No real time to blog about it as much as I would like, given that I’m in the midst of changing jobs and prepping for a conference, but the fact that the Baseball World Cup is finally seeing shape (albeit as the “World Baseball Classic”) is awesome to me. Interesting bits from that article:
Some country pride and modesty from Beltre:
“I would like to play in that, but the Dominican has a lot of good players,” Mariners third baseman Adrian Beltre said last year. “Who knows if I would be in it? If I was [chosen] to be in it, I’d like to represent my country.”
And of course, the prevailing fears of injuries:
According to one union official, major-league clubs will not be able to block any of their players from participating…
One union official said that insurance to cover player contracts in the event of injuries during the tournament had been addressed to MLB’s satisfaction.
This can only be great for the sport, in my opinion - it’ll build up the sport’s popularity and thus deepen the talent pool from which MLB can draw players. But of course what’s good for the group may not be good for the individual, and it’s quite possible that an important major leaguer could come up hurt for his team. Having said that, there are limitations on pitch counts, which is always good, and some players do play winter ball against their team’s wishes so it’s not like that risk doesn’t occur anyway…
SoSH has a series of speculative lineups for various countries - I came up with the Canadian one (with some minor amendments from fellow board members).
C - Pete LaForest
1B - Justin Morneau
2B - Danny Klassen
3B - Corey Koskie
SS - Pete Orr
LF - Jason Bay
CF - Adam Stern
RF - Larry Walker
DH - Matt Stairs
Bench - Mark Teahen, Aaron Guiel?, Cody McKay?
SP - Rich Harden
SP - Erik Bedard
SP - Ryan Dempster
SP - Jeff Francis
RP - Chris Reitsma
RP - Rheal Cormier
RP - Jesse Crain
RP - Paul Quantrill
Closer - Eric Gagne
Edit: Incidentally - does anyone need someone to cover the Asian regionals of the World Cup? Hint, hint. :)