WBC: Team USA Roster

Well, the WBC is finally over, and the Dominican Republic is your undefeated champion! I'm glad someone unseated the two-time defending champ Japanese team and I'm secretly not too disappointed that it wasn't Team USA. While I love my country, baseball is already our national pastime, and we have the best players in the world playing in our very own major league. What's the use of having the WORLD Baseball Classic if the most established powerhouse always wins? I will say that it would have been a much more interesting final four if our boys had advanced though...

Speaking of our boys, I put together an in-depth analysis type roster for them even though they didn't make it to the championship round, because I think it's important to see who was chosen to represent the world's biggest baseball power. As with the other charts, players with their last names highlighted in yellow were members of the 2009 version of Team USA, and the lowercase letters in the minor league level column indicate that no player on this team spent enough time below big league level to gain fantasy eligibility there. Let's take a look, shall we?

The quality of the major league talent on this roster is unparalleled by any other team in this year's tournament. Not only is every player except one ranked by MLB.com, but every starter except one is ranked in top 100. The lone exception, Eric Hosmer, was a late replacement for the injured Mark Teixeira - who was ranked 105 even before his wrist injury, but who's counting? There are only four offensive holdovers from the 2009 team, but a great deal of turnover is to be expected with more than 900 U.S.-born players in the majors to choose from each year. First we have leadoff hitter Jimmy Rollins, who has taken over as the primary shortstop after splitting time with Derek Jeter in the last tournament. Left fielder Ryan Braun made the same batting order jump from seventh to third made by Dominican star Robinson Cano from last tournament to this one. Rumor has it that Braun was considering playing for Team Israel had they advanced beyond the qualifying round. David Wright, who earned the moniker "Captain America" due to the clutch hitting he displayed before sore ribs kept him out of most of Round 2, took sole possession of third base thanks to Chipper Jones's retirement. And outfielder Shane Victorino spent more games on the bench than in the starting lineup, but the Flyin Hawaiian's energy is always a welcome addition to any team.

The highest ranked newcomer to the team is Marlins right fielder Giancarlo Stanton, who had the added privilege of getting to represent his country while playing in his home stadium (at least for Round 2). Orioles center fielder Adam Jones filled the position once occupied by the great Ken Griffey Jr. Brandon Phillips took over at second base for Dustin Pedroia and Joe Mauer dethroned Brian McCann as the starting catcher. What's interesting about those last three players is that they all recently signed long-term extensions with their clubs. (Stanton will make the minimum for the last time this year, and if Miami's past is any indication of its future actions, he might soon be sent packing.) I guess it makes sense to pick players with job security to play for Team USA, since these particular guys have definitely achieved some measure of the American Dream.

The USA pitching staff was arranged more like the Dominicans, in that they had only the bare minimum amount of starters while loading up on relievers. The polar opposite strategy is that taken by the Japanese, whose staff was roughly two-thirds starting pitchers, who were then of course used in relief. The top starter was R.A. Dickey, winner of the 2012 NL Cy Young award and recipient of his own extension from his new team, the Blue Jays. I know he had a phenomenal season last year, but as Deadspin hilariously noted, it's a little sad when the best Team USA can trot out for an international competition is a 38-year-old knuckleballer. Nationals lefty Gio Gonzalez is a much more impressive athlete, but you have to ask yourself how much that was due to his link with Miami anti-aging clinic Biogenesis (he of course claims it's nothing). It makes sense that he too is on this team, since one could argue that using whatever edge you can to gain a competitive advantage is also part of the American Dream.

What's not part of the American Dream is blowing a huge game against the tournament's toughest competition, and yet that's exactly what Braves closer Craig Kimbrel did against the Dominicans in the game that led to the game that sealed Team USA's fate. I don't begrudge his choice, though, as I agree with MLB.com's assessment that he's the top relief pitcher available. The only holdover from 2009's pitching staff was middle reliever Heath Bell, who made it onto last tournament's team based on a resume that included setting up for Trevor Hoffman - he would not become a closer until the season directly following the tournament. The only other closers proper in the bullpen were Twins lefty Glen Perkins and Steve Cishek, also of the Marlins. The rest were a curious mix of middle relievers (including David Hernandez who was briefly slated to pitch for Team Mexico), but they mostly did their jobs out of the pen.

The big head-scratcher was the USA bench. There's no excuse to have the best option to fill in at third base when Wright was scratched from the lineup be Willie Bloomquist. Ben Zobrist eventually stepped up and manned the hot corner, which means that between the WBC and the regular season I think he's litrally played every position on the diamond except pitcher and catcher. And I guess you need two backup catchers when your cleanup-hitting backstop has to DH half the time. But when you have to carry 11 relievers, sacrifices have to be made.

So there you have it. I have now written at least a little bit (and in some cases a lotta bit) about every team that participated in the 2013 World Baseball Classic. What a perfect way to occupy the early part of Spring Training and segue into fantasy season (both my drafts are next weekend, so I'll probably write about how they went). Congratulations to the Dominican Republic for running the table and taking home the trophy, but remember that in some sense, everyone who participated in this patriotic event is a winner. In a very small sense. Because in a much larger sense, everyone who didn't win is a loser. But hey, at least there's the regular season coming up...