Monday, January 19, 2009

13 Yankees Heading to the WBC

The 2009 World Baseball Classic rosters were announced tonight, here are all the rosters from MLB.com.

There will be 13 Yankee minor and major leaguers heading to the WBC, here's a list of those players and the country they will be playing for from Bryan Hoch's blog:
United States: Derek Jeter

Dominican Republic: Alex Rodriguez, Melky Cabrera, Robinson Cano, Damaso Marte, Edwar Ramirez, Jose Veras

Mexico: Alfredo Aceves, Jorge Vazquez

Italy:
Francisco Cervelli

Panama:
Jahdiel Santamaria

China:
Kai Liu, Zhenwang Zhang
Former Yankees Bobby Abreu, Ivan Rodriguez and Bernie Williams will also be playing. Abreu for Venezuela, and Rodriguez and Williams for Puerto Rico.

11 Comments:

YankeePride3 said...

Cano should stay and work on his swing, Melky should also skip out on the classic and worry more about competing with Gardner for the CF job. It might also be best for Aceves to compete for a rotation spot/bullpen spot. Not my choice though.

Greg Cohen said...

I agree about Cano and Melky, especially coming off the years they had last year.

I also hate the idea of the WBC being played before the season. It should be played during the winter.

Anonymous said...

Having position players doesn't worry me as much as pitchers.

Cano might even benefit from pitchers who are trying to get him out as opposed to spring games where many of the pitchers (veterans) are just working on their pitches and getting in shape. Facing more competitive pitching could help him a bit.

As for Melky, I don't care where he is. I don't mean to sound harsh, but I don't see him playing very often this year, so I don't think it matters one way or the other.

Jeter will likely be splitting time with Rollins at SS, so it's pretty much a non issue. Jeter and A-Rod both are veterans and know what they need to do to prepare for the season, so I don't think the WBC will affect them much at all. Jeter had a spectacular year (2nd in MVP) after the first WBC.

I can't say I'm too pleased about having Veras, Edwar, and Marte go, but as relievers it's not as bad since they'll only be pitching an inning at a time at the most. Having a starter in Aceves go sucks. I'd much rather have him ramping up as a potential 5th starter than being potentially overworked in the WBC. I don't know what Mexico's starting rotation looks like, but you'd have to think Aceves will be in it.

I guess in the end it's not too bad as most of our key guys, especially our starters, won't be participating. It could be worse.

Raven King said...

I really don't want to see any Yankee major leaguers in the WBC.
What if Jeter or A-Rod strains his quad again?

Anonymous said...

The WBC is the dumbest shit, I never thought they would do it again.

Anonymous said...

Raven-

Jeter and A-Rod both were healthy the year of the last WBC. They strained their quads last season - no WBC. Not saying there's a corrolation, but I don't really think the WBC hurts position players much or actually has any impact positive or negative.

Plus, I think part of the reason Jeter hurt his quad on April 6th was because it was cold at YS - the temperature was 48 degrees.

This year the home opener isn't until April 16th, although there are those two exhibition games against the Cubs at the end of Spring Training. Hopefully the players take it easy those two games. Not playing regular season games in NY until April 16th will hopefully result in a bit warmer weather.

I honestly don't think there's much risk for position players at the WBC. Warm weather = rare muscle strains. I don't think it's any riskier than exhibition games or the other workouts they do (lots of sprints and running).

Anonymous said...

Anon - I agree that the WBC is a bad idea for American players and probably most fans, however it's huge internationally. It's a chance for players from other countries to showcase themselves on a world-wide stage. The fans from other countries get really into it.

So while it sucks for us, and for MLB players, it's great for baseball in general and it means a lot to other countries. I can deal with that. Anything that promotes baseball on a worldwide scale benefits us all in the end.

I think a lot of people make a much bigger deal out of this than is necessary, in terms of the negative impact it has on MLB players.

Anonymous said...

It is not the impact r anything like that that bothers me, its that they think they are the olympics. They thought 3 years ago they can pull this out of nowhere and try to create patriotism, it doesn't work like that. Let alone the fact that these are "the best players in the world", please, you have Melky Cabrera playing for goodness sake

Raven King said...

pinstripes:
The risk is low, but not zero risk.
You can't be 100 percent sure that none of the Yankees players will get hurt in the WBC.
I don't want to see anyone of them land on the DL even before the regular season starts.

Raven King said...

Besides, I always think the WBC is but a grand audition for MLB teams.

Mike B. said...

I think the WBC is BS. Even FUBAR. I'll get back to you ASAP.

Mike