DALLAS—The International Baseball Federation held its congress in Dallas in advance of the Winter Meetings, announcing significant changes to the international baseball schedule.

Among the changes announced was the formal announcement that the title of 'world champion,' which the IBAF must designate as part of its charter, will now go to the winner of the World Baseball Classic. IBAF president Riccardo Fraccari also announced that Major League Baseball is launching the 18-and-under version of the Classic, which will replace IBAF's 18U World Junior Championship. The last IBAF 18U tournament will be held in 2012.

IBAF also announced two new events, one of which has been reported on previously. The top 12 finishers in the 2013 WBC will line up in 2015 for the Super 12 (previously reported as the Premier 12). In addition, IBAF announced a rebranding of the baseball World Cup, which starting in 2014 will be limited to players 21 and under. The 21U World Cup likely will become the premier tournament for USA Baseball's College National Team in the future, replacing the FISU World University Games, where the age limit is 27. [...] Continue Reading »

The International Baseball Federation announced two news items this week, one with an international competition that will play out in the fall, one that IBAF hopes will return in the future.

IBAF will stage a Baseball World Cup in October, with Panama as the host nation. The United States earned its spot in the event with a strong showing last September in the qualifier in Puerto Rico. Team USA, which is expected to have a roster full of minor leaguers to defend the title it won in 2009 in Europe, plays Pool A rival Japan in its opener. The rest of Pool A includes Canada, Greece, host Panama, Puerto Rico, the Netherlands and Taiwan.

Australia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Germany, Italy, Nicaragua, South Korea and Venezuela populate Pool B. [...] Continue Reading »

Last week’s vote that kept baseball out of the Olympics may have been a permanent blow to the sport’s relationship with the Olympic movement.

Dr. Harvey Schiller, president of the International Baseball Federation, says in an e-mail newsletter that IBAF does not intend to push for baseball’s inclusion in the 2020 Games. In essence, Schiller says IBAF got the message loud and clear from the International Olympic Committee: Baseball is not wanted as part of the Olympics.

"At this point we do not think that would be prudent for a number of reasons, the biggest of which is that baseball has now been rejected twice by the senior members of the IOC, which is a clear message that despite any changes we make, we are not part of their plan," Dr. Schiller wrote. "Also contrary to what we were originally told, the two sports that made it to the vote in Copenhagen, golf and rugby, have been informed they will be part of the programme in 2020. This was yet another clear message that the IOC has no interest in baseball.

"It makes much more sense to spend all our time, money and effort in continued development of the game around the world, as opposed to making futile attempts to work with a group that has no interest in partnering with baseball." [...] Continue Reading »

Taiwan’s Olympic team had three high-profile amateur players on its roster, more than any other team. Tuesday, the Indians signed one of them, sidearming righthander Chen-Chang Lee. While his bonus hasn’t been reported officially, it’s rumored to be in the $350,000 range. (UPDATE: BA has one industry source reporting a bonus of $400,000 for Lee.)

Like current Tribe farmhand Sung-Wei Tseng, Lee pitched in the Alaska League as an amateur and is a veteran of Taiwan’s international teams, including the disappointing 2-5 Olympic outfit. Though he’s listed at just 5-foot-11, 175 pounds, Lee throws his fastball in the low 90s from a sidearm delivery. He also throws a split-finger fastball and slider and projects as a reliever as a pro. He had an impressive effort against Team USA in the Olympics that helped cement his stock as one of his country’s top amateur talents.
 

Cuba dominated Team USA from start to finish, putting the Americans away with a six-run eighth inning, to score a 10-2 victory and advance to the gold-medal game of the 2008 Olympics.

Cuba will play South Korea, which continued its surprising undefeated run for the gold by beating Japan 6-2. Korea has won all eight of its Olympic games to reach the gold-medal affair, while Cuba has only one loss, to Korea. Cuba will be chasing its fourth gold medal in the five Olympics that have had baseball as a medal sport, while the Koreans already have clinched their best-ever Olympic finish. First pitch for the gold-medal tilt is scheduled for 6 a.m. Saturday morning ET.

Team USA will meet Japan for the bronze medal tonight at 10:30 p.m. ET. We’ll have much more shortly at baseballamerica.com.

The big reason that the U.S. Oympic team is not at prospect laden as many would have hoped is because teams were worried about injuries. They may have had a point, as the Indians can’t be thrilled with what happened today in Beijing as the U.S. faced China.

Matt LaPorta was knocked out of today’s game when he took a fastball to the batting helmet. LaPorta was on the ground for a moment, although he did get up and walk back to the dugout under his own power. Team USA replaced him with Dexter Fowler, and with the game still going on, there’s no further word yet on LaPorta’s prognosis.

LaPorta was the fifth U.S. batter to be beaned by China. Acting manager Steve Ontiveros  and pitcher Jun-Yi Chen were both ejected. LaPorta’s beaning came after the Chinese were incensed when Nate Schierholtz barrelled over China’s catcher Yang Yang. China’s starting catcher Wang Wei (Mariners) had been knocked out of the game in an earlier collision at the plate with LaPorta.

LaPorta’s injury is the second significant one for Team USA during the Olympics. Jayson Nix had to have surgery to repair a gash in his eyebrow after he took a foul ball off the face against Cuba. He’s out for the rest of the Olympics, but there’s no word of whether he will be healthy enough for return to action this year–he was a candidate for a call-up to the big leagues after rosters expanded to 40 on Sept. 1.

If LaPorta isn’t able to play again during the Olympics it would also be a crushing blow for the U.S. medal hopes. With Nix already out, the U.S. would be down to one reserve position player–Lou Marson and Taylor Teagarden are splitting the catching duties.

So after the draft deadline passed . . . the Olympics were still going on. Team USA vs. Canada turned into a good one, with the U.S. rallying from a 4-3 deficit to win 5-4. Twins lefthander Brian Duensing got the last 10 outs for Team USA as manager Davey Johnson decided against using struggling closer Jeff Stevens or Blaine Neal. Duensing allowed a ninth-inning baserunner, and on a 3-2 pitch, Stubby Clapp’s line drive down the right-field line just landed foul.

It would have tied the game, but instead Duensing went back after Clapp and retired him on a flyout to left field. So the U.S. advances to 2-2 in the Olympics, while at 1-3 Team Canada likely must sweep Japan, the Netherlands and Taiwan to reach 4-3 and make the medal round.

We’ll have much more in the morning at BaseballAmerica.com.

We don’t usually do any in-game blogging other than in Omaha at the College World Series. But NBC is blowing out the Olympics online, which is phenomenal, and unlike the 2004 Games, the baseball games can be viewed online. Waking up to see Cuba play Canada is slightly cooler for me than breakfast at any tennis tournament, though I suppose Nadal v. Federer this year was an exception.

I tuned in just in time for the sixth inning with the score tied 3-3 in the sixth inning, with Cuba sporting its new, all-white, baggy uniforms that get the Cubans out of the 1980s and into the present day. Lefthander Adiel Palma was on the mound, facing Scott Thorman, and the former Brave lofted a soft fly ball to right field. The online games are announcerless (at least the ones I’ve seen are), so you get to hear the Chinese fans’ reactions. They oohed and aahhed at Thorman’s fly ball, but then didn’t know how to react when Cuba right fielder Alexei Bell simply whiffed on the ball and failed to make the catch. [...] Continue Reading »

This is not a good start for Team USA.

Four years after being left at home, out of the Olympics, the U.S. returned to Olympics action on Wednesday morning. It didn’t go well. After trailing for most of the game, the U.S. scored three runs in the top of the ninth to stay alive, but South Korea rallied for two runs off of U.S. closer Jeff Stevens (Indians) in the bottom of the ninth to pull out an 8-7 win.

Stevens came in after the rest of the U.S. bullpen pitched flawlessly, throwing 4 2/3 perfect innings. Things didn’t go as easily for Stevens. He gave up a leadoff double to Keun Woo Jeong to start the ninth. A ground out advanced Lee to third, and he then scored on a Taek Keun Lee grounder to second baseman Jayson Nix (Rockies). Nix tried to come home to gun out Jeong, but his throw was well off the plate to the first-base side. Before throwing another pitch, Stevens tried to pick off Lee, but the throw was wild, allowing Lee to advance to third on a two-base error. Jeon Wook Lee drove his fellow Lee in with the winning run on a sacrifice fly to center field.

[...] Continue Reading »

Team Canada’s Olympic roster keeps taking hits. A key one came over the weekend when infielder Pete Orr, a 2004 Olympian and big league veteran, decided to stay in the U.S. for big league duty with the Nationals rather than go to Beijing. The Nats could have sent Orr to the minors to allow him to play in the Olympics but he decided against it. Mets minor leaguer Emmanuel Garcia, also becoming a Canadian international stalwart, replaced him on the roster, but Garcia’s struggling with Double-A pitching, while Orr is a big leaguer (albeit a pretty fringy one). It’s a huge drop for Canada and likely means we’ll see more Stubby Clapp, which actually is never a bad thing. [...] Continue Reading »

USA Baseball added Giants Triple-A right fielder Nate Schierholtz to the Olympic roster today, replacing injured Cardinals Triple-A center fielder Colby Rasmus.

Rasmus suffered a left knee injury yesterday while at-bat for Memphis, which is being reported as a Grade I MCL sprain that will cause him to miss the rest of the season. Schierholtz, who played in the Futures Game but did not make the original Olympic roster, is the beneficiary, replacing Rasmus’ lefthanded bat with another lefty bat on a roster filled with righthanded hitters. [...] Continue Reading »

So the U.S. Olympic team got Jayson Nix this weekend when the Rockies designated him for assignment, getting him back to the minor leagues and therefore eligible for Team USA. No offense to Nix, though, but this was a poor weekend for Team USA overall.

The American Olympic roster was just named Wednesday, but it’s already lost three players from its 24-man squad to big league promotions. The Rangers called up catcher Taylor Teagarden, which wasn’t a huge surprise given their catching injuries and Teagarden’s advancement to Triple-A. The U.S. could just add the player Teagarden beat out, Cardinals farmhand Bryan Anderson, who played for the national team last November in the World Cup. There’s also a chance Teagarden could be sent back down and still make the trip, though he’d have to be back in the minors this week.

But the other two losses actually might be tougher to replace, as two of the three lefthanded pitchers on the squad were promoted. The White Sox called up leftander Clayton Richard, who has won all six of his starts at Triple-A Charlotte, while the Giants added lefty Eugene Espineli, a mild shock considering he wasn’t even on the Giants’ 40-man roster. However, Espineli had also been pitching well at Triple-A Fresno, posting a 2.06 ERA and not allowing a home run in 52 innings.

It’s just three players; none is indespensible for Team USA’s gold-medal chances. But it’s amazing that teams would make players available to Team USA when they were being considered for big league promotions.

When USA Baseball gets the players it wants, it usually succeeds in international play; when it doesn’t, well, it doesn’t. Let’s see who Bob Watson and company can get to replace Espineli, Richard and Teagarden; USA Baseball has names in mind but did not want them public Sunday night.

It will be another tell in how Major League Baseball’s franchises regard the Olympics. Right now, signs point to "not well."

In the Futures Game aftermath, we missed the release of the Netherlands’ Olympic roster, which will be managed by former Yankees shortstop Robert Eenhoorn. The highlights:

• The Dutch got several of their top pitchers to participate, including Futures Game righthander Shairon Martis (Nationals), 7-foot-1 righty Loek Van Mil (Twins) and hard-throwing lefty Alexander Smit (Reds). Other pitchers include Dutch international stalwarts such as righty Rob Cordemans and lefthander Diegomar Markwell.

• The position players include several familiar names infielder, such as Eugene Kingsale, who has more than 500 big league at-bats (but none since 2003); speedster Danny Rombley, a former Expos prospect; and Dirk van ‘t Klooster, who has played more games for the Dutch national team than anyone else. The Dutch were waiting to see if Nationals outfielder Rogervin Bernadina, who got his first big league promotion this year, would be made available to them in time for a spot on the roster.

Other key position players include Yurendell de Caster (Nationals), a former BA Winter Player of the Year; 37-year-old Mexican Leaguer Sharnol Adriana; and former Purdue shortstop MIke Duursma.

• The Dutch weren’t able to secure some of the young players they wanted and one they probably didn’t figure on. Mariners farmhands Wladimir Balentien and Greg Halman aren’t on the roster; neither is Marlins righty Rick Vanden Hurk. However, the Reds’ 30th-round pick, righthander Juan Carlos Sulberan of Florida’s American Heritage High, made the cut. Sulbaran, committed to Florida, has a clean delivery and has shown the ability to have three average pitches in the future with a low 90s fastball, curveball and changeup. But he’s not just another amateur pitcher in this tournament field—he’s a high schooler, the second in the event (following Canada’s Brett Lawrie).

Olympic governing bodies are used to getting calls from major league organizations saying, "Sorry, (fill in nation here), you can’t have (fill in player here) because we need him in the major leagues."

There have been famous examples (at least in BA’s way of being famous) in the past two Olympics, such as 2000, when the Dodgers called up righthander Luke Prokopec, keeping him from pitching from Australia in the Sydney Games, or in 2004, when Canadians Justin Morneau and Jeff Francis were made big leaguers before they could become Olympians. Team USA has heard it too many times to name such specific examples.

This time, though, Team USA got a player it wanted after he was sent down from the major leagues. The Rockies promoted Ian Stewart and designated second baseman Jayson Nix for assignment to free up Nix to play in the Beijing Olympics next month. Nix was the MVP of the World Cup last November for Team USA thanks to some key hits and stellar defense at second base, and the performance helped propel him to his first major league time this year. In fact, the 25-year-old was Colorado’s Opening Day starter at second base, though he has hit just 7-for-56 in the big leagues (.125) this season. [...] Continue Reading »

Asian teams—host China, Japan, South Korea (referred to simply as Korea during the Olympics because of North Korea’s removal from international affairs) and Taiwan (known in international athletic circles as Chinese Taipei as a concession to China)—make up fully half of the 2008 Olympic baseball tournament field. Three of those teams announced their Olympic rosters this week, just as USA Baseball did.

Unlike USA Baseball, those three nations were able to send many of their best players, though like the American team, Japan will not have any of the major leaguers, such as Ichiro Suzuki and Daisuke Matsuzaka, who helped it win the inaugural World Baseball Classic in 2006. [...] Continue Reading »

At times, it seems that ever since Ben Sheets and Team USA won the gold at the 2000 Olympics, USA Baseball has been beset by bad luck when it comes to the Olympics.

There was 2003, when one loss was enough to keep the U.S. out of the 2004 Games in Athens. After seeing the birthplace of baseball left out, a new last-chance tournament was added to keep such things from happening again, but it wasn’t part of the qualifying tournament schedule until this year’s games. Of course, by then the U.S. didn’t need it, as the Americans won the 2006 qualifying tournament in Cuba.

Then, as USA Baseball got a nice boost from its increased ties to Major League Baseball, the IOC announced that it would drop baseball from the Olympics.

And now, as the roster for the U.S.’s 2008 Olympic team was being announced, it’s clear that USA Baseball has been dealt another bit of bad luck: the timing for this year’s Olympics does not match well with the ebb and flow of minor league talent. The past two years have seen an incredible amount of young talent break into the big leagues, leaving the minors a little bare. Where there once were an abundance of nearly big league ready prospects, this year’s crop of talent is noticeably thinner. [...] Continue Reading »

MANCHESTER, N.H.–A few hours ago, Phillies shortstop Jason Donald got the call from USA Baseball that he had made Team USA’s Olympic roster.

"I was really excited," Donald said after taking batting practice at the Double-A Eastern League All-Star game. "My mind just started racing just thinking about everything. I don’t think I really heard too much after they told me that I made the club. Now hopefully it starts to sink in a little more. I still have a little bit, a couple more weeks here, l and I’m going to do my best to finish it out with Reading and then go on to Beijing and try to win a gold medal."

Donald, 23, is batting .301/.381/.493 in 302 at-bats this season for Double-A Reading. One of the better offensive shortstops in the minors, Donald doesn’t have any experience playing in international competitions, but his sound approach at the plate and line-drive stroke should be assets when the Olympics begin next month.

"You hear things, obviously with Cuba just because of our history with them, and I know just how good of a baseball country they are, but you know I really don’t know too much," Donald said. "I know they’re going to bring their best, as are all the teams, so I’m just looking forward to the opportunity."

USA Baseball announced its roster for the Olympics this afternoon. We’ll have plenty of analysis as the day goes along, but here’s a quick look at the 23-man roster that was announced. Team USA will be prospect-laden behind the plate and in the outfield, with Dexter Fowler, Matt LaPorta and Colby Rasmus ranking among the top prospects in the game. But in the infield the U.S. will rely on plenty of minor league veterans with players like Terry Tiffee and Mike Hessman.

Pitching Staff

Brett Anderson (A’s), Geno Espineli (Giants), Clayton Richard (White Sox), Jake Arrieta (Orioles), Trevor Cahill (A’s), Kevin Jepsen (Angels), Brandon Knight (Mets), Mike Koplove (Dodgers), Blaine Neal (Tigers), Jeff Stevens (Indians), Casey Weathers (Rockies), Stephen Strasburg (San Diego State).

Catchers

Lou Marson (Phillies), Taylor Teagarden (Rangers)

Infielders

Brian Barden (Cardinals), Matt Brown (Angels), Jason Donald (Phillies), Mike Hessman (Tigers), Terry Tiffee (Dodgers)

Outfielders

Dexter Fowler (Rockies), John Gall (Marlins), Matt LaPorta (Indians), Colby Rasmus (Cardinals)

With the Olympics two months away, Team Canada announced its Olympic team, a roster that includes three upper echelon prospects.

The most advanced player and perhaps the best prospect is Mariners center fielder Michael Saunders, who is currently with Triple-A Tacoma. The 21-year-old Saunders began the season with Double-A West Tenn, but a .290/.375/.484 performance in 248 at-bats earned him a promotion to Tacoma, where he is batting .275/.351/.490 in 51 at-bats through 14 games. With his tools and stellar results this year, Saunders has a chance to finish the season as the top prospect in the Mariners organization.

"Once you put on your country’s jersey with your country’s name across the chest is something pretty special, especially when you’re going to be playing in the Olympics," Saunders said earlier in the season before the official roster announcement. "It’s the top international baseball competition. It’s just really exciting and it’s taking a sense of pride out there. You could go 0-for any day, and if you’re helping your nation win, it doesn’t matter. It’s something that’s really special to be able to put on a jersey with your country’s name across the chest."

Indians left fielder Nick Weglarz, another prospect in the midst of an outstanding season, has shown an excellent handle of the strike zone with a strong power stroke out of a 6-foot-3, 245-pound frame. Weglarz, 20, is batting .271/.395/.444 in 295 at-bats for high Class A Kinston.

[...] Continue Reading »