If you are a young rising start on a talent-laden team:
What do you want? OPPORTUNITY!
When do you want it? NOW!
And this year, they get just that. A whopping 15 Mets (including Dominic Hamel) apparently are committed to the WBC on several teams. How long will they be gone?
Well, the following shows when they leave, and they return after they lose - or after they win it all on March 21:
Pool C Teams
Canada; Colombia; Great Britain; Mexico; USA
Monday, March 6: Team arrivals
Tuesday, March 7: Team workouts
USA (Scottsdale, Ariz.)
Mexico (Scottsdale, Ariz.)
Colombia (Mesa, Ariz.)
Canada (Mesa, Ariz.)
Great Britain (Phoenix)
Wednesday, March 8: Exhibition Game 1
Cleveland vs. Mexico (1:05 p.m. MST at Goodyear)
Oakland vs. Colombia (1:05 p.m. MST at Mesa)
Chicago Cubs vs. Canada (1:05 p.m. MST at Mesa)
Milwaukee vs. Great Britain (1:10 p.m. MST at Phoenix)
San Francisco vs. USA (7:05 p.m. MST at Scottsdale)
Thursday, March 9: Exhibition Game 2
Chicago White Sox vs. Colombia (1:05 p.m. MST at Glendale)
Kansas City vs. Great Britain (1:05 p.m. MST at Surprise)
Los Angeles Angels vs. USA (1:10 p.m. MST at Tempe)
Colorado vs. Mexico (1:10 p.m. MST at Scottsdale)
Seattle vs. Canada (1:10 p.m. MST at Peoria)
Friday, March 10: Team workouts
at Chase Field
Saturday, March 11: First round begins
at Chase Field
So it seems to me that the Mets' kiddies who strongly would love to head north with the Mets for 2023 Opening Day will have two weeks in the heart of spring training Mets games schedule to grasp at bats and innings galore and that sometimes-elusive SPRING TRAINING OPPORTUNITY!
Make the most of it, fellas....
OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS!
P.S. Five-pitch David Peterson answered the knock on the door yesterday, with a great first pre-spring outing. In contrast, the guys who went the last 7 innings and gave up 12 runs are largely not ready for prime time.
Ronny Mauricio is auditioning for the Darryl Strawberry Story. Similar look...and power. Shows that a player's progression can accelerate if, like Ronny in 2022, you can figure out how to get to the plate 744 times. Mark Vientos, by comparison got to the plate 800 times - over 2 seasons. Ronny got up 744 times in a single year.
Diminutive CF Lorenzo Cedroia (who?) had 2 hits yesterday. The 25 year old (sorry, never hear of him before today) seems to be a Jake Mangum replacement, and had a solid minor league season in 2022 for the Reds.
7 comments:
Wyatt Young, who I wrote about quite often last year, got up 536 times in 2022, a lot…but 208 fewer times than play-every-day Mauricio.
Lindor got up 745 times one year in the majors pre-Mets. Iron Man Pete Alonso top PA year = 693.
I love the WHC
The pride these players show playing for their roots country makes MLB baseball look boring
Yep, the country excitement is great. When baseball teams are arbitrarily assembled, probably many players would have higher preference cities to play in, but adapt to the baseball business model.
It would interesting to see if players got exactly the same $ based on years of service, where would they choose to play. I am sure the teams would look a lot different. And there would be a team in the Dominican Republic for sure. Probably more than one.
Usually the WBC is a detriment to team preparation for the upcoming season. However, this year, I agree with Tom that the opportunity for the young prospects to get some exposure is a big plus for them and for the Mets.
Geesh appearances in ST games against Double A guys isn’t a big plus for anybody.
No? Why not?
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