This U.S. announced it’s Olympic team today. There are a few, um, surprises.
We knew going in that we wanted a veteran club — a team of guys who have been battle-tested, so to speak,” Team USA general manager Bob Watson said. “But we wanted younger prospects as well. Guys with the fire to go out and showcase their talents on the international stage.”
Well, they got that. Actually it’s probably not a bad strategy. I don’t have time to go over this roster carefully right now — I’m sure others will in the coming days. I’m hoping the US team will be in Korea training (Cuba and the Netherlands arrive this week) and playing exhibitions so I can watch guys like Matt LaPorta and Colby Rasmus up close and get a better feel for what they might do. Although something tells me the American side won’t be spending a lot of
money training prior to the games.
This is a very veteran team. Especially on the pitching end. Mike Koplove and Blaine Neal have over 100 innings MLB experience — though I wouldn’t call them AAAA guys. Brandon Knight has MLB experience — in 2001 and 2002.
The U.S. team features 14 Triple-A players, seven Double-A players and Arrieta is the lone Class-A representative.
Again, without spending a lot of time with the roster I’m going to say this is a low Triple-A/ high Double-A level team. Not as good as the team that won the IBAF World Cup last year and a team that will have a hard time competing with the likes of Japan, Korea and Cuba.The team’s first game will be Aug. 13 vs. Korea.
7 responses so far ↓
1 Tim II // Jul 17, 2008 at 6:20 am
Check out Mike Koplove’s bio on wikipeida:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Koplove
2 Shinsano // Jul 17, 2008 at 9:18 am
Thanks Tim. Quite a find there. He must have stayed up late writing that himself.
*Sorry for the previous misspelling of Rasmus’s name. That what I get for hurrying.
3 John Brooks // Jul 17, 2008 at 2:58 pm
I’m hoping the US team will be in Korea training (Cuba and the Netherlands arrive this week) and playing exhibitions so I can watch guys like Matt LaPorta and Colby Rasmus up close and get a better feel for what they might do. Although something tells me the American side won’t be spending a lot of
money training prior to the games.
I think the U.S. will just be playing the four exhibition games against Team Canada. They do open up against Korea in the Olympics though.
Again, without spending a lot of time with the roster I’m going to say this is a low Triple-A/ high Double-A level team. Not as good as the team that won the IBAF World Cup last year and a team that will have a hard time competing with the likes of Japan, Korea and Cuba.
Yeah, when matching up with the 2000 team that had Oswalt/Sheets and many other big names, this team is a let down somewhat. Though as a Orioles fan I love to see how Arrieta does on the big spotlight.
Also, who knows? Australia beat Japan in 2004 with a team that was weaker than the U.S. 08 team and came home with a Silver so it’s not impossible for the United States. You can see the 2004 Australia team here.
4 Jackson // Jul 17, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Aaron you missed a couple of great headlines here:
Justify my (Kop)love
It’s Tiffee - Riffic! (alternately, It’s Tiffee Time!!)
5 Brian T. // Jul 18, 2008 at 4:26 am
I watch this with passing interesting but what teams do you guys think will finish where? Who will win the gold? Do you guys do scouting at the olympics?
6 Shinsano // Jul 18, 2008 at 11:47 pm
I want to get a better feel for the teams before I try to handicap the medal winners here Brian….I’d say Japan is the favorite, followed by Korea and Cuba. I think both the US and Canadian teams are weaker than editions, but either is capable of surprising. Cuba and Holland will also be strong.
7 Shinsano // Jul 18, 2008 at 11:48 pm
Oh, and neither of us are going to the olympics. But I’ll be watching several practice games in Korea.
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