World Baseball Classic preview lineups rosters predictions

After years of talk, Bud Selig’s dream will become a reality and baseball fans around the globe will be treated to the greatest tournament ever assembled. Yes, the World Baseball Classic is finally here! MLB executives hate it, TV refuses to promote it, the politicians tried to water it down, and the players association bash it but no matter what hurdles stood in the way, the great sports of baseball weathered the storm and 16 nations will all battle for the honor of the top baseball land in the world. “This gathering of baseball's brightest stars will be an outstanding platform to grow the game internationally," said commissioner Selig. The lineups are all star studded. Big Papi, Texeriea, Abreu, Clemens, Pujols, Santana, Peavy, Ichiro, the list goes on. While the logical favorites are the United States and the Dominican Republic, all countries involved will feature lineups of Major League talent. Venezuela is stacked top to bottom, Cuba has a dominant history in international play, and Japan is always a serious threat. ESPN will cover all of the action which starts on March 3rd and conclude on March 20th.

For all of the excitement surrounding the event, it has had its share of drama. First, the US Treasury Department denied Cuba a license to play. It was not until after Fidel Castro agreed to donate all proceeds to the victims of Hurricane Katrina that the Bush Administration allowed Cuba to participate in the event. Major League Baseball execs were petitioning to have players from their teams excluded, the players union whined as usual, big names pulling out of the tournament, and then the whole A-Rod saga. While the negatives have made the headlines, truth is that most players are very proud to represent their native homes in the first ever WBC. This is a baseball fans dream come true. Imagine the possibilities….. the first inning of the first game of pool D will see Johan Santana facing Soriano, Tejada & Pujols.
There will be four groups each consisting of four teams. Pool A -- China, Chinese Taipei (Taiwan), Japan and Korea; Pool B -- Canada, Mexico, South Africa and the United States; Pool C -- Cuba, the Netherlands, Panama and Puerto Rico; Pool D -- Australia, Dominican Republic, Italy and Venezuela. Each team will play the remaining three teams in their pool once. The top two teams from each pool will advance to the second round. Round two is reduced to two pools and eight teams left standing. The same round robin format applies with each team playing the remaining three in the pool once. The winner and runner up from each pool advance to the finals and immediately face off against each other in a single elimination match. The winners then face off in a one game eliminator to determine the first ever World Baseball Champions.
The rules will slightly differ from those of Major League Baseball. A strict pitch count will be enforced, limiting pitchers to 65 pitches in the first round, 80 pitches in the second round, and 95 in the semifinals and championship rounds. A 30-pitch outing must be followed by one day off, and a 50-pitch outing must be followed by four days off. A pitcher must sit out the next game after pitching on consecutive days. A mercy rule will be enforced if one team leading by either fifteen runs after five innings or ten runs after seven innings. Each team will use the Designated Hitter. The International Baseball Federation stated that 80 players will be tested at random before the tournament under World Anti-Doping Agency rules. An initial positive test will result in a two-year suspension from international competition. Two players from each team will be tested for banned drugs after each game of the World Baseball Classic.

Round One
March 3–11, 2006
• Pool A – Tokyo Dome, Tokyo, Japan
• Pool B – Chase Field, Phoenix Arizona; Scottsdale Stadium, Scottsdale, Arizona
• Pool C – Hiram Bithorn Stadium, San Juan, Puerto Rico
• Pool D – Cracker Jack Stadium in Disney's Wide World of Sports, Lake Buena Vista, Florida


Round Two
March 13- 15, 2006
• Pool 1 – Angel Stadium, Anaheim, California
• Pool 2 - Hiram Bithorn Stadium, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Semifinals and finals
March 16 and 20, 2006
• PETCO Park, San Diego California



Pool A Projected lineups

JAPAN

C—Kenji Jojima
1B—Nobuhiko Matsunaka
2B—Tadahito Iguchi (White Sox)
3B—Michihiro Ogasawara
SS—Kazuo Matsui (Mets)
LF—Kosuke Fukudome
CF—Hideki Matsui (Yankees)
RF—Ichiro Suzuki (Mariners)
DH—Norihiro Nakamura
SP—Daisuke Matsuzaka
SP—Koji Uehara
SP—Hideo Nomo (Devil Rays)
SP—Tomo Ohka (Nationals)
RP—Shingo Takatsu
Manager: Sadaharu Oh


KOREA
C—Seung-heun Hong
1B—Seung-yeop Lee
2B—Kyung-hwan Ahn
3B—Dong-soo Kim
SS—Sae-wan Hong
LF—Joon-hyuk Yang
CF—Jeong-bum Lee
RF—Jong-soo Shim
DH—Hee-seop Choi (Dodgers)
SP—Jae-weong Seo (Mets)
SP—Chan-ho Park (Rangers)
SP—Myung-hwan Park
SP—Min-tae Chong
RP—Byung-yung Kim (Rockies)
Manager: Jae-park Kim


TAIWAN
C—Chun-chang Ye
1B—Chia-hsien Hsieh
2B—Chung-yi Huang
3B—Tai-shan Chang
SS—Ching-lung Hu (Dodgers)
LF—Chin-feng Chen (Dodgers)
CF—Chih-yuan Chen
RF—Kan-lin Huang
DH—Cheng-min Peng
SP—Chien-ming Wang (Yankees)
SP—Chi-Hung Cheng (Blue Jays)
SP—Chih-chia Chang
SP—Ming-chieh Hsu
RP— Chin-hui Tsao (Rockies)
Manager: Sheng-ming Hsu


CHINA

C—Wang Wei
1B—Chen Qi
2B—Feng Fei
3B—Zhang Wei
SS—Zheng Yu Feng
LF—Lin Xiao Fan
CF—Sun Ling-feng
RF—Yang Guo Gang
DH—Liu Guang Biao
SP—Wang Chao
SP—Wang Nan
SP—Zhang Jian Wang
SP—Su Chang-long
RP—Li Wei Liang
Manager: Li Bin

Breakdown: Japan has the best known talent in this pool but you never know out in the Far East. Korea had a solid starting rotation, and Taiwan is strong in international play. Baseball is in its infancy in China but this will be great experience for when the Olympics are held in Beijing in 2008. Out of a land of 1.3 billion people to choose from, I am sure there is at least some talent in the bunch.

Philly Keith Projected Winner: Japan
Runner up – Korea



Pool B Projected lineup

PUERTO RICO
C—Ivan Rodriguez (Tigers)
1B—Carlos Delgado (Marlins)
2B—Alex Cintron (Diamondbacks)
3B—Jose Valentin (Dodgers)
SS—Alex Cora (Indians)
LF—Alexis Rios (Blue Jays)
CF—Carlos Beltran (Mets)
RF—Bernie Williams (Yankees)
DH—Javy Lopez (Orioles)
SP—Javier Vazquez (Diamondbacks)
SP—Joel Pineiro (Mariners)
RP—J.C. Romero (Twins)
RP—Kiko Calero (Athletics)

Manager: Jose Cruz Sr. (Astros)


CUBA
C—Ariel Pestano
1B—Danny Miranda
2B—Yulieski Gourriel
3B—Michel Enriquez
SS—Eduardo Paret
LF—Frederich Cepeda
CF—Carlos Tabares
RF—Alexei Ramirez
DH—Eriel Sanchez
SP—Norge Vera
SP—Vicyohandri Odelin
SP—Adiel Palma
SP—Danny Betancourt
RP—Pedro Luis Lazo

Manager: Higinio Velez


ITALY
C—Mike Piazza (Padres)
1B— Joe Vitiello
2B—Frank Menechino (Rangers)
3B— Marco Scutaro
SS—Seth la Fera
LF—Daniel di Pace
CF— Frank Catalanotto (Blue Jays)
RF—Jim Buccheri
DH—Jairo Ramos Gizzi
SP—Jason Simontacchi
RP—Matt Mantei (Red Sox)
RP---Ron Villone (Mariners)
RP— Dan Miceli
RP— Mike Gallo

Manager: Giampiero Faraone


PANAMA
C—Einar Diaz (Cardinals)
1B—Olmedo Saenz (Dodgers)
2B—Jose Macias (Cubs)
3B—Damaso Espino (Royals)
SS—Vicente Garabaldo
LF—Carlos Lee (Brewers)
CF—Ruben Rivera
RF—Fernando Seguignol
DH—Julio Zuleta
SP—Bruce Chen (Orioles)
SP—Roger Deago (Padres)
SP—Ramiro Mendoza (Yankees)
SP—Len Pecota

Manager: Omar Moreno

Breakdown – Puerto Rico has the best talent by far…. on paper. They are very deep in outfield talent and also at catcher although that is not necessarily an advantage. The pitching is solid as well. Italy puts together the scrappiest bunch of utility infielders and middle relievers ever assembled. Piazza offers some pop in the middle of the lineup. Panama has a few decent bats but lacks pitching, Mariano Rivera declining the offer to play kills any chance Panama had. The only real known about the Cuban team is that half the roster will try to defect to the US before this is all said and done.

Philly Keith Projected Winner: Puerto Rico
Runner Up: Italy


Pool C Projected lineups

CANADA

C—Pete LaForest (Devil Rays)
1B—Justin Morneau (Twins)
2B—Pete Orr (Braves)
3B—Cory Koskie (Blue Jays)
SS—Danny Klassen (Astros)
LF—Jason Bay (Pirates)
CF—Aaron Guiel (Royals)
RF—Larry Walker (Cardinals)
DH—Matt Stairs (Royals)
SP—Rich Harden (Athletics)
SP—Erik Bedard (Orioles)
SP—Jeff Francis (Rockies)
SP—Ryan Dempster (Cubs)
RP- Chris Reitsma (Braves)
RP- Mike Myers(Diamondbacks)
RP- Rheal Cormier (Phillies)

Manager: Ernie Whitt (Blue Jays)


MEXICO

C—Miguel Ojeda (Padres)
1B—Adrian Gonzalez (Rangers)
2B—Jorge Cantu (Devil Rays)
3B—Vinny Castilla (Nationals)
SS—Alfredo Amezaga (Pirates)
LF—Mario Valenzuela
CF—Luis Garcia
RF—Karim Garcia
DH—Erubiel Durazo (Athletics)
SP—Esteban Loiaza (Nationals)
SP—Oliver Perez (Pirates)
SP—Rodrigo Lopez (Orioles)
SP—Elmer Dessens (Dodgers)
RP—Luis Ayala (Nationals)
RP- Ricardo Rincoln (Twins)

Manager: Fernando Valenzuela



UNITED STATES

C—Jason Varitek (Red Sox)
1B—Mark Teixeira (Rangers)
2B—Chase Utley (Phillies)
3B— Alex Rodriguez (Yankees)
SS— Derek Jeter (Yankees)
LF—Vernon Wells (Blue Jays)
CF—Johnny Damon (Yankees)
RF—Ken Griffey Jr. (Reds)
DH—Derrek Lee (Cubs)
SP—Roger Clemens (Astros)
SP—Jake Peavy (Padres)
SP—Al Leiter(Yankees)
SP—Dontrelle Willis (Marlins)
RP- Houston Street (A’s)
RP- Joe Nathan (Twins)
RP- Brad Lidge (Astros)

Manager: Bobby Cox (Braves)


SOUTH AFRICA

C—Willem Kemp
1B—Nick Dempsey
2B—Paul Bell
3B—Jonathan Phillips
SS—Brett Willemberg
LF—Jason Jonathan
CF—Jason Cook
RF—Ian Holness
DH—Adrian Langeveldt
SP—Barry Armitage (Royals)
SP—Bruce McCleland (Royals)
SP—Tyrone Lamont (Mariners)
SP—Carl Michaels
RP—Darryn Smith
Manager: Raymond Tew

Breakdown: This is the toughest pool in the tournament and it will be fun to watch these teams beat the snot out of South Africa. I can’t wait to see Canada play Mexico. I can’t wait to see the US bullpen slam the door on everyone. The US has a bomb squad. They could have put a second team together out of the players who bailed out of the tournament. Canada also has a very solid team top to bottom. Their starting pitching is top notch. Jason Bey is a star in the making. Mexico also carries a very strong pitching staff and some power in the middle of the lineup. Poor South Africa, the whoopin’ they have coming will be so hard P.W. Botha is gonna feel it.


Philly Keith Projected Winner: United States
Runner up: Canada



Pool D Projected lineup


DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
C—Miguel Olivo (Mariners)
1B—Albert Pujols (Cardinals)
2B—Alfonso Soriano (Rangers)
3B—Aramis Ramirez (Cubs)
SS— Miguel Tejada (Orioles)
LF—Moises Alou (Giants)
CF—Jose Guillen (Nationals)
RF—Sammy Sosa (N/A)
DH—David Ortiz (Red Sox)
SP—Pedro Martinez (Mets)
SP—Bartolo Colon (Angels)
SP—Odalis Perez (Dodgers)
SP—Daniel Cabrera (Orioles)
RP—Francisco Cordero (Rangers)
Manager: Felipe Alou (Giants)


VENEZUELA

C—Ramon Hernandez (Padres)
1B—Edgardo Alfonzo (Giants)
2B—Cesar Izturis (Dodgers)
3B—Carlos Guillen (Tigers)
SS—Omar Vizquel (Giants)
LF—Richard Hildalgo (Orioles)
CF—Bob Abreu (Phillies)
RF—Miguel Cabrera (Marlins)
DH—Magglio Ordonez (Tigers)
SP—Johan Santana (Twins)
SP—Carlos Zambrano (Cubs)
SP—Freddy Garcia (White Sox)
SP—Kelvim Escobar (Angels)
RP—Francisco Rodriguez (Angels)
Manager: Ozzie Guillen, White Sox


NETHERLANDS

C—Chairon Isenia
1B—Randall Simon (Devil Rays)
2B—Evert Jan t'Hoen
3B—Vince Rooi (Nationals)
SS—Raily Legito
LF—Eugene Kingsale
CF—Andruw Jones (Braves)
RF—Rikkert Faneyte
DH—Sharnol Adriana
SP—Sydney Ponson (Orioles)
SP—Calvin Maduro
SP—Alexander Smit (Twins)
SP—Rob Cordemans
RP—Ferenc Jongejan
Manager: Robert Eenhoorn


AUSTRALIA

C—Dave Nilsson
1B—Justin Huber (Royals)
2B—Trent Durrington (Brewers)
3B—Adam Morrissey (Athletics)
SS—Glenn Williams (Twins)
LF—Chris Snelling (Mariners)
CF—Trent Oeltjen (Twins)
RF—Brett Roneberg
DH—Ben Risinger (Padres)
SP—Chris Oxspring (Padres)
SP—Grant Balfour (Twins)
SP—Travis Blackley (Mariners)
SP—Craig Anderson (Mariners)
RP—Jeff Williams
Manager: John Diebel (Phillies)

Breakdown- The Dominican lineup has the fire power to make an opposing pitcher soil their pants. Losing Manny and Vlad hurts but they are still strong. What no one talks about is their lack of depth in the pitching department. Pedro and Bartolo are both hurting and may not be able to contribute. I wouldn’t be too excited going into this thing with Odalis Perez as my ace. Venezuela on the other hand features two of the best starters and one of the best closers in the business. The lineup is a good mix of All Stars and every day players who do the little things that help teams win. The Netherlands have Andrew Jones and a few ex major leaguers to showcase while Australia has quite a few really good minor league prospects who aren’t far from reaching the majors. You heard it here first, Venezuela will finish higher than the Dominican Republic.

Philly Keith Projected Winner: Venezuela
Runner Up – Dominican Republic




If you have any questions, comments or suggestions you can email Philly Keith at keithfmt3@hotmail.com

Return to www.phillykeith.com for more great sports coverage