Today’s World Baseball Classic news is available after the jump (due to length):
Early WBC news for Feb. 14, 2013
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A little bit of late WBC news for February 13, 2013
Go here for earlier news of the day on the World Baseball Classic.
Cuba’s national team roster has been confirmed completely for the WBC now. The only way it will now change will be if there is a last-second injury:
The roster is the following:
Catchers: Frank Camilo Morejon Reyes (IND), Yosvani Peraza (PRI), and Eriel Sanchez Leon (SSP).
Infielders: Jose Dariel Abreu Correa (CFG), Jose Miguel Fernandez Diaz (MTZ), Erisbel Arruebarruena Escalante (CFG), Yulieski Gourriel Castillo and newcomers Raul Gonzalez (CA), Luis Felipe Rivera and Andy Ibañez, both from Isla de la Juventud.
Outfielders: Alfredo Despaigne Rodriguez (GRA), Frederich Cepeda Cruz (SSP), Guillermo Heredia Molina (MTZ), Alexei Bell Quintero (SCU), and Yasmani Tomas (IND).
Hurlers: Odrisamer Despaigne Orue (IND), Freddy A. Alvarez Saez (VCL), Ismel Jimenez Santiago (SSP), Vladimir Garcia Escalante (CAV), Yadier Pedroso (ART) Norberto Gonzalez Miranda (CFG), Alexander Rodriguez Matos (GTM), Yander Guevara Morales (CAV), Danny Betancourt (SCU), Leandro Martinez (Gr), Diosdani Castillo (Vcl), Raciel Iglesias and Wilber Perez, both from IJV.
Victor Mesa will be the manager of the team.
What will Barry Larkin do before managing Team Brazil in the WBC? Why, he’s going to India to teach baseball as part of a State Department program. Between doing these while also doing work for ESPN and watching his son tear it up for the University of Miami basketball team, I must wonder: does he ever sleep?
More news tomorrow….
Early WBC News for Feb. 13, 2013
As we near the World Baseball Classic, I’ll be collecting news and notes about it. Due to length, it starts after the jump.
BREAKING NEWS: All of the WBC Games on MLB Network will be live- except for Korea vs. Netherlands
I mentioned in one of my World Baseball Classic Q&As that MLB Network was going to broadcast the WBC, but noted that there was only one MLB Network and sometimes there might be more than one game going on.
So, to find out, exactly, whether all of the games on MLB Network were going to be live, I decided to… write to MLB Network. Here is their response:
Dan,
Thank you for your interest in MLB Network and the World Baseball Classic. All games will be aired live with the exception of the Korea vs. Netherlands game on Saturday, March 2 at 6:30 am ET. This game overlaps with the Japan vs. Brazil game at 5 am ET, so it will air in full starting at 8 am ET on Saturday, March 2.
Thank you,
MLB Network
I also wouldn’t be shocked if some games end up getting joined “already in progress” if some games go long, but that is so standard that I think we can assume that even if it’s not confirmed.
To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time that it’s been confirmed that all of the WBC games (save for Korea vs. Netherlands) will be live on MLB Network, although it made sense to presume so beforehand. So, I guess I can say that this is the first news ever broken by the Baseball Continuum, unless I missed a sentence somewhere in a press release awhile ago.
So, there you have it: MLB Network will be the LIVE home of every World Baseball Classic game, except for the Korea-Netherlands game, which will be on tape delay.
The COMPLETE Grand World Baseball Classic Question and Answer
If you don’t want to read the WBC Q&A posts one by one, feel free to go below the jump to see the whole thing. In addition, don’t forget that Joe Connor’s WBC Guide remains on sale.
The grand World Baseball Classic Question and Answer (Part 4: Miscellaneous)
New Countdowns: Spring Training games and the WBC
With pitchers and catchers now beginning to report, there are now two new countdowns on the side of the main page: The first is to the first spring training games (exhibitions by the Red Sox against college teams), and the second is to the 11:30 PM Eastern game between Taipei and Australia that will open the WBC on March 1.
World Baseball Classic Update: Gio Gonzalez upgrades the USA rotation
With Kris Medlen and Andy Pettitte out and Justin Verlander still making up his mind, the Team USA rotation was down to R.A. Dickey, Ryan Vogelsong and Derek Holland. Hardly a rotation of slouches (you could do very well in MLB with a front three that looked like that), but not exactly the names to strike fear into the hearts of the world’s hitters.
Well, yesterday, Team USA got an upgrade: Gio Gonzalez of the Washington Nationals. Although currently under a cloud of suspicion due to his name being on the Biogenesis papers (but apparently not linked to any banned substances), Gonzalez instantly gives Team USA’s rotation a good shot in the arm. He won 21 games last season while leading the NL in strikeouts per 9 IP and fewest HR per 9 IP. He’s left-handed, young, and a two-time All-Star.
And, more importantly, it gives Team USA two aces, not just one, as well as two left-handed starters, not just one.
And, what’s more, if Verlander decides to play, it could allow Team USA to have a rotation of Verlander, Dickey, Gonzalez, Vogelsong and Holland.
And that rotation would strike fear into the hearts of the world’s hitters.
World Baseball Classic update: In which Felix Hernandez drops out and Venezuela doesn’t take it well
Not wanting any type of freak injury or something mess up his mega-contract negotiations, Felix Hernandez has dropped out of the World Baseball Classic.
Venezuela, which takes the WBC very seriously, is not happy. At all. How not happy are they?
Well, here’s an image of what a sports newspaper in Venezuela looks like today. According to Google Translate, that headline basically says that Felix has devalued Venezuela, or no longer appreciates Venezuela, or something like that. The news also is on the front page of the two Venezuelan newspapers on the Newseum website, and Venezuelan journalist Efrain Ruiz Pantin tweeted that for many Venezuelans it was a bigger deal than that country’s recent currency devaluation. Another Venezuelan journalist reported that the chairman of the Venezuelan Baseball Federation wants to veto/ban any teams from signing Venezuelans if they won’t collaborate with international competitions. It is presumably only a matter of time before Hugo Chavez himself comments on the situation, assuming that he isn’t in the hospital again.
And this is what leads to a tough situation for Latino players in the WBC: they have left their homelands, where they often lived in poverty, for riches in America. They are literally playing for a way to have their families have a better way of life. So they cannot be blamed for passing on the WBC when it could possibly endanger the riches that could keep help their family for generations. This is (more or less) what Felix Hernandez himself tweeted out shortly after the news came out: the financial security of his family was what was coming first.
But, on the other hand, the WBC is a big deal in the Caribbean, and if a player backs out, they appear ungrateful to the nation that had been supporting them and has been holding the player as a national hero. You could not blame a player for risking a big contract to play for such passionate fans.
And so, players like King Felix are in a no-win situation. Don’t play in the WBC, and an entire nation questions his patriotism (or worse). Play in the WBC, and you could run a risk- however small- of ruining the chance to have yourself and your family being set for life.
Felix made his choice. It will be interesting to see what follows.
The Baseball Continuum 