Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Backflips and Nerds, the Baseball Podcast
Speaker 1: with a British twist. It is the podcast you've all
Speaker 1: been waiting for, the grand World Baseball Classic preview and
Speaker 1: joining me to preview this what should be a tremendously
Speaker 1: exciting tournament. We have, of course, the statman himself, Russell
Speaker 1: lieson Russell, how are you.
Speaker 2: I'm doing good, I'm doing good. Ready to talk about
Speaker 2: international baseball. Got the cap on and everything.
Speaker 1: And obviously we couldn't talk about international baseball without the
Speaker 1: other member of our lauded correspondent team from the last
Speaker 1: WBC making his long awaited podcast return. It is Gavin
Speaker 1: Tramp's how's it going.
Speaker 3: I'm very good. How are you guys?
Speaker 4: Doing well? Doing well?
Speaker 1: Looking forward to talking about this. I think we've got
Speaker 1: a lot to talk about, so let's get right into it.
Speaker 1: And I think before we get into the details of
Speaker 1: this tournament itself, I wonder if Russ maybe if somebody's
Speaker 1: listened to this and thinking, I've heard a bit about
Speaker 1: this World Baseball Classic, but I don't really know what
Speaker 1: it is, like, what's happening here? Can you tell us
Speaker 1: a little bit about the history of this tournament.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so like the World Baseball Classic is the is
Speaker 2: kind of potentially was like started off as an invitational
Speaker 2: sort of tournament, but it was effectively the first time
Speaker 2: that the MLB and basically what was at the time
Speaker 2: the International Baseball Federation which is now World Baseball Softball Confederation,
Speaker 2: actually agreed to put.
Speaker 4: A tournament on together.
Speaker 2: There had been historical tournaments run by the WBSC that
Speaker 2: were for to work out who kind of like the
Speaker 2: best player best teams of US countries were, but this
Speaker 2: is the one where actually MLB finally decided to let
Speaker 2: their players take part. So actually we had, in the
Speaker 2: truest sense, the first kind of one. So in two
Speaker 2: thousand and six that happened. So we managed to get
Speaker 2: like the first Baseball World Classic in two thousand and six.
Speaker 2: Since then two thousand and nine, twenty thirteen, twenty seventeen,
Speaker 2: twenty three, two twenty six, all on a delightful not
Speaker 2: quite three or four year schedule, depending on.
Speaker 4: Various different reasons that have caused that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's basically it's a tournament which effectively has been
Speaker 2: it's pretty easy to say, has been dominated by Japan.
Speaker 2: They won the inaugural tournament in two thousand and six
Speaker 2: and one, and again basically like in two thousand and nine,
Speaker 2: but it has been basically picked up by other teams
Speaker 2: along the way, with the Dominican Republic and with.
Speaker 4: Having their Moments in the Sun as well.
Speaker 2: So but yeah, it is a tournament basically which we
Speaker 2: get to see theoretically the best players in the world.
Speaker 2: Now that hasn't always been the case for different reasons,
Speaker 2: but it makes sense to kind of now hopefully see
Speaker 2: it with getting into as close to as an equivalent
Speaker 2: of the.
Speaker 4: Baseball World Cup, which is what it actually used to
Speaker 4: be called.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you two were both out there last time, GAVI.
Speaker 1: It certainly felt watching it from Afar. I imagine it felt
Speaker 1: like this to you, that it sort of really took
Speaker 1: it to the next level of the last tournament, that
Speaker 1: that international appeal really spread and a lot more people
Speaker 1: were talking about it and we obviously had the epic
Speaker 1: final between the USA and Japan. Was that your experience?
Speaker 1: Did it feel like a proper a World Cup of Baseball?
Speaker 3: Well, it's really interesting because for us it was among
Speaker 3: the most exciting experiences we've had. But then I was
Speaker 3: listening to Ken Rosenthal who was also saying a very
Speaker 3: similar thing that he's done Super Bowls, World Series, Olympics,
Speaker 3: and the WBC in twenty three was the most exciting
Speaker 3: tournament that he's ever covered. So you know, if someone
Speaker 3: like that with that much experience, had that sort of
Speaker 3: experience with the event, then yeah, it really has taken
Speaker 3: on a new lease of life, I think, and it
Speaker 3: probably is. You can probably narrow it down to when
Speaker 3: Mookie Betts and Mike Trout decided they were going to participate,
Speaker 3: and then everyone else wanted to get involved. And the
Speaker 3: team that the USA put out last time was you know,
Speaker 3: simply immense, and so all the players who missed out,
Speaker 3: the Bryce Harpers of the world, then they want to
Speaker 3: get involved this time. And then I think there's just
Speaker 3: been an avalanche of talent who wants to play, who
Speaker 3: wants to participate, And if you took the insurance issue out,
Speaker 3: which we'll get to later, but there's hardly a top
Speaker 3: player who is not going to be performing next month.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a pretty terrific lineup of players here. I
Speaker 1: think certainly in the past you would have looked at
Speaker 1: teams from some of these countries and either gone, who
Speaker 1: are these people or you would have thought, you know,
Speaker 1: why is this guy who just got defaed by the
Speaker 1: Reds on the starting picture for a World Baseball Classic.
Speaker 1: I'm not thinking of anyone specific, but it was that
Speaker 1: type of vibe. You know, you certainly had a lot
Speaker 1: of that, even on teams that you would consider to
Speaker 1: have strong baseball heritage. It was not a priority for
Speaker 1: a lot of these players. So it is great to
Speaker 1: see the strength in depth that we've got this year.
Speaker 1: And I suppose Russ you mentioned Japan's relative dominance over
Speaker 1: this tournament. Are they still the team to beat here?
Speaker 1: Do you think?
Speaker 4: Can you?
Speaker 1: Can you see them doing a repeat of their famous
Speaker 1: victory last time over the USA.
Speaker 2: It's an interesting one because I think that because the
Speaker 2: Japanese team plays more together. There are other international tournaments,
Speaker 2: the Premieer twelve being the big one, and the top
Speaker 2: Japanese players do play that in as well, so they
Speaker 2: play together as a team a lot more. Until the
Speaker 2: last Premier twelve final, Japan hadn't lost an international game
Speaker 2: in thirty games. Is a cross spran across like nearly
Speaker 2: fifty years when they lost the final to Taiwan or
Speaker 2: Chinese Taipei as we have to refer to them in
Speaker 2: this tournament, I think you have to honestly say that
Speaker 2: they deserve to basically still be the favorites. I think
Speaker 2: the US, you could easily say have a potentially have
Speaker 2: a better lineup and the better players, but about playing
Speaker 2: in this side of format, about having a manager who
Speaker 2: knows how to manage well in these scenarios, I think
Speaker 2: Japan has that edge that pushes them a little bit
Speaker 2: further than what you could maybe say for the USA
Speaker 2: and the Dominican Republic, which are probably like the those
Speaker 2: would be the top three, with Puerto Rico probably just
Speaker 2: a slightly little bit below them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, let's talk about Puerto Rico because I've already
Speaker 1: alluded to the insurance issues. So this is a squad
Speaker 1: that has some pretty high profile names to draw on,
Speaker 1: Francis Killindoor, Carlos Carrera among them. Gav You've got a
Speaker 1: piece up on the website about this, but can you
Speaker 1: just take people through what exactly is going on with
Speaker 1: Puerto Riki and their insurance and why we're not going
Speaker 1: to see some of these guys this year.
Speaker 3: Absolutely cannot know. It is a it's so confusing, but
Speaker 3: basically MLB have an agreement with an insurance company that
Speaker 3: they will cover the salaries of the players if they
Speaker 3: get injured. Two years for a hitter, four years for
Speaker 3: a picture. But there are many get up clauses, one
Speaker 3: of them being the player was on the sixty day
Speaker 3: deal iol last year. Another one if they've had off
Speaker 3: season surgery, no matter how minor. And yeah, so lots
Speaker 3: of players and it does really seem to be so
Speaker 3: many of the Puerto Rican stars are now deemed ineligible.
Speaker 3: So we don't have Carlos Carrea, have you by biases
Speaker 3: for another reason, Francisco Lindor Burios the picture and then
Speaker 3: for Venezuela, they haven't got Jose al too they so yeah,
Speaker 3: it's it's put a bit of a dump knot on
Speaker 3: the whole tournament to begin with, but it has just
Speaker 3: devastated the Puerto Rican lineup, considering that they are one
Speaker 3: of the host countries, so there's four host countries, we've
Speaker 3: got four groups of five and four groups of five teams.
Speaker 3: It was such a big occasion for Puerto Rico, so
Speaker 3: the fact that they I think they've lost eight players
Speaker 3: who would get into any team, so yeah, it's I
Speaker 3: don't know what WBC and MLB are going to do
Speaker 3: about it. I don't think they really give a damp
Speaker 3: at the moment, but I don't know what they'll do
Speaker 3: to stop it happening again next time. But yeah, it's
Speaker 3: certainly I would feel very resentful if I was Puerto
Speaker 3: Rican Russ.
Speaker 4: Surely you can improve on that.
Speaker 2: I think there's a sliding scale here. I think that
Speaker 2: like saying that Carlos Career's contract is potentially too much
Speaker 2: for somebody to be willing to ensure, you know what,
Speaker 2: Like there were multiple teams that were willing to war
Speaker 2: from our contracts and then then take that contract back
Speaker 2: when they've did his medical so like not to be
Speaker 2: like there's something going on there, but that potentially seems reasonable.
Speaker 2: Lindau looks like another one. Now all there are stuff
Speaker 2: that has come out and said that he maybe is
Speaker 2: recovering from before the season, for coming from the surgery
Speaker 2: that he had that we didn't know about. Can never
Speaker 2: know whether these are smoke and mirrors or it's actually
Speaker 2: the case, but there does seem to be something that
Speaker 2: has changed here compared to what it was like last
Speaker 2: year around? Was it because we had Edwin Diaz, and
Speaker 2: there's a l two Bay get injured in the last tournament,
Speaker 2: which potentially has like changed some of these premiums. I
Speaker 2: think the fact that there has so much adverse he admit,
Speaker 2: impacted the Latin American teams and we basically haven't really
Speaker 2: had a US player not get their insurance is definitely
Speaker 2: does also feel a little bit odd. Have scenes of
Speaker 2: rumors though that suggests that actually Mike Trout might be
Speaker 2: playing uninsured, so they put some of that into context
Speaker 2: as well. I did also read a rumor that supposedly
Speaker 2: Bad Bunny was willing to pay the insurance for a
Speaker 2: load of the point Too Rican players himself, but I
Speaker 2: don't know how how much truth went into that or not.
Speaker 2: It's a sad state of affairs that you don't basically
Speaker 2: have the best players take place. I think, however, it
Speaker 2: needs to be sorted. It needs to be sorted for
Speaker 2: the next time around to work out what it is.
Speaker 2: MLB teams already have like a way of stopping teams
Speaker 2: really from playing this because if they didn't play a
Speaker 2: certain percentage of the games in the Major League last year,
Speaker 2: the team has the right to say no it's not
Speaker 2: on the player to decide, and as we'll talk across
Speaker 2: various teams, prospects and players going in to contract years
Speaker 2: also generally have the incentive to not take players in
Speaker 2: the tournament because they're stuff that their clubs want them
Speaker 2: to do or stuff that they need to do to
Speaker 2: make sure they actually get the best money that they can.
Speaker 2: So there's another little annoyance that means we don't quite
Speaker 2: get to see the best players. But I still think
Speaker 2: this tournament is going to have the best squads that
Speaker 2: we've seen.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that's right.
Speaker 1: Your bad money could afford it.
Speaker 3: We can be down about the players who are missing,
Speaker 3: and obviously is it's sad for Puerto Rico, but for
Speaker 3: us as mutrals or as British fans as we're going
Speaker 3: into this, but as a neutral fan, it is fantastic.
Speaker 3: We've got so many high profile players and so many
Speaker 3: exciting youngsters who in previous tournaments may not have been
Speaker 3: allowed to play. So yeah, we should look at that
Speaker 3: and be really optimistic that this is going to be
Speaker 3: a great tournament.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we still have.
Speaker 2: Nine of MLB's top one hundred, the top ten out
Speaker 2: of the top one hundred.
Speaker 4: The exception being.
Speaker 2: Joseier Ramirez, who seemingly didn't want to play second fiddle
Speaker 2: to Manny Machado Republic.
Speaker 1: So internal strive in the Dominican Well, we probably we
Speaker 1: probably should talk about some of these squads because, yeah,
Speaker 1: you're gonna you're going to recognize a lot of names,
Speaker 1: and there might be some other names you don't know
Speaker 1: so well, but I think you probably will in the
Speaker 1: very near future because there's a lot of prospects on
Speaker 1: this list, a lot of guys I think we're going
Speaker 1: to see in the majors, including including some guys on
Speaker 1: on TEAMGB. So I guess we'll we'll go we'll go
Speaker 1: group by group and run down those pools and then
Speaker 1: we can have a talk about a few few highlights
Speaker 1: from the squads and any guys you want to watch
Speaker 1: out for. So we'll start with paul A, the afore
Speaker 1: mentioned Puerto Rico leave that pool, but we've also got Cuba, Canada, Panama,
Speaker 1: and Columbia. So I guess given the slightly decimated Puerto
Speaker 1: Rico squad, we've still got some some household names on this,
Speaker 1: haven't we were us?
Speaker 2: Yeah, that Puerto Rico team is still utterly phenomenal to
Speaker 2: kind of go through you. Pretty Much everyone on that
Speaker 2: squad is an MLB player or as basically played MLB
Speaker 2: baseball like very very recently, So it's not like it
Speaker 2: is going to kind of to struggle, but it doesn't
Speaker 2: quite have the top class people you have like that.
Speaker 2: You've got Marty Maldlaldo and Christian Vasquez as your catchers.
Speaker 2: We have the more Some of the more interesting talking
Speaker 2: point is Nolan Aaronado, by his mother's heritage, switching to
Speaker 2: play for players to weekly at this tournament, given he
Speaker 2: played for the USA in the last tournament. But yeah,
Speaker 2: and then obviously from the pitching perspective, we have Edwin
Speaker 2: Diaz and let's see hopefully that he makes it through
Speaker 2: this tournament clean without any injuries. And I don't have
Speaker 2: to go insulting TV producer TV. This is how he
Speaker 2: rose to TV. I can't remember now for.
Speaker 4: Don't start.
Speaker 1: You're getting out of trouble again now, Russ.
Speaker 2: Sending it to you that everybody thought was John and
Speaker 2: was me drunk at like two am in Miami.
Speaker 1: Nolan Aaronado maybe not in the peak of his powers anymore,
Speaker 1: but obviously been a very good player in his lifetime,
Speaker 1: we get to see him out there, have anybody you're
Speaker 1: looking out for, and in particular on the remnants of
Speaker 1: the Puerto Rica squad.
Speaker 3: Now I see that the lineup which they're likely to
Speaker 3: put out, and yeah, it is. It's just it's just
Speaker 3: disappointing every time I see it, because Willie Castro you've
Speaker 3: got instead of I don't know, Carlos Correa, Edwin Arroyo,
Speaker 3: he's the he's the Reds short stop prospector. I believe, Yeah,
Speaker 3: it could be quite exciting to see him. But I
Speaker 3: think that this the fact that Puerto Rico has been decimated.
Speaker 3: I think that that this makes this group the most
Speaker 3: exciting group. I cannot see who is going to win.
Speaker 3: I cannot see who's going to come second. I think
Speaker 3: all five of them have a good chance to get through,
Speaker 3: and you can't say that with many of the groups.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there are definitely opportunities for everyone here. I think
Speaker 1: you're right about that, Russ. Is there somebody you like
Speaker 1: as a dark horse here? If such a thing exists
Speaker 1: in a more wide open group?
Speaker 2: Now, well, the dark horses of baseball for a long
Speaker 2: time have always been Cuba like because effectively, for a
Speaker 2: lot of these players, we don't wait to get to
Speaker 2: see them because to maintain their Cuban national to be
Speaker 2: able to play for all the Cuban national team, they
Speaker 2: have to effectively stay in Cuba and not play in
Speaker 2: any of the leagues that are affiliated. So we kind
Speaker 2: of don't necessarily have much of a you now we
Speaker 2: do this year have like some players that have made
Speaker 2: a name for themselves in other tournaments in other countries.
Speaker 2: So when you look through kind of like the list
Speaker 2: and you see like Levan Uenello, who's had an app
Speaker 2: looke like storm of a time in the MVP, MVP
Speaker 2: np appything else, you can then realize that actually they
Speaker 2: actually they have a top end pitcher which can can
Speaker 2: give anybody like a run for their money. You don't
Speaker 2: really know how much of that team is going to perform,
Speaker 2: with the exception of maybe why Ban Moncado. When it
Speaker 2: comes to the actual hitting side, overlooking Cuba and international
Speaker 2: baseball has always been a very dangerous thing to do.
Speaker 3: That picture. Manelo is just incredible. Nine years in Japan
Speaker 3: and he has a one point eight ERA six hundred
Speaker 3: and thirty innings and that's seven hundred and fifty strikeouts
Speaker 3: over nine years, he's obviously knows what he's doing. And
Speaker 3: then also they've also got Alfredo Disband. I don't know
Speaker 3: how old he's going to be, about fifty five, so
Speaker 3: he's got the he's going to be in his fifth WBC.
Speaker 3: And he held the record for the most homers despite
Speaker 3: not hitting a homer at the last one. But I
Speaker 3: think that record might go because I think it's only
Speaker 3: at seven so and I think Trey Turner did he
Speaker 3: get fired last.
Speaker 2: Time he did it, and a rather than good tournament.
Speaker 2: I think obviously when you if you were to look
Speaker 2: at this on on paper, like we're just not even
Speaker 2: seeing like what these teams would be like. He is
Speaker 2: like Cuba of the second round teenage ranked team Canada.
Speaker 2: I always am surprised, basically by how poor I end
Speaker 2: up thinking the Canadian lineup is because I'm just like, oh,
Speaker 2: they're a North American team, they should have.
Speaker 4: Like a lot of like good players.
Speaker 2: But you then realize it's actually way more fringe MLB
Speaker 2: than you thought it would be, Like with the exception
Speaker 2: of of like the Nailers, like most of the other
Speaker 2: and like Tyler O'Neil, most of the other hitters are
Speaker 2: like bench or utility players or a couple of prospects
Speaker 2: that haven't really made me reached the potential that you
Speaker 2: thought they would, and you're just like, oh, okay, so
Speaker 2: maybe that's not there. And again on the pitching side,
Speaker 2: you're like, okay, James Paxton, cal Guandrill Logan, Allen Michael Soroka,
Speaker 2: James Tyn. They're good, they're not amazing, but you think
Speaker 2: that like they should be do okay with that. But
Speaker 2: me and Gab watched Canada play awful baseball against TEAMGB
Speaker 2: who then managed to play even worse baseball in return.
Speaker 2: But uh, yeah, like they if it clicks, they could
Speaker 2: be a good team. And then Panama and Columbia have
Speaker 2: individual players that could could peak.
Speaker 4: At this moment and have an impact on the tournament.
Speaker 2: But you don't you expect them to really kind of
Speaker 2: come out as winners.
Speaker 4: But Columbia ba Mexico last time around.
Speaker 2: In the tournament, so having to have to requalify to
Speaker 2: kind of get back into this. It is definitely a
Speaker 2: pool that could end up like one of the ones
Speaker 2: last year that had two wins for all the teams
Speaker 2: across the ball.
Speaker 3: I think the Colombia, I mean Mexico is I think
Speaker 3: that epitomizes how great this tournament is. The fact that
Speaker 3: Columbia finished bottom of the group, they had to requalify,
Speaker 3: but they beat Mexico, who came within a whisker of
Speaker 3: getting to the final. It was only like a walk
Speaker 3: off by Merikami and Mexico beat the USA in the
Speaker 3: pool group. So with such a short tournament, just one
Speaker 3: off games, it really is the sort of thing that
Speaker 3: anyone can beat anyone else. So in paul A, yeah,
Speaker 3: this could it could go down to the wire, or
Speaker 3: one team could just end up winning four games, so
Speaker 3: it'll be exciting. Yeah, it's very much baseball as we
Speaker 3: don't see it normally, isn't it. You know, we talk
Speaker 3: about how random the playoffs are. We did, we did
Speaker 3: briefly have the one game wildcard playoffs, but it's very
Speaker 3: rare for us to see anything in Major League better
Speaker 3: will certainly get settled by one game, so it's it's
Speaker 3: quite exciting. And yeah, the talent gap can be severely
Speaker 3: eliminated by these sort of very short sample paul games.
Speaker 3: And yeah, as you say, anything anything can happen. We
Speaker 3: can have seen a very different outcome last time, if
Speaker 3: not for a couple of those moments you mentioned. So
Speaker 3: I think let's let's move on to Paul B then
Speaker 3: featuring our beloved great Britain of course, but also the
Speaker 3: mighty United States of America, Mexico, Italy and Brazil. And
Speaker 3: is this time We're going to spend quite a lot
Speaker 3: more time talking about Team GB at a late stage,
Speaker 3: but I think probably we should step in and cover
Speaker 3: the amount of talent that the US have a massed
Speaker 3: for this tournament, because last time out, I think it's
Speaker 3: fair to say that the hitting lineup was pretty good
Speaker 3: and the pitching didn't really match it. But that's not
Speaker 3: the case this.
Speaker 4: Time, is it US? No? This time like you've got
Speaker 4: the two cy young winners.
Speaker 2: Well, I don't think you could really ask for much more,
Speaker 2: but it's like, okay, yeah, you've got theoretically the two
Speaker 2: best pitchers in baseball, and then you added Logan Web,
Speaker 2: you added wow, trying to think of like a Clayed
Speaker 2: Clay homes and stuff like that to actually make this
Speaker 2: team like interesting.
Speaker 4: Joe Ryan to be like, yeah, you know what.
Speaker 2: The there were games being started by Miles Michaelis and
Speaker 2: Adam wayIn wright last time around, which they weren't great players.
Speaker 2: They're still great, good MLB players, but they weren't great
Speaker 2: MLB players three years ago. You've still like you've got
Speaker 2: Mason Miller, You've got David Bednar to come off the
Speaker 2: Griffin Jacks to kind of come off the bench as
Speaker 2: bullpen relief. Barrett within Lock as well, depinding how they
Speaker 2: choose to use him. Like that side of it is
Speaker 2: like it is hands above what it was before. The
Speaker 2: USA starters last time had a four and a half
Speaker 2: ya ah, So I just don't expect that to be
Speaker 2: the case this time around. So they will probably limit
Speaker 2: the teams better than they did the time before. It
Speaker 2: wasn't necessarily USA's massive problem when they gave them too
Speaker 2: many runs last time around. They did, they struggled to
Speaker 2: score quite a lot and then then did manage to
Speaker 2: color and into key moments. And I'm not certain this
Speaker 2: is a better hitting lineup than it was in twenty
Speaker 2: twenty three. It's still good, not even topic like, it's
Speaker 2: still still good. It will still probably be the best
Speaker 2: nine that it that it that is put out there.
Speaker 2: But I don't think like maybe have I just having
Speaker 2: like Bryce terrangg and early comment, I know these guys
Speaker 2: are some defense or maybe kind of your utility guys,
Speaker 2: so you're not kind of expecting to pick up much time.
Speaker 2: But I don't think this hitting squad is stronger than
Speaker 2: it was last time around.
Speaker 4: It could be the same, but I think it might
Speaker 4: be just a little worse. If I massob hater. Who
Speaker 4: will we put in the line?
Speaker 2: Okay, so we're going to what lead off with Bobby
Speaker 2: Witt or Corbyn Carroll one of the two.
Speaker 4: The other one would probably go second. Then we go.
Speaker 2: Judge Raleigh Schwarber, Harper Harper, p c A. And then
Speaker 2: what we're not what have we're not putting?
Speaker 4: Now? This is this is the problem. Gunner.
Speaker 2: Gunner's on this team obviously. Yeah, it's all Bragman Henderson. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I guess it's really good.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Darang's on the bench. Surely, well you need someone, Yeah,
Speaker 1: but when they just play Will Henderson at the second?
Speaker 1: I mean with you know a genius defensive your.
Speaker 2: Stop so well as Gavin and I will tell you
Speaker 2: from watching the last year's w C, forcing your best
Speaker 2: nine onto the field and then worrying about what happens
Speaker 2: with defense later also known as the team GB approach
Speaker 2: leaves your kind of nerves a bit more afraid than
Speaker 2: you would you would hope they could be.
Speaker 3: There's probably a lot of rules that we don't know,
Speaker 3: so you know, it's quite possible that the Royals have
Speaker 3: are insistent that Bobby Wit does not change position and
Speaker 3: he only plays a certain number of games or whatever
Speaker 3: is agreed. I think I think the pitching is interesting
Speaker 3: because they're wite share. Yeah, and so I think Bryce
Speaker 3: Terrang will probably get the second base and I think
Speaker 3: last time it wasn't it Jeff McNeil. He he was
Speaker 3: a start in second basement, so and he seemed quite
Speaker 3: a step below the other players. I think it will
Speaker 3: be really interesting to see how Mark de Rosa, the
Speaker 3: USA manager, copes with the pitching because you have the restrictions,
Speaker 3: don't you. Is it sixty five pitches in the pool games?
Speaker 3: So yeah, it's okay having schemes and scuball, but they
Speaker 3: are only throwing sixty five and then so and then
Speaker 3: they have to rest for so long and then the
Speaker 3: you know what games do you throw them into? Do
Speaker 3: you do you use Joe Ryan against GB or do
Speaker 3: you use one of those Because it's the Saturday night
Speaker 3: primetime game. And then when it gets to the to
Speaker 3: the latest stages where we expect the USA to be,
Speaker 3: I'm not sure that Schemes has played in such a
Speaker 3: big game. He hasn't reached the postseason, has he? And
Speaker 3: I don't think this is it's a foregone conclusion that
Speaker 3: the USA are going to win this. But I'm always
Speaker 3: going to be controversial or awkward.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the again Davis spot on with how this had
Speaker 2: to be managed, like it has to be managed completely
Speaker 2: different to how you would manage a Major League Baseball game.
Speaker 2: I genuinely think it's one of the things that historically
Speaker 2: in the last like five ten years, GP have got
Speaker 2: really well, which has got them to the petition that
Speaker 2: they can do this. You're playing to win today's game
Speaker 2: with almost no consideration for what happens. Like in the
Speaker 2: pool play, there is a very slight consideration that actually
Speaker 2: it might be better to get mercied so you don't
Speaker 2: have to even use up your own arms to.
Speaker 4: Continue the game.
Speaker 2: But in most considerations, it's like you're doing everything to
Speaker 2: win this game, and certain teams will go with that mentality,
Speaker 2: and certain teams will be using their arms a bit
Speaker 2: more strategically and thinking about the future, and that can
Speaker 2: cost them. I think that was one of the big
Speaker 2: impacts for the Columbia Mexico game. It was the first game,
Speaker 2: and I think Metsico, we're not thinking of like playing
Speaker 2: tow one hundred percent win that game, that we're thinking
Speaker 2: about the game against the USA that was coming and
Speaker 2: didn't want to use certain players. But yeah, the USA
Speaker 2: have the chance to like pick. What they'll do is
Speaker 2: they'll probably piggyback like three four innings off the guys
Speaker 2: the top guys with do like Scooball and then whitlock,
Speaker 2: and then do like Joe Ryan, follow Aline followed by
Speaker 2: Schemes or schemes followed by Joe Ryan, and then once
Speaker 2: the games are not in doubt, outcomes Clayton Kershe or
Speaker 2: to eat up some innings that that that don't really matter,
Speaker 2: like Matthew Boyd's on that team as well. Like these
Speaker 2: are guys that you you know, you can just throw
Speaker 2: out there and they'll they'll be they'll be Okay, they
Speaker 2: won't they won't probably get put into any scenario where
Speaker 2: it's any high leverage, but they'll eat up the innings.
Speaker 2: Good enough that you don't have to really worry about
Speaker 2: using anybody else.
Speaker 3: But that's exactly where the strategy will be really interesting
Speaker 3: because you say Joe Ryan followed by Schemes or schemes
Speaker 3: followed by Joe Ryan. That means that they're they're throwing
Speaker 3: a really small workloads to what they used to do.
Speaker 3: So it's throwing their their rhythm out. And I don't
Speaker 3: know how how how focused they can be if they're thinking, right, well,
Speaker 3: I'm going to get pulled after forty pitches or something
Speaker 3: if they go over fifty pitches and they've going to
Speaker 3: have the four days rest, so you can't throw Ryan
Speaker 3: and schemes of Ryan and scuball if you haven't got
Speaker 3: enough starters for the game in three days time. So
Speaker 3: it will be it'll be fascinating to see how a
Speaker 3: team which is blessed with the wealth of talent that
Speaker 3: the USA have manage that. And it could be that
Speaker 3: they DeRosa. Yeah, I think there's a lot on his shoulders,
Speaker 3: more than maybe any of the others because I don't
Speaker 3: think any of the others have so many pitching choices.
Speaker 1: So you reference to Mexico's victory over the US in
Speaker 1: the last edition gave the other team are the other
Speaker 1: team that GB has got a beat to get into
Speaker 1: the knockout stairs is assuming the USA take one of
Speaker 1: those spots.
Speaker 3: I the GB outfielder Justin Wiley, before the last w
Speaker 3: WE post a question to him because I was really
Speaker 3: interested that GV were playing the USA on Saturday night
Speaker 3: and they're playing Canada Sunday morning, and how do the
Speaker 3: GB players pick themselves up after the high of playing
Speaker 3: against his stream team to focus on this game, which
Speaker 3: is that's a winnable one against Canada. And he was
Speaker 3: just so dismissive. He just said every game's winnable, which
Speaker 3: he is correct. You know, put me in my place,
Speaker 3: but you know, every game is winnable. But yeah, realistically,
Speaker 3: GB are not going to be Mexico. They're not going
Speaker 3: to be the USA. They can, but it seems unlikely.
Speaker 3: I think GB the chance the victory has to be
Speaker 3: against Brazil. You know, the team that Italy are pulling
Speaker 3: out and putting out is just you know, it's incredible,
Speaker 3: incredible how many well it's not incredible how many Americans
Speaker 3: have Italian heritage, but yeah, it's incredible how many of
Speaker 3: these guys will to play for Italy, so it must
Speaker 3: be the best roster that they've ever put he so, yeah,
Speaker 3: get him back to Mexico. Mexico looked to be the
Speaker 3: second best team in the pool. But I think GB
Speaker 3: will need a lot of luck on this side if
Speaker 3: they are going to to run them close.
Speaker 1: I think some people will recognize some of these Italian names.
Speaker 1: Vinnie Pascantino is on their squad, Aaron Nola is on
Speaker 1: their Squad's got a few other big leaguers on here,
Speaker 1: don't you did?
Speaker 3: Don't you dear? Massacre? The Royals guy's name Jack Caglioni
Speaker 3: cal It's just great, it's just Calion.
Speaker 2: I think it is just Calione because he's an Italian
Speaker 2: American and doesn't know how to pronounce it how an Italian.
Speaker 3: So it's Calianoni.
Speaker 1: But yeah, he says, when you see him, you can
Speaker 1: tell him how to pronounce his name. I would like
Speaker 1: to be a fly on the wall in the locker
Speaker 1: room of the Italian scene. When he walks in, it says,
Speaker 1: my name's Jack keg Leone.
Speaker 2: But well, given the I think that almost all of
Speaker 2: this uh Italian team, the exception of maybe two or
Speaker 2: three of the pitchers are Italian American Americans. I don't
Speaker 2: think most people are going to bat an Eyelid. It's
Speaker 2: a team that's managed by Francisco Savellia as well. Again, now,
Speaker 2: if you look at the Italian team that went out
Speaker 2: for the last WBC in twenty twenty three and you
Speaker 2: look at this one, this one is steps above. Now
Speaker 2: it's fairly simple to say that, yes, it's the next
Speaker 2: world that we see more point of people be involved. Also,
Speaker 2: they're in d the US for their group compared to
Speaker 2: being in Taiwan as they were last time around. It
Speaker 2: makes players and teams more likely to give them give
Speaker 2: the players up because they know they just go downy
Speaker 2: Houston to sort it out, don't have to worry about
Speaker 2: any kind of like major international travel and how that'll
Speaker 2: impact all of these things. So this Italian team, it's strong.
Speaker 2: Like I think that that hitting lineup could you could
Speaker 2: have a conversation to say that that hitting lineup could
Speaker 2: be better than the Mexican one. Now, the Mexican one
Speaker 2: with having rand the Eros Arena, who was responsible for
Speaker 2: some of probably the moments of the WBC last time around,
Speaker 2: it is good, but it's going to have like some
Speaker 2: combination of Johanna Randa, Rowley Tales, Joey Mines's maybe kind
Speaker 2: of in there as well, Nicklen's or less, they're not amazing,
Speaker 2: They're all still MLB players. Andrew Kirk behind the dish
Speaker 2: will be great. I think the step that Mexican will
Speaker 2: have over over that Italian team is the pictures, Like
Speaker 2: the Italian team beyond Nola is not really starting MLB level,
Speaker 2: whereas Mexico have. They have a kid, they have kind
Speaker 2: of like Taj Bradley, they have Tian Walker and then
Speaker 2: having Andrews Munas as you're kind of like shut down
Speaker 2: guy when you need someone, and I think that just
Speaker 2: puts them like a little bit higher in the expectation
Speaker 2: they could Dell still definitely mess something up, but you
Speaker 2: do have to think that like Mexico will broad be
Speaker 2: the Mexico USA game. You'll be expecting that's the game
Speaker 2: to play to kind of like get into the tournament.
Speaker 2: But again it really goes with how things go about.
Speaker 2: GiB have the this time around have to do it
Speaker 2: the opposite way to what they did the last time
Speaker 2: they played Mexico or lunchtime to start off the tournament
Speaker 2: and then play USA in the evening the day afterwards.
Speaker 4: So they start off with their the gen Team GB
Speaker 4: with we'll get doing it.
Speaker 2: They start off with their two hardest games before then
Speaker 2: placing Italy and then facing like Brazil, and by that
Speaker 2: point they know basically are these games to win to
Speaker 2: get us to advance in the tournament or are these
Speaker 2: games to win to make sure that we stay in
Speaker 2: the tournament something we didn't mention at the start. But effectively,
Speaker 2: finishing bottom of the group, you get thrown back into
Speaker 2: the world of the qualifiers, which is harder basically to
Speaker 2: get out. And these will always be harder and harder
Speaker 2: to get out as other teams progress, and the Team
Speaker 2: GB will not have access to sort of their better
Speaker 2: players because it takes part in Europe on a cold
Speaker 2: September evening, so it'll it'll be more difficult. But yeah,
Speaker 2: that's kind of like I would basically be saying that
Speaker 2: you'd expect USA Mexico in Italy as the one, two three,
Speaker 2: I would expect TV to probably finish fourth, above above Brazil.
Speaker 1: I'm just going to point out that the Italians have
Speaker 1: a position player at third base. Well. Actually, as Baseball
Speaker 1: Reference Page says, third basement catcher and relief pitcher, which
Speaker 1: is fantastic. I don't think I've ever read that before.
Speaker 1: Giacannino La Saratina. I think he is very definitely one
Speaker 1: hundred percent Italian. He has never played outside the Italian leagues.
Speaker 1: He's twenty two, so watch out for him.
Speaker 4: Italian with a Venezuelan Birthdace.
Speaker 3: Yes, So it's really good that he's in it because
Speaker 3: he was one of the players of the tournament in
Speaker 3: the Euros in Rotterdam that I went to. So he
Speaker 3: led the whole tournament in Homers and he had like
Speaker 3: a seventeen hundred ops, but he was he looked like
Speaker 3: a superstar. So the fact that they brought in all
Speaker 3: of these MLB and American Italians, but you still kept
Speaker 3: a few of a couple of the guys who were
Speaker 3: in the Euros. So yeah, I'm really pleased that he's
Speaker 3: still in there. But it is definitely the best Italian
Speaker 3: roster ever because you've got Michael Lorenzen as well, so
Speaker 3: that's another picture. They've got Adam or to the you
Speaker 3: know Sam Alde Gary, the Italian born and bred uh
Speaker 3: pitcher who plays for the Angels. So and I think
Speaker 3: what's really exciting about it is there's so much youth
Speaker 3: in that team because you've got I've just run through it.
Speaker 3: Kyle Teal so he's the catcher with the White Sox.
Speaker 3: Andrew Fisher, he's the Brewers guy that they took in
Speaker 3: the latest draft, Thomas Sagassi, the Cardinals infielder, Jacob Marcy
Speaker 3: and Jack Kelly and so you know, and they're all
Speaker 3: like twenty four or below. That's a that's a that's
Speaker 3: an exciting roster. So should we move on?
Speaker 1: And I think we should. Well, I was just going
Speaker 1: to say, we've given the Brazilians very short drift. Is
Speaker 1: there is there anything you want to say about Brazil
Speaker 1: other than that, other than that we think we.
Speaker 4: Can beat them?
Speaker 3: Yeah? I who's the guy? How is the contrarosts?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: You remember him? So his son is pitching for Brazil
Speaker 3: and his son hasn't yet been drafted because he's only
Speaker 3: said or something. So they do seem to be like
Speaker 3: a team of Suns because you've got many room Mirrors's
Speaker 3: boy and obviously Dante bischett Junior. So yeah, I don't
Speaker 3: know much about them at all, but this is a
Speaker 3: winnable game for GB.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's the same.
Speaker 2: It's like it's a lot of the guys that kind
Speaker 2: of got through in some of the tournaments to get
Speaker 2: them here are a part of it. And you you
Speaker 2: look at it and you'll be like, yeah, you know what,
Speaker 2: if you think anybody is going to be bad in
Speaker 2: this tournament, that's that's a fool's errand. But GIBI has
Speaker 2: to go into this game well, especially when when it
Speaker 2: is like it could if they've lost their first two
Speaker 2: games against Mexico and the United States, then this game
Speaker 2: against Brazil is effectively it's a winning you are more
Speaker 2: than likely, say for the tournament the next time round,
Speaker 2: which has to be the minimum expectations for for tg
Speaker 2: GM this time around.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Joseph Cantreras throws ninety eight and has a least
Speaker 1: a fork ball apparently, so looking forward to seeing him
Speaker 1: potential draft te this summer Vanderbilt commit apparently, so we'll
Speaker 1: see whether he actually gets drafted high enough to sign
Speaker 1: with someone. But yeah, so some very young players on
Speaker 1: the squad. Do you guys want to talk more about
Speaker 1: GBN now or do you want to save it for
Speaker 1: the ol GB pod. Russell's just switched to his GB
Speaker 1: cap as in preparation.
Speaker 3: I think we'll definitely do a more in depth GB one,
Speaker 3: but if you want to run through the the main
Speaker 3: things which you've noticed since it's been announced for.
Speaker 2: US, Yeah, I think it's one of those ones where
Speaker 2: because it kind of the same way we spoke about
Speaker 2: the tying, Team DEE has the chance of eligibility for
Speaker 2: quite a lot of players that you might not necessarily
Speaker 2: think of British thanks to the i'd say the vagaries
Speaker 2: of the Commonwealth and quite a lot of countries that
Speaker 2: people used to be British and therefore have access to passports.
Speaker 2: That's the way it works with the WB's you just
Speaker 2: have to visible to prove that you could get a
Speaker 2: cat passport if you want one, not that you actually
Speaker 2: have one. So there are a lot of rumors about
Speaker 2: Team GB this time around, with a lot of the
Speaker 2: ideas of getting additional big players in because they after
Speaker 2: their performance last time around. Obviously we've managed to get
Speaker 2: Jazz back in, who actually had participated for Team GB
Speaker 2: and the qualifiers before in twenty sixteen when they nearly
Speaker 2: qualified for the tournament in twenty seventeen, and there were
Speaker 2: other rumors about role as Trapman and Justin McKenzie and
Speaker 2: a fair list of other players. In the end, this
Speaker 2: team has come out fairly in line with kind of
Speaker 2: like expectations of a few of those more wilder players
Speaker 2: haven't come through. There's still quite a few guys that
Speaker 2: have come playing in the tournament again as they did
Speaker 2: last time around. Vance Wahley and Tyler Bis a notable
Speaker 2: kind of like starting pitchers from the last time around.
Speaker 2: We still have like Donovan Benoir, Michael Peterson, all who
Speaker 2: have like major league experience, like Heavier Fernandez and stuff
Speaker 2: like that.
Speaker 4: But it is it is a duel.
Speaker 2: Co captain has been talked by the by the team themselves.
Speaker 2: Harry Ford and Jazz Chism do really push basically the
Speaker 2: everything this team can do on the offensive side, and.
Speaker 4: Who knows what you can really get from everybody else.
Speaker 2: Like for me, like probably the whole entire tournament, I'm
Speaker 2: waiting for like mac Perniac to get his hit because
Speaker 2: he went hitless in the in the last tournament and
Speaker 2: he kind of had struggles and me and Gaut both
Speaker 2: spoke to like his parents who were there, and he
Speaker 2: like obviously knew that he wasn't playing his best but
Speaker 2: he's someone who has been part of g TVGV setup,
Speaker 2: was a huge part of that team qualifying for the
Speaker 2: tournament back in in twenty twenty, for the twenty three
Speaker 2: three tournament in twenty two. Yeah, I think there is
Speaker 2: a there's a lot of youth on this team, and
Speaker 2: there's a few very experienced heads when it comes to
Speaker 2: the pitching side, but that the.
Speaker 4: Offenses is quite a young team.
Speaker 3: A very wise person said to me, the floor of
Speaker 3: the roster is so much higher than we've ever had before,
Speaker 3: and the pictures are of a higher quality than before. Yeah,
Speaker 3: there was a little bit of disappointment that maybe some
Speaker 3: of the bigger names who had been rumored did not
Speaker 3: make the roster. Personally, I'm really pleased. So we've still
Speaker 3: got Mat caponiec and b J. Murray and Jack Seppins
Speaker 3: and those sort of guys who who I've seen a
Speaker 3: few times now, so you know, you're really root for
Speaker 3: them and you don't want them to get usapped by
Speaker 3: a big name just because they're they're an MLB player. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I'm really excited about this roster. I think it will
Speaker 3: be absolutely fascinating. Like I said with Mark De Rosa,
Speaker 3: and the strategy that he has to do. I don't
Speaker 3: quite know how Brad Marcelino goes from the Rotterdam Euros
Speaker 3: where he had, I don't know, gave nine debuts two
Speaker 3: players and so many of these were youngsters, so many
Speaker 3: of these were the under twenty threes to this whole
Speaker 3: new roster now for this tournament. So I don't know
Speaker 3: how GB really manages to do so well with using
Speaker 3: completely different players for different tournaments. I don't see how
Speaker 3: they gell, but obviously they do. They managed to instill
Speaker 3: it's incredible confidence, incredible belief in the players, and I'm
Speaker 3: sure it will happen again. I'm sure they will surprise us.
Speaker 3: I'm sure they make us really proud. So yeah, I'm
Speaker 3: really looking forward to seeing these guys put on the
Speaker 3: GB jerseys.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think that was one of the things that came
Speaker 1: across in the last tournament that not just because you know,
Speaker 1: GB actually won a game and you know, made the
Speaker 1: Mexico game very exciting as well, but you know, the
Speaker 1: dugout celebrations with Harry and that, I think it came
Speaker 1: across that they had very strong collective team spirit, which
Speaker 1: must be a really difficult thing to instill when you're
Speaker 1: collecting together a group of guys, many of whom presumably
Speaker 1: have not played together at all before, or if they have,
Speaker 1: has been on the very limited short basis not at
Speaker 1: all like being in an MLB clubhouse or in any
Speaker 1: other league around a full season.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, it's it's definitely something that is noted. Definitely,
Speaker 2: Liam Andrew in the past haven't really pushed that this
Speaker 2: is something that the team gets to do, gets to
Speaker 2: Before the World Baseball Qualifier, they basically kind of like
Speaker 2: held a team meeting where they all basically talked about
Speaker 2: like what representing GB means to them, because it all
Speaker 2: means a very different thing for each of them, because, yes,
Speaker 2: you have you have people who have English British parents,
Speaker 2: you have people that are born here from different areas.
Speaker 2: You have people that are born around the world and
Speaker 2: actually have their heritage from not from not just the
Speaker 2: Commonwealth in the Caribbean, but around the world.
Speaker 4: You had players from like which had Hong Kong heritage
Speaker 4: and all those different things.
Speaker 2: So it actually kind of brings together different ideas, different
Speaker 2: visions of like what it is to to kind of
Speaker 2: like want to represent this country and that instilled a
Speaker 2: great atmosphere within the teams we've seen in the past,
Speaker 2: and hopefully it's something that we'll we'll see again this year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm sure we will. So we should probably move
Speaker 1: on to the next pool before we spend the rest
Speaker 1: of this podcast talking on GB paul Ce features, of
Speaker 1: course the reigning champions Japan, Australia, South Korea, Chechia and
Speaker 1: Chinese Taipei. I guess we should at least briefly start
Speaker 1: with Japan. They always take this incredibly seriously, don't they.
Speaker 1: So is there any weakness in this squad again or
Speaker 1: should we expect them to be about where they were
Speaker 1: last time?
Speaker 2: Rus?
Speaker 4: You can't, you can't look beyond it.
Speaker 2: Like there are a few names here that like didn't
Speaker 2: win in the tournament last year. I think it's it's
Speaker 2: a sign that like they are, especially on the pitching side,
Speaker 2: that they're working through to the best players that have
Speaker 2: power they performed in the MPB in the last couple
Speaker 2: of seasons. Obviously, there are there are names that are
Speaker 2: more widely known now then they were at the time,
Speaker 2: with like Yoshio Yamamoto and mun Attack of Murakami who
Speaker 2: are now will be kind of names that people will
Speaker 2: know in in America, whereas they might they might have
Speaker 2: not before. A little bit of a difference is Otani's
Speaker 2: only going to dage this time around. He's not He's
Speaker 2: not going to pitch. There are rumors that that was
Speaker 2: another insurance related thing. Don't know how much the case
Speaker 2: is that or not, or whether it's just effectively that
Speaker 2: what's been allowed. But this is still a lineup with
Speaker 2: top MLB players and the best MPB players, which you
Speaker 2: put them in a game against the best MLB players,
Speaker 2: they'll show you like a slightly different but also a
Speaker 2: really really good way of playing baseball.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm excited to see some of these guys come
Speaker 1: up against MLBA competition for the first time, Markami and
Speaker 1: a Kamoto. Of course we're going to be seeing a
Speaker 1: lot more of them this season, but it will be
Speaker 1: the first time we've seen them against some of the
Speaker 1: guys that they will in some cases be playing with
Speaker 1: this year, So that'll be fun. Gave, is there anyone
Speaker 1: you're looking out for on this Team Japan squad other
Speaker 1: than the obvious.
Speaker 3: Well, when we saw them last time, Yashida was absolutely brilliant.
Speaker 3: He looked like he was one of the greatest players
Speaker 3: in the planet, so he obviously doesn't do that when
Speaker 3: he's playing for Boston, But I think playing for Japan
Speaker 3: will look forward to seeing him dominate the game. I yeah,
Speaker 3: it looks like the Japan have this incredible roster. It
Speaker 3: is showing that Roki Sasaski isn't available. I think I
Speaker 3: think it's disappointing how many Dodges are not available. They're
Speaker 3: all focusing on getting themselves prepared for the MLB season.
Speaker 3: That's the company line. But considering it's the Dodgers who
Speaker 3: are this dinner who everyone thinks they are going to
Speaker 3: just sweep the World Series for the next couple of years,
Speaker 3: I think there's only four players five if you include
Speaker 3: the Korean infielder Kim, but only you know four or
Speaker 3: five players that are at the the WBC. So many
Speaker 3: other teams have many more representatives. So it's a shame
Speaker 3: that Roki Sasaki isn't there. And also last Newball he's
Speaker 3: he was quite a with his pepper grinder. He was
Speaker 3: was quite a character last time. But he's he's out injured.
Speaker 1: But yeah, they should seem like he enjoyed himself. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: you mentioned you mentioned the career there. The KABO is
Speaker 1: obviously widely considered, you know, the kind of the the
Speaker 1: third best league in the world behind MLB and the MPB.
Speaker 1: Do they have a legit chance at this tournament?
Speaker 4: RUSS. That's a really interesting question because, like the.
Speaker 2: They have baffled it in regards and that that's not
Speaker 2: my words, they are words of kind of Korean fans.
Speaker 2: For the last few tournaments, they finished like second and
Speaker 2: third in the in the first like iterations, and then
Speaker 2: have like failed to make it out of the group
Speaker 2: stages since, and there have been some notorious defeats along
Speaker 2: the way which.
Speaker 4: Do not sit well with.
Speaker 2: South Korean fans. So you, in most normal circumstances, they
Speaker 2: would have been the second best ranked team in this
Speaker 2: group and you would have gone, yeah, go on, like
Speaker 2: you're gonna you're going to do best out of this
Speaker 2: compared to some of the other ones. But they did
Speaker 2: end up with having Chinese type ay or to Taiwan
Speaker 2: in this group. But I think from a perspective of
Speaker 2: the hitters are basically some of the best hitters in
Speaker 2: the actually come from the the KBO, which again and
Speaker 2: I said, it's it's probably the third best league in
Speaker 2: the world, but the top of that league is comparable
Speaker 2: with like MLB players. They'll be led by John holy
Speaker 2: the Giants outfielder. The pitching side has usually what's left
Speaker 2: let them down in the past, and so it's the
Speaker 2: same again, like they've still got a space for like
Speaker 2: hundred ryu, but you also have kind of the likes
Speaker 2: of like Dane Dunning and Riley O'Brien, who names that
Speaker 2: people might know there are some good guys coming through
Speaker 2: that you might expect to have some impact it in
Speaker 2: but it is a bit more. The variant is quite
Speaker 2: strong with this Korean team, and I think that's what
Speaker 2: we do, just what we should expect. But you should
Speaker 2: also not be surprised if they gave Japan.
Speaker 1: A run for their money in a game and gav
Speaker 1: cheer in this group, but you presumably have some experience
Speaker 1: with them in person. I mean, they're one of the
Speaker 1: stronger sides in Europe. So what should we expect to
Speaker 1: have them as anyone we should be looking out for.
Speaker 3: Well, I think they're unique. They are the only team
Speaker 3: without a represent who plays in the USA, so of
Speaker 3: the twenty countries, for all of their roster to be
Speaker 3: based in Europe is pretty incredible, and I think the
Speaker 3: one who would have been the exception is that people
Speaker 3: would have known was Eric Sogard, but he's had to withdraw.
Speaker 3: But yeah, they're a very very organized team. They play
Speaker 3: as a team, they're very smart. They've got a lot
Speaker 3: of experienced guys. But they're not household names. They're not
Speaker 3: names there anyone apart from those who follow European baseball
Speaker 3: would know. But they did well last time. They managed
Speaker 3: to get their wins, so they automatically qualified in the Euros.
Speaker 3: Recently they finished upcoming third bronze medal, So yeah, it
Speaker 3: is that. I think every single game against Czech here
Speaker 3: is going to be a really tough game for their opponents.
Speaker 3: Whether they can pick up a couple of wins, I
Speaker 3: don't know, but I do think that the second place
Speaker 3: in this group is up for grabs. So yeah, the
Speaker 3: league that these guys playing isn't as strong to see
Speaker 3: a KPO, but yeah, they are going to give everyone
Speaker 3: a run for their money.
Speaker 1: And the Australian squad ross they might have a couple
Speaker 1: more names that the people who watch MLB regularly recognize.
Speaker 1: Whatever do you see their chances in this group.
Speaker 2: Yeah, again, it's like they have a lot like the
Speaker 2: the Australian Baseball League, which plays in the winter, so
Speaker 2: you do have a lot of players that are actually
Speaker 2: based in there. But it is a highly competitive league.
Speaker 2: A lot of the Asian League send their best young
Speaker 2: talent to go play in their MLB. Teams have sent
Speaker 2: people to play there in the past. I think Alcunia
Speaker 2: played out in the a b L where he was
Speaker 2: younger as well. So it's not like it's it's a
Speaker 2: bad league in itself. But you do have a few
Speaker 2: names that you might recognize, like Warwick Soirpled who are
Speaker 2: like Curtis me. There's the sorts of names. The big
Speaker 2: name that, depending on how into baseball, how into the
Speaker 2: baseball weeds you get, is Travis Bizana. He is the
Speaker 2: genuinely ranked number one across most prospects. I think he
Speaker 2: is by MLB. I don't know where he is for you,
Speaker 2: Darius at BP. But yes, second baseman who's at Cleveland,
Speaker 2: who probably would have played in the majors last season
Speaker 2: if he hadn't picked up a slight injury, is going
Speaker 2: to be the face of Australia baseball for quite a
Speaker 2: long time, if all things are to be believed with
Speaker 2: how his prospect rankings actually are. But no, this is
Speaker 2: a squad that plays again the same with what Garvin
Speaker 2: was saying with the cherit of public team. They play
Speaker 2: a lot, they play together a lot, and they've played
Speaker 2: a lot of international baseball, which again I think is
Speaker 2: they have the players and the managers who know how
Speaker 2: to deal with these scenarios that some of the other
Speaker 2: teams might not necessarily. But they are also in a
Speaker 2: group where that's actually the case, that where you have
Speaker 2: the three dominant Asia Asian teams and the cheer Republic
Speaker 2: in Australia. This is actually all the teams that are
Speaker 2: some of the probably five out of probably the top
Speaker 2: six or seven teams that I would really expect the
Speaker 2: managers and the players know how to play international baseball.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they've definitely been been around and seen it before
Speaker 1: that team, Gav I'm going to put you on the
Speaker 1: spot here. I was not familiar with Stuart Fairchild's connection
Speaker 1: with Chinese Taipei, So can you shed any further light
Speaker 1: on that? Being the former Reds family, you.
Speaker 3: Are, so, Stuart Fairchild, he's a non roster invitee for
Speaker 3: the Guardians. At the moment, I think, yeah, his mother's
Speaker 3: Taiwanese or from Taiwan, so that's how he qualifies. The
Speaker 3: Cubs also have a prospect, their first base prospect, Jonathan Long.
Speaker 3: He looks quite de Taiwan or Chinese tipe Ai. They're
Speaker 3: just such a difficult one to judge because they are
Speaker 3: ranked second in the world and they finished bottom of
Speaker 3: their group last time. But all of the five teams
Speaker 3: in the group last time finished with a two and
Speaker 3: two record, and Taiwan finished last because of the tiebreak,
Speaker 3: and so they picked themselves up and immediately won the
Speaker 3: Premiere twelve, which is like the w BSC's version of
Speaker 3: the World Baseball Classic, beating Japan, as Russ said earlier,
Speaker 3: and breaking Japan's like thirty game unbeaten record. So they
Speaker 3: are an incredible team I and you just I don't
Speaker 3: know if it's erratic or if it's just unlucky, but
Speaker 3: you just never really know what to expect from them.
Speaker 3: So they qualified again. They finished and the qualification they
Speaker 3: were against Spain, Spain, the team who keep beating gb
Speaker 3: in these tournaments. Spain had scored more runs they'd conceded
Speaker 3: fewer runs and they've beaten Taiwan in the round robin stage,
Speaker 3: but by the time the group was finalized, they both
Speaker 3: had the same a mounted points, but instead of this
Speaker 3: having a tiebreak, they had to play a one off game,
Speaker 3: which Taiwan won. So they're here in the WBC and
Speaker 3: spain a back home watching again. So yeah, I think
Speaker 3: you have to accept that if you're the Premier twelve
Speaker 3: champions and you're ranked second in the world, you have
Speaker 3: to be a pretty good team. So yeah, even though
Speaker 3: we don't know anyone else apart from Stuart Fairchild, I
Speaker 3: think we have to accept that they are going to
Speaker 3: be a challenge for everyone. When I say we don't
Speaker 3: know anyone else there is, I'm going to butcher his
Speaker 3: name because they are much better at Italian names than
Speaker 3: I am. Taiwanese Sunchi Ching who has just been picked
Speaker 3: up by the Red Sox and they or his fifth
Speaker 3: team of twenty twenty six as he serves thee the
Speaker 3: waves of DFA one.
Speaker 1: Of those ways of wire adventures. Yeah, there are a
Speaker 1: couple of guys Youmin Lynn for the Dbacks has been
Speaker 1: considered a decent prospect at one point the a's of
Speaker 1: stock Palm. Three of these guys, I think why end
Speaker 1: Lynn is on our ra's prospect list number twelve. So
Speaker 1: there are some guys in the miners who were considered
Speaker 1: decent prospects here as well.
Speaker 2: And agree are very shang So as a Cleveland fan
Speaker 2: who watched him as he come through and spune some time.
Speaker 2: I think in Boston at the end or whatever, as
Speaker 2: Gavin said, in the qualifying tournament.
Speaker 4: And took a bit of an interesting route. They didn't
Speaker 4: really play most of the players that played in the
Speaker 4: premiere twelve. They kind of used it as a.
Speaker 2: We're gonna let like our kind of second tier guys
Speaker 2: all have a tournament and see who plays well, and
Speaker 2: then they nearly bottled it. So quite a lot of
Speaker 2: their team that were involved in that qualifier are not
Speaker 2: in this team, and it was only it was only
Speaker 2: Yuchang who was one of the main players that was kept.
Speaker 2: And it was potentially one of the only reasons why
Speaker 2: Btawan made it back to the tournament, because that could
Speaker 2: have been a serious embarrassment if they had kind of
Speaker 2: not taken the qualifier seriously and then lost because of it.
Speaker 1: An unconventional approach Okay, we should do the last group
Speaker 1: before we run out of time. Paul d features Venezuela,
Speaker 1: the Dominican Republic, the Netherlands, Israel and Nicaragua. I don't
Speaker 1: think we can look past the Dominicans the headline team
Speaker 1: to talk about here. So Gav, where do we begin
Speaker 1: with this squad? I mean, this is right up there
Speaker 1: with Japan and the US for some of the star power,
Speaker 1: right I.
Speaker 3: Think I'd argue that it's better this team is just
Speaker 3: all three of us play fantasy baseball. You know, we
Speaker 3: have to admit that. And when you see Julio Rodriguez,
Speaker 3: Juan Soto and Fernando Tatis in the in the outfield,
Speaker 3: and then the the infield four of Guerrero, queertl Marte,
Speaker 3: Heraldo Podomo and Manny Machado and Junior Cameronero on the bench,
Speaker 3: and then no At Dh and then Jeremy Penner on
Speaker 3: the bench, that is just it's an extraordinary lineup. And
Speaker 3: this time they have got the pitching to go with it,
Speaker 3: which I think has always been the problem. So you've
Speaker 3: got Sandie Alcantara and Christopher Sanchez as well as Lewis
Speaker 3: Severino and Brian Bello, So it's yeah, this looks to
Speaker 3: be a really it's a dream team, and they have
Speaker 3: never They won the tournament once, but they've never been
Speaker 3: to the final. Apart from that. I don't actually think
Speaker 3: they've been to the semi final apart from the time
Speaker 3: that they won it. So they've never performed as well
Speaker 3: as they should do. But this is this is a
Speaker 3: team for the A and they haven't got a couple
Speaker 3: of their best players in Elie de la Cruz and
Speaker 3: Jose Ramirez. So Jose Ramirez, as Russell hinted at earlier,
Speaker 3: it is a very weird situation because he it appears
Speaker 3: now that he feels snubbed that they were going to
Speaker 3: play Manny Machado at third base and he didn't. He
Speaker 3: thinks that he's a better third basement, which quite rightly
Speaker 3: he is. So instead of being a team player, I
Speaker 3: think he's decided that he's going to skip the Paul
Speaker 3: games and he might come back for the knockout stages.
Speaker 3: I didn't even know that that was possible, But according
Speaker 3: to Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland whatever the Cleveland papers called, yeah,
Speaker 3: that's what his plan is.
Speaker 1: This seems very unlike jose Ramirez Russ. Based on what
Speaker 1: we know about him being you know, real Cleveland guy,
Speaker 1: loyal to the team, it sort of seems quite against
Speaker 1: the character that we've here there two.
Speaker 4: Known about him.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a question of, like, there are so many
Speaker 2: other factors that go on to hear that we kind
Speaker 2: of we we don't really really know. Yeah, but the
Speaker 2: view that I have from of Joseiahs as a Cleveland
Speaker 2: fan and everything that I've read about him is, yeah,
Speaker 2: he's signed multiple extensions at Cleveland at pretty friendly rates
Speaker 2: to stay at Cleveland and be a Clevelander flirt for life.
Speaker 2: He says that it his recent extension, he was just like,
Speaker 2: I'm fifty percent Dominican, fifty percent Cleveland. There, so like
Speaker 2: he clearly kind of sees that and pushes that through.
Speaker 2: So this is a bit there's definitely there's some politicking
Speaker 2: going on here.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 2: Obviously, the manager is Albert Pouhole's as well, which means
Speaker 2: that there's there are characters in this room of the
Speaker 2: best of times. Even we throw a manager into it
Speaker 2: as well who was potentially a bigger character than half
Speaker 2: of the players.
Speaker 4: New guys go through. Now you would have hoped they're
Speaker 4: able to do this.
Speaker 2: In some regards, some people have said it might actually
Speaker 2: be better that for the Dominican Republic, they's done around
Speaker 2: that they do just have like here is your clear
Speaker 2: starting nine and not having these potential arguments that have
Speaker 2: existed in the past to be like who's actually starting
Speaker 2: who's and people getting getting upset. But even without Jasimiras,
Speaker 2: as Gammon said, it's it's the best like seven on
Speaker 2: the field. Obviously Osin Wells or Augustin Ramirez brings it
Speaker 2: down slightly compared to like the Team USA from a
Speaker 2: catching perspective, but the seven on the infield and the
Speaker 2: three in the outfield that it's better than every other
Speaker 2: team that's out there. You've got to hope that it
Speaker 2: works and they pull it together from a pitching perspective,
Speaker 2: because geesh, this is this.
Speaker 4: This is a squad. This is a squad.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I feel sorry for the other teams in
Speaker 1: this group because Venezuela are not all that far behind, right,
Speaker 1: Gav Like, there's a lot of pretty excellent players on
Speaker 1: this team too. It kind of looks like the top
Speaker 1: two spots in this Paula are very much you know,
Speaker 1: favor towards these two teams.
Speaker 3: I think as far as the talent of MLB or
Speaker 3: the MLB talent on display gos, Yeah, Venezuela looked to
Speaker 3: be just behind Dominican Republic but above the other three.
Speaker 3: But yeah, it is an extraordinary lineup they're able to
Speaker 3: produce because it did look maybe a month ago that
Speaker 3: they were really struggling because of obviously the political problems
Speaker 3: that were happening, and then certain players were saying that
Speaker 3: they weren't going to play, Certain players weren't entirely sure
Speaker 3: if they were going to be able to play. And
Speaker 3: then throw into that Hooseale too they found out that
Speaker 3: he was going to be ineligible. But yeah, the roster
Speaker 3: when it was announced, it was almost everyone that they
Speaker 3: could possibly have wished for. So you've got Eduardo Rodriguez
Speaker 3: and Rein Yes Rain I was trying to say his
Speaker 3: name properly, ranger A Suarez says his name's not Ranger's,
Speaker 3: Rana Rana Suarez and Pablo Lopez. So that's a really
Speaker 3: good three starters you have, and then a decent number
Speaker 3: of bullpen arms. You've got the Contreras guys and Salvador
Speaker 3: Perez so that's three catchers, or I suppose Wilson contrerosism
Speaker 3: the catcher anymore. But then yeah, with Ronald of Kunea
Speaker 3: Junior and Jackson Curio in the outfield, Yeah, you can't
Speaker 3: imagine how good the Venezuela versus Dominican Republic game is
Speaker 3: going to be maybe five of the ten best outfielders
Speaker 3: on the planet playing at the same time.
Speaker 4: Yeah it be they.
Speaker 3: Should, they should do it, but you never know, as
Speaker 3: we said before, in these one off games, in these
Speaker 3: short tournaments, with all these extra rules, maybe you don't
Speaker 3: count out them. The Netherlands seem to do really well
Speaker 3: in this tournament, and you know who knows about Israel
Speaker 3: and the pride that can be instilled, that can that
Speaker 3: could bring an extra few percent out.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the Dominican that Dominican republics Venezuela, the game being
Speaker 2: the final game of the group. As with I think
Speaker 2: a few of the other it's I think it's the
Speaker 2: only one where I think the theoretically the number one
Speaker 2: and the number two team are playing each other for
Speaker 2: the last game of the group, so it has has
Speaker 2: the potential to do with all the dominoes to be
Speaker 2: avoiding a game against I think they will have to
Speaker 2: play Japan basically if they end up running up of
Speaker 2: that pool. So you're probably looking to really try and
Speaker 2: try and win that. But no Asa said dependence whale
Speaker 2: and like wine up is is strong. I think that
Speaker 2: game against in Miami will be a pretty epic game
Speaker 2: the one last So games with like Puerto Rico and
Speaker 2: that lot in Miami last year were and Venezuela were
Speaker 2: all fantastic atmospheres that a lot of the games there.
Speaker 2: I saw that I had Team USA involved the Mexico
Speaker 2: game and the Venezuela game, but in Arizona and Miami,
Speaker 2: the US fans were in the minority in the in
Speaker 2: those games. So the atmosphere at Lone Depot once again
Speaker 2: in the WBC will probably be about tenfold whatever it
Speaker 2: is for the Marlins at any point during the regular season.
Speaker 2: So you can't can't really look beyond those two teams.
Speaker 2: But the Netherlands and Israel both have I think they
Speaker 2: both have like starting like rosters that have been hitters,
Speaker 2: that you are like you know what you can you
Speaker 2: can potentially have an impact. I think they both just
Speaker 2: struggle for anything close when it comes to like the
Speaker 2: pitching perspective, they both have one or two guys that
Speaker 2: you could be like, you know what you can you
Speaker 2: can do something Dean Kramer for obviously that the Netherlands
Speaker 2: still have Kenlly Jansen taking part in this tournament, who
Speaker 2: took part is taking part in quite a few WBC's.
Speaker 2: I think the first time he took on in WBC
Speaker 2: he was a catcher, So tell Usha how long Kenny
Speaker 2: has been taking part of these tournaments.
Speaker 4: But that the.
Speaker 2: The in field for the Netherlands that you can pick
Speaker 2: between Ozzie Albi, Zanderbergard's did Gagorious, Jeremy Profar and Charlie Sloop.
Speaker 2: It's like there's there's some pretty good names there that
Speaker 2: you you you would recognize. So Saddel Rafaela joining that
Speaker 2: team as well means that it's going to be a good,
Speaker 2: a good, good Dutch team. But I think it as
Speaker 2: well as Tim Maschol will struggle just from not having
Speaker 2: the pitching depth.
Speaker 3: It looks like the third definitely in the group though,
Speaker 3: Sedan Rafaela in the outfield with the Jerks and Profi
Speaker 3: and the manager's son Drew Jones.
Speaker 4: So a geat epetism.
Speaker 3: It looks like they will be competitive in every single game.
Speaker 3: But you know, if it was over a seven games series,
Speaker 3: you wouldn't give them a chance. But as I keep
Speaker 3: going on, in these one off games, they can easily
Speaker 3: get a couple of wins and then you suddenly find
Speaker 3: that they're the ones who are played in Japan in
Speaker 3: the in the next round.
Speaker 1: What a prize to look forward to. So we shouldn't
Speaker 1: skip over Nicaragua with the final team on the list.
Speaker 1: Any any hopes for these guys? Could they pull off
Speaker 1: an upset against the Netherlands or Israelists.
Speaker 3: Any team that is managed by Dusty Baker? You have
Speaker 3: to give a chance. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Again, it's like it's what I well think me definitely
Speaker 2: discussed this in the past that like, actually Hall of
Speaker 2: Fame managers don't do particularly well switching over to international baseball.
Speaker 2: It's a it's a it's a very different kettle of fish.
Speaker 2: But same as you said, like with the Brazilian team,
Speaker 2: Like even though you might in some regards clearly say
Speaker 2: they are the weakest team in the group, you would
Speaker 2: be you would be daft to basically say that they're
Speaker 2: just gonna lose, because hey, like even the Rockies beat
Speaker 2: the Dodgers every now and then, so it's it's like
Speaker 2: it's a possibility. The leading guys for probably for Nicki,
Speaker 2: Raker's Mark Vientos, who still currently is a Met. Who
Speaker 2: know if he'll be a Met by the time the
Speaker 2: tournament actually takes place, but yeah, I think he's He's
Speaker 2: probably that there's a there's a name that a few
Speaker 2: other people might know in Jeta Downs if people remember
Speaker 2: the Mookie Betts trade, and I think it's Ismail Munguia,
Speaker 2: who is a Yankees prospect. But beyond that, it is
Speaker 2: it's a lot of players that have played for Nicki
Speaker 2: regularly in the international tournaments before. Again gives them a
Speaker 2: little edge because they know how to do this. But
Speaker 2: I think, respectively, like we do expect them to probably
Speaker 2: finish last.
Speaker 1: Throwing shade on Royal's legend Chesesla Cusbert Russ, who was
Speaker 1: worth negative one point six war between twenty fifteen and
Speaker 1: twenty twenty. Oh man, that is a name that I
Speaker 1: know that I've picked me up points in fantasy occasionally,
Speaker 1: probably very briefly picked you up some points.
Speaker 4: He had.
Speaker 1: He had won one decent season in twenty sixteen and
Speaker 1: then the rest not so much. But big Big leaguer
Speaker 1: all counts over a thousand Big League Play appearances, so
Speaker 1: he has the experience. Yeah, and I think he's taken
Speaker 1: part for them in the last tournament and in part
Speaker 1: of their qualifiers as well, so yeah, so he's got
Speaker 1: the international experience.
Speaker 3: So as far as I know, we still haven't got
Speaker 3: a TV deal, have.
Speaker 4: We in the UK?
Speaker 3: No?
Speaker 2: I think both sources close and all away from that,
Speaker 2: something is being worked on. Hopefully when we get to
Speaker 2: do the Team GB more in depth, we can give
Speaker 2: some details on that more than we know right now
Speaker 2: what actually will be. There is also going to be
Speaker 2: some hopefully organized fan watching events, but again these are
Speaker 2: also things that are can't be confirmed until how these
Speaker 2: TV deals are sorted. So yes, hopefully we can confirm
Speaker 2: all of that in the Malted distributure when these potential
Speaker 2: deals get finalized one way or another.
Speaker 3: But the games are at some of the games are
Speaker 3: at really good times. So we've got six pm start
Speaker 3: for GB Mexico on the Friday nights that's Friday, the
Speaker 3: sixth of March, and then we have a one am
Speaker 3: start against USA, six pm on Sunday against Italy and
Speaker 3: six pm against Brazil. So that's yeah, that's a lot
Speaker 3: of good base watching those four days.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I will say I didn't say I don't think
Speaker 1: at the top, but the tournament covers March the fifth
Speaker 1: to the seventeenth, so that will be the period of
Speaker 1: which the games take So the World Baseball Classic takes
Speaker 1: place from the fifth of March to the seventeenth of March.
Speaker 1: We will update you as soon as we can with
Speaker 1: more of those details about how to watch the tournament
Speaker 1: and especially on how to watch those GB games as
Speaker 1: soon as we get them. As mentioned before, we will
Speaker 1: also have a GB specific podcast coming up in the
Speaker 1: very near future. We're hoping to get some very special
Speaker 1: guests for that one to do watch out for that.
Speaker 1: As always, please do check out the website at batflips
Speaker 1: andnurvese dot com. Lots of great content there about the WBC,
Speaker 1: about MLB, about fantasy baseball. Thank you very much again
Speaker 1: to gab Ann Rusford joining me on this episode. Great
Speaker 1: to get their knowledge about the WBC, and we'll be
Speaker 1: sure to have more of that when we have that
Speaker 1: GB episode. And we'll be back soon as well with
Speaker 1: a bit of an MLB off season recap and looking
Speaker 1: ahead to the season itself, which will be starting in
Speaker 1: stunder a month and a half now, so exciting times
Speaker 1: all round. Thanks for listening and we'll catch you next time.