Many of the game’s elite stars and veterans of Major League Baseball (MLB), Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) and other leagues from Asia, Latin America, Europe and Australia will participate in the third edition of the World Baseball Classic. From the ranks of Major League Baseball, the rosters include 2012 American League Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera of Venezuela as well as fellow past Most Valuable Players Ryan Braun (USA), Joe Mauer (USA), Justin Morneau (Canada), Jimmy Rollins (USA), Miguel Tejada (Dominican Republic) and Joey Votto (Canada). Reigning Cy Young Award winner R.A. Dickey is on the roster of Team USA.
Including the names above, there are 45 Major League All-Stars who appear on the submitted rosters (alphabetically): Elvis Andrus (Venezuela), Heath Bell (USA), Carlos Beltran (Puerto Rico), Braun, Asdrubal Cabrera (Venezuela), Robinson Cano (Dominican Republic), Nelson Cruz (Dominican Republic), Dickey, Yovani Gallardo (Mexico), Adrian Gonzalez (Mexico), Carlos Gonzalez (Venezuela), Gio Gonzalez (USA), Ramon Hernandez (Venezuela), Omar Infante (Venezuela), Adam Jones (USA), Andruw Jones (Netherlands), Craig Kimbrel (USA), Russell Martin (Canada), Mauer, Yadier Molina (Puerto Rico), Miguel Montero (Venezuela), Morneau, Chris Perez (USA), Brandon Phillips (USA), Martin Prado (Venezuela), Hanley Ramirez (Dominican Republic), Jose Reyes (Dominican Republic), Alex Rios (Puerto Rico), Fernando Rodney (Dominican Republic), Francisco Rodriguez (Venezuela), Rollins, Pablo Sandoval (Venezuela), Giancarlo Stanton (USA), Mark Teixeira (USA), Tejada, Jose Valverde (Dominican Republic), Javier Vazquez (Puerto Rico), Shane Victorino (USA), Ryan Vogelsong (USA), Edinson Volquez (Dominican Republic), Votto, David Wright (USA), Carlos Zambrano (Venezuela) and Ben Zobrist (USA).
Other participants of note are eight returning players from Japan’s 2009 Championship Team, including two Pacific League MVPs, pitcher Toshiya Sugiuchi and outfielder Seiichi Uchikawa, as well as the reigning Central League MVP, catcher Shinnosuke Abe; 11 returning players from Korea’s 2009 Finalist squad, including infielder Tae-Kyun Kim and outfielder Hyun-Soo Kim; Cuban stars Frederich Cepeda, Alfredo Despaigne and Yulieski Gourriel; Canadian relief pitcher John Axford, infielder Brett Lawrie and pitcher Jameson Taillon, the second overall choice in the 2010 MLB Draft; longtime Major League pitcher Chien-Ming Wang of Chinese Taipei, marking his first World Baseball Classic appearance, as well as 2008 MLB Futures Game MVP Che-Hsuan Lin of Chinese Taipei; 2005 MLB Futures Game MVP Justin Huber of Australia; Team Italy’s Anthony Rizzo and Alex Liddi, who became the first Italian-born and developed Major League player ever in 2011; Netherlands infielders Andrelton Simmons and Xander Bogaerts; Minor Leaguers Ray Chang and Wei Wang of Team China; and members of the 2012 World Series Champion San Francisco Giants, including National League Championship Series MVP Marco Scutaro of Venezuela and outfielder Angel Pagan of Puerto Rico.
Reader Comments and Retorts
Go to end of page
Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.
1. John Northey Posted: February 22, 2013 at 10:21 AM (#4373816)Pool A: Japan & Cuba while Brazil and China fight it out to avoid being shut out.
Pool B: Australia & Korea move on, Chinese Taipei and the Kingdom of the Netherlands dream of an upset.
Pool C: Dominican Republic & Puerto Rico should move on, with Venezuela having an upset potential, Spain is just happy to be there.
Pool D: United States & Canada likely,with Mexico the upset potential while Italy tries to win one.
Should be a fun tournament though, as after round one things can get crazy.
I don't think Australia is obviously better than the Netherlands.
I'm a bit torn. I really would like to see the US win the tournament but at the same time I wonder if it might be good for the event if we completely crapped out and lost in the group stage. That might generate enough interest that a true dream team type scenario would exist in 2017. I don't think a US Dream Team is necessarily a clear favorite over the DR or Japan but I think it would help some perception of the tournament.
USA lineup:
C Mauer
1B Teixeira
2B Phillips
3B Wright
SS Rollins
LF Braun
CF Jones
RF Stanton
Bench:
C Arencibia
C LuCroy
IF Zobrist
IF Bloomquist
OF Victorino
It seems to be made up of players who already view themselves as having achieved a lot in their pro careers.
All 29 or older, except Jones and Stanton and the backup catchers.
I am rooting for the DR, which is clearly the second-best team on a pure talent basis, to finally put together the run they should. US-DR is the final the world needs.
I think they're the best offensive team in the tournament, but they're missing MVP-candidate level players at 1B, 2B, SS, CF and DH. Adding Trout, Tulo, Cutch, Posey and Pedroia would make it into a dream team.
The US currently lacks a top-quality 1B. Prince Fielder would be an upgrade on Teixeira, but he's so poor defensively and on the bases that he isn't that big a deal.
I'd put Trout in LF and have Braun DH. As of now, I don't know who's the DH. Zobrist?
Pat Venditte is on Team Italy, meaning that, YES, we could very well see MAJOR LEAGUERS FACE AN AMBIDEXTROUS PITCHER.
And that is AWESOME!
MCOA - #7 makes a lot of sense. I'm with you on the DR.
The bench looks short for a team with a DH. I guess top priority is given to making sure no pitcher gets overworked. The offense is 9 men plus Zobrist as supersub, while the pitching staff has such luminaries as Steve Cishek and Vinnie Pestano.
Venditte is recovering from labrum surgery on his right arm and would strictly be used as a LHP.
I'm reasonably sure that this is the first time somebody has only been doing half-rehab.
Give that the games are hosted in Taiwan, I'd hazard a guess that we'll advance. most likely at Aussie's expense.
It does hinge a little on how much Wang and Kuo have left in the tank of course.
This is what I thought before watching the two classics, but now I think the narrative has changed almost to where the US is the underdog. It's Japan that is under the most pressure to win imo. US fans don't take it that seriously (hardcore baseball fans sure but the casual fan no way) so if we lose early it's just going to be "meh, nobody wanted to be there anyways now back to important baseball".
One thing interesting was living in NYC for the last WBC and seeing all the various "______-americans" cheering for their squads. The Dominican guys at the Bodegas had their gear on, the Mexican kids in Sunset Park had the games on in the taqeuerrias, etc. Don't know about Little Italy though. Maybe they had on their Piazza gear.
Carlos Gomez decided to focus on his contract year. Melky Cabrera dropped out shortly after the latest stuff from Biogenesis. The Blue Jays blocked Joey Bats since he ended last season on the DL. Soriano is old and probably didn't want to do it. Vlad is retired.
I have no idea what Starling Marte's excuse is.
I'd put the Dutch ahead of the Aussies. I'd say Korea has best chance, then a fight between Taiwan and the Dutch, with Australia as a dark horse that could cause trouble.
They have an MVP-candidate 2B in Zobrist but Phillips is apparently the starter.
You must be Registered and Logged In to post comments.
<< Back to main