The Chris Moeller Archives

WBC Preview

I've become terribly excited about the World Baseball Classic coming in March. The Cubans are on board, thanks to a concession to the U.S. State Department (and a politically astute one at that) that their proceeds from the tournament be donated to victims of Hurricane Katrina. I've been studying the roster of potential players for 15 of the 16 teams (Cuba's list is unavailable) and they're fascinating in a number of ways. Let's break it down...

1) Australia will have a surprisingly good team. The country has not had the impact on MLB that it has had on Hollywood, but they won the silver medal in Athens, and 36-year-old former Brewer Dave Nilsson, despite not having played in the bigs for seven years, has turned international competition into a successful second career in the game. Where's Graeme Lloyd, though?

2) Canada, speaking of missing players, where is my main man-- "the British Columbia Bomber" (my nickname) Larry Walker? Sticking to his retirement plans, I guess. He has agreed to serve as a coach. A healthy Eric Gagne will be a force in the bullpen, and former Cards farmhands Cody McKay and Stubby "Not my nickname" Clapp should liven things up, provided they make the team. Jason Bay, Justin Morneau, and Ryan Dempster are other recognizable names.

3) China has no players with MLB experience, and my spidey-sense tells me they won't be enjoying their share of the tournament loot. Two questions-- one, why doesn't China's participation in the tourney cause the same uproar in Washington that Cuba's does? And two, is there really a Chinese professional club called the Sichuan Dragons? You Des Moinesians, isn't that also the name of the new carry-out place in Jordan Creek? The team's lucky numbers will be: 20, 18, 34, 7, 35, and 10.

4) Chinese Taipei should have a great rivalry with China in the Far East bracket. I expect both sides to engage in a little "Chen music." Thank you, be kind to the waiting staff.

5) The Cubans will be a hell of a lot of fun to have around. HuffingtonPost.com contributor Robert Schlesinger has this suggestion to liven up the Cuba/US rivalry: If the US wins, Castro has to step aside and hold free elections, if Cuba wins, Bush lifts the embargo. TV ratings in Miami would go through the roof.

6) The Dominicans are loaded for bear-- Pujols, Tejada, Guerrero, Manny, Aramis, and Ortiz in one line-up, plus Furcal and Soriano. Pedro Martinez and Bartolo Colon to pitch. In all seriousness, I hope they have the decency to put Sammy Sosa on the team. Moises Alou also needs to play, if only to represent his family.

7) The cool thing about the Italian team is the Italian-Americans who might take the opportunity to suit up. Mike Piazza knows more James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich than Andrea Bocelli, but even his godfather, uber-patriot Tommy Lasorda, is surely crying tears of joy into his pesto at the thought of Piazza representing the fatherland. I suggest that the team be managed by Tony Danza's character on "Who's the Boss?"

8) The Japanese will be a force in the tournament. It looks like though that, with the exception of Ichiro, the team will be made up of current Japanese League stars rather than the imported players in the states. So Taguchi, Hideo Nomo, where are you? The tournament is bad timing for Nomo. Ten years ago, he'd have been the premier attraction. Professional baseball's all-time home run champion Sadaharu Oh will manage the team.

9) It appears that Korea will have more recognizable players to Americans than will the Japanese. Their influence on the game has gone largely ignored. Fun fact: Did you know that the TV show "M*A*S*H" took place in Korea? Though, it was actually filmed in California.

10) I love Mexico. It's one of my favorite places to visit, so they're a sentimental favorite. New Cardinal reliever Ricardo Rincon could qualify for the team and I'll be watching his pitch counts closely out of the bullpen. No more than one inning per game, por favor. How about a side bet there in which we return California if they beat us, and if we win, we return Texas.

11) The Netherlands team makes no sense at all. Oakland pitcher Dan Haren found himself on the team despite being half-Mexican and half-Irish. Mark Mulder was born in South Holland, Illinois so that's probably what qualified him, and Andruw Jones was dispatched from Curacao, a Carribbean island that is part of Netherlands Antilles. I assume Aruba's Sidney Ponson qualifies for similar reasons. Beyond that there are enough Saarlooses, Aardsmas, and Hillenbrands in the league to fill out an all-Dutch roster.

12) Former big-leaguer Roberto Kelly helms the Panama team. I always thought he was Irish. Mariano Rivera and Carlos Lee highlight this squad. Orioles' lefty Bruce Chen is a most interesting case. His grandparents were born in mainland China, but moved to Panama during the construction of the canal.

13) The Puerto Ricans are another sentimental favorite. How do you root against a country that can claim Yadier Molina behind the plate, Jose Oquendo at the helm, and Rosie Perez running around America in tight tops? I say if they win, we clean up the mess we left behind testing missiles on the island of Vieques. If we win, Carlos Delgado stands for the anthem.

14) I have no idea what to make of this South African team. I thought Gregg Jefferies was on the roster, but I looked again and it was Gavin Jefferies. It will be interesting to see if they have more black players than we do.

15) U-S-A! U-S-A! I'm not sure yet how I'll root for a team with Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Johnny Damon, Roger Clemens, and not a single St. Louis Cardinal. Probably, I won't. I will feel very patriotic, however, if Chad Moeller makes the team. What I'd like to see is a German team with Moeller and Jason Isringhausen, managed by Whitey Herzog.

16) Finally, beware the Venezuelans. Their team is surprisingly loaded. Bobby Abreu will be batting third, Omar Vizquel and Cesar Izturis will be flashing the leather, and Johan Santana and Carlos Zambrano will be revving it up on the mound. However, unless Dusty Baker is enforcing the stringent pitch limits, Zambrano will probably only pitch 3 innings per start.


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I'm still having a terrible time figuring out which games, if any, will be televised. Why the big secret, I wonder? The games begin March 3rd. Don't wear yourself out watching the Olympics.

posted by CM @ 1:39 PM