Joe Torre, the manager for the USA team in the World Baseball Classic, has submitted his roster for the tournament today. There are no Pittsburgh Pirates on the list.
The World Baseball Classic is a tournament of the best baseball players in the world that is held in March, before the regular season. Players in the MLB have the option of either playing for Team USA or playing for their home country. Previously, players have said that they did not want to play because they didn’t want to take the chance of getting injured prior to opening day. The players have the option of declining an invite to play in the tournament as the WBC is a voluntary event. It now seems that players are taking advantage of the WBC as a warm-up to the regular season.
Mark Texeira made a comment with the guys at Hot Stove on the MLB network that struck my ear. He said, “At my age, I need to stop worrying so much about lifting weights and worry more about my swing.” He also used the word “dominate” when talking about how he wanted to perform in the tournament. Just the simple fact that players like Texeria want to get out there and work on their swing tells baseball fans that the game is alive and well today despite the Steroid Era.
Team USA’s Roster :
- C/1B – Joe Mauer – MIN
- C – JP Arrencibia – TOR
- C – Jonathan Lucroy – MIL
- 1B – Mark Texeira – NYY
- 2B – Brandon Phillips – CIN
- SS – Jimmy Rollins – PHI
- 3B – David Wright – NYM
- UT – Ben Zobrist – TB
- UT – Willie Bloomquist – ARI
- OF – Ryan Braun – MIL
- OF – Adam Jones – BAL
- OF – Giancarlo Stanton- MIA
- OF – Shane Victorino – BOS
- LHP – Jeremy Affeldt – SF
- LHP – Tim Collins – KC
- LHP – Derek Holland – TEX
- LHP – Glen Perkins – MIN
- RHP – Heath Bell – ARI
- RHP – Mitchell Boggs – STL
- RHP – Steve Chishek- MIA
- RHP – R.A. Dickey – TOR
- RHP – Luke Gregerson – SD
- RHP – Craig Kimbrel – ATL
- RHP – Kris Medlen – ATL
- RHP – Chris Perez – CLE
- RHP – Vinnie Pestano – CLE
- RHP – Ryan Vogelsong – SF
The final roster is due in late February and the rest of the team’s are scheduled to be announced at 4 p.m. ET.
Photo Credit: photobucket.com
