Who’s in/out/in-between of the World Baseball Classic as of 8:48 PM of Dec. 17, 2012

The latest ins and outs for the WBC:

  • As expected of a player with a new team, a history of injury and a love of routine, Josh Hamilton does not expect to play in the World Baseball Classic. Perhaps not an official “no”, but basically everything but an official “no”.
  • Minor League journeyman Gabriel Suarez, of Spanish descent, is “looking forward” to the World Baseball Classic. I’m putting him in the possibly/likely category.
  • According to an article a few days ago in a Venezuelan website, Melvin Mora wants to participate in the WBC for Venezuela, at least if the Google Translation means what I think it does. Mora last played in 2011, and I don’t know if he’d make the team, but for now I’ll place him in the possibly/likely category.

Go below the jump for the full look at who’s in, out and somewhere in-between for the World Baseball Classic.

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Who’s In/Out/In-Between for the World Baseball Classic as of 8:45 PM of Dec. 13, 2012

After a few days, we now have another confirmation about the World Baseball Classic. Shane Victorino has said he will be playing for Team USA. Since it’s not official (since technically the Red Sox need to approve it), I’m placing him in possibly/likely.

Go below the jump for the full look at who’s in, out and somewhere in-between for the World Baseball Classic.

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Australian All-Star Game: A possible look at Team Australia’s WBC Roster

The Australian Baseball League’s All-Star Game is coming up, and it pits the league’s best Australian players against the league’s best foreign players. This allows, interestingly, for something of a glimpse of what Australia’s World Baseball Classic team could look like.

The Australian roster for the ABL ASG, which can be found here, has seven players with MLB experience: pitchers Shane Lindsay, Chris Oxspring and Ryan Rowland-Smith, infielders Brad Harman, Luke Hughes and Justin Huber, and outfielder Chris Snelling, who was born in Florida but grew up in Australia. The WBC roster could add Grant Balfour, Rich Thompson and Travis Blackley, but they aren’t playing in the ABL, so they aren’t on this roster.

Some other notable names on the rest of the roster:

Allan De San Miguel, who has been confirmed to be playing in the WBC, is, as I noted back during my August projections for the Aussies, a light-hitting but good-fielding catcher who spent the past year in the Orioles organization.

Stefan Welch, who was in the Pittsburgh system last year, is a utility guy who can player first and third, although he played mainly third last season.

Elliot Biddle and Mitch Dening were also on my projections. Biddle was one of the best hitters in the ABL in 2011, while Dening was a Indy Leaguer in 2012.

Brendan Wise had a tough year in AAA, but he’s done well in the ABL this season so far, and well-deserves the spot he has on the team. He also will likely be on the WBC team.

One of the players who I did not have on my projections who is on the ABL Australian roster is Paul Mildren. Mildren, a lefty, spent eight season in the minors, reaching as high as AAA. However, he eventually washed-out, but is now pitching professionally down under. While he’s only 1-3 with a 5.40 ERA so far this season, there can never be enough lefties, so it’ll be interesting to see if he make the WBC roster.

Another player who wasn’t on my earlier projections? Corey Adamson. The San Diego prospect has been blazing his way in the ABL this season, one of the league’s leaders in batting average.

Overall, the Australians would do okay if they went to the WBC with this all-star-game team, but they’d probably have trouble advancing, since they are in a tough pool with Korea, Taipei and the Netherlands. Of course, in baseball anything can happen, and if enough MLB players take part for the Aussies, they could be a Cinderella team.

You can expect a full new projection for the Baseballroos sometime in the coming days.

Who’s In/Out/In-Between as of 7:22 PM of Dec. 9, 2012

Today’s movers and shakers:

Alfredo Aceves has apparently volunteered to play for Team Mexico… as a catcher. He’s a pitcher usually. So either there was some sort of joke he made that got lost in translation in Nick Cafardo’s baseball column at the Boston Globe, or he’s considering a position change. What the heck, I’ll put him in as possibly/likely.

Go below the jump for the whole list:

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In/Out/In-Between of the WBC as of 8 PM on December 8, 2012

Today’s changes:

The Boston Globe reports that David Ortiz almost certainly will be unable to play in the WBC, due to his Achilles’ injury not being fully healed yet.

The complete list is below the jump:

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In/Out/In-Between of the WBC as of 9:34 PM on December 7, 2012

To better show the changes to the list, I’ll list the ins/outs and in-between that are new and then, below the jump, there is a list of all of the players who are in or out (or somewhere in between).

Today’s notes:

Angel Pagan will play in the WBC, according to Henry Schulman. As he has not officially been said by the WBC to be in it, I’ve placed him in the possibly/likely.

Brandon Phillips has been asked and is considering it. I’ve placed him in the possibly/likely side.

Johnny Cueto has said he “probably” will pitch for the DR. I’m putting him in possibly/likely.

Marco Scutaro, probably won’t take part, as the 37-year old wants to “save his bullets“.

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In/Out/In-Between of the WBC as of 8:39 PM on December 6, 2012

Who’s playing in the WBC? Who’s dropped out? Who is still being considered or might be taking part? Well, go below the jump for it:

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2013 World Baseball Classic Provisional Roster Analysis: Korea

While the western WBC teams have yet to release provisional rosters publicly, the

Thanks to @MyKBO for making this and sharing it with everybody on Twitter, as well as making the statistics available.

Go after the jump for analysis.

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Random Semi-Humorous Post: And they say American fans don’t care about the WBC…

The WBC is an afterthought for most Americans, aside from freaks like me. But let it not be said that everyone has that opinion. Rest assured, the WBC is a big deal for some people. Just look at what I found while looking on Twitter for WBC news:

 

Yes, a yogurt place in Orem, Utah is offering Bryce Harper free yogurt for life if he changes his mind about the World Baseball Classic. Harper is from Nevada and has family in Utah (his girlfriend is a star soccer player for BYU), so he presumably would be able to stop in Orem to collect it. But will the power of yogurt be enough? Time will tell…

2013 WBC Team USA projections Version 2.1

THE LATEST PROJECTIONS CAN BE FOUND HERE.

Well, with some players beginning to confirm their inclusion or non-participation in the WBC, here are my latest projections. While Team USA is hurt by the fact that Bryce Harper (who likely wants to spend the spring preparing for what will be just his third year as a professional) and David Price are apparently not going to take part, it is bolstered by the fact that Joe Mauer and David Wright have confirmed that they are in. Starting with this set of projections, players who have confirmed that they are participating will be italicized.

A refresher on my selection rules/assumptions:

  • Any player coming off a major injury or who has a history of injuries is unlikely to participate. This is especially true for the pitchers.
  • Players that will be on new teams are less likely to participate, but shouldn’t be completely ignored, with the exception of pitchers.
  • Teams are made up of 28 players, of which 13 of them must be pitchers and two of them catchers.
  • The pitch count rules make relievers extremely important.

Now, go after the jump for the full look:

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