this team is looking real good, very strong infield and great relief pitching which is needed given the new pitch counts. Everyone made a deal of no Hudson, but I'd rather take a guy like Nathan or Shields any day.
The outfield is underwhelming. Holliday outside of Colorado and Winn is no Pinella. Griffey is clearly the standout, hopefully the classic won't get blamed for his next injury. A-Rod and Varitek working together is nice.
My lineup would by Jeter, Utley, A-Rod, Tex(dh),D.Lee, Griffey, Francoer, Varitek, Damon.
It should be good enough to win the tournament (though you never know with the pitch counts and single elimination format in the semis and finals), but it's not the best roster they could have put together.
The OF in particular is kind of sketchy. It's nice to have Griffey on the team, but besides him, there's no one there to be even remotely excited about. It would have been really nice to have a Bonds, or a Dunn or any other "name" outfielder on the team. On the other hand, the infield is really great with ARod at third and Tex and Lee at 1B and DH plus the best options at short and second being on the team.
The pitching staff is heavy on (very good) relivers which is probably a good move with starters only throwing four to six innings, but I'd have liked to see Carpenter or Halladay instead of Sabathia, but oh well. Peavy/Willis/Clemens is as good as it gets. Bring on the Dominicans.
(Oh and here's (sports.espn.go.com) the full thirty man roster.)
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I know they are both Boras clients, but Varitek and A-Rod being on the same team is just morally wrong. First pop-up between 3rd and home could be interesting. Very well could be a single team bench clearing brawl. Although the Domincan Republic vs. USA is the marquee final, a Venezuela vs. USA with Santana facing Willis in a preview of the two best pitchers available in the dispersal draft after the Marlins and Twins are contracted after '06 could be very entertaining.
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Odd they had a 30 man roster and brought only one guy who played 2B last year. Figure Young can play there if he has to, but I'd want even a field-only guy so I could pinch hit for Utley close and late without any worry.
Ugh, my two favorite players (David Wright and Eric Chavez) don't make the team thanks to my two least favorite players (A-Rod and Chipper). I can't watch this.
Originally posted by thecubsfanOdd they had a 30 man roster and brought only one guy who played 2B last year. Figure Young can play there if he has to, but I'd want even a field-only guy so I could pinch hit for Utley close and late without any worry.
Young is an outstanding fielder, so he'll be fine. He had no trouble switching from 2b to SS and really didn't have much time to prepare, so I'm sure he'll be fine going back to 2b. In fact, I'd start Young over Utley. But, I'm biased.
Given the OFs, I'm surprised they don't move Chipper to OF and put one of the other 3bs on the team. But, maybe they don't want to play. On Mike & Mike, Jayson Stark said that MLB basically told players to stop publicly saying they didn't want to play. Instead, if they quietly tell MLB or their agent, then they would simply be left off the team. So, I wonder how many of those players not among the 30 were left off voluntarily. My guess, given the OF situation, is a good number of them quietly opted out.
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The best outfielders are just not Americans. The only one I know that opted out is Sheffield. Berkman maybe had some injury concern or he should've been picked. I don't think the our outfield could've gotten much better... (maybe Podsednik to pinch-run if Pierre was already on team France.)
I'd also have taken Wright instead of Chipper (much too early for E.Chavez, he can't hit until June)
How desperate would the USA have to be to have chosen Al Leiter?
Utley has his uses, but (assuming we're starting AL East-types), I've got 3 guys who'll be all stars this year (Young, Teixeira, Chipper) and one HOF-er (Griffey) who I'd love to use and no better person to replace.
My championship game lineup, though I reserve the right to rethink in five seconds:
RF Damon (totally cheating) SS Jeter 3B A-Rod 1B Lee DH Chipper CA Varitek LF Winn CF Wells 2B Utley
I agree about thinking Chipper in LF.
In the opening rounds especially, I'm sure they'll try to keep everyone fresh and not put the 100% lineup out ther unless they have to. With 8 games to play, there's going to be 2-4 where the top guy at a position doesn't play. Young's fine as a temporary option, but I'd hate for him to have to play out of position in games that don't matter because they need to give Utley a day off.
Originally posted by thecubsfanRF Damon (totally cheating) SS Jeter 3B A-Rod 1B Lee DH Chipper CA Varitek LF Winn CF Wells 2B Utley
You have to have Teixeria in there over Chipper as your DH. Actually, if they really wanted to put the best team on the field, they'd shift Teixeira to third, his natural position, move Arod over to short and take Jeter out of the lineup. (if you really think you need another table-setter type guy like Jeter, I'd move him to DH and Chipper Jones to left). Plus I'd move Young over to 2B in favor of Utley. Then you have:
DH Jeter 2B Young SS Arod 1B Lee 3B Tex CF Griffey LF Chipper C Varitek RF Damon
Of course, I don't anticipate them moving anyone from their natural position, and you really don't need to overthink the lineup and batting order in an eight game tournament where pretty much any US lineup will be second best in the tournament.
He's got that hand-waving deal. He can become INVISIBLE! This means MONEY, Dawg! - AWARulz on Cena.
If Damon is put in right, you are just engraving an invitation for teams to go from first to home on balls hit to right. It would be a nice compare/contrast though between the Domincan Republican having Vlad's cannon in right while the U.S. would have Damon's pop gun in right. And, I'd take any member of the Tampa outfield over Randy Winn any day of the week.
(edited by redsoxnation on 15.2.06 2143) Any complaints about the preceding post can be directed at the time traveling aliens who edited it.
Originally posted by QuezzyAny place to view the other teams' final 30 man rosters?
Here (worldbaseballclassic.com) are the rosters. Most of the countries only have provisional rosters because the 30 man rosters are not due until March 2nd. A few (USA and Canada) have been announced, but not too many.
He's got that hand-waving deal. He can become INVISIBLE! This means MONEY, Dawg! - AWARulz on Cena.
An interesting note is that Eric Chavez was disappointed that he didn't make Team USA, and so tried to be on Team Mexico instead. While ordinarily he would be eligible (his father was a Mexican citizen) he is not eligible because he wasn't on Mexico's provisional roster.
Italy and the Netherlands didn't make that mistake. It seems like they listed every MLB player who is eligible, just in case. Good for them, but it's weird seeing American born athletes playing for the other team. Of the 13 MLB players on Italy's provisional roster, 12 were born in the USA, and one (Marco Scutaro) was born in Venezuela. 5 of Netherlands' MLB players are from Dutch territories in the Carribean (including Curacao, Aruba, and Netherlands Antilles). The other 5 were born in the USA.
But at least both those teams should be better off than South Africa. South Africa is one of only three teams with no MLB players on their provisional roster (the other two countries are Communist). In fact, South Africa has only has 4 players on their team with professional experience (2 in double-a leagues, 2 in rookie leagues). Here's a quote from their manager: "At some point," said Magnante, a longtime Oakland A's scout, "we're going to be sending high school guys out there to face like Derek Jeter and Barry Bonds and Ken Griffey [Jr.] in a big league ballpark." Anyone want to give me odds on the mercy rule being enforced in games against South Africa?
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Originally posted by Mr. BoffoSouth Africa is one of only three teams with no MLB players on their provisional roster (the other two countries are Communist).
Technically, Australia has MLB players. Practically, we're counting Glenn Williams, Damian Moss and Dave Nilsson, so it might as well be 4 teams.
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