Yesterday, the final rosters were announced for the 2009 World Baseball Classic. Personally, I love the WBC and can’t wait for it to start. I’m a big soccer fan, so I love international tournaments. I think if more players take the tournament seriously, it can grow into something really huge world wide and expand the game.
The timing is the major issue with the WBC and why many players don’t want to or aren’t allowed in the tournament. I believe it should be after the season, but I understand the worry of having pitchers throwing too many innings.
Anyway, I’ll do a post later on how to improve the WBC, today I’m just previewing the teams.
1. USA- The most stacked team in the tournament (Or maybe DR), but how well did that do them in ‘06? Position wise, I think this team got the right people for each position. This team can hit the long ball with the likes of David Wright, Ryan Braun, and Grady Sizemore. But they will also have great contact hitters in the likes of Derek Jeter, Chipper Jones, Dustin Pedroia, Jimmy Rollins, and Curtis Granderson. Team USA needs Jake Peavy and Roy Oswalt to be strong starters. It hurts the USA that they won’t have some of the best pitchers playing, such as C.C. Sabathia and Josh Beckett. The back end of games won’t be a problem at all with guys like J.J. Putz, Brian Fuentes, and Joe Nathan.
2. Dominican Republic- The only other team in the WBC that, along with the USA, has all major leaguers on the roster, and just as many stars. They gained USA defector Alex Rodriguez, but lose a major piece in Albert Pujols, all because the insurance won’t cover his elbow. The DR is deep at shortstop with Hanley Ramirez and Jose Reyes. They also have David Ortiz and Adrian Beltre. It will be interesting to see if ‘08 or ‘09 Robinson Cano will show up. The outfield isn’t very impressive, the best player there is Jose Guillen, and that’s not that great. Edisnson Volquez leads the starting pitchers on the team. However, their pitching strength will probably come from the relievers.
3. Japan- The ‘06 world champions come back with their mostly 2006 team intact. Ichiro leads the offense. Daisuke Matsuzaka leads the pitching staff. Stud Japanese youngster Yu Darvish will also be pitching, and I believe he will be a thrill to watch much like Dice-K was in 2006. Hideki Okajima will miss this year’s tournament and Hideki Matsui will once again be absent. Many on this team still play in Japan, except a few notable names. However, just because they don’t play in America, don’t think they aren’t as skilled as those who do (See the 2006 WBC as an example).
4. Puerto Rico- This team has talent, though they are not as deep as the above teams. Pitching is a very weak spot on Puerto Rico, Javier Vasquez will be their ace. They are deep at catcher with Yadier Molina, Geovany Soto and Ivan Rodriguez. They also have some good bats in first baseman Carlos Delgado and outfielders Carlos Beltran and Alex Rios. Mike Lowell will be missed at third.
5. Cuba- This team is still kind of a mystery. Cuba doesn’t give too much information away on their rosters, in fear of their players being lured to defect to the U.S. to play for major league teams. All I know is that 2006 WBC stand outs pitcher Pedro Lazo, and hitters Yuliesky Gourriel and Federich Cepeda will return.
6. Venezuela- The absence of Johan Santana will hurt this team from having a completely dominating rotation with Carlos Zambrano, Felix Hernandez and Armando Galaragga, but they should be okay with just those three. Francisco Rodriguez also gives team Venezuela a big advantage at the end of the game. The offense is also there with infielders Miguel Cabrera, Melvin Mora and outfielders Bobby Abreu and Magglio Ordonez. I believe Venezuela can make a deep run.
7. Canada- It’s such a shame that injuries and fear of being re-injured has kept starting pitchers Ryan Dempster, Rich Harden, Jeff Francis and Erik Bedard off the final roster. Otherwise, Canada could have been a real dark horse candidate in the tournament. The lack of pitching is glaring on team Canada’s roster, with just reliever Jesse Crain as the best pitcher on it. The offense will be there on this team with first basemen Justin Morneau and Joey Votto, catcher Russel Martin, outfielders Jason Bay, Matt Stairs and Mark Teahen.
8. South Korea- Korea only has one major leaguer on the team in Clevleand Indian’s outfielder Shin-Soo Choo, who is impressive. Korea will be missing hitter Seung-Yeop Lee, who led the ‘06 team in homers, and pitchers Chan Ho Park and Bying-Hyun Kim. These absences might hamper Korea’s chances as improving upon 2006’s surprise showing in the WBC.
9. Mexico- One of the weakest Latin American teams. Starter Oliver Perez and closer Joakim Soria are the top pitchers on the roster. Yankee’s minor leaguer and spot starter Alfredo Aceves will be missed by Mexico. The best offense Mexico has is first baseman Adrian Gonzalez and second baseman Jorge Cantu.
10. Italy- Italy’s team consists of many American born second and third generation Italian-Americans. Pitching is weak on Italy, starter Lenny Dinardo and relievers Mark Defelice and Jason Grilli. Cubs prospect pitcher Alex Maestri was the first Italian born player to sign with a major league team and he could turn into a good pitcher. Infielders Frank Catalanotto, Nick Punto and Dodger minor leaguer Val Pascucci who did well for Italy in the 2006 WBC. Catchers Mike Napoli and Sal Fasano opting not to play for Italy hurts them offensively.
11. Panama- Panama is the weakest of the Latin American teams. Manny Acosta and Manny Corpas are the only major league pitchers on the roster. Panama could of used closer Mariano Rivera, but he can’t pitch every inning of every good. At least they have a great hitter in outfielder Carlos Lee, but that’s about it.
12. Netherlands- The Netherlands are one of the best European teams, but will be one of the bottom teams of the tournament. The Netherlands will miss Shairon Martis who threw 7-no hit innings in the 2006 WBC and young Braves pitching stud Jair Jurrjens. Sidney Ponson and Marlin prospect Rick VandenHurk lead the pitching staff for the dutch. Former major leaguer Randall Simon is the only recognizable name on offense. Missing from this year’s WBC is Andruw Jones, though not sure if he would have contributed much the way he’s played in recent years.
13. Australia- Australia has 19 players that are in the minor leagues. Angel’s minor leaguer Rich Thompson is the only pitcher with major league experience, 2 innings and a 22.50 ERA. Ray’s reliever Grant Balfour decided to skip the WBC, he would have been the best pitcher on the team. Outfielder Justin Huber and Phillie’s minor league shortstop Brad Harman, who batted .429 leading off for Australia in the last classic, lead their offense.
14. Chinese Taipei- CT feature 9 minor leaguers, but none at the current Major League level. Taiwanese superstar and star Yankee pitcher Chien-Ming Wang has once again decided not to play, which devastates Chinese Taipei’s chances of winning a game.
15. South Africa- South Africa has 5 minor leaguers on their roster, 4 pitchers and 1 hitter. South Africa is still a very young nation to baseball. They got beaten up badly in 2006, it will be interesting to see how or if they improve this year.
16. China- China will probably compete with South Africa at being the worst team in the tournament. China, like South Africa, is a young nation to baseball. There are 3 minor leaguers on China’s roster, 2 pitchers, and 1 catcher. 1 pitcher also plays in Japan.
I will have my WBC predictions published sometime next week.
