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| A Solution to the World Baseball Classic |
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| Fantasy Baseball Blog | |||
| Friday, 20 March 2009 00:00 | |||
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Over the last few days, I have seen multiple articles published about how we love and hate the World Baseball Classic. One of the Why I Love the WBC articles was here on FantasyPros911.com by Paul Greco. The community of readers really came alive and posted many opinions in the comments section, creating a great discussion about what they liked and disliked. Here are some links to what a few others from around the net are saying as well: Joe Sheehan of Baseball Prospectus Josh Deitch of Seamheads.com Craig Calcaterra of The Hardball Times Rob Neyer of ESPN Jim Rome Personally, I don’t know anyone that is a baseball fan that truly hates the idea of the WBC. Baseball has truly become a global game, and the idea of holding a true World Championship has definitely arrived. Execution is another matter. Here is what we hate: 1. The timing - It should be played after the MLB and Japanese baseball seasons are over so no one gets hurt prior to their "real" seasons. 2. Eligibility - Rules for playing for a certain country need to be more clear-cut, and dual eligibility should not be the norm. 3. Game Format - The round-robin format of one game against most opponents just doesn’t cut it. 4. Lack of true national teams - This issue is not new; we have the same problems in the Olympics. You can't put together a national team comprised of all-stars a few weeks before a tournament and expect them to be good and well-received by fans. 5. Playing restrictions - This is mostly due to the timing of the competition. But no one wants to see teams compete with pitch counts on the pitchers. Here is how I propose we fix it: A. Fix the timing - The WBC is instead played in the off season of the Japanesse and MLB leagues (November to January), played out every 2 or 4 year period. B. Fix the eligibility - You can play for the country you are from, but not where your parents are from. Once you pick a national team, no deciding to change at a later date. Teams are chosen and fostered over time. C. Change the Format - Baseball fans love baseball because it is a long-term battle and season-long stats matter. Create two worldwide divisions and play a small season of three-game series against all other teams in your division over a six-to-eight week period, then hold a championship seven-game series amongst the division winners. D. Fix the Teams - Create a clause that allows all players in any league (MLB, Japan, even Cuba) to play in this off season league if selected, without professional team restrictions for a certain period of time (four to eight years). This will allow a player to be selected for a national team and be able to participate in two or three of these WBC competitions over the course of his career. It also sets a definitive time period that lets the professional clubs be aware that their players are eligible for this competition, and can adjust off season preparations accordingly. This selection can even be implemented on a biannual basis. If each national team chose 25 players every two years for eight year periods, you could have 100 players eligible for each team. As you chose your newest 25 players every two years, you would be replacing the 25 whose period of eligibility has expired. This would create a great player pool for the countries, while also allowing the professional teams to prepare for many of their players taking part in biannual winter ball. This already happens with the Arizona, Hawaiian, Dominican, Venezuelan and Mexican leagues. If all these fixes were made, then not only would baseball fans, teams and players be happier, but we could also have a true World Championship of Baseball. Maybe next week we can tackle the BCS for college football (just kidding)! Trackback(0)
Comments (2)
  written by ChuckAnderson, March 20, 2009
As you mentioned Sean, no one quibbles with the idea in theory, but the involvement of professional organizations creates some impossible conflicts of interest. My one solution would be to have the rosters restricted to under 23 year old non-professionals. Sure it would not be as appetizing to the general public, but I would tune in to see Stephen Strasburg vs. the next Japanese Industrial League phenom
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Tags: World Baseball Classic joe sheehan baseball prospectus seamheads hardball times rob neyer espn jim rome olympics wbc fantasypros911
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The problem with playing the tournament after the season is that guys are adding extra work which they wouldn't have done anyways. Pitchers could be eclipsing the 300 IP mark if they were to go on to pitch in the WBC.
Why not play a week of the tournament (pool play) during Spring Training- and play the second week during the All-Star Break. The All-Star game has lost it's importance and players would be at mid-season form so they aren't overworked or anything like that.