Last week I linked to an item concerning the Venezuelan WBC team and why players like Magglio Ordonez, Miguel Cabrera and Johan Santana are saying they may not play if changed aren’t made.Turns out it has to do with management and the fact that Luis Sojo has been asked back to manage the team.
“We haven’t been consulted regarding the important issues,” Cabrera told The Associated Press on Monday. “We only want Venezuela to go to the Classic with the best coaches and players, but it’s necessary that we work together.”
The dispute has drawn resignations from some of Venezuela’s organizing officials.One official, Eduardo Alvarez, resigned last week citing “differences with other members.”
But that’s not all. The situation is spreading into management itself.
Some other representatives of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League resigned from the organizing committee on Sunday, saying in a statement that their resignations were aimed at “bringing together Venezuela’s best team for the World Baseball Classic.”The baseball-mad nation was eliminated in the second round of the inaugural Classic in 2006.
Sojo, who managed the Class A Tampa Yankees this year, could not be reached for comment regarding the dispute, but admitted when he was reappointed national manager in August that there were a lot of issues from three years ago.Those included tickets for players’ family members, team meals, and Sojo’s decision-making in games.
I guess I can see team meals being an issue if Miguel Cabrera is in the mix. Have to wonder if this will plague Venezuela as preparations begin in earnest. As a couple of us noted in the comments of the post last week, Hugo’s finest could be a very dangerous team if their heads are on straight.
Another WBC-related item has Randy Winn saying he’s ready to go if asked. I mentioned Winn, alongside Gary Majewski and Brian Schneider, as some of the “shocking” names from last year’s team. But I was flipping through the final Total Value estimates a few days ago and was surprised to find Winn’s name as high as it was at 38.1 — just above Joey Votto (37.3) and Troy Glaus (37.8) and just below J.J. Hardy (38.8) and Shane Victorino (39.6).
I knew he had a decent year at the plate in 2008, but he actually scored as a plus fielder in right as well. Considering a lot of teams stick their worst fielder out there — a la Bobby Abreu, Brad Hawpe, Magglio Ordonez — Winn is slightly appealing if, say, Brian Giles, turns us down. I’m thinking that with plenty of big bats sure to be on the team it might be better to have a solid fielder out there. Then again, Josh Hamilton probably needs to be on the team and he sure as heck isn’t paying center with Grady Sizemore on the roster.
Decisions decisions.
3 responses so far ↓
1 DJ // Oct 13, 2008 at 1:26 am
Some Spanish-lnguage newspapers are reporting that the dust-up with the Venezuelan players has been resolved. Apparently, things had gotten pretty bad: Magglio had called members of the national baseball federation a bunch of thieves, and the head of the federation (who resigned from the country’s WBC organizing committee last week) blasted back, calling Magglio unpatriotic and theatening to sue him for defamation, etc.
So the Venezuelan sports minister stepped in to mediate the conflict, and Magglio’s been meeting with him over the last few days. And now, following those meetings, Magglio’s announced publicly that he’s gonna play for Team Venezuela in the Classic and won’t call for Luis Sojo to be sacked.
For what it’s worth, I get the sense that this is part of a real power struggle in Venezuela between the Chavista baseball establishment and the American-based MLB players (and their agents). Chavez wants to control Venezuelan baseball–but the players, the players’ agents, MLB, and the MLBPA want to keep running the show like they do in the D.R. We’ll be seeing more of these kinds of struggles with Venezuelan players so long as Chavez is dictating down there. (This, by the way, is one of the great underreported stories in sports. It’s serious business.)
I think Magglio and Hugo will be able to put power and politics aside for now because of this: Anything less than a final four showing for Venezuela in the Classic will be deeply humiliating for all of them. There’s a lot on the line, and the players are under a lot of pressure. If they get bounced from the tournament early on, expect all hell to break loose.
2 Shinsano // Oct 13, 2008 at 10:17 pm
Thanks for posting that DJ. It is underreported. I wonder exactly what the sticking points are…I mean, I can kind of guess. Maybe that’s where things like food budget (and more important things) come into play.
We’ll see what they come up with in the tournament. If the players are happy there’s no reason for them to not reach the final four.
3 DJ // Oct 14, 2008 at 1:15 am
I can think of two reasons why they won’t reach the quarter-finals: Team Dominicana and Team USA. They’ll all likely meet in Miami in March, and who knows what can happen in a double-elimination format. (This isn’t to short shrift the Canadians here. They’re maybe a third reason why Venezuela won’t advance in the tournament.)
One more thing: Johan Santana, as you know, ended the season with knee surgery. I have no idea how much this puts him back. But Team Venezuela will have to be worried about him missing the WBC. And without him, we’re looking at a much less scary squad.
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