This writer seems to think Team USA would be fine without the Yankee 3B.
Yomiuri Giants manager Tatsunori Hara formally accepted an offer to manage Team Japan, he’s also already got his pitching and hitting coaches lined up.
Park Chan-ho flip-flops and says he won’t play for Korea, Choo Shin-soo reasserts he wants to.
With the WBC 2009 [...]

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Senichi Hoshino said he won’t manage the Japanese team, and Japanese baseball fans breathed a sigh of relief.
Will Ichiro manage Team Japan? He’s already said he’ll play, and also urged Japan to get serious about the WBC.
This Japan Times reporter thinks  Shigetoshi Hasegawa should be the choice.
SK manager Kim Sung-keun, who is basically the spokesperson [...]

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If you play fantasy baseball you know catching is either something you try to jump on early in a draft or pretty much ignore altogether and hope to grab some lightening in a Mike Napoli or Carlos Ruiz. However, when you  take even the  Ruizs and the Molinas  of this world  out of the equation…ie. [...]

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Last week I linked to an item concerning the Venezuelan WBC team and why players like Magglio Ordonez, Miguel Cabrera and Johan Santana are saying they may not play if changed aren’t made.Turns out it has to do with management and the fact that Luis Sojo has been asked back to manage the team.
“We haven’t [...]

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As it stands now the trial of Barry Bonds  will begin March 2 in  San Francisco —  just three days before the start of the 2009 WBC. Games in California  begin  March 14.
Go ahead and cross suspected communist  Roy Halladay off any prospective WBC Team USA rosters.
Count Tim Lincecum out as well.
And for the time [...]

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Over the next seven months I’m going to compile a roster that I think should be the United States entry into the World Baseball Classic.
I’m not Korean and I’m not saying the Korean method of fielding a team for an international baseball competition is the best or most proven method. In fact, one could [...]

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Some might have already seen this on the WBC site, but the “presale registration” started last week. It might still be a tad confusing for some, so here’s an explanation of what’s happening.
The WBC is going to offer “strips” of tickets. If you want a strip ticket, you can register now for a drawing to [...]

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During the same week the  Olympics  announced it’s baseball rule change in comes the World Baseball Classic  promising to be bigger and better than last time. I don’t see the WBC missing this opportunity — it’s going to attempt to seize the moment and truly become the World Cup of baseball. Whether or not [...]

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May as well start a WBC 2009 category with this announcement:
Mexico City, San Juan, Tokyo and Toronto were selected Monday to host first-round games during the second World Baseball Classic in 2009.
The 16-nation tournament will switch from a round-robin to a double-elimination format during the first two rounds. Japan won the initial WBC in 2006, [...]

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