The rosters for the World Baseball Classic (WBC) were announced yesterday's and here is the US roster.
| Player | Pos. | Team |
| Mark Teixeira | 1B | Yankees |
| Brandon Phillips | 2B | Reds |
| Jimmy Rollins | SS | Phillies |
| David Wright | 3B | Mets |
| Joe Mauer | C | Twins |
| Ryan Braun | LF | Brewers |
| Adam Jones | CF | Orioles |
| Giancarlo Stanton | RF | Marlins |
| Ben Zobrist | INF | Rays |
| Willie Bloomquist | INF | D-backs |
| Shane Victorino | OF | Red Sox |
| Jonathan Lucroy | C | Brewers |
| J.P. Arencibia | C | Blue Jays |
| R.A. Dickey | SP | Blue Jays |
| Ryan Vogelsong | SP | Giants |
| Derek Holland | SP | Rangers |
| Kris Medlen | SP | Braves |
| Craig Kimbrel | RP | Braves |
| Heath Bell | RP | D-backs |
| Chris Perez | RP | Indians |
| Vinnie Pestano | RP | Indians |
| Luke Gregerson | RP | Padres |
| Glen Perkins | RP | Twins |
| Steve Cishek | RP | Marlins |
| Jeremy Affeldt | RP | Giants |
| Tim Collins | RP | Royals |
| Mitchell Boggs | RP | Cardinals |
No Cubs on the US roster, but Anthony Rizzo is playing for Italy while Ryan Searle will pitch for Australia and Yao-Lin Wang will pitch for Chinese Taipei. Former Cubs minor leaguer Hung-Wen Chen will also pitch for Chinese Taipei.
Comments
Craig Calcaterra and Jon Morosi were having a wonderful back and forth about what the WBC means. Craig basically taking the side of Why risk injury to play in this thing (among other arguments), and Jon taking the USA USA USA! route.
mikeakaleroyQuote Reply
I agree with Calcaterra considering the timing of the WBC. If it was after the season then I think more would play, but risking injury for something like this weeks before the season is a huge deterrent for a lot of players. Especially any player entering the final year of a contract.
dmick89Quote Reply
@ dmick89:
Yeah, I agree too, but there really isn’t a good time for it. After the season, free agents are trying to rest or prove they’re healthy potentially sign a big deal with a new team. That and most games (in the US anyway) would need domed or retractable roof stadiums since your getting into November/December. I guess the same could be true in March as well though.
mikeakaleroyQuote Reply
I think it’s hard to create a world baseball tournament and expect fans and players to treat it like the olympics/world cup in the first couple years.
If the WBC is ever to be taken seriously as a legit worldwide tournament, then it should be held in the middle of the MLB baseball season, and owner’s/teams need to be willing to let their best players play. It needs to showcase all of the best talent in the world competing at the highest level, or it will never mean anything. If it means sacrificing part of an MLB season, then that’s what MLB should do.
Now, I realize that owner’s, fans, and players will probably never agree to this, and I’m not even sure if it’s what I personally want. But until they do, WBC will be an ok but not great tournament to watch. Nobody gets excited about second tier players on pitch counts playing what amounts to nothing more than a slighty competitive spring training game.
If you told me that for 3-4 weeks I’d get to see a super team of Ryan Braun, Clayton Kershaw, Roy Halladay, and other American stars take on a other all-star filled teams from all around the world, I’d love to watch that, even at the cost of Cubs baseball, because I love watching talented star studded lineups. It’d be like an All-star game where players actually play hard, and the stakes actually do matter.
But that’s not what the WBC is, and probably what it’ll never be.
EdwinQuote Reply
I’m trying to remember what the last Baseball Olympics looked like. Was it all college kids, or were pros invited before it got removed from the Olympics?
mikeakaleroyQuote Reply
@ mikeakaleroy:
Looks like college kids, since I don’t recognize most of the names: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball_at_the_2008_Summer_Olympics
There was a fella named Nate Schierholtz on the Bronze winning USA team that year!
mikeakaleroyQuote Reply
Edwin wrote:
I agree with this though I don’t think MLB would need to shorten their season in terms of games played. MLB teams need to accept the risk, which I think is possible, but getting players to accept the risk is another thing entirely. I don’t think that will ever be possible. Too much money to be made in MLB.
dmick89Quote Reply
My idea for the WBC is basically just the LLWS, except any non-professional from any country can play. This way, it’s actually a talent showcase, and teams wouldn’t have to worry about injuries. It would definitely not be as interesting as MLB baseball, but still (IMO) a compelling product that people would watch, especially if minor league ball becomes as popular as I think it will in the future. It would take place the same time it is now.
MylesQuote Reply
@ dmick89:
Agreed. The WBC just isn’t a big enough tournament right now. There’s just no history or tradition to it. In baseball, the biggest trophy is the World Series. In Soccer, there’s a good arguement to be made that it’s the World Cup. Until the WBC becomes something that countries actually care about winning, players won’t try too hard for it.
And you’re correct about the money part as well. Owners don’t want to risk their valuable assets on a tournament in which they probably wouldn’t recieve much of any revenue back.
EdwinQuote Reply
@ Myles:
I think it’s a good idea, and it might be better than what they do now, but it still means that the WBC will be a tournament that nobody actually takes seriously. Without elite talent, it’s just not as fun to watch. I’d be interested in it, and it’d be nice showcase as you say, but it probably wouldn’t be much of a national event. It would just become an event that was import to baseball fans who follow prospects. Probably similar to the world junior hockey championships, except more popular due to overall more popularity of baseball in America.
EdwinQuote Reply
During the last winter olympics which occurred in the middle of hockey season, the hockey season was split in two with an olympic break for like 2 weeks. It was pretty fun.
WaLiQuote Reply
Edwin wrote:
You’re right, but I don’t know of an elegant solution that makes the WBC both a place for the best of the best AND something that team owners will really get behind.
MylesQuote Reply
It is hard for me to be at all interested, given the number of countries involved in which baseball participation is so low. I understand that its a promotional tool designed to raise interest levels in participating countries, but it just comes off as a joke to me. When players are representing countries they have never set foot in, it just seems silly.
I think there is a version of the tournament that would be cool, if the tournament were limited to eight or even four teams from a pool of US, DR, Mexico, Venezuela, Japan, and Korea, something like that.
GWQuote Reply
GW wrote:
This. I know SK made some strong arguments that it’s about more than national pride and he’s right, but it’s difficult to take it seriously when Anthony Rizzo is playing for Italy.
dmick89Quote Reply
Myles wrote:
What your are describing is the Baseball World Cup. The fact that you have never heard of it yet it has been going since 1938 kind of destroys your argument.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball_World_Cup
Suburban kidQuote Reply
This US roster looks stacked. Looks like they really want to beat Japan this time.
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