WBC06 Retrospective

This year, baseball fans enjoyed the fourth ever World Baseball Classic tournament. And while four isn’t typically an ideal number for a retrospective (which usually come in multiples of five), I happen to have the time and the resources to do some historical thinking right now. Plus, given the four-year gap between tournaments (adopted between the second and third iterations), it’s unlikely that any major players in the inaugural 2006 tournament will still be active for the next WBC. So before anyone else retires, here’s a look at the rosters from that 2006 tournament, with a focus on players who are still playing in the major leagues (2006 stats in parenthesis).

Starting with the first ever WBC Champions, Team Japan had only two players on their roster who had any major league experience going into the 2006 tournament, given that Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball league has a very strong pool of players to draw from. These were right fielder and leadoff hitter Ichiro Suzuki (2,249 fantasy points, 13.9 points-per-game, playing for Seattle), who picked up his fifth consecutive All-Star appearance and Gold Glove award in 2005, and relief pitcher Akinori Otsuka (395 / 6.0 / SDP), who had plenty of closing experience in Japan (137 saves in 7 seasons), but whose only experience as an MLB closer came in the year directly following this tournament. Ichiro is one of three players who are currently active in the majors, joining Nori Aoki (1,732 / 12.0 / NPB’s Yakult), who is now starting for the Astros (just like he started the last two games of WBC06, replacing Kosuke Fukudome in CF for the semi- and final), and Koji Uehara (1,715 / 63.5 / Yomiuri), who was Japan’s #1 starter in WBC06, despite the fact that his work in the majors has mostly been as a standout reliever (save for his 12-start debut season in 2009 for the Orioles).

Honorable mention for active MLB players goes to Munenori Kawasaki (1,030 / 10.1 / Daiei, now Softbank), as the starting shortstop for JPN in 2006 just signed a deal to return to the NPB after being released by the 2016 MLB Champion Chicago Cubs. And then another type of honorable mention goes to the seven other Japanese players who would reach the majors at a later date. These include WBC06 (and 09) MVP Daisuke Matsuzaka (2,473 / 88.3 / Seibu), who would have a nice career (including a World Series win in his rookie year of 2007) pitching for the Red Sox and Mets. Also Kosuke Fukudome (2,455 / 17.3 / Chunichi), who bat third and played CF for most of the WBC06, had a much-heralded arrival to the MLB via the Cubs, but only lasted parts of five seasons in the majors. For reference, the other future major leaguers on JPN’s 2006 roster were 2B Tsuyoshi Nishioka, 3B Akinori Iwamura, SP Tsuyoshi Wada, and RP’s Kyuji Fujikawa and Yasuhiko Yabuta.

WBC06 runners up Team Cuba has just one active player in the majors, and he took somewhat of a roundabout route to the big leagues. Yulieski Gurriel (1,044 / 11.7 / Sancti Spiritus of Cuba's Serie Nacional) played 2B and 3B for CUB in 2006, 09, and 13, before finally breaking into the majors with the Astros as a first baseman. Of course, the versatile Gurriel could play any number of positions today, even at the age of 33, but Houston has some pretty impressive talent at the corner infield/outfield spots these days. Only two other players for Cuba in 2006 made it to the majors: longtime White Sox shortstop Alexei Ramirez (1,273 / 14.3 / Pinar del Rio), who was actually primarily a center fielder back in his days with the CNS, and pitcher Yunesky Maya (755 / 36.0 / Pinar del Rio), who appeared in the WBC06 three times in relief, although he was used as a starter in his native country. In fact, all 13 pitchers who appeared in the tournament for Cuba in 2006 started back in Cuba, and I find it interesting that Cuba's manager Higinio Vélez chose not to go with a mix of established starters, closers, and middle relievers.

Semifinalist South Korea's only active major leaguer is Cardinals closer Seung-hwan Oh (2,135 / 35.0 / KBO's Samsung in '06), who, like Gurriel, only made it to the bigs in 2016 at the age of 33. However, the 2006 version of KOR's roster had seven players with MLB experience, including first baseman Hee-seop Choi (894 / 6.7 / LAD), ace pitcher Jae-weong Seo (982 / 70.1 / NYM), swingman Chan-ho Park (619 / 20.6 / TEX-SDP), and right handed reliever Byung-hyun Kim (600 / 15.0 / COL).

With the other semifinalist, the Dominican Republic, we get the largest collection of current MLB talent from the whole '06 tournament. 2005 NL MVP Albert Pujols (2,986 / 18.5 / STL) isn't going to approach 3,000 points in a season again, and with a history of foot injuries he can barely play the field anymore, but he's still a solid contributor for the Angels. Adrian Beltre (1,587 / 10.2 / SEA, remember when he played for the Mariners?) is currently on the DL, but when he comes back he'll give the Rangers quality offense and defense, even at age 38. Jose Reyes (2,122 / 13.2 / NYM) is back with the Mets after a whirlwind tour around the majors and the legal system, but this time he's more of a utility infielder than a starting shortstop. Bartolo Colon (2,171 / 65.8 / LAA) won the AL Cy Young Award in 2005 leading up to the tournament, and while that hardware was arguably undeserved, he's still chugging away for the Braves well into his 40's. Fernando Rodney (651 / 16.7 / DET) has pitched in three of the four WBC's for DOM (he sat out in 2009), and he's still viewed as a closer by members of the Diamondbacks front office. During the season leading up to the 2006 WBC, then-23-year-old Francisco Liriano spent most of the year pitching in the minor leagues - 2,012 points, 74.5 PPG, split between Minnesota's AAA and aa affiliates. Now of course, he's a seasoned veteran pitching for Toronto.

Honorable mention goes to DH David Ortiz (2,899 / 18.2 / BOS), who retired just in time to keep him from playing in his third WBC this year. However, this Dominican Republic team has something we haven't seen in the previous three teams we've looked at: players who went on to play for the World Series winners in the same year as they participated in the WBC. This year, the honors go to Albert Pujols and right fielder Juan Encarnacion, teammates on the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals. That year, STL defeated the Detroit Tigers, for which fellow Dominicans Placido Polanco and Fernando Rodney played. As I look at the rosters from rest of the World Baseball Classics (World Baseballs Classic?), it'll be interesting to see if there is any correlation between WBC performance and MLB playoff appearances.

The 2017 WBC champion Team USA had just three currently active major leaguers on its roster back in 2006, although that number could be expanded to six if you squint really hard. Chase Utley (2,293 / 15.6 / PHI) and Matt Holliday (1,789 / 14.3 / COL) were both primarily bench players during WBC06, and in 2017 they each have roles where they're prized more for their veteran leadership than their offensive production. Huston Street (1,671 / 24.9 / OAK) won the Rookie of the Year honors and made it to the ALCS with the Athletics in 2005, although his time as the Angels closer is likely finished, even when he gets off the DL. Joe Nathan (2,222 / 32.2 / MIN) was the star closer on this 2006 team, but he had to settle for a minor league deal with Washington this year. Another 2005 rookie Jeff Francoeur (942 / 13.5 / ATL) and WBC06 ace Jake Peavy (2,268 / 75.6 / SDP) remain unsigned almost three weeks into the 2017 season, but will both presumably be available down the line. Honorable mentions go to 2005 AL MVP Alex Rodriguez (3,001 / 18.5 / NYY) and his former Yankees teammate Mark Teixeira (2,791 / 17.2 / TEX), who both called it a career following the 2016 season.

Let's fly through the active major leaguers on the rest of these teams rather quickly, shall we? Puerto Rico has then-center fielder Carlos Beltran (1,770 / 11.7 / NYM) and then-backup catcher Yadier Molina (847 / 7.4 / STL), who also earned a World Series ring in 2006. Also, if you're confused to hear the role "backup catcher" associated with Yadi, know that that's only because the depth chart was headed up by Hall of Famer Ivan Rodriguez. Interestingly enough, Pudge played for the team that lost to Molina's Cardinals in the 2006 World Series, making this the first time that opposing catchers on World Series teams played for the same WBC squad. Venezuela has current Tigers teammates Miguel Cabrera (2,466 / 15.6 / FLA), Victor Martinez (1,767 / 12.0 / CLE), AND Francisco Rodriguez (2,033 / 30.8 / LAA). K-Rod is still closing games, but Miggy and V-Mart are now limited to 1B and DH after playing 3B/LF and C, respectively, in 2006. Continuing Detroit's connection to Venezuelan talent, WBC06 members Carlos Guillen and Magglio Ordonez each played for the World Series runners up that year.

In 2006, Team Mexico trotted out 23-year-old first base prospect Adrian Gonzalez (1,385 / 16.5 / TEX AAA), who had just recently made his MLB debut and who is now a veteran starter in Los Angeles. Oliver Perez (441 / 22.1 / PIT) has recently carved out a niche for himself as a lefty reliever in Washington after starting in the WBC06, while Jorge De La Rosa (166 / 4.4 / MIL) is trying to bring his career full circle by returning to the bullpen for Arizona after spending the majority of his career as a starter in Colorado. Team Canada's starting first baseman Justin Morneau (1,411 / 10.0 / MIN) was rather uninspiring leading up to the 2006 tournament, but he would go on to win the AL MVP award the next season. CAN's #2 starter Adam Loewen (1,018 / 36.4 / BAL A+) spent Spring Training 2017 in the Rangers' big league camp as a pitcher after a brief turn trying to make it as an outfielder.

The rosters of the last four teams contained one active major leaguer apeice. Italy had then-ace pitcher Jason Grilli (1,195 / 42.7 / DET AAA) who has now settled into a relief role for Toronto. Panama (remember when Panama had a WBC team?) featured catcher Carlos Ruiz (1,059 / 10.6 / PHI AAA), who had yet to make his major league debut at the time of the tournament. Australia used Peter Moylan (did not play in 2005) out of the bullpen, who started 2017 as a member of Kansas City's big league bullpen after once again pitched in the WBC this year. And Jair Jurrjens of the Netherlands (1,354 / 52.1 / DET A) parlayed his performance in the 2017 WBC into a minor league deal from the Dodgers.

32 players; that's a fair amount of current major league talent that appeared in the very first ever WBC tournament back in 2006! It'll be interesting to see how many (if any) of these players are still active during the next WBC in 2021.