Jeff Mathis is available.

Jeff Mathis is available.

Primey!

You joke, but...

In building
@USABaseball
roster for
@Tokyo2020
qualifying, Mike Scioscia said he envisions "a blend" between veterans who are familiar with pennant-race pressure and talented players at multiple levels of the minor leagues.

I actually think it would be a good idea to get some former MLB players on the team, might draw some attention, and wouldn't Adam Jones and Jeff Mathis be better than some Double-A non prospect?

I mean, I can see an argument for Jeff Mathis - a veteran catcher whom the manager and the players trust/respect seems like a good bet for a team that's coming together from a lot of different sources for a short period of time. I don't think there's a particularly good way to build an Olympic team unless you're going to stop the season, but I suspect that I'd like a 3-to-1 mix of prospects with potential and last hurrah guys.

What I'd really want is the World Baseball Classic every odd-numbered year. It's a ton of fun, and getting it off the four-year schedule might make it stop feeling like an aberration and encourage more people to play/unclench about their team's players being involved.

Looking over the recent free agents and retirees for players who could be useful: Ryan Braun, Tyler Flowers, Jed Gyorko, Cole Hamels, Mike Leake, Rick Porcello, Brad Peacock, Shane Greene, Josh Reddick, David Robertson, Jeff Samardzija, Nick Markakis, Gio Gonzalez, Matt Wieters.

I think it's funny, but I also think it's likely to happen. Erik Kratz was on the last team.

Some weird names on that list. Jed Gyorko had a 121 OPS+ last year. (And a 0.00 ERA!)

Hamels only pitched three innings last year; was his injury of the "can never pitch again"? Because he was above average in 2019. Peacock pitched only two innings last year, but was pretty good the year before. Unless these guys are going all Ty Buttrey on us, it's a surprise that no one tossed them a bone.