world baseball classic

[miamikid92]

who do you think is going to win it all?


im going with the u.s:goof:

 

[Ray Finkle]

U.S. or The Dominican Republic (Both will be in the finals in my opinion if they don't meet in the quarter finals or semifinals)

I personally think the U.S. has the edge because of the pitching. Good pitching will always beat good hitting.

 

[Quelonio]

México!!!!... one can dream can't he?

 

[HysterikiLL]

Syria

 

[MikeO]

U.S. or The Dominican Republic (Both will be in the finals in my opinion if they don't meet in the quarter finals or semifinals)

I personally think the U.S. has the edge because of the pitching. Good pitching will always beat good hitting.

LOL......these pitchers are on pitch counts. And the position players are on a "rotation" and won't play back-to-back games in most cases.

And in March....there is no good pitching!

 

[Ray Finkle]

LOL......these pitchers are on pitch counts. And the position players are on a "rotation" and won't play back-to-back games in most cases.

And in March....there is no good pitching!

The U.S. still has a better pitching staff.

D.R. Roster (not final): http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/worldclassic2006/news/story?id=2295385

U.S. Roster: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/worldclassic2006/news/story?id=2294648

Which pitching staff would you rather have, even with pitch counts?

You do have a point though, most pitchers are rusty in Spring Training, because they're basically working on their motion or trying new pitches. Sometimes a pitcher will just throw 1 pitch the whole inning, you can't judge Spring Training stats. Even the better hitters are rusty in Spring Training.

However you'd have to think that the pitchers in the WBC will treat it more than an pratice game, they will be serious about it and ready to go.

 

[MikeO]

The U.S. still has a better pitching staff.

D.R. Roster (not final): http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/worldclassic2006/news/story?id=2295385

U.S. Roster: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/worldclassic2006/news/story?id=2294648

Which pitching staff would you rather have, even with pitch counts?

You do have a point though, most pitchers are rusty in Spring Training, because they're basically working on their motion or trying new pitches. Sometimes a pitcher will just throw 1 pitch the whole inning, you can't judge Spring Training stats. Even the better hitters are rusty in Spring Training.

However you'd have to think that the pitchers in the WBC will treat it more than an pratice game, they will be serious about it and ready to go.

We need Roger to hit somone in the head to bring some juice to these games!

 

[Ray Finkle]

We need Roger to hit somone in the head to bring some juice to these games!

Maybe for people to watch it, but I think the players (especially from Latin America) will be pumped up for the WBC.

 

[MikeO]

Maybe for people to watch it, but I think the players (especially from Latin America) will be pumped up for the WBC.

I don't. It's still going to be a bunch of millionares playing meaningless games in March trying not to get injured for the "real" season to start.

 

[Ray Finkle]

I don't. It's still going to be a bunch of millionares playing meaningless games in March trying not to get injured for the "real" season to start.

I disagree. It's pride for a lot of people in WBC (like I said especially in Latin America). Plus not everyone playing in the WBC are millionares or in the MLB. You don't think Cuba is going to be pumped up for it?

You can't tell me someone like Clemens, Jeter or Willis think its meaningless? I'm sure there's some guys who don't care about it but I think more players do care. If they don't they wouldn't be on the roster (ala Barry Bonds) the player just would have said no.

 

[MikeO]

I disagree. It's pride for a lot of people in WBC (like I said especially in Latin America). Plus not everyone playing in the WBC are millionares or in the MLB. You don't think Cuba is going to be pumped up for it?

You can't tell me someone like Clemens, Jeter or Willis think its meaningless? I'm sure there's some guys who don't care about it but I think more players do care. If they don't they wouldn't be on the roster (ala Barry Bonds) the player just would have said no.

If you think Jeter, A-Rod, Ortiz, or whoever is going to slide into 2nd hard to try and break up a double-play YOUR NUTS!!!!!! If you think Jeter is going face first 4 rows deep into the stands trying to catch a ball YOUR NUTS! It just isn't going to happen.

And to watch non-MLB players go balls to the wall.......playing MILLIONARE MLB players go half-speed, its going to make for bad baseball.

And its not that Bonds doesn't care, the guy just missed an entire season. Why risk injury playing for nothing when he has a huge season in front of him where he could break some unthinkable records?????

 

[Ray Finkle]

If you think Jeter, A-Rod, Ortiz, or whoever is going to slide into 2nd hard to try and break up a double-play YOUR NUTS!!!!!! If you think Jeter is going face first 4 rows deep into the stands trying to catch a ball YOUR NUTS! It just isn't going to happen.

And to watch non-MLB players go balls to the wall.......playing MILLIONARE MLB players go half-speed, its going to make for bad baseball.

And its not that Bonds doesn't care, the guy just missed an entire season. Why risk injury playing for nothing when he has a huge season in front of him where he could break some unthinkable records?????

Actually I do think that someone like Jeter would go all out. I think he has too much respect for the game not too.

How is watching non-MLB players go balls to the wall against MLB players going to make bad baseball? I agree seeing the South African team play the U.S. is going to be brutual to watch however again you can't tell me that non MLB guys playing for Cuba playing the U.S. isn't going to be a good game. There's going to be a lot of talent playing in the WBC.

And again people from Latin America WILL play hard and go all out because it's a pride thing to them. I know you don't care about the WBC, and I really don't care about it much either but I'm sure that the majority of the players playing in the WBC do care. Again like I said if they didn't care they wouldn't play.

Bonds was one person that dropped out, but even if he was healthy I doubt you'd see him play in the WBC. What about guys like Lance Berkman or Matsui or the others who dropped out. Maybe I should have used them instead.

 

[MikeO]

Bonds was one person that dropped out, but even if he was healthy I doubt you'd see him play in the WBC. What about guys like Lance Berkman or Matsui or the others who dropped out. Maybe I should have used them instead.

Well, NO Yankee pitchers are in this. Management won't allow it. They pay them too much money to blow their arms out under the control of someone not being paid by the Yanks!

Berkman is another guy who is injury prone and always hurt. He doesn't need this on his plate. Matsui plays every game and never takes a day off, he doesn't need this extra nonsense around him just before a big season.

I'm telling ya, when you have position players on a "rotation" (which means guys like A-Rod and Jeter might not even play in the championship game if they get there cause it happens to fall on their scheduled "OFF DAY" or if rain moves the game a day or two one way, Atlanta is thinking of telling the team that Chipper Jones can ONLY DH and not play the field, once a pitcher hits a number, he MUST come out. Could have a 1-2 count on a guy in the 4th inning and wait......stop the game, time for a pitching change... how can you take this seroiusly? There is no pride! This is a glorified all star game for EVERY team. Even the Latin American team.

 

[miamikid92]

looks like the u.s can take their pool all they have is canada mexico and south africa

 

[Ray Finkle]

I'm telling ya, when you have position players on a "rotation" (which means guys like A-Rod and Jeter might not even play in the championship game if they get there cause it happens to fall on their scheduled "OFF DAY" or if rain moves the game a day or two one way, Atlanta is thinking of telling the team that Chipper Jones can ONLY DH and not play the field, once a pitcher hits a number, he MUST come out. Could have a 1-2 count on a guy in the 4th inning and wait......stop the game, time for a pitching change... how can you take this seroiusly? There is no pride! This is a glorified all star game for EVERY team. Even the Latin American team.

If you're refering to the pitch count rule, I suggest you go back and reread the rules. The rules state that a pitcher cannot start an inning if he has over the limited number of pitches. A pitcher can finish a batters at bat even if he goes over that amount. (For example if the pitch limit is 60 and Clemens has 59 pitches going into the 5th inning he could finish that batters at bat the even if he throws an extra 20 pitches. Clemens couldn't start the inning if he was past 60 pitches).

It's your opinion that there's no pride involved. Why is Pedro Martinez who is one pitch away from his career ending going to be pitching for his country? It's called pride. Believe it or not not every player is greedy and like I've said the majority of the players playing in this thing there is a pride thing going for them. If there wasn't then why would these MILLIONAIRES even play?

I never said that as a fan I'm taking this thing seriously, I agree that these rules stink and the Classic is going to be a joke. However what I said was is that these players are going to take it seriously when they play. They're not going to joke around or embarass themselves out there.

I also agree with the Yankees not wanting their pitchers in this thing. If I were them I wouldn't want them pitching either.

Also where did you hear about the players playing on a rotation? I'm not doubting you at all but I never seen or heard of that.