Eight Tigers Make Final WBC Rosters

by Ian Casselberry on Feb 24, 2009 9:15 PM EST in Detroit Tigers News

The final rosters for the 2009 World Baseball Classic have been announced, and eight players from the Detroit Tigers organization made the cut.

Here's who will be representing their countries, beginning March 5:

USA

Venezuela

Chinese Taipei

Australia

That leaves Justin Verlander and Fernando Rodney, two players who had been named to provisional WBC rosters, free to stay with the Tigers throughout Spring Training, contemplate the Tao of Knapp, and prepare for the regular season. (I was concerned about Verlander's participation, until MacRae pointed out that his workload wouldn't have been that large.) Placido Polanco, Cale Iorg, Juan Rincon, and Max St. Pierre were also on the initial squads, but opted out of consideration last week.

Graham played with Toledo in 2007 (missing all of last season) and Wise ended his year in Erie.

By the way, how do you think Jim Leyland feels about his entire starting outfield being potentially unavailable until March 23? (Okay, that's not exactly true since the USA and Venezuela are in the same pool and one could eliminate the other during the tournament.)

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Probably not crazy about it

but he has lots of minor league outfielders he wants to take a good look at. Course, he probably also worries about injuries.

Actually, I’m kind of glad Verlander isn’t going mainly because we have a new catcher and they all need to get to know each other and work together. Imo, of course.

by densogirl on Feb 24, 2009 11:15 PM EST reply actions

so, uh….do we root for the US, or for Venezuela in this tournament?

That’s actually a serious question….baseball isn’t a sport that the US has dominated on a national level, the Olympics come and go, and unless something amazing happens, the US team isn’t really heard from….in other words, we haven’t grown up accustomed to rooting for a US national baseball team, unlike what happens, in, say, basketball, where the last 17 years have been dominated by dream teams of the guys we watch on a regular basis.

Or, to put it another way, on a national team level, in my book anyway, baseball is like hockey, where my loyalties are dictated more by who is on the ice than by what NATIONAL colors they are wearing. In the Olympics, I root for the Canadians, because they had Steve Yzerman and Brendan Shanahan back in the day (and Greg Johnson blowing the penalty shot that would have won them the gold in 1994)…

Frankly, I don’t care about the WBC at all…but if I happen to watch, I might well decide to root for the Venezuelan Tigers, as opposed to the team sporting the red white and blue….

by ahtrap on Feb 25, 2009 2:42 AM EST reply actions

The WBC...

Is a complete joke. If you really want to do this, why not do it in November or December? Even January would be better than the first week of March when teams are starting to prepare for a 162 game grind known as the MLB regular season.

Verlander has bigger fish to fry than participating in the WBC. I’ll be interested to see how he does in today’s opener and hopefully he can bounce back this season.

by Todd1005fm on Feb 25, 2009 6:16 AM EST reply actions

Verlander ?? Bigger fish to fry?

Why is everyone so high on Verlander. He had 1 good season, pitched a heck of a no hitter and then let it go to his head. He will never get it together , unless he ever comes back to earth and understands that he is no superstar! He can’t even pitch into the fifth inning without throwing 90 – 100 pitches. Let Galarraga do it again. I hear people say he’s the a # 5 starter, I want to know , who are the first 4? As Mickey Lolich stated last year, when he pitched , it was their job, they had to perform or get cut or lose pay. It was their lifline. If you were hurt, you still pitched, thats how you got payed. Now we baby the pitchers, watch how many pitches. Because they are payed way to much and the team doesn’t want them overworked or take a chance on them saying they are hurt. Because they still get paid for it. For sitting on their butts. We need to wake up and use common sense. You do a good job, you get paid for it. You do a crappy job, guess what, no pay raise. Verlander wanted a pay raise for doing a crappy job last year! Do a good job and you can have a raise. Do a crappy job, your gone. I can’t beleive because of 1 no hitter and nothing else to show for it, makes people believe he is a superstar. Win 15 – 20 games the next 4 , 5 seasons and then I’ll beleive he’s a Good pitcher, not superstar, but a Good pitcher.

by snagger54 on Feb 27, 2009 8:33 PM EST reply actions