The World Baseball Classic, AKA ‘The International Baseball Tournament where we send all our most coveted players to either get injured right before the season starts, or lose momentum halfway through the season’ extravaganza.
The WBC begins March 6, and games will be played in Guadalajara, Mexico; Tokyo, Japan; Seoul, South Korea; Miami; and San Diego, with the championship round taking place at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles from March 20-22
Seems like a lot of trouble for a USA team that has yet to finish better than fourth since it started back in 2006.
The United States lineup is as strong as ever, but if you believe in avoiding risk on draft day and if history repeats itself, we can expect a portion of these guys to follow up their participation with a down season. Just take a look:
Mets’ Wright: No regrets on WBC despite injury – ESPN.com
How does the World Baseball Classic effect MLB players’ performance
The World Baseball Classic to pay salaries of injured players
Injuries, withdrawals hurting World Baseball Classic – USA Today
Here is the lineup for Team USA :
Pitchers:
Chris Archer, RHP
Mychal Givens, RHP
Luke Gregerson, RHP
Andrew Miller, LHP
Max Scherzer, RHP – Will not Pitch due to finger injury
Tanner Roark – RHP – will take Scherzer’s spot
Marcus Stroman, RHP
Mychal Givens RHP
Hitters:
Nolan Arenado, 3B
Brandon Crawford, SS
Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
Eric Hosmer, 1B
Adam Jones, CF
Ian Kinsler, 2B
Andrew McCutchen, OF
Daniel Murphy, 2B/DH
Buster Posey, C
Christian Yelich, LF
This list alone puts a damper on things with players like Arenado and Goldy in the mix because the first round is so important and many of us look to avoid risk in the first round more so than any other round. Will it effect top players like Goldschmidt and Arenado? You will be the judge of that but it is certainly something to think about
There is talk about possible pitcher additions, specifically Clayton Kershaw, who wasn’t the poster boy on health last season to begin with. David Price and Madison Bumgarner are two other names being mentioned as potential adds. OUCH to that.
The Indians are also looking at the possibility of sending Corey Kluber to represent team USA.
Just in case you were wondering why only two of the top hitters in baseball are playing, dont worry because on top of those going to represent Team USA, many of our international players will represent the country they grew up in.
And there are a lot of them…So far there are 45 MLB players (on top of the 18 listed above) participating this year.
I highlighted players who would likely be drafted in the first round or early second, but there are plenty of very good players besides those.
The Dominican Republic team alone will roster Manny Machado, Alex Colome, Alex Reyes, Adrian Beltre, Dellin Betances, Robinson Cano, Nelson Cruz, Starling Marte, Gregory Polanco and Jose Reyes.
Others include:
- Canada’s Russell Martin, John Axford and Freddie Freeman
- Colombia’s Jose Quintana, Dilson Herrera and Julio Teheran
- Mexico’s Adrian Gonzalez, Khris Davis, Danny Espinosa, Jaime Garcia, Roberto Osuna, Miguel Gonzalez, Sergio Romo, Joakim Soria and Oliver Perez
- Netherlands’ Jonathan Schoop, Andrelton Simmons, Xander Bogaerts, and Didi Gregorious
- Puerto Rico’s Carlos Correa, Hector Santiago, Javier Baez, Francisco Lindor, Carlos Beltran, Eddie Rosario, Carlos Beltran, Edwin Diaz, Yadier Molina
- Venezuela’s Miguel Cabrera, Odubel Herrera, Victor Martinez, Asdrubal Cabrera, Jose Altuve, Carlos Gonzalez, Felix Hernandez, Salvador Perez and Martin Perez
- South Korea’s Seung-hwan Oh and Shin-Soo Choo
- Israel’s Danny Valencia, Ryan Lavarnway and Cody Decker
- Italy’s Michael Conforto, Francisco Cervelli and Chris Colabello
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