All-the-WBC Players 2017

I know the World Baseball Classic ended more than a month ago, but given that this particular tournament occurs only once every three/four years, the time for relevant WBC analysis should extend a little into the next season. Plus, it's taken me the better part of this month to take a detailed look back at the three previous WBC's in order to analyze stats and trends. So now, in the interest of looking at the "big picture," here's the handful of players who have participated in all four of the past tournaments.

Nobody on this year's championship United States roster has earned All-the-WBC honors (in fact, no player has appeared on more than two Team USA rosters, let alone all of them), but this year's runners up in Puerto Rico have a WBC-co-leading four players on that list. Of those four, Carlos Beltran has had by far the longest career with 20 seasons and counting in the major leagues. Despite the fact that his once premium center field defense has declined to such an extent that he no longer roams the outfield grass with regularity, Beltran was an MLB All-Star in three of the four pre-WBC platform seasons, including last year at age 39. While Beltran may have the length, Yadier Molina has the stability, as his entire career to date has come with the Cardinals. Long known as a defensive wizard, with eight straight Gold Glove awards heading into 2016, Yadi actually served as the backup catcher in his first two WBC's, which makes more sense when you consider the starter was Hall of Famer Ivan Rodriguez.

Of Puerto Rico's two All-the-WBC pitchers, only lefty reliever J.C. Romero has major league experience. In fact, he's got experience all over the majors, as the seven different teams on his resume is the same amount that Beltran has played for, but in six fewer years in the bigs. Romero is such an important part of Team Puerto Rico that he was placed on this year's WBC roster despite his last major league action coming way back in 2012 (the platform year for the last WBC) - although he has stayed fresh since then by playing in AAA, the Mexican League, the Independent Atlantic League, and the Puerto Rican Winter League. Longtime minor league farmhand Orlando Roman (eight years in the New York Mets' system from 1999 thru 2006) also saw his only 2016 action in the PRWL, but prior to last year, the 37-year-old spent four years in Japan, where he made the full-time transition from starter to reliever (despite a brief stint as a closer in the Mexican League). For more about Puerto Rico's 2017 WBC roster, see my post about this year's championship game.

The only other team with four All-the-WBC members is the Netherlands, where the eight-team Dutch Major League provides a forum for prominent Honkbal players as they advance well into their 40s. I'm referring specifically to starting pitcher Rob Cordemans, who has been mowing down batters thru last season, after which he turned 42 years of age. Lefty Diego(mar) Markwell hasn't been quite as consistent across the three WBC platform years we have data for (stats from the DUTM only go back as far as 2007 on baseball-reference.com), and he also didn't start pitching in his native country until after a seven-season stint in the Blue Jays minor league organization (representing his age 16 thru 22 seasons). Tom Stuifbergen (possibly no relation to Nick Stuifbergen, who joined him on the 2006 NED roster) was the only Dutch pitcher on this list who played affiliated ball at the time of a World Baseball Classic tournament, as he started his professional career in the Twins system. And the only Dutch player on this list to see major league action is utilityman Yurendell DeCaster, who came up with the Pirates for three games in 2006, directly following his first WBC appearance. DeCaster (also de Caster) didn't play at all in 2016 (according to bbref.com), but he nevertheless started four games for this year's Dutch club at first base, the fourth position he's played in the WBC.

Five different teams had two players each represent their country in all four WBC's, and I'll go through them in order of major league success enjoyed by the participants. Venezuela boasts two-time AL MVP Miguel Cabrera and single-season saves leader Francisco Rodriguez (you can read more about them in my post about Team Venezuela's 2017 WBC roster). Incidentally, when I made the trek down to Anaheim last week to see the A's play the Angels, I sat in front of a guy who claims to have invented the "K-Rod" nickname for Rodriguez, and to have popularized it by way of a giant sign that read "MLB MEET K-ROD" that he took the ballpark and held up for the cameras during his meteoric rise late in the 2002 season. I haven't been able to verify this through watching archival footage, but it was cool to be tangentially related to such an Angels legend, regardless of what I feel about the team itself.

A pair of lefties have found themselves on all four of Team Mexico's WBC rosters. When first baseman Adrian Gonzalez played in his first WBC he was just 23 years old and one year removed from being ranked as the game's #52 prospect. That was his second season in the majors and his last with the Rangers, for which he made his debut despite spending the majority of his development in the Marlins minor league system. Since then, Gonzalez has been the picture of durability, as he just recently went on the disabled list for the first time in his 14 year career, and honestly that DL placement might have more to do with the hot bat of rookie Cody Bellinger than A-Gon's ailing back. Oliver Perez has made a very interesting transition from high octane starter to serviceable LOOGY reliever, and we can trace that career change in his third WBC platform season. After compiling a middling 4.63 ERA over his first nine seasons as a starter with the Padres, Pirates, Mets, and Nationals AA affiliate, Perez worked out of the bullpen in the Mexican Winter League in 2011 before signing with the Mariners prior 2012, auditioning as a reliever in the minors, and the rest is history.

Team Canada's top All-the-WBC player, Justin Morneau, has the distinction of winning an AL MVP award in the same calendar year as the inaugural World Baseball Classic. Throughout his WBC tenure, CAN has supplemented him in the lineup with such preeminent power hitters as Joey Votto, Freddie Freeman, Jason Bay, and Matt Stairs, but the guy who has played in all four Classics with him is Pete Orr. The middle infielder made his MLB debut in the year leading up to the first WBC, hitting .300 over 150 ABs for the Braves, and was asked back for 2017 at age 37 despite not having played any kind of baseball last year.

When Luke Hughes appeared in the first WBC for Team Australia as the backup second baseman for Trent Durrington, he hadn't yet risen to the AA level. Hughes would then go on to play in more WBC tournaments than he had seasons in the major leagues, as he played most of the 2011 season for the Twins, flanked by two cups of coffee in Minnesota and Oakland. Speaking of the Twins, I feel like it's time for MLB to investigate the pipeline from Australia to Minnesota: each AUS roster in the WBC has featured at least five players that spent a significant portion of their development in the Twins system, topping out with a whopping 11 players this year! One Australian who never saw action with the Twins organization is shortstop Brad Harman, whose major league career consists of six games with the 2008 Phillies. Meanwhile, Harman has spent the last six years playing for his native Melbourne in the Australian Baseball League.

Two players on the South Korean WBC team have played in all four tournaments, but only one has reached the major leagues. Closing pitcher Seung Hwan Oh made the journey to America just last year, after 11 seasons pitching overseas (nine with his native Korea Baseball Organization, two with Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball), and the "Final Boss" picked up right where he left off with a 1.92 ERA and 19 saves finishing games for the Cardinals. Baseball-Reference.com does not show positional data for the KBO, but based on Tae-Kyun Kim's WBC history (and his two seasons in the NPB), we can assume that the slugger is primarily a first baseman. Kim was a member of the starting lineup in only two of his four WBC appearances - in 2006 he sat in favor of major leaguer Hee-Seop Choi and 11-year KBO veteran Seung-Yuop Lee, while in 2013 he was behind S-Y Lee and future major leaguer Dae-Ho Lee - but Kim's .365 batting average at age 34 last year proves that he still has plenty left in the tank, even in the offensively-charged KBO.

No one has played all four years for two-time champion Team Japan (MLB outfielder Nori Aoki, first baseman Seiichi Uchikawa, and starting pitcher Toshiya Sugiuchi have three appearances apiece), but the 2013 champion Dominican Republic has one such player in shortstop Jose Reyes. Reyes actually rode the bench for most of the 2006 tournament in favor of Miguel Tejada (who played in the first three WBC's), but he started and led off in the next two, before returning to a reserve role last year. Going back to '06, one of Reyes's benchmates, second baseman Alfonso Soriano, had a significantly better season than the player who ended up starting most games at the keystone (Placido Polanco, who put up 1,584 fantasy points in 2005, compared to Soriano's 2,445), starting a long tradition of the superior players getting passed over in WBC play - just ask Paul Goldschmidt.

Team Italy has one player with All-the-WBC honors, Cesena native Alessandro "Alex" Maestri. Maestri also has the distinction of playing in a different country in each of his WBC platform seasons: in 2005 he pitched for San Marino in the Italian Baseball League (according to Wikipedia; Baseball-Reference is spotty on ITBL stats before 2007), in 2008 he was in the third of five seasons he would spend in the Cubs minor league system, 2012 was the first of his four seasons with the Japanese Orix Buffaloes, while in 2016 he pitched (rather poorly) for the Korean Hanwha Eagles. Incidentally, in 2017 Maestri would add another country to his resume, as he is currently pitching for Veracruz in the Mexican League.

The only player on the highly successful Team Cuba to play in all four WBC's is slugging left fielder Frederich Cepeda, who has amassed a 1.020 OPS over 20 seasons in Cuba's Serie Nacional. Notably, infielder Yulieski Gurriel (nee Gourriel) played in the first three tournaments before defecting to the USA and signing with the Astros, and both outfielder Alfredo Despaigne and pitcher Vladimir Garcia have played in the last three WBC's. It would be interesting to see which Cuban WBC players who have reached the major leagues (such as Aroldis Chapman, Yoenis Cespedes, Jose Abreu, Raisel Iglesias, Yasmany Tomas, Leonys Martin, and Guillermo Heredia) would have been willing to return and play for their native country had the immigration situation been different.

And finally, there is one player for team China who has played in All-the-WBC's, but given the lack of information on the China Baseball League, I could find very little statistical information about Kun Chen outside of his international competitions. For instance, in the 2008 Olympics, he blew a save against Taiwan and was ejected from China's game with the United States for throwing at a batter in retaliation for a home plate collision, but I couldn't find any regular season stats for his time playing with the Sichuan Dragons.


So by my count, that's 22 players who have played in all four World Baseball Classics, and given the age of each and the four year gap between each tournament, we're very unlikely to see anywhere close to that number continue this trend into 2021. Until then, let's hope that the climate for international baseball competition remains fresh and exciting, and that countries from all over the world send their best players in the hopes of unseating the defending champion Team USA!

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.

WBC17 Rosters: Venezuela

With the Royals playing the Athletics on MLB.tv's free game of the day, we are seeing a total of seven players who played in this year's World Baseball Classic. The catch is: all seven play for the Royals. Eric Hosmer and Danny Duffy were covered in my last post about Team USA, and they weren't the only other pair of teammates to both be on the field tonight, as in the second inning, one member of Team Venezuela had the chance to drive in another (he was not successful thanks to a brilliant catch by Rajai Davis). Let's see what the rest of a very impressive Team Venezuela looked like this year:

Just one unemployed member of this team! Roster statuses are current as of WBC play.

Of course, Alcides Escobar played in all seven of Venezuela's WBC17 appearances, but he would only have had the chance to drive in his real life teammate Salvador Perez in the first two games, since Salvy was nearly taken out by a slide from his other real life teammate Drew Butera, a member of Team Italy. Every member of the starting nine played a significant role on a major league team in 2016, with some even counting as fantasy superstars. Diminutive Taurus Jose Altuve (he'll share an astrological team with Perez when the latter is healthy) was not only the top ranked second baseman heading into 2017, but he also got some reps at third playing for his native country. This was not only due to the injury to Martin Prado, but also to get promising young recently-extended 2B Rougned Odor into the lineup. Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez both played on Venezuela's inaugural WBC team back in 2006.

Blue = Non-Roster Invitee. Green = Minor League signing. Gray = Not on my proprietary database.

The Venezuela starting rotation ranges from a former All-World talent in Mariners ace Felix Hernandez, to a former minor league swingman on the Twins (Minnesota, not Gemini) Omar Bencomo. Of the other pitchers who started WBC games, Chacin and Perez will have starting roles on the Padres and Rangers, respectively, and Petit will feature in the Angels bullpen. Looking at closers, this team has three: all-time single season saves leader Francisco Rodriguez, twice-deposed Cubs ninth inning man Hector Rondon, and Mexican league closer Arcenio Leon, who inked a minor league deal with the Tigers in the offseason, perhaps to play closer to his countryman K-Rod in Detroit. In terms of future closers, I would hesitate to name another Tiger Bruce Rondon after his recent demotion to the minors. Incidentally, B Rondon's MLB replacement Joe Jimenez played for Puerto Rico in this WBC.

The other Royals in the 2017 WBC is Mexican setup man Joakim Soria, and middle reliever Peter Moylan, who appeared once for Australia, and then was promoted to the big league roster after re-signing on a minor league deal in Kansas City. KCR went into today's game 2-5. Let's see if their performance throughout the rest of the season has anything to do with how many of their players represented their countries during Spring Training.

WBC17 Rosters: Finalists

Brandon Crawford steps to bat in the WBC finals!

I am pro-WBC, as evidenced by my previous posts on (mostly) the 2013 tournament, and I was lucky enough to be able to attend the final game of the 2017 classic with some friends at Dodger Stadium, and let me tell you, I found it to be a tremendous baseball experience all around. We had positive interactions with fans of both teams, the atmosphere was overwhelming, and the actual game, while not exactly of the nail-biting variety, was still exciting and interesting and well-played. The only negative vibe I witnessed was an aggressive Dodger fan who illogically took vocal issue at a fellow Team USA supporter's Giants hat. I had been following the lineups and rosters of each team in the WBC leading up to the finals, and so before we get into whatever might have happened after the game, let's do some analysis of who played in this game.

Alex Bregman is the only player on Team USA spent the majority of his time in the minor leagues in 2016.

As can be seen by comparing this lineup to the last tournament's Team USA, there are actually only four holdover players. Adam Jones was of course at the center of both highlight reel plays and highlight reel controversies. Giancarlo Stanton played last year before signing his mega-extension with the Marlins, and also before the StatCast revolution named him tops in the exit velocity department. Jonathan Lucroy has played second fiddle behind the plate twice now, first to Joe Mauer and then to Buster Posey. Eric Hosmer only made that 2013 team as a replacement for Mark Teixeira and ended up replacing USA starting first baseman Paul Goldschmidt in the field after one game. I was somewhat confused by the prolonged use of a player with a less impressive track record - maybe it's that he's left handed, maybe it's his prior WBC experience - but it seemed to work out in the end.

Both Eddie Rosario and T.J. Rivera raked at the highest level of the minors while putting up average numbers in MLB.

On the other side, Puerto Rico had one more holdover from last time around. Angel Pagan and Carlos Beltran reprised their roles as leadoff man and cleanup hitter, respectively. 2013 bench bat Eddie Rosario was promoted to everyday left fielder, but Mike Aviles remained on the bench, garnering only two starts throughout pool play. Meanwhile, PR team captain Yadier Molina reprised his roles behind the plate and in front of the microphones, when he fired back at Jones's comments. Apparently Team USA didn't appreciate that their opponents prearranged a celebratory parade prior to the final game, while Molina takes issue with how the Americans celebrate victory. My sense is that this public spat is just a residue of the competitive juices that were flowing all throughout this tournament, and hopefully it won't bleed into the regular season.

Pretty impressive rotation, even without Clayton Kershaw, Madison Bumgarner, Noah Syndergaard, etc.

Team USA totally overhauled their pitching staff following the last go round of this tournament, with late-inning-high-leverage reliever Luke Gregerson being the only returning pitcher. His inclusion points to a pitching strategy that prioritizes top flight relief talent, including 2016 post-season hero Andrew Miller and the recipient of the richest free agent contract ever bestowed on a US-born player, Mark Melancon. Even though Max Scherzer had to bow out of the WBC due to injury and while Marcus Stroman pitched a gem in the finals, a lot has been made of the lack of the United States sending their top starting pitchers to the tournament. However, I'd say that the 2017 victory proves that USA doesn't necessarily need their best performing talent to field a winning team in these proceedings, although now that this team has transitioned from the hunting to the hunted (to borrow a phrase), I'm sure the pressure to repeat will be ever-mounting heading into 2021.

Jose De Leon checks in as MLB's #33 prospect pre-2017, while Jose Berrios was ranked #19 last year.

To evaluate Puerto Rico's pitching staff, we have to go over an additional level of color coding for my charts. On my database, I use the Bats/Throws column to denote roster status - while the majority of these players are on MLB rosters (no fill, and expanded to 40 players during the time of the tournament), light blue represents a non-roster invitee to big league camp (i.e. minor league starter Hiram Burgos, one of five holdovers from PR's 2013 team), while magenta denotes a current free agent (e.g. the aforementioned Angel Pagan, who is still looking for work at the time of this writing). The new color, gray, shows a player who wasn't on my database to begin with, due to inexperience or inactivity. This just goes to show that some teams in this tournament have to be more creative than others in finding players to fill their rosters.

The team's finals starter Seth Lugo is clearly the staff ace, even though he might start the 2017 season in the Mets bullpen, while superprospects Jose Berrios (another holdover, which means he pitched in the 2013 tournament at the tender age of 19) and Jose De Leon hold down the other two full-time starter spots. Manager Edwin Rodriguez used Hector Santiago, the Puerto Rican pitcher with the most accomplished MLB record, in an interesting and unique manner: as the designated long reliever for both Milwaukee Brewers youngster Jorge Lopez and seasoned veteran of both the Mets' farm system and the Japanese Nippon Professional Baseball league Orlando Roman. Edwin Diaz has the chops to be a top closer next year, Joe Jimenez has a bright future as a potential closer himself, and lefty specialist J.C. Romero will apparently never stop pitching.

CONFETTI MACHINE!

At left is a photo taken either before or after the victory comments that fueled a news cycle's worth of items - it's hard to tell since they were continuously spouting that confetti all during the festivities, much, I'm sure, to the chagrin of the Dodger Stadium grounds crew. As I've said, I like the WBC, regardless of what I feel about the 11th inning rule, which I do firmly believe led to a significant interruption to team Puerto Rico's karmic flow, when they had to use Rob Manfred's twisted brainchild of a rule to remain unbeaten in the semifinals against the Netherlands. And I sincerely hope that the words that were exchanged after the tournament don't lead to any bad blood. I'm nowhere near the level of the professional athletes who took the field for the WBC in the past weeks, but even I've had some heated interactions on a competitive sports field, then went on to have a perfectly healthy relationship with the other participants after the game was over, and felt stronger for the experience. Let's hope that each side of this argument learns something from the other and that each can benefit as a result of everything that's happened. I'm looking forward to 2021, and I know many baseball fans in all parts of the world are too.

Fantasy Astrology Waiver Wire - September 2016

With news starting to break about the 2017 World Baseball Classic, that got me thinking about the possibility of an Astrology Baseball Classic. Because when you think about it, the general principle behind constructing WBC rosters is to make a list of all available players, then organize that list by the "Country of Birth" (or rather, "Country of Heritage") column. Using the same principle, couldn't we just arrange the list by the "Astrological Sign" column, and play some exhibition games? I've been doing the first part of this equation every year since 2012, but instead of exhibition games, in my case I play a hypothetical fantasy season. 

If we're talking about astrology, I must first say a few words about Kyle Schwarber, CHC C/OF on the DL for the year. Not about his nonexistant 2016 season, but about a piece of human error (mine) that had mistakenly attributed his hypothetical service to the Aries Rams. This is not so: I goofed and he is a Pisces. Wouldn't have mattered this year of course...  And wouldn't have mattered last year, in fact, as the Fish won the championship even without the Warbird's powerful bat in the lineup down the stretch. 

Speaking of down the stretch, the baseball season is in it right now, in a big way. Which means teams are scouring for help anywhere they can, real teams and fantasy teams both. That extends to human owned and pregenerated teams like my astrology teams, which I don't update often or regularly throughout the year. Which means there are some real gems on the waiver wire who either just now started to get hot, or who aren't needed due to a stacked roster in front of them, or who I just plain missed. Here are some such players, sorted by ESPN's player rater, but with fantasy points as of the All-Star Break. 

In case you skipped right to the chart and didn't read my spiel at the top, there's a row with Kyle Schwarber's full 2016 contribution, with the proper name in the Astrology column. Speaking of columns, a 2016 Team that's not in bold font represents a player who made his Major League debut this season. The three players with that distinction are all varying degrees of Rookie: Jameson Taillon has an empty P2 column, because he also appeared in my 2015 40-Man Rosters document. Willson Contreras has a green shaded P2 column, because he was added during the off season, while Edwin Diaz's is shaded cyan because he was added during the current season, when he took over as the Mariners' closer. David Dahl has nothing in that column, because he did not make his big league debut until after the Midsummer Classic, but trust me, this kid is for real - he's averaged 15.3 points in his first 30 games in the majors.

Contreras has fallen off a bit since the break, but he did just add LF eligibility (with 20 games), which might be important for a team that also has breakout candidate Sandy Leon behind the plate. Dahl will play on the other side of speedster Rajai Davis, even though he also can also fill the CF slot in standard ESPN leagues, despite just 5 games there in the majors. This outfield alignment allows for a corner infield made up of Brandon Moss and Hernan Perez, who can also roam the grass in a pinch. The best defensive alignment likely has the red hot Jedd Gyorko at DH, with Danny Espinosa shifting to his old position of 2B, and iron-gloved Marcus Semien nonetheless at SS.

On the pitching side, we all know about Jameson Taillon's prospect pedigree, while both Danny Duffy and David Phelps are rather recent additions to their teams' starting rotations, as they had each spent the early parts of their seasons in the bullpen. (Duffy is currently pitching like an ace and is currently providing a boost to my own personal fantasy team in the playoffs.) Straily and Fiers are two mid-rotation arms who were relied on out of necessity, and who happened to get hot at the right time. Of the two relievers we haven't talked about, Tyler Thornburg is the more steady bet for saves, after the departure of Jeremy Jeffress and Will Smith out of Milwaukee, as Jim Johnson will lose a significant amount of GF's to Arodys Vizcaino.

From an astrological standpoint, most of these players are available for one of three reasons. The first and most interesting reason is that their team has a surplus at that player's position. For example, it would be very hard for Rajai Davis to break into a Libra outfield mix that also includes Mookie Betts, Bryce Harper, Carlos Gonzalez, Yoenis Cespedes, Jose Bautista, Andrew McCutchen, and Starling Marte. (Hey, I never said these astrology teams were fair...) Brandon Moss places a distant fourth on the Virgo 1B depth chart behind Paul Goldschmidt, Joey Votto, and Freddie Freeman; and don't expect him to be taking too many outfield at bats away from George Springer, Gregory Polanco, or Ian Desmond. As electric as Edwin Diaz is right now, I don't think he's a more dependable saves option for Aries than Mark Melancon, Dellin Betances, or David Robertson (all three developed by the New York Yankees, btw).

The second and most boring reason is that their team is simply too far out of the running for me to care about making changes. Willson Contreras might be a better bet than the aging Jayson Werth, but at 6-13, Taurus is not going to make the playoffs. I'm sure Scorpio, Sagittarius, and Gemini could use an extra quality starter, but why should I bother making the changes if it's not going to affect the league champions.

Which brings us to the third and most embarrassing reason: I just wasn't paying attention. Capricorn would love another breakout arm to replace the injured Junior Guerra, and Danny Duffy fits the bill exactly. Jedd Gyorko is blocked at his natural position by 2B Robinson Cano, but the way he's playing, he might have earned a shot to unseat Libra 1B Ryan Zimmerman. Hernan Perez is swinging the bat so well that he would likely be an improvement over the slumping Aries outfielders Jay Bruce or Dexter Fowler. But who has time to keep up to date on that kind of stuff? It's just a game, after all!

By the way, I was serious about an Astrology Baseball Classic, and I think with some serious lobbying from the New Age crowd, we could maybe make it happen. At the very least, I could crunch the numbers through a video game to see what it might look like. But I probably won't do that because I can't help it if I'm still obsessed with Batman video games...

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...

WBC Rosters: Finalists

You guys, big news: They've released the starting lineups for tonight's WBC Championship Game between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. While there aren't really any surprises, having them finalized gives me some context to post my in-depth informational charts about each team.

But first, here's a little key-type information. From left to right, the first column represents each player's ranking (according to MLB.com). The next two columns contrast the position(s) they played in 2012 with the positions they played in the WBC (positions with asterisks denote that the last time they played was before last year). The columns for name and bat/throw are pretty self-explanatory. As far as the stats, everything to the left of the dotted line represents major league stats, while everything on the right is anything below the major league level. If a player split time between two or more levels but played significantly more in one than any other, that is denoted by having the dominant level in all caps.

For those of you not familiar with my fantasy point scoring system, the bottom line is that it boils down each player's performance in a given year to a single, all-encompassing number. 2,000 points (for both hitters and pitchers) is considered an elite season. The starters represent tonight's batting order, and everyone else is listed in order of how many games they've played in the tournament (with starts privileged over relief/pinch hitting/defensive replacement appearances). As for color coding, last name in yellow means that player represented his country in the 2009 version of the team and full name in Cyan means they were featured in that ESPN.com article that I ABSOLUTELY cannot stop referencing that profiled the best non-MLB players in this year's tournament.

So, without further ado, and just one hour before the big game starts, I humbly present to you my one-page informational sheets containing pretty much all you'd ever think to ask about the members of this year's WBC Finalists. Enjoy!

WBC Finals: Puerto Rico vs. Dominican Republic

So it's come to this: an All-Caribbean WBC final game against two teams that have already played each other twice in this tournament. Things didn't work out too well for Puerto Rico the last two times - as they didn't work out too well for any team that has squared off against the Dominicans in this tournament - but they've been famously resilient against highly favored teams in elimination situations. So what will happen? Will the Dominicans continue their dominance and complete an undefeated tournament? Or will the Puerto Rican giant-killers strike again and hand the Dominican Republic their first loss in the game that counts most? The best way to determine the results is with a little side-by-side lineup comparison.

Catcher: Yadier Molina vs. Carlos Santana
Quite a lot of talent here as MLB.com has these two catchers ranked second and third in the position, behind only NL MVP Buster Posey. While Santana has had an impressive couple of years, what the youngest of the three famous Molina Brothers brings to the table in terms of defense, leadership, and (as of fairly recently) with his bat is unparalleled.
ADVANTAGE:

First Base: Carlos Rivera/Martin Maldonado vs. Edwin Encarnacion
On the Dominican side, you have a proven cleanup hitter who outscored Dominican great Albert Pujols last year. The Puerto Ricans, on the other hand, have a platoon between someone who, granted, did very well in the Mexican League last year and a major league backup catcher. The choice here is clear. On a side note, though, I wonder if this tournament will get the Brewers thinking about using Maldonado at first base at least to start the season, since with both Corey Hart and Mat Gamel out, Milwaukee's first base options look rather slim.
ADVANTAGE:

Second Base: Irving Falu vs. Robinson Cano
Again, the Dominicans are fielding the consensus best second baseman in the game right now, whereas Puerto Rico has a guy who can't even win a starting spot on the constantly-rebuilding Royals. Come on. Just... come on.
ADVANTAGE:

Third Base: Andy Gonzalez vs. Hanley Ramirez
A career minor leaguer with just over 250 big league at-bats to his credit? Or a former Rookie of the Year, three-time All-Star, two-time Silver Slugger (at shortstop, no less)? You decide...
ADVANTAGE:

Shortstop: Mike Aviles vs. Jose Reyes
Aviles has been one of Puerto Rico's most consistent producers and is making a case that he deserves to be more than just a utility player for his new team, the Cleveland Indians. But Jose Reyes is not just an elite shortstop, he's the spiritual force behind this Dominican Republic team.
ADVANTAGE:

Left Field: Eddie Rosario/Jesus Feliciano vs. Ricardo Nanita/Moises Sierra
This is by far the least consistent position for either team. Rosario is a top 10 prospect in the Twins organization, but he hasn't played above class A ball, while Feliciano has just 54 games of major league service time (all in 2010 for the Mets) and is currently a free agent. Nanita and Sierra were teammates on Toronto's AAA affiliate last year. Nanita has started the majority of the games in left, but only Sierra has any major league experience: 49 games in 2012. This one is close, but I'm giving it to the Dominicans based on Sierra's trendworthy performance last night.
ADVANTAGE:

Center Field: Angel Pagan vs. Alejandro De Aza
De Aza established himself as a serviceable center fielder last year with the White Sox. But with only one season under his belt as a starter, I have to go with the guy who not only has a longer track record and more complete skill set, but who just made bank on a new free agent contract.
ADVANTAGE:

Right Field: Alex Rios vs. Nelson Cruz
Rios (De Aza's teammate in Chicago) had a better 2012 than Cruz, but he struggled so badly early on in the WBC that the Puerto Rican manager dropped him from third to sixth in the order. But the sweet swing he put on an Atsushi Nohmi pitch for a two-run home run in Sunday's semifinal game against Japan is all the evidence I need to prove that he's out of his slump.
ADVANTAGE:

Designated Hitter: Carlos Beltran vs. Erick Aybar/Miguel Tejada
Whether Aybar is subbing in for Jose Reyes at short or Tejada is subbing for Hanley Ramirez at third, these are the two players that alternate for D.R., so I'm counting them as a DH platoon. But however you slice it, Beltran is a much more complete hitter than either of his opponents, and since defense doesn't come into consideration for this position, that just makes the choice easier.
ADVANTAGE:

Starting Pitcher: Giancarlo Alvarado vs. Samuel Deduno
Giancarlo (aka Carlos) Alvarado has never made it to the major leagues at age 34, but he's come rather close: in the years sandwiching the 2009 WBC (in which he also pitched for Puerto Rico) he started a total of 48 games for the Dodgers AAA affiliate. But in the three years since then, he's made his home in Japan where he has compiled a 3.53 ERA for the Hiroshima Carp and Yokohama BayStars. Samuel (aka Sam) Deduno got his first big chance with Minnesota last year, starting 15 games at the big league level and causing Twins fans no shortage of discomfort. I have a bet going that his masterful WBC performance thus far will lead to an increased workload this year, despite the fact that he's only in Twins camp as a non-roster invitee at this point.
ADVANTAGE:

Closer: Fernando Cabrera vs. Fernando Rodney
Pop quiz, stats nerds: who had a lower ERA (by almost 90 points), a lower WHIP, and 10 more saves than bullpen gold-standard Aroldis Chapman? 36-year-old (as of yesterday) Fernando Rodney, that's who. Cabrera has racked up 89 saves in his career... in the minor leagues. Tab over to his major league stats, and you'll see that total reduced by 88 - the 6'4" right-hander has saved only one major league game, and that was in 2007. There's no chance Rodney repeats his 2012 brilliance, but he's definitely got momentum on his side.
ADVANTAGE:

Bullpen:
Xavier Cedeno/J.C. Romero/Jose De La Torre
vs.
Santiago Casilla/Pedro Strop/Octavio Dotel
(based on number of appearances)
Even without Rodney, this Dominican team has an intimidating relief corps. Before Sergio Romo took over as San Francisco's closer (a spot that got him on the cover of a very special issue of Sports Illustrated in October), Casilla showed that he too has the stuff to finish out ballgames. Strop can hit 96 on the gun and Dotel has proven his staying power by pitching for a record number of teams over his career. On the flip side, P.R.'s middle relievers are as mediocre as D.R.'s are intimidating. The only one to score positive points in the majors is Xavier Cedeno, and those were with the Astros. J.C. Romero is the elder statesman on this staff, having gotten his start the same year as Dotel, but the lefty currently isn't employed by a major league team. There are some promising pitchers - Jose Berrios is another Twins top 10 prospect and Hiram Burgos ranked 13th in the Brewers system - but the overall talent just isn't there.
ADVANTAGE:

So there you have it: the final tally is Dominican Republic - 8, Puerto Rico - 4. I've done similar roster analyses in the past for big matchups, and the winners don't always end up victorious by any means. But if I were a betting man and had the opportunity to put some money down, I would definitely go for the Dominicans tonight.

WBC Semifinals: Dominican Republic vs. Netherlands

What a tense and exciting game between Japan and Puerto Rico last night, huh? Let's hope that tonight's other semifinal matchup between the Dominican Republic and the Kingdom of the Netherlands is equally as exciting. But given the personal history between these two teams, how could it not be? In 2009, back when both rounds of the tournament were modified double elimination, the Dutch team beat the heavily favored Dominicans not once, but twice, single-handedly ending their WBC run. Tonight, the undefeated Dominican team will be out for revenge against a surprising team from the Netherlands that has had some trouble with injuries, but has also made some key additions prior to the semifinal round. Here's a look at the top players on each roster.

Let's start with the Dominican Republic, since they have a far more impressive crop of major league talent than their competitors: 20 players on the Dominican roster reached the majors in 2012 compared to just five for the Netherlands, and that includes the two last-minute additions for the semifinals. Leading the pack in terms of both lineup positioning and personality is shortstop Jose Reyes, who also led off for the 2009 version of this team. Unfortunately he and former Mets teammate David Wright did not get to display their talents for trash-talking during his match against Team USA, as Wright was held out of the final two games with sore ribs. The top Dominican player in terms of talent is the #5 overall ranked player according to MLB.com, Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano. His career has taken a huge turn for the positive since he played this position for the Dominicans in 2009, as he's made a jump in the batting order from seventh to third and has become the face of baseball his country. Hanley Ramirez, the former No. 3 hitter displaced by Cano in the Dominican lineup, was also displaced from his former position in the Marlins infield last year by the very person with whom he alternated in the 2009 WBC: Jose Reyes. They have since both been traded away by Miami and are both projected to start the 2013 season at shortstop. The other two returning offensive players from 2009 are Texas Rangers outfielder Nelson Cruz, who made a not-quite-Cano-like jump in the batting order from eighth to sixth, and third baseman Miguel Tejada, who made a couple starts in this tournament despite not having played at the major league level in 2012.

The D.R.'s heaviest hitter in terms of fantasy points - Edwin Encarnacion slugged 2,408 points for the Blue Jays last year, narrowly eclipsing Cano's 2,396 - did not play in 2009 since they pulled the legendary David Ortiz into the field for the tournament. Carlos Santana (not the guitar player) is the third-ranked catcher in the game this year behind Buster Posey and Yadier Molina, indicating that people are expecting big things from the oft-injured power hitter entering his age 27 season. Shortstop Erick Aybar occupies the roster spot taken up by his brother Willy in 2009. And White Sox center fielder Alejandro De Aza is the only other major league starting outfielder on the roster, leaving left field to a pair of Blue Jays farmhands, Ricardo Nanita and Moises Sierra. With so much established major league talent, you wouldn't expect to find many prospects on this roster, but outfielder Eury Perez (Washington's #7) and infielder Leury Garcia (Texas's #19) are on the bench if needed.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, prospects are the name of the game for a Dutch roster that is short on established star power. That's not to say that there aren't any major leaguers in the lineup: leadoff hitting shortstop Andrelton Simmons is likely to fill those same roles for the Braves this year, Roger Bernadina was (and will be again) the fourth outfielder for the Nationals, and Andruw Jones was a reserve outfielder for the Yankees last year (his 2013 status is still uncertain). But the two prospects that really make this team are the (really) last players I'll mention from that ESPN.com article that profiled the best non-major league players in the tournament: #20 overall prospect (and #1 on the Red Sox) Xander Bogaerts and Baltimore's #4 prospect Jonathan Schoop (pronounced like "scope"). In the two rounds prior, these two started at third base and second base for the Dutch, respectively, but for the semifinals, Schoop will shift to third and Bogaerts will shift to the bench to make room for baseball's consensus #1 prospect Jurickson Profar, the reason the Rangers are listening on trade offers for Venezuelan starting shortstop Elvis Andrus.

Of the non-MLB non-prospect players on this team, former major outfielder and cleanup hitter Wladimir Balentien had the best season statistically - he clubbed 30 home runs for the Yakult Swallows of the NPB. Third baseman/outfielder Yurendell de Caster, one of the four holdovers from 2009's offense (none of them were mentioned above), was not far behind, hitting .326 with Winnipeg of the independent American Association. No one else played above AA with the following three players reaching that milestone: holdover first baseman Curt Smith played in Miami's organization, outfielder Kalian Sams was with Seattle, and infielder Hainley Statia was with Milwaukee. Starting catcher Dashenko Ricardo played with San Francisco's low-A affiliate, meaning this offense didn't have to rely on any starters who played exclusively for the Dutch major league - not the case for the pitching staff, as we'll explore below.

But first, on the Dominican pitching side, only one player returned from 2009: Padres starter Edinson Volquez, who started the opening games of both previous rounds and is slated to start tonight's semifinal matchup. This team is modeled after the United States rather than Japan, with only other two other starters on the roster: veteran Pirates lefty Wandy Rodriguez and surprisingly effective 2012 rookie Samuel Deduno, who has used the WBC so far to make a very convincing case for a spot in a weak Twins rotation. The overall point leader on this team is neither Cano nor Encarnacion, but 36-year-old Rays closer Fernando Rodney (2,478 points from 48 saves and a 0.60 ERA), who has pitched in every one of his team's game in this tournament. Backing him up is a group of fireballers headlined by Giants stand-in closer Santiago Casilla, famous team-hopping journeyman Octavio Dotel, projected Astros closer Jose Veras, the Royals' breakout setup man Kelvin Herrera, Pedro Strop of the Orioles, and Alfredo Simon of the Reds.

Prior to the semifinals, which saw the addition of Dodgers closer and 2009 holdover Kenley Jansen to the roster, the Dutch pitching staff didn't have a single major league pitcher representing. Of the five pitchers who started a game for the Netherlands, only 2009 holdover Tom Stuifbergen of the Twins' high-A affiliate had any American professional experience in 2012. Three of the other starters, including tonight's starter Diegomar Markwell, last played in the Honkbal Hoofdklasse, which is, no joke, the Dutch translation of Major League Baseball. Had I known the Dutch word for baseball, I would have been actively rooting for the Netherlands much earlier in the tournament. Other players who spent time for major league affiliates last year are minor league journeyman Shairon Martis (who got a taste of The Show with the Nationals in 2008-09) and reliever Loek van Mil (who split 2012 between Cleveland and the Angels, and is currently trying to catch on with Cincinnati on a minor league deal).

Who will advance to meet upstart Puerto Rico in the final game tomorrow? Let's find out!