O's in World Baseball Classic

[Tony-OH]

21 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

Guys get hurt every spring.

We all know spring training is longer than it needs to be.

Why not argue for a shorter spring training that will result in fewer injuries?

You know it's because it takes a certain amount of innings and PAs to get players ramped up to be ready for the season and that players don't play in every game. Sure, players can get hurt and do get hurt in spring training, but the chances of getting hurt playing at 100% in games that feel like they have meaning, plus celebrations, certainly ups the odds. 

 

[btdart20]

36 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

By the way, as you'd expect, Adam Jones is going off on Twitter on people who are upset at Diaz and want to end the WBC. Honestly, his catch may be his most memorable single highlight as a pro.

 

 

 

 

I love that Jones is taking up the conversation.  He's a smart guy with convictions but an open-minded to hear other thoughts, played in a few spheres of competition, and has a good balance of serious/levity with these types of topics.  

[Bahama O's Fan]

I saw Buster Olney this morning in an interview. He said that he asked 6 players on the Dominican team if they would rather win the World Series or WBC. 5 of the 6 said WBC.

[Spy Fox]

I think the WBC after the playoffs argument is pretty flawed in terms of injury prevention. 

The more games you play, the more chances you have to get injured. Playing the WBC at a time that most players would be at home resting, is more baseball and more chances to get injured. I think you'd see a higher number of injuries overall in a year if the WBC was on top of Spring Training instead of during Spring Training. 

I do think playing playoff-intensity baseball early in March is likely a bit more risky than Spring Training, but I'm also curious if there is any research on that sort of thing in other sports. I don't think that connection is as clear as the fact that more games in the year = more chances to get injured. 

If they're not gonna do the WBC mid-season, I think it's in the right place on the calendar. Down the road I do wonder if they could get creative and do it as an extended All-Star Break every few years.

Edited March 17, 2023 by Spy Fox

[SilverRocket]

I already thought the WBC mattered but didn't feel that strongly, but these numbers have convinced me:

63 million! And the ancient 54 million number isn't even a great comparison... the WS games last year had only 12 million viewers. So this is 5x the viewership.

The Mets are also getting reimbursed for Edwin Diaz's salary this year under an MLB policy:

https://theathletic.com/4319742/2023/03/17/mets-edwin-diaz-contract-insurance/

I assume some form of this is in place for all participating players. Maybe there was a disagreement in Ramon Urias's case that made him unable to play. As long as these agreements exist so the teams aren't 100% on the hook, this seems like a ton of upside and minor downside for the game in general.

I would also be surprised if Diaz was really 100% healthy. I suspect he just hit the injury a little sooner than he otherwise would have.

[Jagwar]

2 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

Absolutely. The WBC "supporters" are like "injuries happen," "could of happened to anyone," "it's no big deal," "it's a freak injury," but if we had just lost our catcher for the year because of some dumb exhibition tournament they would be up in arms.

The injury risk and pitchers potentially not getting the work they need to be ready for the season are the two biggest issues I have with the WBC in the spring time. I get it that people enjoy watching baseball, I do too, but they really need to find a way to not affect the regular season and if I'm a team owner, I'm putting in clauses that preclude them from playing in the WBC if it stays in the spring time.

Diaz apparently suffered a torn patella tendon in his right knee. Will he ever be the same again? If Adley had suffered the same injury, would he be able to squat behind the plate again?

I have to admit, I enjoy the format and unique team/player combinations in the WBC. But if I was an owner or GM, and I had a choice, I wouldn't let any of my players participate. 

[Too Tall]

We are so use to "our" baseball, it's hard to fanthom just how intuned to this international baseball competition other countries' fan bases are. It's apparent from the statistics noted above, other countries savor this much more than we do.  Since our major league teams now have such a deep international flavor, I think that MLB and the player's union would have a hard time "short sheeting" this in any way. Not that it will ever happen, but put the WBC at the end of the season after the world series, and I'd love to see the ratings comparisons then as well. The WBC is the Olympics of Baseball. And as far as I am concerned, country versus country will always trump team versus team outside of the USA.

MLB has worked to make baseball an international sport. There is no way they can back down now in spite of the risks. And, yes, if Adley or any of "our guys" played and got hurt, I'd be pissed because to me I grew up with "our" baseball and really can't get into the WBC. But you have to love the passion some of these coutries have. GO USA!!!!!!!!!

[RarityFlaherty]

5 hours ago, Bahama O's Fan said:

I saw Buster Olney this morning in an interview. He said that he asked 6 players on the Dominican team if they would rather win the World Series or WBC. 5 of the 6 said WBC.

Yeah for players from other countries, I can definitely see how they can enjoy representing their team. But I bet most on the US team would say the World Series.
 

For me, rooting for the US team just isn’t any fun. It feels like what I imagine rooting for the Yankees feels like. If you lose, it’s an embarrassment. And even if you win, it’s just what’s expected. No thanks 

[RZNJ]

2 minutes ago, RarityFlaherty said:

Yeah for players from other countries, I can definitely see how they can enjoy representing their team. But I bet most on the US team would say the World Series.
 

For me, rooting for the US team just isn’t any fun. It feels like what I imagine rooting for the Yankees feels like. If you lose, it’s an embarrassment. And even if you win, it’s just what’s expected. No thanks 

Haha, but the Dominican team is like the Yankees too.   And the Japanese team ain't too shabby.   And Venezuela.    I'm not sure the U.S. is the best team on paper.

[RarityFlaherty]

1 minute ago, RZNJ said:

Haha, but the Dominican team is like the Yankees too.   And the Japanese team ain't too shabby.   And Venezuela.    I'm not sure the U.S. is the best team on paper.

Ha yeah they probably aren’t, but they should be. We should dominate our own sport like Canada should always dominate in hockey. 

[Sports Guy]

The WBC is there for the other countries and to help grow the game.  Americans are in their little bubble and don’t care about that stuff but it matters to the sport.

Great event and a freak injury shouldn’t change anything although it wouldn’t surprise me if the owners stepped in on some of these decisions.

[Can_of_corn]

7 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

You know it's because it takes a certain amount of innings and PAs to get players ramped up to be ready for the season and that players don't play in every game. Sure, players can get hurt and do get hurt in spring training, but the chances of getting hurt playing at 100% in games that feel like they have meaning, plus celebrations, certainly ups the odds. 

 

That sounds really reasonable.

But I would not be surprised if the data was parsed and it wasn't true.

I also don't think in today's game that anyone is showing up to ST in anything less than full ready to go shape. 

[Can_of_corn]

7 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

The WBC is there for the other countries and to help grow the game.  Americans are in their little bubble and don’t care about that stuff but it matters to the sport.

Great event and a freak injury shouldn’t change anything although it wouldn’t surprise me if the owners stepped in on some of these decisions.

They are going to see the global numbers and it won't be a problem.  In the grand scheme of things it's a big success.  It was never about the US fans.

[RZNJ]

3 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

They are going to see the global numbers and it won't be a problem.  In the grand scheme of things it's a big success.  It was never about the US fans.

Right.  And in the end, the WBC is good for the owners because one way or the other, it's going to make MLB and the owners more money.

[RarityFlaherty]

5 hours ago, Spy Fox said:

I think the WBC after the playoffs argument is pretty flawed in terms of injury prevention. 

The more games you play, the more chances you have to get injured. Playing the WBC at a time that most players would be at home resting, is more baseball and more chances to get injured. I think you'd see a higher number of injuries overall in a year if the WBC was on top of Spring Training instead of during Spring Training. 

I do think playing playoff-intensity baseball early in March is likely a bit more risky than Spring Training, but I'm also curious if there is any research on that sort of thing in other sports. I don't think that connection is as clear as the fact that more games in the year = more chances to get injured. 

If they're not gonna do the WBC mid-season, I think it's in the right place on the calendar. Down the road I do wonder if they could get creative and do it as an extended All-Star Break every few years.

I really like the idea of it being after the World Series. I only googled it, so correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems like the most games each team could play is only 7. To me, that means really the only guys you should be worried about (and possibly protect from an extended workload), would be players who played in the World Series. You’d hope that everyone else has at least another 7 games in them just in case their team actually made it to the World Series.