Come anticipate the World Baseball Classic with me

Captain Pump-a-Fist as US team captain.

TOKYO -- Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners and Daisuke Matsuzaka of the Boston Red Sox were among seven major league players named Monday to a 34-man preliminary roster for Japan's team at the 2009 World Baseball Classic.

Other major league players named to the provisional squad by manager Tatsunori Hara were Kenji Johjima of the Mariners, Hiroki Kuroda of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Akinori Iwamura of the Tampa Bay Rays and free agent relief pitcher Takashi Saito.

Kosuke Fukudome of the Chicago Cubs was also on the list but New York Yankees outfielder Hideki Matsui, who is recovering from a knee injury, was not included.

Japan won the inaugural WBC in 2006 and will defend its title in the 2009 tournament which begins on March 5 in Tokyo.

Notable players from Japan's professional leagues included on the squad are pitcher Yu Darvish of the Nippon Ham Fighters and 21-game winner Hisashi Iwakuma of the Rakuten Eagles.

i just heard a radio ad for the WBC which said, "come watch the best baseball players in the world compete! ichiro suzuki, derek jeter, jorge cantu, chan ho park. the world baseball classic!"

Haha it's like he just wants to be hated, isn't it?

it's almost like he makes $27.5 million a year

What does that have to do with waffling in a way that's just guaranteed to get him more negative press?

it's gabbnerd

it might suggest that he could not possibly give a shit

i might suggest ban

"it might suggest that he could not possibly give a shit"

It's hard to know exactly what A-Rod thinks, but doesn't give a shit what people think doesn't exactly jibe with my impression of him.

u get a lot of things wrong tho, rite?

gabb, it's fairly well known by anyone who watches baseball that a-rod worries a lot over his public image and what people think of him

that's why he hung out with madonna while married and said he basically didn't give a shit what people think?

I'm Cantu

http://www.deathrow-usa.us/PeterCantuBild.jpg

xp: has no idea what he's talking about

"u get a lot of things wrong tho, rite?"

Sure. Doesn't everyone? And I could be wrong about this too. Maybe dude doesn't care at all. But for someone who seems to affect an air of "why they hate me" this just seems like providing more ammo to be hated about.

maybe he is just clueless beyond words. has that occurred to anyone?

For the last WBC, didn't A-Rod make a huge public display out of his decision about who to play for, snowballing it into a "Sophie's Choice" type of scenario in order to satisfy his ego? As if he needed to look deep within himself and canvas the people in order to find where his true loyalties lay?

Yeah, so I'd say he gives a shit what people think of him.

maybe he realizes that dominican baseball players have the most fun of anyone in the world and decided that he'd rather play with vlad and ortiz instead of joe mauer and dustin pedroia

or maybe in his desperate attempt to win something/anything he foolishly figures that he has a better chance to win playing for the dr

^^^ dingdingdingdingding

maybe he is a complex moral giant, an Augustine for our age. didja think of that, huh?

I don't think anyone (else) thought of that.

http://jezebel.com/5112300/alex-rodriguez-2-guys-1-cup

lol

http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/2009_World_Baseball_Classic_(Rosters)

Granderson for Italy USA.

ordered my tickets last night :D

Aces! Two Rockies (Grilli & Ianetta) in the Italy team makes my support even more guaranteed.

Balls. Ianetta thinks the USA is more worthy.

Henderson said he would love to play in the World Baseball Classic for Team USA. If Bernie Williams can come back, why not Rickey?

"What is (the WBC), wrestling?" Rickey said when asked if he would like to play in the WBC. Told it was the World Baseball Classic and games will be played in March, Rickey said, "Can I get in?"

Bro loves baseball. We all love baseball.

WBC "roster special" on MLBN tonight.

Bro loves baseball. We all love baseball.

Adam Dunn doesn't love baseball.

the 'who HAVE BASEBALLS BEATING IN THEIR CHESTS' line made me lol, but poz's thesis of YOU'RE EITHER A DUNN GUY OR A BLOOMQUIST GUY is bs

Yeah, but those guys as two extremes makes some sense to me. It's hard not get the impression that Adam Dunn (who I actually quite like) doesn't try terribly hard. </JP Ricciardi>

damn. canadian starters be dropping like flies!

http://www.npbtracker.com/2009/02/ichiro-working-out-as-a-pitcher/

oh man I wonder how the Mariners feel bout that

http://mlb.mlb.com/wbc/2009/schedule/

Barry Larkin says there will be CHARACTER GUYS on the USA roster! M Emmet Walsh? William Forsythe?

looking fwd to seeing this Yu Darvish:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/sports/baseball/20classic.html

Barry Larkin says there will be CHARACTER GUYS on the USA roster! M Emmet Walsh? William Forsythe?

http://blog.squeezeplaycards.com/wp-content/uploads/mickey-hatcher-big-glove.jpg

thermo when you said canadians were dropping like flies, was it out that jeff francis is out for the season? there will be no upset of the us this year!! i hope so though (c'mon STUBBY CLAPP!)

Out w/ Sizemore (groin pull), in w/ Victorino

"I'd love to have [Granderson's] speed at the top of the lineup," Johnson said, "but I've got a guy named Jimmy Rollins who's pretty good in that spot."

The worst on-base hitter on the roster -- very smart.

Moises Alou is the Dominican captain; hope he makes it to the second inning.

China-Japan at 4:30 ET tomw morning on ESPN2. I might be able to get up at 6...

Yuuuu