World Baseball Classic thread

[G-Snarls]

Starting this now to separate it from all the Spring Training news, discussion and threads that will be starting.

A good preview from MLB.com:

https://www.mlb.com/news/2023-world-...lassic-rosters

It’s nearly here. After a six-year wait, the World Baseball Classic has returned, and it’s bigger than ever. That’s not hyperbole, either: The tournament field has been expanded to 20 teams, with three first-time participants in Great Britain, the Czech Republic and Nicaragua hoping for a Cinderella run. But they’ll need to get past Japan (looking for its third title), the USA (hoping for a repeat), the Dominican Republic (the pre-tournament favorite) and Puerto Rico (trying to win it all following back-to-back second-place finishes).

Baseball is more of a global game than ever before, and that’s proven on the rosters: There are 67 MLB All-Stars, 186 players on 40-man rosters and 332 players under contract with big league teams. There are eight Major League MVPs in Paul Goldschmidt, Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, Clayton Kershaw, Jose Altuve and Miguel Cabrera. In fact, 16 of the top 18 finishers for the 2022 NL MVP and six of the top 10 finishers for the 2022 AL MVP are scheduled to participate in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, with the reigning Nippon Professional Baseball MVP Munetaka Murakami and Korea Baseball Organization MVP Jung-Hoo Lee joining in, too.

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[G-Snarls]

Check out every team's announced roster here:

https://www.mlb.com/world-baseball-classic/teams

[Laika]

Canada's roster is pretty good. Surprised.

The weak spot will again be Ernie Whitt who is a horrendous manager in game.

[G-Snarls]

Canada's roster is pretty good. Surprised.

The weak spot will again be Ernie Whitt who is a horrendous manager in game.

Not bad at all, I agree

Coaching staff is pretty cool actually though you're right about Whitt


Ernie Whitt
Manager

Denis Boucher
Pitching Coach

Larry Walker
First Base Coach

Tim Leiper
Third Base Coach

Paul Quantrill
Bullpen Coach

Greg Hamilton
Coach

Russell Martin
Coach

[Laika]

Not bad at all, I agree

Coaching staff is pretty cool actually though you're right about Whitt


Ernie Whitt
Manager

Denis Boucher
Pitching Coach

Larry Walker
First Base Coach

Tim Leiper
Third Base Coach

Paul Quantrill
Bullpen Coach

Greg Hamilton
Coach

Russell Martin
Coach

Russell!

[Laika]

I think Canada could surprise because a couple of the prospect kids on the team are really interesting. Edouard Julien in particular. But a few others have decent stats.

[G-Snarls]

As expected, the DR has to be the heavy favorite. Tough to beat this team:

1B - Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
2B - Jeremy Peña
SS - Wander Franco or Jeremy Peña
3B - Manny Machado or Rafael Devers
LF - Juan Soto
CF - Julio Rodríguez
RF - Eloy Jiménez
C - Gary Sanchez
DH - Probably Devers cause you have to use Machado over him at 3B unless you want to go 2B Franco SS Machado 3B Devers. Also have Nelson Cruz.

Bench: Mejia, Segura, Adames, Teoscar Hernandez, Nelson Cruz and a bunch of others

SP:

Sandy Alcantara
Framber Valdez
Cristian Javier

BP:

Bryan Abreu
Camilo Doval
Cesar Valdez
Diego Castillo
Emmanuel Clase
Gregory Soto
Hector Neris
Jhoan Duran
Johnny Cueto
Rafael Montero
Yimi Garcia

[G-Snarls]

In all honestly what do you do with all these star SS/3B??? Nice problem to have! LOL

Machado, Devers, Pena, Franco like FFS

[Jonn]

Wild to me who they can get Freddie Freeman to play but so many Canadians just flat out refuse.

Also had no idea Otto Lopez was Canadian.

[Grant77]

Otto Lopez is Canadian? I learned something new today.

No-shows really hurt the Canadian roster, especially on the pitching side. There's some talent, but any of Taillon Soroka, Paxton, Romano, and Pop would have really helped. We're really going to have to lean on Quantrill and Pivetta.

On the hitting side, this lineup will crush right handers. Josh Naylor and the presumably injured Joey Votto would have been nice, but it's still solid.

[Krylian]

Is he Canadian or is he Vladdy Canadian?

[Grant77]

Is he Canadian or is he Vladdy Canadian?

He was born in the DR and raised in Canada, even playing hockey while he was growing up. That makes him full Canadian haha.

[Stangstag]

He was born in the DR and raised in Canada, even playing hockey while he was growing up. That makes him full Canadian haha.

Definitely doesn’t speak like he was raised in Canada lol

[Stangstag]

Super excited for this, makes the offseason feel shorter for sure. Competitive games in March are always welcome

[G-Snarls]

Once the again the USA doesn't line up as well SP wise as they could

No Verlander
No deGrom
No Scherzer

Betts Mullins Trout OF though is pretty gangster
The IF is also killer

[connorp]

Once the again the USA doesn't line up as well SP wise as they could

No Verlander
No deGrom
No Scherzer

Betts Mullins Trout OF though is pretty gangster
The IF is also killer

As a fan of those teams I wouldnt want to see those guys pitch lol

Though I don’t know how they use their SPs