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Bernie Williams and the WBC

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When the rosters for the World Baseball Classic teams were unveiled last night, an unlikely name appeared on the list for the Puerto Rican team: Bernie Williams. The former Yankee great will be will be 40 years old and 888 days removed from his last Major League appearance when the PR team squares off against Panama on March 7, but Williams will play because the other four outfielders include Carlos Beltran, Alex Rios, Hiram Bocachica (!) and, in the words of Mike, “some guy named Jesus Feliciano.” As I said to RAB’s Twitter followers, I don’t know if Bernie’s making the team is a good sign for my one-time favorite Yankee or a bad sign for the Puerto Ricans’ tourney hopes.

As a postscript, Christopher Reina at Real GM Baseball pondered the question of Bernie’s Hall of Fame eligibility and the WBC a few weeks ago. His conclusion: Bernie’s playing in the tournament won’t restart his HoF clock.

Melky opts out of Classic

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Fighting for a position on the Major League roster, Melky Cabrera has opted out of playing for the Dominican Republic in the upcoming World Baseball Classic. Melky was one of two true center fielders on the DR’s preliminary roster and probably would have seen some playing time during the tournament. However, the 24-year-old, coming off of his worst professional season, has, according to MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo, told the team he wants to stay in camp to win the starting center field job. That’s probably a smart choice for Melky.

Aceves to skip the WBC

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Via Bryan Hoch, The Mexican Gangster is going to pass on the World Baseball Classic this year, instead focusing his efforts on making the team. Aceves made a big splash last September by making four strong starts and finishing with a 2.40 ERA in 30 big league innings, but beware the low strikeout rate (4.80 K/9), low groundball rate (1.03 GB/FB), high FIP (4.80) and absurdly low BABIP (.234). Sample size is an issue, but he still could use a little more time in a minors after his meteoric rise last season. With the rotation full, Aceves will likely start the year in the Triple-A Scranton rotation, and will be among the first called up if a spot starter is needed. (h/t Patrick)

It’s Derek vs. the Yanks in Spring Training

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On March 3, the United States’ representatives to the World Baseball Classic will square off against the Yankees in Tampa. While it won’t be weird to see most of the U.S. team on the other side of the ball, it will be quite strange to see Derek Jeter facing his own team. The Yanks’ captain will be battling his teammates, and while Derek hopes none of the Yanks’ hurlers bust him up and in, he better watch out for that Jorge Posada character behind the plate.

Open Thread: WBC provisional rosters

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Provisional rosters for the sixteen countries taking part in the ’09 version of the World Baseball Classic were released earlier this evening on MLB Network, and I stupidly anticipated a thorough breakdown of each roster, or at least a graphic showing the players on each country’s squad. Instead I got a bunch of chit chat between analysts and famous players who called in, with the occasional note mixed in regarding big name players on a specific team.

Anywho, here’s a list of all the Yankees’ players I managed to find on various clubs:

USA: SS Derek Jeter (this was obvious since he was on stage for the WBC press conference during the winter meetings)
Dominican Republic: 3B Alex Rodriguez, 2B Robinson Cano

Woo hoo.

CC Sabathia declined the opportunity to play. Ex-Yanks Bobby Abreu and Pudge Rodriguez will suit up for Venezuela and Puerto Rico, respectively. They said the rosters would be available on the WBC site, but I can only find the 2006 rosters.

These are just the provisional 45-man rosters; 25-man rosters don’t have to be finalized until February 24th. The tournament starts 45 days from now in Tokyo, Mexico City, Toronto and San Juan. Tickets went on sale today; there will be games played in Petco, Dodger Stadium, and Dolphins Stadium.

Update (7.42pm): The provisional rosters are up. In addition to A-Rod, Jeter and Cano who I mentioned above, Al Aceves & Jorge Vazquez will be playing for Mexico, Melky Cabrera, Edwar Ramirez, Jose Veras & Damaso Marte for the DR, Frankie Cervelli for Italy (Italy!), Jahdiel Santamaria for Panama, and Kai Lui and Zhenwang Zhang For China (you remember those two).

Here’s your open thread. The Knicks already beat the Bulls and the Islanders already lost to the Capitals (you get one guess:  who do you think scored both Caps’ goals?). The only local team in action tonight is the Devils, who are out in Nashville. I’ll be kicking it with the new episodes of House and 24. You know the routine, talk about whatever, just be nice.

Posada to play in WBC

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At least that’s what this ESPN Deportes report says. Posada’s father says that Jorge has already signed on, and will DH for Puerto Rico. Here’s the translated article. The article says a team official denied the report, and that Posada wil not play because of his shoulder injury. Since he finished the year on the disabled list, the Yanks are allowed to step in and stop Posada from playing. If he’s just DH’ing, what’s the harm I say.

Bernie and the WBC

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Bernie Williams has never officially retired. Now 40 years old and with a burgeoning music career, the former center fielder hasn’t been able to quite call it quits. Perhaps, he hasn’t filed out those retirement papers yet because he wants to play for Puerto Rico during the upcoming World Baseball Classic tournament. It would be a nice gesture if Bernie’s last baseball appearance could come during the WBC. Now all he has to do is convince the team to take him.