LaPorta makes Olympic team

He's becoming more famous than Sabathia.

2 months ago battlekow Comment 63 comments 0 recs |

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Jeff Stevens made the team as well.

by TonyH on Jul 16, 2008 3:42 PM EDT 0 recs

So did Mike Koplove.

And Terry Tiffee.

So maybe it’s not such a big deal.

by afh4 on Jul 16, 2008 3:50 PM EDT up 0 recs

veteran leadership.

by Brick. on Jul 16, 2008 4:55 PM EDT up 0 recs

Did Wegz make Team Canada?

by Roger Dorn on Jul 16, 2008 3:59 PM EDT 0 recs

Wegz is Team Canada

by APV on Jul 16, 2008 4:11 PM EDT up 1 recs

Yes he did

http://www.cbc.ca/olympics/baseball/story/2008/07/10/baseball-canada-olympics.html

by millionairesrow on Jul 16, 2008 4:17 PM EDT up 0 recs

So did Rheal Cormier, Stubby Clapp and Chris Reitsma. Hopefully the Olympic Village will be well stocked with arthritis drugs and viagra.

by FredOx on Jul 16, 2008 4:36 PM EDT up 0 recs

Stubby Clapp.

how did he survive middle school?

by Brick. on Jul 16, 2008 4:56 PM EDT up 0 recs

If you ask any Canadian to name a player on the Olympic baseball team, the only player your average Canadian will be able to name is Stubby Clapp. Why you ask is this career minor leaguer so famous? We never really have much baseball success, but any that we have enjoyed over the past decade has had Stubby as a key contributor. And the amount of grit this guy brings to the plate puts Eck, Blake and Carroll to shame. He has friggin Bermuda sand seeping out of the side of his pants.

Wegz and Stubby are taking it this year. Can’t wait til August.

by supermarioelia on Jul 16, 2008 5:43 PM EDT up 0 recs

sadly, a google image search for Stubby Clapp yields only pictures of the baseball player “Stubby Clapp”

by APV on Jul 16, 2008 5:57 PM EDT up 0 recs

Complete roster. With only 4 OFs, LaPorta figures to play a lot.

by FredOx on Jul 16, 2008 4:10 PM EDT 0 recs

that. and he hits like a sumbitch

by Brick. on Jul 16, 2008 4:56 PM EDT up 0 recs

Canadian roster. Two Tribe prospects on the list, Weglarz! and T.J. Burton.

by FredOx on Jul 16, 2008 4:14 PM EDT 0 recs

good to see Stubby Clapp get his moment.

You know Selig? Ombudsman.

by rolub on Jul 16, 2008 4:19 PM EDT up 0 recs

All I care about is Jeff Stevens.

::swoon::

by Toxicadam on Jul 16, 2008 4:18 PM EDT 0 recs

Taiwan announced its 24 man roster as well, and I was disappointed to see Sung-Wei Tseng left off.

by FredOx on Jul 16, 2008 4:23 PM EDT 0 recs

Lee is the only international player selected, and two other candidates, outfielder Choo Shin-soo of the Cleveland Indians and closer Lim Chang-yong of the Yakult Swallows, failed to make the squad due to restrictions from their professional teams.

Looks like Choo would have made the Korean team too if the Indians weren’t worried about the season or his health.

source

Wedge: [letting go of Casey's hand] I'll never let go, Casey. I promise.

by cclemens31 on Jul 16, 2008 4:44 PM EDT 0 recs

Allowing pros to participate in the Olympics opened a Pandora’s Box. It makes no sense for a highly paid athlete to risk himself as an Olympian. Comments?

by elsandito on Jul 16, 2008 5:12 PM EDT up 0 recs

NHL. NBA.

by Brick. on Jul 16, 2008 5:35 PM EDT up 0 recs

Barcelona agrees with you. Ronaldinho does not.

by supermarioelia on Jul 16, 2008 5:37 PM EDT up 0 recs

It makes no sense for a highly paid athlete to risk himself riding motorcycles, but they do it anyways. Probably for the thrill of it. If a pro athlete wants to compete in the Olympics for the thrill, the challenge, the pride, I say good for him.

As the owner of a business in the industry of professional sports, well, that’s a different opinion.

You know Selig? Ombudsman.

by rolub on Jul 17, 2008 10:33 AM EDT up 0 recs

You won’t see many NHLers riding motorcycles for the next little while.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luc_Bourdon

by supermarioelia on Jul 17, 2008 11:35 AM EDT up 0 recs

Anyone else think LaPorta goes from the Olympics to Buffalo? He has dominated his transition period in AA and coming home from China seems like a good breaking point, at least after he has a few days to recover from the flight. That 16 hour doosie is not fun to endure.

by KevinV on Jul 16, 2008 6:35 PM EDT 0 recs

Actually, I think he goes back to Akron for the last two weeks — and for Double-A postseason. It doesn’t look like Buffalo will have a postseason, and the Indians do like to support their minor league affiliates whenever they can.

by Jay on Jul 16, 2008 8:05 PM EDT up 0 recs

That makes sense. Any sort of post season experience is good.

Think that he’ll get a September call up? I would love to see him up here after Akron is done with him.

by KevinV on Jul 16, 2008 11:01 PM EDT up 0 recs

No, though they might just invite him to come hang out. You can’t do a callup without adding him to the 40-man, and they don’t need to do that right now — they can save that 40-man spot for some other prospect who might otherwise get lost in the Rule 5 draft.

by Jay on Jul 17, 2008 2:01 AM EDT up 0 recs

The Buffalo season ends on September 1. If the US is in the finals, he would barely get back in time for the last week if he hustled.

by palcal on Jul 16, 2008 8:16 PM EDT up 0 recs

I know there’s no real way to evaluate this but does anyone have a thought on whether this is a good thing or a bad thing for Wegz and LaPorta?

I’m kind of jazzed about it for Wegz. I think the change of scenery might jump start him. LaPorta I think is too good to matter.

by afh4 on Jul 16, 2008 8:18 PM EDT 0 recs

I think it’s a good thing for the US because LaPorta’s going to win like 9 medals.

by NickFantana on Jul 16, 2008 10:13 PM EDT up 0 recs

What if Weglarz was already jump-started? He OPSed almost 1100 in July.

by fleerdon on Jul 16, 2008 11:57 PM EDT up 0 recs

I WANT HOMERUNS>

by afh4 on Jul 17, 2008 12:53 AM EDT up 0 recs

In A ball at age 20, Adam Dunn filled out a 888 OPS with 16 HR (and 24 SB) (?).

At age 21, he hit a combined 32 HR, including 19 in 286 major league plate appearances.

You’re being irrational.

by fleerdon on Jul 17, 2008 3:42 PM EDT up 0 recs

He hit 24 homeruns last year.

His man muscles are already there. Use ‘em.

by afh4 on Jul 17, 2008 4:02 PM EDT up 0 recs

You don’t want home runs.

Home runs mean he’s eating up mistake pitches — which is a key skill, but he won’t see the kinds of mistake pitches in Triple-A that he’s seeing in the Caroline League.

You want Hard Hit Balls — doubles and lots of them, with a side of home runs. Doubles that mean he’s waiting for his pitch and then smacking the hell out of it, getting base hits without artificially elevating. In other words, you don’t want fly balls that are going a little further because the opposition is weak, you want line drives. Line drives turn into home runs later. Think about Manny Ramirez when he was younger.

by Jay on Jul 17, 2008 4:25 PM EDT up 0 recs

Manny at age 20 in Kinston: 291 AB, 18 2B, 3 3B, 13 HR
Weglarz! at age 20 in Kinston: 312 AB, 17 2B, 3 3B, 10 HR

Manny also struck out more and walked less, for whatever that’s worth. Wegz is (probably) not the second coming of Manny, but the HR aren’t a problem.

by FredOx on Jul 17, 2008 4:37 PM EDT up 0 recs

DON’T TELL ME WHAT I WANT. I WANT HOME RUNS.

I guess what I really want is Wegz to hit homeruns in the big leagues. Yesterday.

by afh4 on Jul 17, 2008 5:08 PM EDT up 0 recs

I want a pony. And a chicken that poops gold.

by FredOx on Jul 17, 2008 5:15 PM EDT up 0 recs

POOP.

Wedge: [letting go of Casey's hand] I'll never let go, Casey. I promise.

by cclemens31 on Jul 17, 2008 7:43 PM EDT up 0 recs

Don’t tell me not to tell you what you want.

Ruprecht … do I have to get the genital cuffs?

by Jay on Jul 17, 2008 11:29 PM EDT up 0 recs

BCB's "very own marginally deserving all-star!"

by battlekow on Jul 18, 2008 12:31 AM EDT up 1 recs

This is the new gavel.

Burn on, big river, burn on...

by Turkmenbashi on Jul 18, 2008 1:10 PM EDT up 0 recs

Home runs mean he’s eating up mistake pitches

Huh? Wha? You know sometimes guys hit home runs offa well placed pitches too. And sometimes they hit mistake pitches for doubles or line drive outs or pop flys or cue-shots to short. No, this is just too damn weak to let slide. Where the hell did this come from?

Resident LGT beer kinda sewer

by mauichuck on Jul 19, 2008 10:02 AM EDT up 0 recs

I don’t really see any downside. I might feel differently if they were pitchers.

by Jay on Jul 17, 2008 2:02 AM EDT up 0 recs

and let me just add

THE WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC DID NOTHING WRONG!

by Jay on Jul 17, 2008 2:02 AM EDT up 0 recs

where have you gone Fernando Kbrera?

by APV on Jul 17, 2008 9:12 AM EDT up 0 recs

Apparently he put up a Breslow-type run just before the all-star break.

by supermarioelia on Jul 17, 2008 9:20 AM EDT up 0 recs

look at that…he’s sporting the Inf ERA+ with Baltimore

by APV on Jul 17, 2008 9:29 AM EDT up 0 recs

Yeah, he had debris scoped out of his elbow last fall, which seems to have made him new.

by ken from alexandria on Jul 17, 2008 9:43 AM EDT up 0 recs

But isn’t this significantly different?

The WBC occurred during typical spring training time, and threw these guys into real-game situations when otherwise, they’d be more concerned with shaking off the cobwebs, working on mechanics, etc.

With the Olympics occurring when they do, the ballplayers (including pitchers) are already in mid-season, late-season form, and would be playing/pitching anyhow, whether it’s in Beijing or Akron.

Now if the USA doesn’t have enough pitchers to use a regular rotation/bullpen, then I agree. But to be honest, I’m not familiar enough with the schedule/roster make-up for the Olympics to say one way or the other.

You know Selig? Ombudsman.

by rolub on Jul 17, 2008 10:38 AM EDT up 0 recs

The games begin August 13 with a 7-game round robin. They play everyday except the Sunday after the 4th game. After the 7th game, the top 4 teams advance after another off day.
The semi-finals are on August 22 and the finals/ consolation are on Saturday, August 23.

If you make the finals, you play 9 games in 11 days.

by palcal on Jul 17, 2008 5:47 PM EDT up 0 recs

Nothing is more American than baseball…except maybe the Team USA baseball team…except maybe Matt LaPorta on the Team USA baseball team.

Wahoo Laporta! Beat Iran and North Korea!

more college stats here: Matt LaPorta Named To U.S. Olympic Baseball Team

by ShawnK on Jul 17, 2008 1:18 AM EDT 0 recs

Choo couldn’t join the Korean olympic team because MLB Office prohibits all major leaguers from participating Beijing Olympics. That’s why Choo is not on the Korean roster.

by victor41 on Jul 17, 2008 1:29 AM EDT 0 recs

has there ever been an update on Choo’s military service obligation?

by APV on Jul 17, 2008 9:13 AM EDT up 0 recs

As far as I know, he should go to the military service for 2 years if he does not give up korean nationality. And it should start before he becomes 30 years old.(I’m not sure about the exact age) He can get the exemption if he’s on the roster of national team which gets any medal in Olympics or gold medal in Asian Games. So now he has just 1 chance left in 2010 Asian Games. But I’m afraid MLB Office allow him to join them during regular season.

by victor41 on Jul 17, 2008 9:52 AM EDT up 0 recs

South Korea should count his service time agaisnt the Reds this year.

by ShawnK on Jul 17, 2008 10:20 AM EDT up 4 recs

awesome. Rec’d.

by gte619n on Jul 17, 2008 1:18 PM EDT up 0 recs

There’s no question in my mind that this is actually Victor Martinez writing this.

by supermarioelia on Jul 17, 2008 11:38 AM EDT up 0 recs

I’m Korean. That’s why I know about Choo’s situation well.

And Victor is my favorite player, so I’m using victor41 for my ID.

by victor41 on Jul 18, 2008 2:30 AM EDT up 0 recs

Funny, you don’t look Korean.

by Jay on Jul 18, 2008 11:17 AM EDT up 0 recs

I was just joshin.

Funny story, I actually refused to talk to any Korean for about a year and a half following Italy’s loss to Korea in the 2002 World Cup. I wish I was kidding.

by supermarioelia on Jul 18, 2008 2:53 PM EDT up 0 recs

I just realized you guys might be interested to know that our national TV station CBC will be streaming tons of Olympic coverage on their website at cbcsports.ca. And yes, this might involve some Wegz action.

I’ll of course keep you all posted.

by supermarioelia on Jul 17, 2008 11:35 PM EDT 0 recs

between weglarz, laporta, and stevens, i’m going to be trying to watch as much olympic baseball as possible.

by Brick. on Jul 18, 2008 10:11 AM EDT up 0 recs