World Baseball Classic

g a huge $30.25 million, six-year deal with the Reds.  He played on the Cuban team in the 2009 World Baseball Classic.

3) Tim Lincecum’s pursuit of a third straight Cy Young Award.  The young Giants pitcher has amazed the baseball world by winning 40 of his first 57 decisions, surrendering less than half a home run per nine innings of work, and leading the league in strikeouts in 2008 and 2009 on his way to being named the NL’s top pitcher each of the last two seasons.

Continue reading "Next stop in my baseball career – ..."

sp; Even so, I’ll keep rooting for him wherever he goes.  Of all the people I met at the World Baseball Classic, he was the happiest to be there.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Curtis Granderson is the truest friend of the game.

Continue reading "Phillies take a Halladay"

I don’t know what the players on most of the World Baseball Classic teams were thinking during the tournament, but the players on Team Italy really wanted to win.  The WBC wasn’t spring training for most of them, like it was for the United States.  I’m not suggesting the Americans did not try as hard as everyone else, but each of Team U.S.’s players knew he had a great job to go back to when the WBC was over.  Some of the players on the Italian roster, by contrast, were auditioning for big-league or even minor league jobs.

Continue reading "WBC thoughts from an inside perspective"

g a week and a half with Team Italy, I am home again and am beginning to collect my thoughts on the World Baseball Classic. Highlights from my trip include meeting Curtis Granderson (one of my favorite players), watching Italy beat Canada in Toronto, and being in the press box to hear Peter Gammons leave a voicemail for Scott Boras.

Continue reading "Back from the WBC; first thoughts"

y life: I recently found out that I will be working as the Press Liaison for Team Italy at the 2009 World Baseball Classic, set to begin next week.

In the second-ever WBC, 16 teams representing countries in all continents other than Antarctica – from the 2006 WBC champion Japan to Australia to the Republic of South Africa – will vie to be crowned true World Champions of the game of baseball.  (One could argue that the World Series is something of a misnomer.)  With baseball not scheduled as one of the events at the 2012 Olympics in London, the WBC is an opportunity for players to represent their countries on the big stage.

Continue reading "WBC-bound"