Driver2165

This baseball world cup sounds really fun if they can get enough players to do it. Italy, South Africa, the Netherlands and Australia should be fun to watch attempt to play ball with the other 12 countries. (Why not England or India? Do cricket skills not translate well?) Panama and Mexico have some bona fide star players, but not too many. Japan and Cuba would be super interesting for me to watch because they'd mostly have their own teams with players that are good enough to, but don't, play in the Major Leagues. Sure Japan could have Ichiro, the Matsuis, Dave Roberts, and Iguchi, but the other guys will be just as competitive I'm guessing. Plus they're the only guys that know how to throw the mythical GYROBALL which was created by scientists on a computer! Korea, Taiwan and China could be interesting. I don't know if they have a glut of great players that don't play in the US or not, but they could probably beat Italy. Canada could also have a competitive ballclub with Eric Gagne, Corey Koskie, Justin Morneau, Rich Harden, and Erik Bedard. But it's the last 4 teams that really have me interested. This is where i delve into super long lists of names, but this could be a really cool tournament if these guys agree to play. I don't know who to root for!

Puerto Rico: C Javy López, C Iván Rodríguez, 1B Carlos Delgado, 2B Alex Cintron, SS Rey Sanchez, 3b Mike Lowell, OF Carlos Beltrán, OF Juan González, OF Bernie Williams, SP Javier Vazquez and RP J.C. Romero.

Now there's some holes here as far as pitching goes, but that's a solid lineup, albeit almost elderly. Maybe they emigrate one of their catchers to the Dominican Republican and get a pitcher to immigrate in return?

United States: C Joe Mauer, 1B Todd Helton, 2B Marcus Giles, 3B Alex Rodriguez, SS Derek Jeter, OF Carl Crawford, OF Gary Sheffield, OF Johnny Damon, SP Randy Johnson, SP Mark Prior, SP Roger Clemens, SP Curt Schilling, SP Jake Peavy, RP Mike Gonzalez, RP Brad Lidge, CL Joe Nathan

Of course the US has the more players to choose from on account of there being a shitload of americans, and these are my choices. That right there is the team to beat, which brings us to the two teams other than Japan, Cuba, and Canada that easily could:

Dominican Republic: 1B Albert Pujols, 2B Alfonso Soriano, 3B Aramis Ramírez, SS Miguel Tejada, OF Sammy Sosa, OF Manny Ramírez, OF Vladimir Guerrero, SP Pedro Martínez, SP Bartolo Colón, SP Ramón Ortíz, SP José Lima, SP Daniel Cabrera, RP Dámaso Marte, RP Guillermo Mota, CL Armando Benitez

David Ortíz, Luis Castillo, Adrián Beltré, and José Reyes is the infield that didn't make it and I'd probably take the Dominican second-string infield over the Americans' starters., and they're my backup picks, with José Guillén and Moises Alou being bumped out of the outfield. Now that is a nice team. The pitching is solid, but not as deep as the United States and Venezuela. I also couldn't figure out a catcher for them.

Venezuela: C Victor Martinez, 2B Edgardo Alfonzo, 3B Melvin Mora, SS Carlos Guillen, OF Bobby Abreu, OF Miguel Cabrera, OF Magglio Ordoñez, SP Johan Santana, SP Carlos Zambrano, SP Carlos Silva, P Gustavo Chacín, SP Freddy Garcia, RP Juan Rincon, RP Giovanni Carrara, CL Francisco Rodriguez

Another well-rounded team from top to bottom. Plus they have the best outfield.

So, I'm sorry that was really long, but Bethany was at work and I got bored.