Latest / Cards & Categories / Ep. 130 : World Baseball Classic Preview With Kiri Oler

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Ep. 130 : World Baseball Classic Preview With Kiri Oler · Cards & Categories

0:16
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome everybody to episode one thirty of Cards
0:19
Speaker 1: and Categories. I am my Cool Art and we've got
0:22
Speaker 1: a very special guest.
0:23
Speaker 2: This week.
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Speaker 1: We are joined by Kiri Ohler from Fangrafts to cover
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Speaker 1: the World Baseball Classic the WBC. She wrote a fantastic
0:32
Speaker 1: series of preview articles for the WBC and all the
0:36
Speaker 1: pools out there. Kirie, how are you doing today? Let
0:39
Speaker 1: everybody know where they can find your work and reach
0:41
Speaker 1: you on socials.
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Speaker 3: H Yeah, I'm doing great. Thanks for having me. Yeah,
0:46
Speaker 3: as you said, I write for Fangrafts, so that's where
0:48
Speaker 3: most of my work is, so check in there. That's
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Speaker 3: the best place to find me on social media. I
0:54
Speaker 3: believe it's Kirio atbsky dot whatever, and that's really the
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Speaker 3: only social.
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Speaker 1: I have, so yes, yeah, and that's where it is
1:03
Speaker 1: at nowadays with the Blue Sky kicking off ats spring training,
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Speaker 1: and I think it's going to be even better during
1:09
Speaker 1: the World Baseball Classic, as we're going to have baseball
1:12
Speaker 1: at all times of the day going on and being
1:15
Speaker 1: chatted about on Blue Sky. So yeah, it's going to
1:18
Speaker 1: be a fun time. If you haven't joined us all
1:20
Speaker 1: over in the baseball community on Blue sky check us
1:23
Speaker 1: out there now. So yeah, let's just dive right into
1:27
Speaker 1: this World Baseball Classic here for twenty twenty three. You
1:30
Speaker 1: put together a great preview of each pool on Fangraphs
1:35
Speaker 1: run down by ABC and D as well as a
1:38
Speaker 1: different set of headlines and kind of puns to be
1:42
Speaker 1: able to put together for getting into the pool for
1:45
Speaker 1: each one. So I think this has been one of
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Speaker 1: my favorite previews just because like there's an element of
1:52
Speaker 1: fun in whimsy with this, where I think that is
1:55
Speaker 1: what the World Baseball Classic kind of brings, as well
1:57
Speaker 1: as international competition overall. So what really stood out to
2:02
Speaker 1: you as you were getting into writing these WC WBC
2:06
Speaker 1: previews and what were some of the more fun points
2:10
Speaker 1: to research Because obviously people know that the players from
2:14
Speaker 1: timosay and stuff, but you went deep on all these
2:16
Speaker 1: teams to find players across the board from some of
2:21
Speaker 1: the smaller countries as well. Yeah.
2:23
Speaker 3: Initially when I started writing, I was sort of planning
2:26
Speaker 3: on like, oh, just like focus on the major leaguers
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Speaker 3: on each team, and so some of these teams I
2:30
Speaker 3: probably won't have that much to say about, and then
2:33
Speaker 3: if you've seen them, you'll know that they're all like
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Speaker 3: three thousand words long. So clearly I found other things
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Speaker 3: to talk about. But for me, like what became the
2:40
Speaker 3: most interesting part of it was sort of like, Okay,
2:43
Speaker 3: I don't know a bunch of these players from some
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Speaker 3: of these other countries, especially if they don't have players
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Speaker 3: in the majors, and so it was just a good
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Speaker 3: excuse for me to just go down every single rabbit
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Speaker 3: hole and learn about them. And I think that's what
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Speaker 3: the WBC provides. It's a great opera ortunity to see
3:01
Speaker 3: players that we don't normally get to see. Maybe they'll
3:03
Speaker 3: come over to the majors at some point, maybe they won't,
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Speaker 3: but just getting a feel for what baseball is like
3:07
Speaker 3: in other cultures and their approach to the game and
3:11
Speaker 3: just how far along they are in terms of their
3:14
Speaker 3: baseball development life cycle.
3:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, and so we are recording this on March second,
3:20
Speaker 1: so we're starting to get some of the preview games
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Speaker 1: done right now. We've been seeing lots of great media
3:26
Speaker 1: and photos and video, especially out of Japan as Team
3:30
Speaker 1: Japan Samurai has been warming up against the ORYX, Buffalo's
3:34
Speaker 1: and other teams out of the MPB there. But let's
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Speaker 1: get into some of the basics of the WBC first,
3:40
Speaker 1: So you do have four pools that are running right now.
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Speaker 1: Pool A will be running in Puerto Rico, San Juan
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Speaker 1: there at Bithrum Stadium. We've got Pool B at Dikin
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Speaker 1: Park in Houston, and Pool C at the Tokyo Dome
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Speaker 1: in Japan. Pool D will be at Miami and Loan
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Speaker 1: Depot Park, and then from there we're going to have
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Speaker 1: the actual single elimination tournament after those pools that kicks
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Speaker 1: off with the quarterfinals on March thirteenth that will take
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Speaker 1: place in Houston and Miami before we get to the
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Speaker 1: finale on March seventeenth, actually my birthday.
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Speaker 2: That's going to be a great birthday.
4:21
Speaker 1: Watching there between the two teams that make it through
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Speaker 1: the tournaments.
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Speaker 2: On each side. So we'll get a little bit more
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Speaker 2: into the actual details of each individual pool.
4:33
Speaker 1: You obviously covered that in your work, but I think
4:35
Speaker 1: I want to focus on the most important thing from
4:38
Speaker 1: your writing, which is the best and worst jerseys. I
4:42
Speaker 1: was a huge Uni Watch fan before it sadly shut down.
4:44
Speaker 1: Paul Lucas's Uni Watch that ran for decades and just
4:49
Speaker 1: brought together a community of other just really minute details
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Speaker 1: of jerseys that I think has crossed over into some
4:57
Speaker 1: of the baseball car collecting that I've focused on, because
5:01
Speaker 1: there is an art to jerseys overall, between not only
5:04
Speaker 1: just being flashy and kind of showing what you can
5:07
Speaker 1: do with the modern technology, but also representing the countries. So,
5:12
Speaker 1: like I said, let's focus on these first. You did
5:15
Speaker 1: a very great analysis of all the jerseys. What stood
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Speaker 1: out to you as some of your favorite jerseys from
5:20
Speaker 1: the WBC teams.
5:23
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's funny you say that because I actually, like
5:25
Speaker 3: haven't been a uniform person historically, but I have gradually
5:30
Speaker 3: grown to like appreciate the nuance and so I think,
5:34
Speaker 3: like one thing that stands out about the WBC uniforms
5:36
Speaker 3: this year is that they have for the most part
5:38
Speaker 3: been taken over by Nike. Initially it was each country
5:41
Speaker 3: providing their own uniforms, and so you saw a little
5:44
Speaker 3: bit more variation, and so like, I'm actually kind of
5:47
Speaker 3: bummed because like the Nike, like they clearly have a
5:49
Speaker 3: template that they're using for all the teams, and so
5:53
Speaker 3: there's it's a lot of a flat more of a
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Speaker 3: flat thing as opposed to getting to see a little
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Speaker 3: bit more of like the cultural flair that each country
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Speaker 3: can bring, and I think in a tournament like the
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Speaker 3: WBC WHERED it isn't this international thing, and it is
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Speaker 3: this meeting of different cultures to sort of come together
6:10
Speaker 3: over the shared sport. It is more fun when you
6:12
Speaker 3: can see a little bit more of the cultural flair.
6:15
Speaker 3: But that said, there are still some good ones. So
6:20
Speaker 3: I guess one quick note because one of my favorites
6:21
Speaker 3: is actually the one that is not Nike. It's Team Japan,
6:25
Speaker 3: which is still Mizuno I believe. I'm guessing they had
6:27
Speaker 3: some kind of a contract that Nike didn't want to
6:29
Speaker 3: buy out or something, so that those are still really good.
6:32
Speaker 3: They've got the strong pin stripes that I like a lot,
6:36
Speaker 3: and then they've also they switched up like the flare
6:39
Speaker 3: details on the front of the jersey, which I thought
6:42
Speaker 3: was a nice upgrade there. Team Australia has some really
6:47
Speaker 3: great socks that I'm hoping carry over. I don't know
6:50
Speaker 3: for sure if they are going to, but they have
6:52
Speaker 3: their high socks are like the forest green that they
6:56
Speaker 3: use with some really nice like detailed banding around the
7:00
Speaker 3: that are great. And then I also really liked Team Italy.
7:03
Speaker 3: I thought that the newer version is still in keeping
7:08
Speaker 3: with the spirit of their twenty twenty three uniforms with
7:11
Speaker 3: just like a little bit of an upgrade. And then again,
7:13
Speaker 3: if they get to keep those accessories, the red, green
7:16
Speaker 3: and whitehead bands, I think that'll be a really nice look.
7:23
Speaker 3: And then as far as my least favorites, Venezuela's look
7:27
Speaker 3: like knockoff ast Food uniforms. I can't get that out
7:31
Speaker 3: of my mind, that that like yellow blue combo is
7:34
Speaker 3: just kind of strange some of the ones that I
7:39
Speaker 3: don't like, or it's not necessarily because the uniforms themselves
7:41
Speaker 3: are that bad, it's just a downgrade over what they
7:43
Speaker 3: used to have. So like Puerto Rico lost like the
7:46
Speaker 3: waves at the bottom of their jersey that I thought
7:48
Speaker 3: were really cool. South Korea used to have a really
7:52
Speaker 3: cool detail on the sleeve that's a little bit different
7:54
Speaker 3: from what you usually see. The Dominican had this cool
7:58
Speaker 3: ombree situation going on, and Israel, for like only having
8:03
Speaker 3: a national team since like the nineties, actually had pretty
8:05
Speaker 3: solid uniforms. They had like a blue pin stripe and
8:08
Speaker 3: a cool font, and all of that sort of got
8:11
Speaker 3: flattened out by the Nike takeover. But here we are.
8:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I think especially those Dominican ones that
8:18
Speaker 1: had the ombrea, those were fantastic.
8:21
Speaker 3: I love it, yeah, right on the field.
8:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, and that little crossover section where they had the
8:26
Speaker 1: purple worked into them as well, that was really fun.
8:30
Speaker 1: Your called the team Japan ones are I think really
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Speaker 1: important too, because you don't see too many of that
8:36
Speaker 1: like pattern that they have on the navy blue ones,
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Speaker 1: with that kind of swirl that goes across and it's
8:42
Speaker 1: got a little bit of an ombre worked into it
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Speaker 1: as well, So I think that's been really cool. And yeah,
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Speaker 1: I'm also the Italian ones are.
8:52
Speaker 2: I like them.
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Speaker 1: They're clean, but it's Italy. They know they're known for
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Speaker 1: fashion too, you know what I mean. Like, right, get
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Speaker 1: some of the big fashion houses out. Let's really blow
9:01
Speaker 1: out the Italian team and and really make these fancy
9:05
Speaker 1: in the future if you can get some consultants and Nike.
9:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, give me those Chanel uniforms, Amanda, they certainly do.
9:14
Speaker 1: The other thing I want to call out too is
9:17
Speaker 1: the Great Britain ones. They in twenty twenty three, they
9:19
Speaker 1: ran into an issue with like getting the template together
9:22
Speaker 1: and getting them ordered, which gave us one of the
9:25
Speaker 1: greatest uniform sets of those Great Britain uniforms that had
9:29
Speaker 1: the Great Britain font that was just far, far too
9:33
Speaker 1: small and looked like it produced by some eight year
9:37
Speaker 1: old playing around with word arty. Yes, absolutely missed those
9:44
Speaker 1: because I think they went down as just like some
9:47
Speaker 1: of the best uniforms I've ever seen. Also just like
9:50
Speaker 1: a little bit of like a vibe of like when
9:52
Speaker 1: you're putting together a set of jerseys on MLB the show,
9:55
Speaker 1: and it just like does not translate when you put
9:58
Speaker 1: it into the Unfortunately, Great Britain has a real uniform
10:03
Speaker 1: set with real pipe. They ordered them in time to
10:07
Speaker 1: be able to get them on the fields. So some
10:12
Speaker 1: changes that are happening there great call outs. I think
10:16
Speaker 1: the other fun thing about your previews was adding in
10:19
Speaker 1: a secondary anthem for every team, which kind of gave
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Speaker 1: this overall vibes to each team. I haven't put Have
10:26
Speaker 1: you put together like a whole Spotify playlist of this
10:29
Speaker 1: together to like listen to it in anticipation, I have not.
10:33
Speaker 3: That's a good idea. I don't know if the another
10:35
Speaker 3: one's one is on Spotify. I only have that as
10:38
Speaker 3: the YouTube video that is embedded in any article.
10:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, that I might have to crank together a playlist
10:46
Speaker 1: just so that I can get pumped up for this
10:48
Speaker 1: WBC as it takes off in a couple of days.
10:51
Speaker 1: But let's get into some of the vibes of these
10:52
Speaker 1: teams too. So what stood out to you as you
10:55
Speaker 1: were looking at the rosters, looking at the uniforms, looking
10:59
Speaker 1: at the secondary anthems and the trajectories of some of
11:02
Speaker 1: these programs would stood out to you as the teams
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Speaker 1: with some of the best vibes and some with the
11:07
Speaker 1: worst vibes.
11:10
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I think the leading the pack in terms
11:13
Speaker 3: of best vibes. I think the Dominican is up there
11:15
Speaker 3: because they got eliminated. They didn't make it out of
11:18
Speaker 3: pool play in twenty three and they clearly took that personally,
11:22
Speaker 3: and you can tell by looking at the roster they've
11:24
Speaker 3: got a much stronger lineup, and so I think they're
11:30
Speaker 3: they're going to have a really strong showing and their
11:32
Speaker 3: vibes are going to be much much better this year
11:34
Speaker 3: because they don't want that to happen again. I think
11:38
Speaker 3: the US just like the fact that they have pitching
11:40
Speaker 3: this year, like they seem to really take that loss
11:42
Speaker 3: to Japan and the final personally. Again, so like those
11:45
Speaker 3: two teams are sort of in the We're gonna make
11:48
Speaker 3: a better showing this year category In terms of their
11:50
Speaker 3: vibe upgrade, I think Israel just the fact that they
11:56
Speaker 3: got Harrison Bader on the roster. He's like a vibe
11:58
Speaker 3: elevator unto himself. But they also have the Stubbs Brothers,
12:02
Speaker 3: like people may not know that, Like Garrett Stubbs is
12:04
Speaker 3: like the the DJ for the Phillies, like he makes
12:08
Speaker 3: their postgame celebration playlists when when he's on the roster.
12:12
Speaker 3: Obviously he was in Triple A last year, but yeah,
12:18
Speaker 3: I mean he's enthusiastic, though, is the takeaway there? I
12:22
Speaker 3: think in terms of vibes. So he's willing to try things,
12:25
Speaker 3: you know. It's good to have an open minded guy there,
12:29
Speaker 3: I guess. And then I think also into on team Israel, RJ.
12:36
Speaker 3: Shruck is there. He made it to Triple A last
12:38
Speaker 3: year with the Blue Jays. He's already got some spring
12:41
Speaker 3: training highlights. So they've got a little bit of everything
12:43
Speaker 3: in terms of interest there. They've got some good vibes
12:47
Speaker 3: players as well as some up and comers, so I
12:49
Speaker 3: think I think they've got some good vibes. South Korea.
12:54
Speaker 3: Han Jen Riyu is back, which like people probably thought
12:56
Speaker 3: he was done, but like it was news to me
12:59
Speaker 3: that he has been pitching in Korea and he's pitched
13:02
Speaker 3: like three hundred innings over the last two years. I
13:05
Speaker 3: thought that injuries had kind of taken him out, but
13:07
Speaker 3: apparently he's back, so that's cool. They've also got Jong Hoolei,
13:10
Speaker 3: which is another great vibes contributor, and they also have
13:15
Speaker 3: like just an entire lineup of gold Glovers, so like
13:18
Speaker 3: their defense should be incredible. They've got like the more
13:22
Speaker 3: small ball play style, which that's another thing I love
13:25
Speaker 3: about the WBC is you get to see different play styles.
13:28
Speaker 3: It's not all just the MLB try to elevate the ball,
13:32
Speaker 3: hit all the home runs type of thing, so you
13:34
Speaker 3: get to see how different teams approach playing baseball in
13:38
Speaker 3: their countries. Italy is probably bringing their strongest roster that
13:42
Speaker 3: they've had at a WBC, so they've got they've got
13:46
Speaker 3: some pitching as well. They've got Aaron Nola, they've got
13:49
Speaker 3: Michael Lorenzen. They recently retired turned YouTuber Adam Otovino is back,
13:55
Speaker 3: so get one last look at him if he makes
13:59
Speaker 3: it into a game. And then they've also got some
14:01
Speaker 3: young guys too that I think will be really interesting.
14:02
Speaker 3: They've got Jack cag Leone who obviously got got off
14:06
Speaker 3: to a slower start last year, but I don't think
14:07
Speaker 3: anybody's given up on his potential yet. Got Jacob Marcy,
14:11
Speaker 3: Kyle Tiel, guys who, like had were above average hitters
14:15
Speaker 3: and small samples last year, so it'll be interesting to
14:18
Speaker 3: see how that translates on a WBC stage. They've obviously
14:21
Speaker 3: still got any Pass Quentino, who's another great vibes guy,
14:24
Speaker 3: so a little bit of there. And then I think
14:27
Speaker 3: my last one is probably Mexico. I think they're a
14:30
Speaker 3: little bit of a dark horse because they they made
14:33
Speaker 3: it out of pool play last year and then ran
14:36
Speaker 3: into the US I believe, in the quarterfinals, but they
14:41
Speaker 3: had they had Joan Duran and or no Jared Duran
14:45
Speaker 3: excuse me, and Jonathan Randa last year, but they were
14:47
Speaker 3: like the much younger versions of them, So now we're
14:49
Speaker 3: getting the more evolved and actualized versions of those guys.
14:54
Speaker 3: They've got a little bit of pitching depth, even if
14:56
Speaker 3: they're not super flashy names, like a lot of these
14:58
Speaker 3: teams don't have great pitching, so just having a Taj Bradley,
15:01
Speaker 3: Taywan Walker, Javier Asad is helpful. So yeah, I think
15:05
Speaker 3: they could they could be a little bit of a
15:07
Speaker 3: dark horse, and so I think that's good vibes for them.
15:11
Speaker 3: On the lesson good vibes, I think there's some weirdness
15:15
Speaker 3: with Cuba. Like Louis Robert Junior is not on the
15:17
Speaker 3: team this year, and he specifically said it's because of
15:20
Speaker 3: the way that Cuba sort of cherry picks who they're
15:23
Speaker 3: going to allow to play on the team. It used
15:25
Speaker 3: to be they wouldn't let anyone who had defected play,
15:27
Speaker 3: and then last year it was sort of an invite
15:30
Speaker 3: only situation, which helped them out quite a bit. But
15:34
Speaker 3: then this year it seems like they've gotten weird about
15:37
Speaker 3: it again and they're still inviting some but not others.
15:39
Speaker 3: And he was just like, yeah, I'm out until you
15:41
Speaker 3: guys stop being weird. So that's a that's a bad vibe.
15:45
Speaker 3: And then Puerto Rico, just like with their all of
15:47
Speaker 3: their insurance issues, not being able to get guys like
15:50
Speaker 3: Francisco Indoor there's been reporting that Carl's career wasn't going
15:53
Speaker 3: to play anyways, but even still, it's just it's a
15:56
Speaker 3: tough hang when you wanted to have a stronger rack
16:00
Speaker 3: and you just can't for like non baseball well it's
16:04
Speaker 3: kind of baseball reasons, but you know, yeah.
16:06
Speaker 1: What is your some of those insurance situations, Like do
16:10
Speaker 1: you think that there there is something fishy going on
16:13
Speaker 1: or do you think it also was just because like
16:16
Speaker 1: you're trying to ensure Francisco Lindor, who is coming off
16:20
Speaker 1: of an elbow injury, is now battling a handmate issue,
16:23
Speaker 1: and you also had Carlos Carreo, who I mean the
16:28
Speaker 1: reports have been that.
16:29
Speaker 3: As a haunted leg.
16:30
Speaker 2: Yes, has a leg.
16:31
Speaker 1: That's made out of peanut brittle. So, like, do you
16:35
Speaker 1: think that there was something strange going on with some
16:38
Speaker 1: of those insurance issues or do you think it was
16:40
Speaker 1: just a matter of the players that were involved.
16:44
Speaker 3: I don't think it's strange. I think it like you
16:46
Speaker 3: can pretty much look at all the ones who were denied,
16:48
Speaker 3: and they had some type of an injury in the
16:50
Speaker 3: second half last year, so it's not that mysterious about
16:54
Speaker 3: why they were denied. But that said, I do think
16:57
Speaker 3: that this tournament is really a positive marketing opportunity for
17:04
Speaker 3: baseball as a whole, but Major League Baseball specifically, And
17:07
Speaker 3: so I think that they should probably even if they
17:11
Speaker 3: can't get the players ensure, they should still be allowed
17:14
Speaker 3: to play. Like that's that's a risk they should be
17:16
Speaker 3: willing to absorb because of how good this is for baseball.
17:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, or just have Bad Bunny involved, right, because he
17:23
Speaker 1: did all right.
17:26
Speaker 3: Insurments. Yeah, I mean if he has to pay their salaries,
17:30
Speaker 3: we let him pay their salaries. Like, if that's what
17:32
Speaker 3: he wants to.
17:32
Speaker 1: Do, Yeah, I'd be prob like Bad Bunny managing the
17:35
Speaker 1: continue want to talk about Yeah, upgrade, that's the number
17:39
Speaker 1: one way to do.
17:39
Speaker 3: Yes, let him be the ambassador for Team Puerto Rico.
17:43
Speaker 1: Yes, what also do you take what's your takeaway on
17:47
Speaker 1: the news about Treek Schooble only going to be pitching
17:50
Speaker 1: one game against Great Britain, which is probably the least
17:53
Speaker 1: important game. And there was certainly a lot of fanfare
17:56
Speaker 1: around Schooble and schemes and the overall rotation upgrades for
18:01
Speaker 1: the US, But now it does seem like it is
18:04
Speaker 1: getting a little bit more towards those pictures, really trying
18:08
Speaker 1: to watch out for their arms and Scoople obviously is
18:10
Speaker 1: going into a season that is the last before free agencies.
18:14
Speaker 1: So do you think that could have some ill effects
18:17
Speaker 1: for the US team of having these pictures where they
18:20
Speaker 1: thought they would just have pocket ass all the way through,
18:23
Speaker 1: but now you're only going to have Scooble for one
18:26
Speaker 1: outing and then when it gets into the prime time
18:29
Speaker 1: of the single elimination tournament, you're down the number one
18:32
Speaker 1: picture in the entire world.
18:36
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I guess, first of all, thoughts and
18:37
Speaker 3: prayers are great Britain.
18:39
Speaker 1: Yes, you're about airing it out to like Schoop Holl's
18:44
Speaker 1: probably just gonna pump like one hundred and two mile
18:46
Speaker 1: an hour gas.
18:48
Speaker 3: Yeah, it feels like there was probably a better way
18:51
Speaker 3: to manage that, even if that meant like maybe he
18:54
Speaker 3: has like he does two outings but they're shorter or
18:58
Speaker 3: who knows, Like I'm I'm sure there were all kinds
19:00
Speaker 3: of conversations about that. I understand it from his perspective,
19:03
Speaker 3: like you were noting he's kind of going into a
19:04
Speaker 3: platform year. Also, like I think in the past that
19:08
Speaker 3: would have been a situation where the Tigers probably would
19:11
Speaker 3: have like discouraged him from playing at all. So I mean,
19:17
Speaker 3: like the fact that we're getting him at all is
19:18
Speaker 3: still a huge upgrade over what tim Usa has had
19:21
Speaker 3: in the past in terms of pitching. But I mean,
19:24
Speaker 3: I guess if he's only going to make one start,
19:26
Speaker 3: maybe it makes more sense to save him. Maybe that's
19:29
Speaker 3: too arrogant and they don't want to jinx themselves, but yeah,
19:33
Speaker 3: it does. It is tough, Like it's just it's a
19:35
Speaker 3: tough situation all the way around. I get it. But
19:39
Speaker 3: it seems like there's probably a better solution in that case.
19:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly.
19:45
Speaker 1: And it does feel like they could have communicated that
19:47
Speaker 1: better upfront or just found a way to be able
19:50
Speaker 1: to manage that outing a little bit better, because you
19:53
Speaker 1: do wonder like if us gets into a situation in
19:57
Speaker 1: the single elimination and it was a spot where they
19:59
Speaker 1: could have used Scooble and they have to go to
20:01
Speaker 1: a lesser arm, it does kind of call into question
20:04
Speaker 1: the entire strategy of it all from Mark de Rosa
20:07
Speaker 1: and how he is putting the team together.
20:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, like what if Clayton Kershaw winds up pitching Meanaflow
20:12
Speaker 3: innings in this tournament.
20:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think he might, which will be which will
20:16
Speaker 1: be interesting to watch because I wonder what he is
20:20
Speaker 1: also going to put into it, considering he doesn't have
20:23
Speaker 1: a league season to be ready for and he's been
20:28
Speaker 1: partying all off season. I'm sure after that World Series wins.
20:31
Speaker 1: So I'm fascinating to see what we get out of
20:34
Speaker 1: Kershaw on this tournament.
20:37
Speaker 3: Yeah, but this could be his World Series, Like this
20:39
Speaker 3: is his last Raw, so there's no reason for him
20:41
Speaker 3: to not go out and give it max effort, even
20:44
Speaker 3: if he's not, you know, prepping for a season.
20:47
Speaker 2: Yes, I think so.
20:49
Speaker 1: Okay, well, let's get into some individual players that you
20:51
Speaker 1: really are focused on.
20:54
Speaker 2: Maybe I don't know if you have like one per
20:56
Speaker 2: team or how you want to run through this.
20:58
Speaker 1: If you had just had like a general list of
21:00
Speaker 1: what players maybe stand out to you, Because on top
21:04
Speaker 1: of what I think this could do for the individual
21:07
Speaker 1: players from just their own individual platforms, it is going
21:11
Speaker 1: to be a great tournament to see what they're offering
21:14
Speaker 1: from a fantasy perspective, to see if there's any new pitches,
21:17
Speaker 1: any new approaches from some of these players. We're also
21:20
Speaker 1: going to be introduced to lots of new players, especially
21:23
Speaker 1: from Team Japan and Team Korea, where they have players
21:26
Speaker 1: that are in their own leagues and will get the
21:30
Speaker 1: platform in front of the world to show what they
21:32
Speaker 1: can do, which creates a really great opportunity for baseball
21:36
Speaker 1: card collecting as we get into the tournament. So what
21:40
Speaker 1: are some of the players that are standing out to
21:42
Speaker 1: you that you think can really rise to the occasion,
21:45
Speaker 1: And especially with the teams that have players that are
21:50
Speaker 1: either in smaller roles in MLB or minor league players,
21:54
Speaker 1: there's just tons and tons of opportunity to step up
21:56
Speaker 1: to that next level.
21:58
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I kind of just got a smattering of
22:01
Speaker 3: players that jumped out to me for for various reasons,
22:05
Speaker 3: some of some of which you you've already called out there.
22:08
Speaker 3: But one on my list that we can just cover quickly,
22:13
Speaker 3: Alexei Ramirez is playing for Team Cuba. He's forty four
22:16
Speaker 3: years old that I don't know if he's actually going
22:19
Speaker 3: to play or not, So that's something I'll be keeping
22:21
Speaker 3: an eye on. That's maybe like the feel good story
22:25
Speaker 3: out of Cuba after some of their weird political antics.
22:29
Speaker 1: Uh outfield too right, Maybe I don't.
22:33
Speaker 3: Know, Yeah, because they do have. They do have a
22:36
Speaker 3: couple of young guys who are like shortstop, third basement
22:39
Speaker 3: types who like they probably want to give that playing
22:41
Speaker 3: time too, So yeah, it's interesting, like the two youngest
22:45
Speaker 3: guys on the roster are like who would actually play
22:48
Speaker 3: his his natural position. And then Team Canada has some
22:55
Speaker 3: youngsh guys either like just debuted in the Majors or
22:58
Speaker 3: should will probably debut this year. So there's Otto Lopez
23:01
Speaker 3: with the Marlins shortstop there. He's kind of a mid
23:04
Speaker 3: hitter but plays pretty solid defense. They've got Denzel Clark,
23:07
Speaker 3: who is the Athletics center fielder who made all of
23:10
Speaker 3: the defensive web gems last year. And then Owen Casey
23:15
Speaker 3: the trader turn for Edward Cabrera that the Marlins got.
23:20
Speaker 3: He he might wind up being up latoon bat, but
23:23
Speaker 3: he's he should be an interesting guy for Marlins fans
23:27
Speaker 3: to check out in that context. And then kind of
23:32
Speaker 3: already mentioned some of the young guys on Team Italy.
23:34
Speaker 3: Similar situation there with Taglione and Marci and TiO. And
23:39
Speaker 3: then as far as like Team Japan, there's I'm probably
23:44
Speaker 3: gonna butcher these names and I'm so so sorry about that,
23:46
Speaker 3: Kinsuki Condo who had a one ninety two WRC plus
23:51
Speaker 3: in NPB last year. MPB isn't kind of a dead
23:54
Speaker 3: ball era, which is why I used WRC plus because
23:57
Speaker 3: it's like league adjusted, so that's just like relative to
24:00
Speaker 3: his league. He was still like ninety two above average
24:05
Speaker 3: even in that like low offense environment. And then uh,
24:10
Speaker 3: the other one. There is a Shugo Maki who I
24:13
Speaker 3: believe will be eligible to be posted this coming off season,
24:18
Speaker 3: so he could come over in twenty twenty seven. So
24:21
Speaker 3: that's sort of the the next guy to keep an
24:25
Speaker 3: eye on in a similar vein to Murakami and Okamoto
24:29
Speaker 3: in the last WBC, who will also be there for Japan,
24:32
Speaker 3: so that'll be a first like competitive look for the
24:37
Speaker 3: White Sox and Blue Jays fans out there for those guys.
24:41
Speaker 3: And then I already mentioned Hanya Juru with South Korea,
24:45
Speaker 3: it'll be interesting to see how he looks in his
24:48
Speaker 3: advanced age. And then they also have Hiyuan min On,
24:54
Speaker 3: who was the KBO Rookie of the Year and had
24:57
Speaker 3: a one to seventy seven WRC plus. Again that was
25:00
Speaker 3: in KBO, so you know league adjusts there, but still
25:07
Speaker 3: adjusted to his own league, he was very good as
25:09
Speaker 3: a rookie, so yes, that's worth noting. Travis Bizana is
25:15
Speaker 3: playing for Team Australia. He's one of the the Him
25:19
Speaker 3: and Curtis Mead, I think are the only ones with
25:22
Speaker 3: any affiliated ball experience. But he was the first Travis Bazana,
25:26
Speaker 3: that is, was the first overall pick in twenty four.
25:28
Speaker 3: He's currently projecting as like an average everyday player, so
25:32
Speaker 3: it's a guy to keep an eye on with Australia.
25:36
Speaker 3: With Chinese Taipei, they've got Joe Ysai. Hugh he was
25:44
Speaker 3: his manager, described him as the ace of the Chinese
25:46
Speaker 3: Professional Baseball League. He throws ninety eight. He's going to
25:49
Speaker 3: be pitching an MPB in twenty twenty six. And then
25:52
Speaker 3: there's also Way and Lynn. He's twenty. He made it
25:56
Speaker 3: to Double A with the A's last year. He's got
25:58
Speaker 3: this Vulcan change up. It just kind of falls off
26:00
Speaker 3: the table, so I'm really excited to see that. And
26:05
Speaker 3: then with the Dominican junior Camanaro and Heraldo Perdomo, they
26:09
Speaker 3: both sort of had their coming out parties in MLB
26:12
Speaker 3: last year, so it'll be interesting to see how they
26:15
Speaker 3: both perform on this particular stage. Representing their countries. The
26:20
Speaker 3: Netherlands have a guy named Dayson Crows who the Giant
26:24
Speaker 3: signed out of Indie ball last year and he made
26:26
Speaker 3: it all the way to Triple A. So I just
26:29
Speaker 3: want to see what his whole deal is. I don't
26:30
Speaker 3: really know much about him other than that, but I
26:32
Speaker 3: just saw that timeline on his player page, like that's fascinating.
26:38
Speaker 3: And then I think the last one is Steven Cruz
26:41
Speaker 3: for Nicaragua. He throws ninety seven and he has this
26:44
Speaker 3: really like off kilter delivery, and I think in this
26:47
Speaker 3: particular context where a lot of these hitters, even like
26:50
Speaker 3: they're really good ones for Timmy to say, will not
26:52
Speaker 3: have seen him. So timing him up with that kind
26:55
Speaker 3: of velocity should be really challenging, and so I'm fascinated
26:59
Speaker 3: to see how that plays out.
27:00
Speaker 1: Well, Yeah, that is a great smattering of players, that is,
27:04
Speaker 1: I agree that, like, especially these guys who have funky
27:08
Speaker 1: releases and stuff like that from pitching, like the ones
27:11
Speaker 1: that I'm really looking forward to seeing just because of
27:14
Speaker 1: some of the different styles of baseball You've talked about too,
27:17
Speaker 1: where it's like unless you watch college baseball on the
27:21
Speaker 1: rig that like you don't get to see some of
27:23
Speaker 1: the different like funky ways of pitching and approaching the game.
27:26
Speaker 1: And so this is the way to do it because
27:29
Speaker 1: we do have such a one size fits all template
27:31
Speaker 1: and MMLB. So I think those are all great calls.
27:34
Speaker 1: I think from the baseball card collecting standpoint, especially a
27:37
Speaker 1: bunch of those rookies you're talking about, that is where
27:40
Speaker 1: you're probably going to be focusing on, you know, the
27:42
Speaker 1: the Owen Cases, the Jack Caglions, people like that who
27:47
Speaker 1: have rookie cards within top serieses right now, that could
27:51
Speaker 1: take that next boost and popularity, especially if you're.
27:54
Speaker 2: Looking at like a team that could you know, make some.
27:58
Speaker 1: Waves and poolbe Italy could I think on the back
28:01
Speaker 1: end of that, you know, And so that's a good
28:03
Speaker 1: team to focus on. From the Japanese side, that's probably
28:07
Speaker 1: the number one spot to collect baseball cards because all
28:11
Speaker 1: of those players that are on the Japanese teams will
28:14
Speaker 1: have baseball cards out of Japan. Unfortunately, as we're speaking
28:18
Speaker 1: here on March second, you miss the boat if you
28:20
Speaker 1: want to ship them over from Japan and get them
28:22
Speaker 1: on eBay and have them ready for the WBC. But
28:25
Speaker 1: I think you could still purchase some of those as
28:27
Speaker 1: we get this podcast out, and you can certainly have
28:30
Speaker 1: those on the way and those will probably increase in
28:33
Speaker 1: value while they're on the water being shipped to you.
28:36
Speaker 1: So something to consider as well. As there are plenty
28:40
Speaker 1: of Japanese cards that have already flooded the American market
28:42
Speaker 1: through tops Chrome Japan being a part of some of
28:46
Speaker 1: the releases and included in some of like the blister
28:49
Speaker 1: packs you'll see at Walgreens and stuff like that. So
28:52
Speaker 1: what I do before the WBC is go back through
28:55
Speaker 1: my cards and see if I've got any Japanese cards
28:58
Speaker 1: kind of buried in there to be able to see
29:00
Speaker 1: if there's ones that I need to pull out and
29:03
Speaker 1: consider for listing on eBay or trading in the future.
29:06
Speaker 1: So if you are a card collector, look for some
29:09
Speaker 1: of those Japanese cards and take note of some of
29:11
Speaker 1: the players that Kiri has told you about, because I
29:13
Speaker 1: think there's a really good chance that not only could
29:16
Speaker 1: those guys make hay here in the WBC, but they
29:19
Speaker 1: can certainly continue on that trend and NPB, and if
29:22
Speaker 1: they get posted and come to the MLB, that is
29:25
Speaker 1: a huge opportunity for boosting of your card values, So
29:30
Speaker 1: just a little plug.
29:32
Speaker 2: There for some of the baseball cards.
29:34
Speaker 1: Let's get into the meat and potatoes though. Let's get
29:37
Speaker 1: into some picks out of these pools. So I didn't
29:40
Speaker 1: highlight the individual pools because I was also counting on you.
29:43
Speaker 1: If you're listening to this, hopefully you read all Kiri's
29:45
Speaker 1: three thousand plus word pieces to get together all the
29:49
Speaker 1: pool information you needed before you got into the picks.
29:52
Speaker 2: But let's run through them.
29:53
Speaker 1: Pool A, we've got Puerto Rico, Cuba, Canada, Panama, Colombia
29:59
Speaker 1: probably one of the weaker pools, I would say overall.
30:04
Speaker 1: Pool d's probably up there as well, but lots of
30:07
Speaker 1: fascinating teams, and I think they're pretty evenly matched compared
30:10
Speaker 1: to any other pool as well.
30:12
Speaker 3: Too.
30:12
Speaker 1: You don't have like a big dog. So who do
30:14
Speaker 1: you think could rise out of this Pool A and
30:17
Speaker 1: get into the single elimination at tourney?
30:20
Speaker 3: Yeah, this is definitely the most like wide open pool. Like,
30:23
Speaker 3: there's a reasonable argument for for most of these teams.
30:27
Speaker 3: I think Puerto Rico will still make it out even
30:29
Speaker 3: with a slightly diminished roster. And then my my second
30:33
Speaker 3: pick there is Canada.
30:35
Speaker 1: Mm hmmm mm hmm I like that is what stands
30:38
Speaker 1: out to you for Canada this year that maybe, uh,
30:41
Speaker 1: in previous years it hasn't been necessarily the strongest roster,
30:45
Speaker 1: but is it some of those young guns like Owen
30:47
Speaker 1: Case and the like that pushes it forward for you.
30:51
Speaker 3: Yeah, they're they're a little bit fortified by by having
30:55
Speaker 3: getting some of those younger players in. They're there. They've
30:57
Speaker 3: also got the Naylor brothers, Josh Naylor a force multiplier
31:02
Speaker 3: in my mind always. So Yeah, given just like that,
31:05
Speaker 3: it's it's kind of a weaker pool. Like they've got
31:07
Speaker 3: a nice mix of like experience with younger up and
31:11
Speaker 3: coming guys. You could you could have have a have
31:14
Speaker 3: a good tournament, play some good defense for them. I think.
31:17
Speaker 3: I think they've got a solid shot.
31:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so too.
31:21
Speaker 1: And we do have James Paxton, who is going to
31:24
Speaker 1: be for that squad any I mean, I'm also fascinating
31:27
Speaker 1: to see because we didn't see him in MLB last year.
31:30
Speaker 1: If if you post a decent WBC, you might see
31:34
Speaker 1: James Paxton back on a one year deal.
31:38
Speaker 2: Or something that like he did.
31:40
Speaker 1: I guess he formally retired, but I mean he's also
31:44
Speaker 1: one of those Edu cases where you know he hasn't
31:46
Speaker 1: necessarily put together, Uh, he's never gotten a World Series ring.
31:51
Speaker 1: And if you've got James Paxton looking like decent James
31:55
Speaker 1: Paxton in this WBC, one of the players that stands
31:58
Speaker 1: out to me is, hey, this guy could signed for
32:00
Speaker 1: a major league roster if he's looking good.
32:03
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, if nothing else. The man is nicknamed
32:05
Speaker 3: Big Maple, so he should be on the team for
32:10
Speaker 3: no other reason than that. But yeah, again, like this
32:12
Speaker 3: is a tournament that doesn't tend to feature pitching, so
32:16
Speaker 3: just having a guy like that with major league experience
32:18
Speaker 3: you can come in for you if he does pitch again,
32:21
Speaker 3: some of these some of these rosters, you look at him,
32:24
Speaker 3: you're like, how much is that guy actually gonna play,
32:26
Speaker 3: especially because I don't yet, Like you said, he hasn't
32:28
Speaker 3: pitched in the majors in at least a year, So
32:32
Speaker 3: we'll see how that goes. But I'm glad he's there.
32:34
Speaker 1: Yes, me too, And there we'll run into other players
32:38
Speaker 1: that will bring up if just like yeah, it's no,
32:41
Speaker 1: there's no nothing more fun than finding some of these
32:44
Speaker 1: older players like the Alexei ribiers Is and no, let's
32:48
Speaker 1: get into pool b This is gonna be US's pool
32:52
Speaker 1: to win, I think, And so it's gonna be who's
32:55
Speaker 1: going to get that second spot between Mexico, Italy, Great
32:58
Speaker 1: Britain and Brazil. So who you picking to come out
33:02
Speaker 1: of this pool other than the United States Unless you're
33:04
Speaker 1: gonna go real, real dark horse on me and not
33:08
Speaker 1: pick the United States to come out, will.
33:09
Speaker 3: Be that would be a wild move. I'm not going
33:12
Speaker 3: to do that. Like I said, I think Mexico has
33:15
Speaker 3: got a really good, like dark horse case here. I mean,
33:19
Speaker 3: they're not that dark of a horse. It's Mexico, but yeah,
33:23
Speaker 3: they're sort of who I went with over Italy. Like
33:27
Speaker 3: I think Italy is really strong too. I think it
33:28
Speaker 3: will probably be one of those two. But ultimately I
33:31
Speaker 3: went with Mexico just they've got a little bit more
33:33
Speaker 3: experience playing together, and said the maturity of some of
33:38
Speaker 3: the guys who were pretty young last time, I think
33:40
Speaker 3: will make a big difference.
33:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so too.
33:43
Speaker 1: And it's I mean, it's a well rounded roster where
33:46
Speaker 1: you've got a lot of MLB players and players who
33:49
Speaker 1: will be playing in the Mexican League. And I did
33:51
Speaker 1: like your call out in your preview of this is
33:53
Speaker 1: the first time we have not seen Oliver Prez on Mexico,
33:57
Speaker 1: which just a fantastic, immaculate grid guy right there, or
34:02
Speaker 1: Perez just.
34:03
Speaker 3: Got I was always so impressed with how he just
34:06
Speaker 3: kept going.
34:07
Speaker 1: I know, just never stopped, never stopped. And then Italy,
34:12
Speaker 1: I do think, is going to be the team to
34:14
Speaker 1: watch in this pool because unlike previous years.
34:17
Speaker 2: They've actually got real pictures.
34:19
Speaker 1: So that's going to make I think a huge different
34:22
Speaker 1: from Team munately going forward, where if you're not having
34:25
Speaker 1: to worry about pictures that are you know, in single
34:28
Speaker 1: a ball or just kind of off of the backfields
34:33
Speaker 1: or maybe their plumbers, like if you're on Czech Republic
34:37
Speaker 1: something like that, it can go a long way in
34:39
Speaker 1: this tournament.
34:39
Speaker 2: So I like those call outs.
34:42
Speaker 1: Next pool, we're going to get into Pool C, which
34:46
Speaker 1: is going to be the first one to kick off
34:48
Speaker 1: because they're playing in Japan, so technically like they'll be
34:51
Speaker 1: starting a day ahead for US watchers and viewers, So
34:55
Speaker 1: some middle of the night baseball if you're looking for
34:58
Speaker 1: some action coming up on Tuesday. Pool see is Japan, Australia, Korea,
35:04
Speaker 1: Chechia which is the Czech public and Chinese Taipei. So
35:08
Speaker 1: who are your favorites to come out of this pool?
35:11
Speaker 3: Yeah, I've got Japan and Korea. I don't think that's
35:14
Speaker 3: super controversial there, but I do think there are some
35:18
Speaker 3: exciting players on Chinese Tipe. I think I noted in
35:21
Speaker 3: the preview that they're kind of a dark horsepic to
35:25
Speaker 3: maybe be an upset and make it out of pool play.
35:27
Speaker 3: So there are some teams that are like interesting and
35:30
Speaker 3: worth watching here, but I think it's probably Japan and Korea.
35:33
Speaker 2: Yeah.
35:33
Speaker 1: And then I mean Chechia is probably like the most
35:36
Speaker 1: fun team to watch out the entire tournament, just because,
35:39
Speaker 1: like I did allude to, they've got a lot of
35:41
Speaker 1: players who are not traditional baseball players that certainly have
35:46
Speaker 1: other jobs, and it's just fun watching them play with
35:49
Speaker 1: the joy that they played in the twenty twenty three tournament.
35:52
Speaker 1: That that is I think appointment viewing. If you're a
35:54
Speaker 1: big baseball fan, watch that Chechia squad because you're gonna
35:59
Speaker 1: learn something new you and see just all sorts of
36:02
Speaker 1: different styles of baseball all of that team, and while
36:06
Speaker 1: you're bumping some petie poplo as you suggested too.
36:08
Speaker 4: So you can't beat that, Yeah, that was that was
36:12
Speaker 4: so weird, Like as I was looking into the backgrounds
36:14
Speaker 4: of the players, like finding so many of them had
36:16
Speaker 4: gone to North Carolina colleges for whatever reason.
36:20
Speaker 3: I was like, well, clearly there's something here. So yeah,
36:23
Speaker 3: North Carolina rise up exactly.
36:28
Speaker 1: Okay, let's get into Pool D, the last pool. So
36:31
Speaker 1: we've got Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Netherlands, Israel and Nicaragua.
36:37
Speaker 1: Who are your two teams to come out of Pool D.
36:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, I've got the dr in Venezuela. I would love
36:44
Speaker 3: to pick. You know, the Netherlands are Israel as an
36:48
Speaker 3: upset here, but those two teams are just powerhouses. Like
36:50
Speaker 3: if you look at their lineups, they're just just wall
36:54
Speaker 3: to wall major leaguers, and like really good ones at that.
36:57
Speaker 3: They both got a little bit of pitch at least,
37:00
Speaker 3: like the pitching is obviously like the weaker point. But
37:04
Speaker 3: I don't I don't know how you don't pick those two.
37:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I would totally agree that those are probably
37:11
Speaker 1: the strongest teams, and especially like because Venezuela didn't make
37:15
Speaker 1: it to that tournament from the pool play last time,
37:19
Speaker 1: I think they'll be out with a vengeance.
37:20
Speaker 2: This time.
37:21
Speaker 1: Absolutely shout out though to the Netherlands, probably the team
37:26
Speaker 1: with the most fun names.
37:27
Speaker 2: Would you say, oh yeah, right, like.
37:30
Speaker 3: It's I think Australia had some good ones too, but
37:33
Speaker 3: yeah another ones is up there.
37:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't.
37:35
Speaker 1: I'm not going to make any of us try to
37:37
Speaker 1: pronounce it here on this podcast. It also reminds me
37:41
Speaker 1: of on last week tonight when John Oliver does, like
37:44
Speaker 1: his Dutch impersonation in the Dutch voice that like, it's
37:51
Speaker 1: a lot of great names that like they feel generated
37:56
Speaker 1: out of AI or something like that, or the Nintendo
37:59
Speaker 1: games back in the day. So check out that roster
38:02
Speaker 1: if you're looking for some fun baseball names.
38:05
Speaker 3: And we all owe the Dutch a debt of gratitude
38:07
Speaker 3: for giving us an excuse to say hawkball a bunch
38:09
Speaker 3: over the next couple of weeks, So it shout them
38:13
Speaker 3: for that.
38:14
Speaker 1: That's a great point too, Okay, So that will put
38:18
Speaker 1: for you in the tournament. You've got Puerto Rico, Canada,
38:23
Speaker 1: United States, Mexico, Japan, Korea, Venezuela, Dominican Republic. I mean
38:30
Speaker 1: it will depend a little bit on how everybody lines
38:33
Speaker 1: up from the actual tournament. We put things together but
38:36
Speaker 1: who do you see as the two strongest squads to
38:38
Speaker 1: get to that championship game on Saint Patrick's Day.
38:42
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I actually MLB dot Com has like a
38:45
Speaker 3: bracket challenge thing that you can go in and fill out,
38:48
Speaker 3: So I actually did that, so I can kind of
38:51
Speaker 3: just like walk through the way it played out in
38:53
Speaker 3: the little scenario that I I schemed up here. So
38:57
Speaker 3: in the quarterfinal, I've got the US over Canada and
39:02
Speaker 3: then the Dominican over Korea, Mexico over Puerto Rico, and
39:08
Speaker 3: Japan over Venezuela. And then in the semis, I had
39:13
Speaker 3: the DR over the US, Japan over Mexico, and then
39:20
Speaker 3: the Dominican over Japan. So I've got Japan and the
39:23
Speaker 3: DR in the final with the Dominican winning and.
39:26
Speaker 1: All, Okay, what stands out to you for the Dominican
39:29
Speaker 1: squad that you think can push them through? Because this
39:34
Speaker 1: is always loaded team coming into the tournament with a WBC,
39:38
Speaker 1: but especially in twenty twenty three, fell a little bit
39:42
Speaker 1: on their faces in terms of getting into those final
39:46
Speaker 1: rounds and couldn't hang quite with the US and the Japan.
39:49
Speaker 1: So what do you think stands out to you compared
39:52
Speaker 1: to previous teams from the Dominican that can push them
39:54
Speaker 1: over the top.
39:56
Speaker 3: Yeah, So I think, I mean, baseball is such a
39:59
Speaker 3: big big in the dr that I think they're gonna
40:03
Speaker 3: go really hard on not repeating that performance from from
40:07
Speaker 3: last time, and I think they're they're gonna be successful.
40:11
Speaker 3: They They've beefed up their pitching a little bit. They've
40:14
Speaker 3: got Brian Bayo from from the Red Sox. They've got
40:18
Speaker 3: Christopher Sanchez from the Phillies, who was like, I what
40:22
Speaker 3: was it second in Cy Young voting last year that
40:25
Speaker 3: kind of went under the radar compared to some of
40:27
Speaker 3: the other aces around the league, but having him on
40:31
Speaker 3: their staff is gonna be huge. They've also got Luis Savarino,
40:35
Speaker 3: who had a bit of a tough year last year,
40:37
Speaker 3: but he's still like an MLB quality pitcher obviously, and
40:41
Speaker 3: they've got a pretty strong bullpen as well. So like
40:46
Speaker 3: the pitching is for b WBC standards again is like
40:50
Speaker 3: pretty solid. And then they've also just like beefed up
40:53
Speaker 3: their line up a time relative to twenty three. I
40:55
Speaker 3: think adding Vladimir Guerrero Junior, especially after we saw what
40:59
Speaker 3: he did in the postseason last year. I think he
41:01
Speaker 3: was injured. That's why he couldn't play in twenty three.
41:04
Speaker 3: But if they can get even regular season LAD, but
41:07
Speaker 3: if they can get postseason LAD, they're they're pretty set there.
41:12
Speaker 3: I already called out Junior Camanero and Heraldo Perdomo. Those
41:16
Speaker 3: are both very different hitters now compared to last year. Actually,
41:22
Speaker 3: I don't think either of them are on the squad
41:23
Speaker 3: in twenty three. So getting getting those guys, they're also
41:28
Speaker 3: adding Fernando Tatis Junior and O'Neil Cruz. O'Neil Cruz like
41:33
Speaker 3: probably doesn't have a place to play honestly on this
41:35
Speaker 3: roster because that's how stacked it is. Yeah, but yeah,
41:40
Speaker 3: so there's all of those guys. They've still got Julio Rodriguez.
41:45
Speaker 3: You kind of never really know what you're getting from
41:46
Speaker 3: Julio this time of year, but he's still like a
41:48
Speaker 3: solid veteran leader to have around. And then that's those
41:54
Speaker 3: are all of like the new the new guys coming
41:57
Speaker 3: in and that's supplementing Manny Machado, Tel Marte, Jeremy Pania,
42:02
Speaker 3: Jan Soto.
42:04
Speaker 1: I don't yeah, And I think what stands out to
42:10
Speaker 1: me too is it is a flame throwing bullpen. Like
42:13
Speaker 1: when you're gonna get into the tournaments like this, it
42:15
Speaker 1: becomes playoff style baseball. And I think on top of it,
42:19
Speaker 1: you're going to be seeing arms limited for starters. You know,
42:23
Speaker 1: they're still going to be on early season pitch counts
42:25
Speaker 1: and kind of ramping up for the season, even though
42:28
Speaker 1: it is like a competitive tournament that having a lights
42:31
Speaker 1: out bullpen that includes Abnery Reba, Dennis Antana, Carlos Estevez,
42:36
Speaker 1: Oscar Braza, bond Edwin Yusato who is battling his shoulder thing,
42:39
Speaker 1: so we'll see if he comes with the squad. But
42:42
Speaker 1: you add all that to what they've already are working
42:46
Speaker 1: with and then.
42:46
Speaker 2: You've got Albert Bohols.
42:48
Speaker 1: I love that, Yes, all out too that Like I
42:51
Speaker 1: think Albert is gonna use this as a launching platform
42:54
Speaker 1: to be a manager in MLB soon non Angels division.
42:59
Speaker 1: That like, yeah, he really didn't want that job. But
43:02
Speaker 1: I do think that even though he was a great player,
43:06
Speaker 1: he strikes me as somebody who can still relate to
43:09
Speaker 1: players and manage well. So that I think that's the
43:11
Speaker 1: X factor for the Dominican I think this is a
43:13
Speaker 1: great pick.
43:15
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think like you'll see a lot of former
43:18
Speaker 3: players on the coaching staffs for WBC teams, and you
43:22
Speaker 3: sort of wonder how much they're just sort of like
43:24
Speaker 3: figureheads and they're for the vibes. But the fact that
43:26
Speaker 3: Pooles does have a genuine interest in managing and is
43:29
Speaker 3: probably going to take this very seriously and as somewhat
43:32
Speaker 3: of an audition for future managing roles is also a separator.
43:36
Speaker 3: Like you say, I think.
43:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, because I think that is almost maybe one of
43:40
Speaker 1: the separators when you're looking at the US squad is
43:44
Speaker 1: Mark de Rosa is a TV figure more than anything else,
43:49
Speaker 1: and I think he's put together this squad in an
43:52
Speaker 1: interesting fashion where it's like when you read stories about
43:56
Speaker 1: the way that DeRosa reached out to players and had
43:59
Speaker 1: them joined Team USA, that like it's a very it
44:04
Speaker 1: strikes me as somebody who is a talking head on
44:07
Speaker 1: MLB Network would do it, And so you do wonder,
44:11
Speaker 1: like when it gets into the nitty gritty of the
44:13
Speaker 1: game action, if Drosa can actually pull through get the
44:16
Speaker 1: right matchups and not just kind of play it as
44:19
Speaker 1: somebody who is arguing on MLB Network whether or not
44:23
Speaker 1: analytics has a role in today's game. Sometimes you know
44:26
Speaker 1: what I mean, And so that's something to keep in mind.
44:30
Speaker 1: Japan is always going to be Team Japan Samurai. So
44:33
Speaker 1: I think there's no way they probably don't make it
44:37
Speaker 1: to the final, that this is the type of stuff
44:39
Speaker 1: they're set up destined to win.
44:41
Speaker 2: What do you think?
44:43
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I think the it does speak to the
44:47
Speaker 3: culture of these different countries how they approach the WBC.
44:51
Speaker 3: Like you said, like the US is happy to have
44:53
Speaker 3: a Mark de Rosa type manage the team, and I
44:57
Speaker 3: think he had he is like gradually maturing and that role.
45:00
Speaker 3: Like he has said himself that he took a little
45:02
Speaker 3: bit different approach to recruiting this year, and I imagine
45:05
Speaker 3: he'll take a little bit different approach to managing within
45:08
Speaker 3: the tournament as well. But he gets such like small
45:12
Speaker 3: tastes of it, Like it's it's hard to he's not
45:15
Speaker 3: getting a lot of reps to mature his strategies, so
45:19
Speaker 3: that process is going to be pretty slow for him.
45:22
Speaker 3: So yeah, there is a there's a difference an approach here,
45:26
Speaker 3: whereas Team Japan team seems to take international play very
45:31
Speaker 3: seriously at both like from like their baseball organizing body
45:36
Speaker 3: and like culturally as a country. This is like a
45:39
Speaker 3: very serious thing for them, and so they're going to
45:41
Speaker 3: take it seriously and as a result, they're they're probably
45:45
Speaker 3: going to march through the tournament pretty pretty easily, like
45:49
Speaker 3: it's just going to be an order of business for them.
45:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, it does seem that way too, where there's like
45:55
Speaker 1: it seems like they it is a business trip that
46:00
Speaker 1: they work their way through that tournament in the pool
46:03
Speaker 1: at home and then show up in Miami or Houston
46:07
Speaker 1: and just continue it on like it's never nothing has
46:10
Speaker 1: kind of gone off the rails. So I also like
46:12
Speaker 1: that their team from the MLB players that are in
46:16
Speaker 1: it don't usially seem to have restrictions, and so Otani
46:20
Speaker 1: won't be pitching for a team Japan, but all the
46:23
Speaker 1: other players that are in MLB from Japan seem to
46:27
Speaker 1: just have all the gloves off and being able to
46:31
Speaker 1: play for their team and really relish it, as opposed
46:33
Speaker 1: to what you see from like Schooble, who said, you know,
46:36
Speaker 1: I'm pitching the one game, I've got it scheduled and
46:38
Speaker 1: that's it.
46:40
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, And I think with Otani, I this is
46:43
Speaker 3: more like rumored. I'm not sure if this is like
46:46
Speaker 3: solid solid reporting. But I think there might have been
46:48
Speaker 3: an insurance issue with him as well, where like they
46:50
Speaker 3: couldn't get him insured as a pitcher, they could only
46:52
Speaker 3: get him insured as a hitter. So I'll take that,
46:57
Speaker 3: you know, with a grain of salt or what have you.
46:59
Speaker 3: But I think there there might have been something there
47:01
Speaker 3: as well. And I would say if there was like
47:04
Speaker 3: one tiny like Krack in Team Japan, it's the that
47:10
Speaker 3: might be like the small step back they have taken
47:12
Speaker 3: since twenty three is not having a Tawny as a picture.
47:17
Speaker 3: I think they'll be Okay, I.
47:18
Speaker 2: Do too, I think two, especially.
47:21
Speaker 1: After we saw what Yamamoto did in the World Series, right. Yeah,
47:24
Speaker 1: but they've got a much more rounded out rotation I
47:29
Speaker 1: think than what we saw in previous wc's. Okay, yeah, absolutely,
47:34
Speaker 1: that's going to wrap us up. This was a great preview, Kiri.
47:37
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us once again. Let everybody know
47:40
Speaker 1: once again where they can read your work, reach out
47:42
Speaker 1: to you and socials and anything else you might want
47:44
Speaker 1: to plug.
47:45
Speaker 3: Yeah, you can read me on Fangraphs. We always love
47:48
Speaker 3: it if you will sign up for a Fangraphs membership.
47:50
Speaker 3: It gets rid of all the annoying ads on the page.
47:53
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47:56
Speaker 3: and makes it so that they can continue to pay
47:58
Speaker 3: writers like me. And then on social media, I'm only
48:02
Speaker 3: on Blue Sky. It's here O Atbesguide, dot app dot
48:07
Speaker 3: whatever that nonsense is at the end. But I think
48:09
Speaker 3: if you just search me, you'll find me.
48:11
Speaker 1: Yes, exactly, and I'll link it in the show notes.
48:14
Speaker 1: So if you are listening to this podcast wherever you're
48:16
Speaker 1: listening to it, first hopefully you can rate and review
48:19
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48:22
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48:26
Speaker 1: it on people's radars. But you also see in those
48:29
Speaker 1: show notes links to everything we've discussed. I've got links
48:32
Speaker 1: to all of curious work, all of those lengthy deep
48:35
Speaker 1: dives on each pool, so that you can get all
48:37
Speaker 1: of the previews that you need and anything else that
48:40
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48:44
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48:48
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48:52
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48:55
Speaker 1: especially if you're a fantasy baseball player, that's the way
48:58
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49:01
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49:05
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49:09
Speaker 1: the indie sites. That's where it's at. In addition, I've
49:12
Speaker 1: got Cards and Categories, gear and merchandise down there. If
49:16
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49:18
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49:22
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49:25
Speaker 1: out to us at Cards Categories on Blue Sky. You
49:29
Speaker 1: can find me on Blue Sky at mcool seven spelled
49:33
Speaker 1: co ou il l like my last name.
49:36
Speaker 2: Reach out to me.
49:36
Speaker 1: I can slap that logo on anything you want.
49:38
Speaker 2: I'm more than willing.
49:39
Speaker 1: To do so, would love to put it into the store.
49:42
Speaker 1: And with all that, we're going to wrap up this
49:45
Speaker 1: WBC preview. It's been great talking to you, Kiri. Hopefully
49:49
Speaker 1: we can reach out and have you on again in
49:51
Speaker 1: the future. So thanks again for joining us. Everybody, take
49:55
Speaker 1: care out there. We'll be back, same time, same place
49:58
Speaker 1: next week on Cards and Categories.
50:10
Speaker 3: Being a