The roster for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic was just announced. It breaks down like this:
Catchers: Joe Mauer, J.P. Arencibia, Jonathan Lucroy
1B: Mark Teixeira
2B: Brandon Phillips
SS: Jimmy Rollins
3B: David Wright
Utility: Ben Zobrist, Willie Bloomquist
Outfielders: Ryan Braun, Adam Jones, Giancarlo Stanton, Shane Victorino
Lefties: Jeremy Affeldt, Tim Collins, Derek Holland, Glen Perkins
Righties: Heath Bell, Mitchell Boggs, Steve Cishek, R.A. Dickey, Luke Gregerson, Craig Kimbrel, Kris Medlen, Chris Perez, Vinnie Pestano, Ryan Vogelsong
Interesting: only four starters, though the particular format and rules of the WBC make that a lot more reasonable than you’d think. Better to have a lot of arms throwing short innings than a few throwing many. And those four starters -- Dickey, Medlen, Vogelsong, Holland -- are pretty good.
Also interesting: That’s a good outfield.
So there’s your USA team. Teams from other countries to be released later today.
