Here are the players named to the World Baseball Classic All-Tournament Team. I don't really have any issues with any of the choices. Some guys who could have made it were left off, and some guys who made it should have been left off. Hey, it's all subjective anyways.
Pitchers:
Japan - Daisuke Matsuzaka
Japan - Hisashi Iwakuma
Korea - Jung Keun Bong
Catcher:
Puerto Rico - Ivan Rodriguez
Infield:
Korea - Tae Kyun Kim - first base (unanimous selection)
Venezuela - Jose Lopez - second base
Korea - Bum Ho Lee - third base
United States - Jimmy Rollins - shortstop
Outfield:
Japan - Norichika Aoki
Cuba - Frederich Cepeda (unanimous selection)
Cuba Yoennis Cespedes
Designated hitter:
Korea - Hyun Soo Kim
No issues, really, with any of the selections. I would have liked to have seen Rod del Monico and Bert Blyleven be named manager and pitching coach of the tournament, because, man, did they work some magic.
It is kind of curious that the team is really the South Koreans and Japanese, with a token slot to the Venezuelans and Americans. I know those two played in the final, but were all those players really the best out there? And if you're going to go back to non-finalists, why two Cubans? Do we still need to suck up to Fidel? I can thing of some Dutch pitchers who might deserve the honor as well. But that's just me.
2 comments:
Cepeda was just awesome. Now, he is the definition of professional hitter, not Garrett Anderson.
I agree. But the Dutch pitching was pretty good too.
Just seems like some very selective picks by nationality, and not performance.
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