo was would likely be starting against Team USA for Mexico. If he doesn’t play- or if he plays with a decreased capacity- then Team USA will have caught a break and Mexico dealt a blow.

Melky Mesa sees an opportunity in Yankees camp and is skipping the WBC to try and win the starting job that has come open with Granderson’s injury.

Efrain Nieves will replace the injured Javier Vazquez for Puerto Rico.

And, hey, remember that Mexican NASCAR vehicle that was going to be in a WBC get-up? Well, it won.

On Day 1 of the WBC

Posted on March 2, 2013 by danglickman

Some thoughts on Day 1 of the WBC….

…The Brazilians aren’t screwing around. They very easily could have won that game against Japan had a few plays turned out different, perhaps even had a single play gone differently. This is Brazil’s big coming out party for baseball, and based on the fact that words like “Japao” (Japan) were trending in Brazil, I’d say that they baseball could be seeing the emergence of a new market.

…Korea is in trouble. The Netherlands is good, and may have won their game against Korea even if the Koreans could hit a lick or didn’t have four errors. But the fact that Korea was so impotent at the plate and inept in the field made it a game that was far more of a blowout than the score suggested. So now, Korea is a loss away from near-certain elimination and due to face two tough teams: Taipei and Australia. Neither are close to a guaranteed win, especially if Korea plays like they did against the Honkballers.

…Chien-Ming Wang still has it. Well, not the speed on his pitches, but certainly the sinker and it’s patented ability to get a double-play at the right time. Whatever rallies that Australia was able to have against the Taiwanese starter were quickly destroyed by the twin killings. While I don’t think Wang has the stuff for a MLB starter anymore, he could probably find a good niche as a reliever and spot-starter.

Late WBC News for March 1, 2013

Posted on March 1, 2013 by danglickman

Okay, you can see the early news here, or go below the jump for the most recent news.

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The Baseball Continuum’s 2013 WBC Preview Coverage

Posted on March 1, 2013 by danglickman

Below are links to all of the Baseball Continuum‘s WBC preview coverage (but not the news coverage, since that was more time sensitive):

Pool Previews (includes looks at each team and their nation’s baseball history and culture):

The COMPLETE Grand World Baseball Classic Q&A

WBC Twitter List

Me on Twitter

And, finally, Five Questions Ahead of the WBC.

Early WBC News for March 1, 2013

Posted on March 1, 2013 by danglickman

Last night’s news can be found here. For the latest news, go below the jump:

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Five Questions Ahead of the World Baseball Classic

Posted on March 1, 2013 by danglickman

Here are five questions ahead of the 2013 World Baseball Classic:

1. What non-MLB player will most impress people? Who will be this year’s Yu Darvish, Aroldis Chapman, pre-injury Dice-K or Yoennis Cespedes?

2. Is this finally the year that Team USA wins it, or even makes it to the finals?

3. How will attendance be outside of certain marquee games? In Japan in previous WBCs, for example, attendance was far smaller in games that didn’t have Japan playing, and a similar thing happened in Taiwan in the qualifiers last November. In the USA, while attendance has been generally better, they still fluctuate greatly, with only the Semi-Finals and Finals really being guaranteed to have a gigantic crowd.

4. Will a Cinderella emerge, like how the Netherlands shocked the Dominican Republic in 2009?

5. Will we have an international incident? There are certainly opportunities, given the fact that this is an international competition that features some countries that don’t particularly like each other (Japan and China, for example, have been having a heated territorial dispute over some islands), and there’s always the chance a Cuban might defect. While it’s unlikely that there will be any action by players (with the exception of the defections, of course), it’s possible that fans might not be as restrained.