Even though the formal roster announcements for the World Baseball Classic won’t take place until later this week, some of the names are starting to leak out.  Chris Perez and Vinnie Pestano both announced on Twitter on Saturday that they will be pitching for Team USA.  The pair will join a pitching staff that reportedly includes R.A. Dickey, Andy Pettitte, Ryan Vogelsong, Craig Kimbrel, and Luke Gregerson.  A few of the names of position players have leaked as well – Giancarlo Stanton, Shane Victorino, Adam Jones, Brandon Phillips, Jimmy Rollins, and Mark Teixeira will also don the stars and stripes.  The team will be managed by Joe Torre, and the remainder of the roster will be revealed on the MLB Network on Thursday evening.

If you’re planning to head to Arizona to see the Indians this spring, you may be able to time your trip to coincide with some of the WBC games.  Pool D will take place in Phoenix from March 7-10; the other pools will take place in Fukuoka, Japan, Taichung, Taiwan, and San Juan, Puerto Rico during the first two weeks of March.  The Phoenix games will take place at one of two parks – either Chase Field (home of the Arizona Diamondbacks) or Salt River Fields at Talking Stick (the spring home of the Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies).  The United States, Canada, Mexico, and Italy will be the four teams squaring off in the Phoenix area.  The second round will take place from March 8-16 in Tokyo, Japan, and Marlins Stadium in Miami.  The finals will take place from March 17-19 at AT&T Park in San Francisco.

While I’ve yet to see reports of other Indians participating in the WBC, any additional names will likely be revealed this week.

1 Comment

  • Steve Alex says:

    I am very pleased that, at least for now, our back-end bullpen tandem remains intact. They give our team some identity.

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