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WeatherManNX01
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Saturday Jan 21 2006, 12:45 PM
Post #1
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The Yanks are coming!
- Posts:
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- December 9, 2005
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From MLB.com:
- Quote:
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WBC Provisional Rosters Unveiled Rosters of 60 to be trimmed to 30 for inaugural tourney By Barry M. Bloom/MLB.com
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- The World Baseball Classic has got game.
What had heretofore simply been a schedule wrapped around a concept now also has participants -- 394 of them with Major League affiliations. The baseball tournament, the first internationally to include Major League players, is scheduled for March 3-20 at sites in the United States, Japan and Puerto Rico.
Late Tuesday night, 15 of the 16 teams competing filed their provisional rosters of up to 60 players each with one exception: Cuba. WBC officials seem to be convinced that a decision from the U.S. Treasury Dept. about the application for Cuba to play is imminent and could reach a positive resolution.
But as the owners began meeting here on Wednesday for two days, word hadn't been forward from Washington, D.C.
"Not yet," said Paul Archey, MLB's vice president of international business operations.
Meanwhile, the 15 participants have already proven that the tournament will be exactly as billed: the best international baseball competition ever.
Right now, the landmark field includes Australia, Canada, China, the Dominican Republic, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico, South Africa, Chinese Taipei, the U.S. and Venezuela.
And many of the teams boast MLB's best. Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens for the U.S.; Manny Ramirez and Pedro Martinez from the Dominican; Ivan Rodriguez and Carlos Beltran for Puerto Rico; Melvin Mora and Bobby Abreu for Venezuela; Andruw Jones for the Netherlands; Nomar Garciaparra and Vinny Castilla for Mexico; Mike Piazza for the Italians; Jason Bay and Justin Morneau for Canada; and Ichiro Suzuki for Japan.
Notables missing are Hideki Matsui, who turned down Japan, and Gary Sheffield, who opted not to play for the U.S.
Aside from MLB, other international baseball organizations represented in the tournament are the China Baseball League, Chinese Professional Baseball League, Korea Baseball Organization, Mexican Baseball League and Nippon Professional Baseball.
From this point on, no player can be added to any provisional roster before the start of the tournament. Final 30-man rosters for each team must be locked in by the start of the event on March 3 in the Tokyo Dome.
First-round action will be played at four sites: Pool A, consisting of Japan, Korea, Chinese Taipei and China, will meet at the Tokyo Dome, March 3-5, with the other three pools all on March 7-10. Pool B, featuring the U.S, Canada, Mexico and South Africa will play at Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks, and Scottsdale Stadium, Spring Training home of the San Francisco Giants; Pool C includes Puerto Rico, Cuba, Panama and the Netherlands, and will play at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, and Pool D, featuring the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Australia and Italy will play at the spring home of the Atlanta Braves near Orlando.
The top two teams from each pool will advance to the second round, which takes place March 12-16 back at Hiram Bithorn Stadium and March 12-17 at Angel Stadium, the home of the Los Angeles Angels. Again the top two teams in the four-team second-round brackets will each move on to the single-elimination semifinals and finals to be held at PETCO Park, the home of the San Diego Padres, on March 18-20.
Provisional Rosters (sorted by team)
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