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Friday, January 09, 2009

Huge Number of Team USA names come out in this special mid-day WBC update!

(LINK: MLB.com article)

Well, it has finally broke, as a list of 22 players (out of 45 needed for the first provisional roster) for Team USA have been released. This doesn’t have every name (Joe Mauer, for example), but it has many surprises: Jake Peavy, for example, who wasn’t expected to play by many observers.

From the article:

Team USA’s tentative roster has Boston’s Kevin Youkilis at first base, Pedroia and Cleveland’s Mark DeRosa at second, Jeter and Philadelphia’s Jimmie Rollins at shortstop, Jones and the Mets’ David Wright at third and Brian McCann of the Braves behind the plate.

In the outfield so far, it’s Ryan Braun of the Brewers, Curtis Granderson of the Tigers and Grady Sizemore of the Indians.

The starters are Peavy, Lackey and Oswalt and the bullpen has Fuentes, Nathan, Shields, Jonathan Broxton of the Dodgers, B.J. Ryan of the Blue Jays, J.J. Putz of the Mets, Matt Thornton of the White Sox and Matt Lindstrom of the Marlins.

USA Guys who are known to have been invited or were saying they’d play if invited (by my memory): Joe Mauer, Brad Hawpe, Jeremy Guthrie, Brian Roberts, George Sherrill and Joba Chamberlain.

Gamingboy Posted: January 09, 2009 at 07:27 PM | 14 comment(s) | Login to Bookmark
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1. jwb Posted: January 09, 2009 at 10:01 PM (#3047982)

Joba Chamberlain? What will the Steinbrennerlings say about that?

2. Gamingboy Posted: January 09, 2009 at 10:06 PM (#3047992)

Joba Chamberlain? What will the Steinbrennerlings say about that?

They probably won't have anything to say, since it's likely that Joba wants to be a Starter but USA would want him to be reliever, which would likely lead to Joba just saying "Nevermind".

3. Dewey, Steven Wright Wannabe and Soupuss Posted: January 09, 2009 at 10:16 PM (#3048010)

Please, Mr. Thornton, I don't care how well you pitch in the WBC - just stay healthy, for God's sake.

4. BeanoCook Posted: January 09, 2009 at 11:12 PM (#3048061)

This is a quality squad. Solid D (as long as Jeter/Jones are not in there) too. You just can't tell for sure how "on" these players will be in March, but I'll enjoy it again. Oswalt has a gold medal already in international competition.

5. SuperHat Posted: January 09, 2009 at 11:38 PM (#3048086)

Mauer pulled out because of his kidney surgery.

6. Baldrick Posted: January 09, 2009 at 11:50 PM (#3048094)

That's a good team. For all the talk of the US players not being interested, you'd have to think they'll still have the best squad by a decent margin. Baseball being what it is, that's no guarantee of much in this sort of competition, of course...

7. with Glavinesque control and Madduxian poise Posted: January 10, 2009 at 01:38 AM (#3048144)

Beano,

Chipper's 3rd base defense has really improved the last two years, both by eye and by metric. I grant you it's strange, but he's probably average defensively now.

8. aardvark Posted: January 10, 2009 at 04:07 AM (#3048187)

you'd have to think they'll still have the best squad by a decent margin.

Really? The DR squad may not be quite as good on the mound, but they have quite a team. You can make a case for every position player player being the top at their position.

9. BeanoCook Posted: January 10, 2009 at 04:12 AM (#3048189)

NM Smith, I'll grant you Jones is decent at 3b. I am a huge Jones fan, a 1st ballot HOFer that is very underrated, if that is possible. *I've always said, the HOF caliber players are always getting better and better. Many of them outperform their minor league numbers by a mile, too.

10. The Voice of America Posted: January 10, 2009 at 05:04 AM (#3048209)

Any news on Papelbon? Did he decline?

11. RJ in TO Posted: January 10, 2009 at 05:14 AM (#3048211)

Not that my opinion matters at all, but I'm really unhappy about B. J. Ryan taking part in this.

12. Baldrick Posted: January 10, 2009 at 05:53 AM (#3048223)

Really? The DR squad may not be quite as good on the mound, but they have quite a team. You can make a case for every position player player being the top at their position.

Emmmm. The infield is out of this world, I'll give you. But I'm not convinced by the outfield, and there's really very little on the pitching side. I also don't know if the defense is going to be doing a ton of favors either.

What's the best outfield? Vlad, Manny, Soriano? Is there someone I'm forgetting? And Vlad is hurt, too, isn't he?

13. Gamingboy Posted: January 10, 2009 at 04:53 PM (#3048315)

I do believe Vlad is hurt. And who the hell knows what Manny will do.

The thing about Baseball and a double-elimination format means that a bunch of teams have some shot at winning it (in no particular order): the USA, Japan, Cuba, DR, Venezuela, Korea, Puerto Rico and Mexico. Maybe Canada and the Netherlands (due to Curacao) if enough pitching were to show up.

14. aardvark Posted: January 11, 2009 at 02:47 AM (#3048674)

Ok, Vlad is hurt and probably won't be participating (which I didn't realize initially), which diminishes my argument somewhat. Even with the batter pitching saying that Team USA is the best squad by a decent margin is a pushing it. I'd give them a slight edge over the Dominican Republic as the US advantage in pitching is greater than the DR advantage in hitting.

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Friday, January 09, 2009

Huge Number of Team USA names come out in this special mid-day WBC update!

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