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2017 - Puerto Rico WBC Roster

Saturday, April 27th, 2013

It is possible that in 2017 Puerto Rico will have a more talented team than the collection of players that filled the roster for the 2013 team, but it will be tough to accomplish what the 2013 team accomplished - a second place finish. Carlos Beltran will be gone and big game pitcher Nelson Figueroa will not be available, but Puerto Rico has some improved players coming up ready to fill the roster.

Catcher - Yadier Molina will be 35. That is a bit old to still be able to dominate at this position. He could make the team as a backup. The favorite to start for Puerto Rico would be A.J. Jimenez. He only played 27 games last year before having Tommy John surgery and has yet to play this year, but when healthy he has not had any problems hitting .300. Puerto Rico doesn’t seem to have a problem producing catchers so they could also trot out players like the Rockies Wilfredo Rodriguez, the Red Sox Christian Vazquez or the Diamondbacks Michael Perez. Journeymen Martin Maldanado or Jesus Flores are also options, but they would be better utilized in a reserve role.

First base - The Reds Neftali Soto would be the favorite to play the position. He has 90 minor league homeruns but he is a borderline prospect. The player to watch is the Twins big 6′5″ Kennys Vargas. He is playing in the Florida State League and if he reaches his potential he will be the first baseman.

Second Base - Eddie Rosario has some big time pop for a second baseman, but could also play outfield. If you look at the surplus of shortstops they may need this position to put one of their extra shortstops. Ivan DeJesus Jr. will be a utility player in the major leagues and could fill the roster in that same capacity.

Shortstop - Puerto Rico, like the Netherlands will not be hurting for shortstops. Carlos Correa, the number one pick last year in the draft by the Astros is the favorite. Many say he could be too big for the position and eventually move to third. The Indians Francisco Lindor will have the best glove for the position and that ultimately wins out when you can move the other players around. The Cubs Javier Baez may have the best combination of glove and bat. Lost in the background is the Dodgers number one supplemental pick Jesmuel Valentin, who is the son of long time major leaguer Jose Valentin. Another good glove to stick here would be Brewers prospect Yadiel Rivera. Lots of options here.

Third Base - They’ve got this position covered with their excess of shortstops but Gabriel Rosa was the Reds second round pick in 2012 and could make some noise. He is a big at 6′4″ with some potential.

Outfield - The Tigers Steven Moya was signed as a free agent out of the Dominican Republic but he was born in Puerto Rico. At 6′7″ he has the potential for big time power. To supplement this position they would need to put some of their excess shortstops in the outfield, or put Eddie Rosario out there. Alex Rios or Jose Pagan will not be that old to fill a back up role or start a few games. They would be a good veteran experience and you will need some of the veteran players on that 2013 roster to show the new guys the way.

Starting Pitching - This is where they could use some help. The best of their pitchers may also not be allowed to play if the major league team has a say. Julio Rodriguez could be another Nelson Figeroa. He is a soft tosser who has not made a big impact yet. By 2017 he could bounce around in Taiwan, Korea or Japan, make a name for himself there and then return to the Puerto Rican team with a lot of international experience. J.O. Berrios is probably their best pitcher. He was a first round supplemental of the Twins last year and at 19 made the roster for the 2013 team. The bullpen could be filled with a cast of journeymen characters like Xavier Cedeno, Hiram Burgos or Randy Fontanez, all of whom played on the roster in 2013. If they are not playing in the major leagues in 2017 they will still be making their presence felt by pitching in the Puerto Rican League, which should see some resurgence in popularity next year after the second place finish by Puerto Rico in the 2013 World Baseball Classic. Edwin Diaz was drafted in the third round by the Mariners last year and has a good fastball. As he fills out that fastball could be hitting the mid-90s by 2017. Jorge Lopez has good height at 6′4″ and was a second round pick in 2011 by the Brewers. He relies more on the breaking pitch to get hitters out but he could be ready by 2017.

Posted in Puerto Rico, World Baseball Classic | No Comments »

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Major Leagues Global Game

Monday, April 1st, 2013

Major league baseball announced that of the 856 players on major league 25 man rosters (106 of which are on the disabled or restricted list) 241 of those players were born outside the 50 United States. That is 28.2 percent of all players, the fourth highest mark. The year 2005 had the highest percentage with 29.2, followed by 2007 (29) and 2012 (28.4).

The countries and territories outside the 50 United States that make up this list include:

Dominican Republic (89, a drop from the 95 they had last year), Venezuela (63, a drop from the 66 they had last year), Canada (17), Cuba (15, their highest total), Mexico (14), Puerto Rico (13), Japan (11), Colombia (4), Panama (4), Curacao (3), Australia (2), South Korea (2), Nicaragua (2), Netherlands (1) and Taiwan (1).

The Milwaukee Brewers lead all teams with 14 foreign born players, followed by the Texas Rangers with 13.

You can read the press release here: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130401&content_id=43618468&vkey=pr_mlb&c_id=mlb

Does this mean the fact they include Puerto Rico in this list that if a player L.J. Hoes makes a major league opening day roster he would be placed on this list since he was born in Washington, D.C., which is not considered one of the 50 states? Myworld is not aware of any current players born in Washington, D.C. currently on a major league opening day roster.

Posted in Australia, Cuba, Canada, Netherlands, Japan, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Panama, Korea, Nicaragua, Taiwan, Mexico, Colombia | No Comments »

Dominican Republic WBC Champs

Wednesday, March 20th, 2013

Their hitters were considered the strong point of this team, but it was the bullpen that shined in the WBC. After Samuel Deduno worked five innings of two hit shutout ball, the bullpen of Octavio Dotel, Pedro Strop, Santiago Casilla and Fernando Rodney shutout the Puerto Ricans out the rest of the way on one hit in the last four innings to win their fourth game against Puerto Rico 3-0. Those four relievers plus Kelvin Herrera combined for 24 shutout innings in the tournament.

The Dominicans jumped out to an early 2-0 lead off Puerto Rican hurler Giancarlo Alvarado. Jose Reyes led off the first with a double. An intentional walk to Robinson Cano put runners on first and second, allowing Edwin Encarnacion to drive in both runners with a 2-run double into deep centerfield.

Hiram Burgos replaced Alvarado in the second and shut down the Dominican bats for three innings. In the fifth they scratched out another run with a bunt single from Alejandro DeAza and a booming RBI double from Eric Aybar. They had opportunities to score more runs in the latter innings, but with their bullpen they didn’t need them.

The Dominicans become the first team to go undefeated through the tournament at 8-0. What is even more impressive is they were also undefeated when playing exhibition games against major league teams, beating the Phillies 15-2 and the Yankees 8-2. That is a 10-0 won/loss record. Put them in any of the divisions in the major leagues and they might be a favorite to win all of them. Their only achilles heel is starting pitching. That bullpen may eventually get wore down if the starters did not pitch to some length.

In 2009 it was Asias time to shine with Korea and Japan playing in the final. In 2013 it was the Caribbean’s turn with Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Will 2017 be Europes turn with Netherlands and Italy or North America with the United States and Canada? Each country has four years to answer that question.

There were 35,000 who watched the game in San Francisco. In the Dominican and Puerto Rico myworld bets that over 50 percent of the television sets were tuned into the game. Both teams can be proud of the effort they made to get to the final.

Posted in Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, World Baseball Classic | No Comments »

Puerto Rico to the Finals; Upsets Champs Japan

Monday, March 18th, 2013

It did not matter that the United States was not playing. Over 33,000 fans came to watch the same island territory of Puerto Rico slay another giant. After eliminating the United States, Puerto Rico went one better by eliminating two time defending champion Japan. Major league baseball could not have scripted a possible resurgence of baseball in Puerto Rico any better.

Alex Rios got the big hit with his 2-run homer in the seventh to give Puerto Rico a 3-0 lead. Mario Santiago limited the Japanese bats to just two hits in four plus innings. Those bats seemed to have come to life in their last three games, scoring 16 in a game against the Netherlands. Mike Aviles also collected a couple big hits, one to drive in a run in the first and another preceding the homerun by Rios.

The Japanese bowed out gracefully. Japanese manager Koji Yamamoto said they lost to a great team today. They offered no excuses, such as stating that in a short series anything can happen or the fact the results could have been different if they could have had a few of their major leaguers participate in the event.

Kenta Maeda pitched well, giving up a run in five innings. That run scored in the first. Rios hit his 2-run homer off Atsushi Nohmi. The two RBIs were his first of the tournament.

The Japanese mounted a rally in the eighth scoring a run after a Takashi Toritani triple and a Hirokazu Ibata single drove in their first run. They had runners of first and second with one out and one of their best hitters at the plate in Shinnosuke Abe, but Seiichi Uchikawa got hung up to dry between first and second after Ibata returned to second when the runners attempted a double steal. Uchikawa was tagged out and Abe grounded out to end the last threat for the Japanese.

Fernando Cabrera retired the last two batters to finish the game. Other than the eighth inning the Puerto Rican bullpen limited the Japanese bats to just two hits.

The Dominican Republic plays the Netherlands tonight. Puerto Rico would like nothing better than the Dominicans beating the Dutch to avenge their previous two losses, but being in the finals is sweet regardless of who they meet. No one would have predicted this. The year 2013 is the year of Puerto Rico in baseball.

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Posted in Japan, Puerto Rico, World Baseball Classic | No Comments »

Rodriguez Leads Dominicans to Number One Seed

Sunday, March 17th, 2013

Wandy Rodriguez tossed six innings of shutout ball to lead the Dominican Republic to a 2-0 win over Puerto Rico. The win gives the Dominicans the number one seed and the right to play Netherlands to avenge their double loss in 2009. Carlos Santana provided the only run the Dominicans needed with a solo homerun in the fifth.

The Dominicans scored an insurance run in the eighth on a Francsco Pena single. Fernando Rodney picked up his third save of the tournament by pitching a scoreless ninth.

The loss means Puerto Rico will have to play two time defending champ Japan. Japan will be rested and ready to play, having played two exhibition games in Arizona.

There were over 25,000 who attended the game, more fans than attended the Puerto Rico/United States elimination game.

Posted in Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, World Baseball Classic | No Comments »

Puerto Rico Bounces United States from WBC

Saturday, March 16th, 2013

The United States has failed to reach the final four in the World Baseball Classic in two of the three tournaments. The one time they reached the final four they were bounced by Japan in the semi-final 9-4. During that season Puerto Rico had beaten the United States 11-1 only to be eliminated by the United States in the losers bracket 6-5. This year the roles were reversed with Puerto Rico losing the winner’s bracket game 7-1, but winning the most important losers bracket game 4-3.

Nelson Figueroa has been a big game pitcher all his career. He may not be able to do it in the major leagues, but ask Taiwan who Nelson Figueroa is and they will talk of his three wins in the Taiwan series to give the Uni-President Lions the championship in 2007. He was voted MVP that year. He’s also pitched for many Caribbean Winter League teams in the Series del Caribe. He has perhaps won his biggest game today, tossing six innings of two hit shutout ball over a powerful United States lineup that couldn’t make solid contact off his 85 mile per hour fastball, leading them to a 4-3 upset victory.

Puerto Rico scored early in the opening frame, collecting three singles to score one run, Mike Aviles stroking the RBI single to give Puerto Rico an early 1-0 lead. Ryan Vogelsong settled down after that, giving up only one more hit through the fifth inning.

Vinnie Pestano relieved Vogelsong in the sixth with one on and two out. He couldn’t get any of the four hitters he faced out, giving up a single to Mike Aviles, walking Armando Rios to load the bases and finally walking Carlos Rivera to make it 2-0. Andy Gonzalez finished his story, roping a 2-run double to give Puerto Rico a 4-0 lead. Jeremy Affeldt replaced Pestano to get the last hitter out, but it was one batter too late.

The United States mounted a come back. Giancarlo Stanton drove in the first run with an RBI single in the seventh, following a Joe Mauer triple. Adam Jones though struck out with runners on first and second to end the inning.

The United States mounted another rally in the eighth, Ryan Braun smashing a double to drive in one run. The United States loaded the bases with one out and Giancarlo Stanton could only pop out to short. Ben Zobrist kept the inning alive by drawing a walk to pull the United States to within one. J.C. Romero came in to face the lefty Eric Hosmer and got him to ground out to second to end another threat.

The United States went out meekly in the ninth, Romero striking out Adam Jones and Shane Victorino. Jimmy Rollins ended the game by lofting a routine fly to center. The celebration began. Puerto Rico had advanced to the final four, slaying the Giant to get there.

Puerto Rico will play the Dominican Republic to determine the first round match up. Myworld doesn’t believe the WBC needs the United States in the tournament to draw well. Tomorrow will tell the tale. A win by the Dominican Republic will give them a rematch against the Netherlands, to avenge their double defeat in 2009 to knock them from the tournament.

Japan’s appearance in the final four may get them the number one international baseball rating. The United States loss may drop them to number three. They had a chance to advance to the number one ranking with Cuba’s early elimination from the tournament, but they could not take advantage of it. Just like the basketball players a number of years ago, the million dollar players just can’t get it done against the journeyman junkyard dogs, who seem to play the game with more heart and determination. The United States will now have to wait until 2017 to show they are the best.

Only 19,000 attended the game. It will be interesting to see who attends the game tomorrow to determine the number one seed and the crowd for the semi-finals in San Francisco. In 2013 the finals between Korea and Japan was a sell out. Only Japan is a repeat team to the final four from 2009. The Dominican Republic made the final four in 2006, but lost to Cuba in the semifinals. Japan has won the tournament each time it has been played. Perhaps the United States needs to watch Japan to see how they prepare for this tournament.

Posted in United States, Puerto Rico, World Baseball Classic 2167 | No Comments »

Puerto Rico Rallies to Send Cinderella Home

Thursday, March 14th, 2013

Italy had a 3-1 lead going into the eighth inning. Puerto Rico rallied for three runs in the eighth, tying the game on a sacrifice fly by Luis Figueroa and taking the lead on a RBI infield scribbler from Andy Gonzalez to take the lead. Puerto Rico finished Italy’s Cinderella story in the ninth using three different pitchers to end the fairy tale. Fernando Cabrera struck out Alex Liddi, the only born Italian to play in the major leagues, with the tying run on first, the third strikeout of the inning after a two out walk to Anthony Rizzo.

The first four innings saw a pitcher’s duel between Giancarlo Alvarado and Alex Maestri. Italy struck first in the fifth with a single from Anthony Granato and Chris Denorfia with a catcher’s interference sandwiched in between to load the bases with one out. Xavier Cedeno came on in relief for Puerto Rico and surrendered a 3-run double to Anthony Rizzo. The Italian flags were flying proudly.

After giving up a single and a walk Alex Maestri was relieved by Christopher Cooper. Cooper was able to get out of the inning unscathed, but got nicked for a run in the sixth. Two errors by shortstop Anthony Granato allowed Puerto Rico to score their first run.

That is where the score stood until the eighth when a leadoff walk to Carlos Beltran finished the bullpen outing for Cooper. Nick Pugliese gave up a single to Yadier Molina, advancing Beltran to third. Brian Sweeney came on to relieve Pugliese. He got Mike Aviles to ground out, allowing a run to score but gave up a single to Alex Rios to put another first and third situation with one out.

Normally, a manager might have gone with Jason Grilli at this point, but with pitch counts the Italian manager didn’t have that choice. He tried to stem the rolling Puerto Rican tsunami with the arm of Pat Venditte, who failed the day before in stemming a Dominican rally. Venditte gave up the sacrifice fly and infield single to give Puerto Rico the lead.

It was a nice ride for Italy. Last year Netherlands was the Cinderella European team advancing to the second round while Italy had to watch. This year they advanced to the second round, but now they have to watch as their European rivals Netherlands plays in the semi-finals.

Puerto Rico gets the opportunity to avenge two losses. The first will be against the loser of the United States and Dominican Republic. If they can win that game then they will get to avenge their second loss, tangling against the winner of the United States versus Dominican Republic. One win will get them to the semifinals for the first time, regardless of the result of that second outing.

Posted in Puerto Rico, Italy, World Baseball Classic | No Comments »

My World’s Prediction for Second Round Miami

Monday, March 11th, 2013

Myworld did pretty good in Asia, predicting three of the four to advance to the second round, missing out on Korea and correctly choosing the two teams to advance to San Francisco. We didn’t have a lot of confidence in Cuba after reading about them arguing over the use of a ball in an exhibition game and not playing. They also argued for the use of the Tokyo Dome for practice and failed to show up once they won the argument. That shows a lack of committment.

Despite what Victor Mesa thinks, the Netherlands has been consistently beating Cuba the last few years, so if the Netherlands is not a good team that is a poor reflection on the talent in Cuba. The Cubans have a mystique about them and an entourage that follows them around creating a false perception of their abilities. They are not the dominant team they once were as they try to live on their past accomplishments. Those accomplishments are getting farther down in history.

We haven’t done so well on the Western side with our predictions. We predicted only two of the four teams to advance. I don’t think anyone would have predicted Italy advancing past the first round so we don’t feel too bad about that one. We also predicted Puerto Rico to advance when the preliminary rosters were announced but chose Dominican Republic instead when we saw the final roster. We still would have missed that one when Venezuela did not advance.

The second round should see the United States and Dominican Republic advance. Puerto Rico just doesn’t have the pitching to hold the United States offense down. We also like Gio Gonzalez against anyone Puerto Rico throws. Statistically Giancarlo Alvarado has been their best pitcher but Nelson Figueroa is a major leaguer and will get the start against the United States. Neither compares to Gio Gonzalez who is returning to the Miami wearing the United States. He should be fired up. Puerto Rico can only hope Gio is too fired up, impacting the command of his pitches. They can also hope for history to repeat itself. The last time these two teams played in Miami Puerto Rico shocked the United States 11-1. A lot of Puerto Ricans can travel to Miami so like the game against Mexico they will have a lot of support in the stands.

Italy has to hope their timely hits continue. Their best hitter is Anthony Rizzo but Anthony Granato has done the best statistically, hitting .625. They have gotten some good starts from Alex Maestri and Luca Panerati but keeping the Dominican bats under double figures and playing nine innings will be an accomplishment.

The big match will be the United States versus Dominican Republic in the finals. They will probably play twice, once in the winners bracket and the final to determine seeding. The United States should come out of this with the number one seed because of their superior pitching. For the tournament though the Dominicans have shown the best pitching with an ERA a run less than the United States.

Myworld’s predicted order of finish 1) United States, 2) Dominican Republic, 3) Puerto Rico and 4)Italy

The WBC has been very pleased with the first round attendance at the games. The challenge is getting fans to show up when the home team is not playing. There were 463,017 fans to watch the first round. The previous record in 2009 was 453,374. The real predictor of success is how much revenue was brought in as a result of the attendance. A lot of people will show up if free tickets are given to them.

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Posted in United States, Puerto Rico, Italy, Dominican Republic, World Baseball Classic | No Comments »

Puerto Rico Round WBC Action

Monday, March 11th, 2013

Both teams had qualified for the second round, but each was playing for the number one seed. The Dominican Republic won that honor with a 4-2 win in front of 19,000 rabid fans. Robinson Cano had a solo shot in the fifth to tie the game.

Mike Aviles had gotten the Puerto Rican crowd charged up with a 2-run homer to give them a 2-1 lead. Alejandro DeAza drove in the go ahead run with a RBI double in the sixth to give the Dominicans a 3-2 lead. Fernando Rodney closed out the game in the ninth.

In the morning game Venezuela beat Spain 11-6. The win by Venezuela prevented them from having to qualify for the next WBC games in 2017. Miguel Cabrera drove in three runs and combined with Pablo Sandoval for back to back homers in the eighth.

Barbaro Canizares slugged a 2-run homer in the first to give Spain an early 3-0 lead. Richard Castillo shutout the Venezuelan bats for the first three innings. When the bullpen entered in the fourth Venezuela assaulted them for six runs.

The Dominican Republic will get a first round game against Italy while the United States will have to play Puerto Rico.

Posted in Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, World Baseball Classic, Spain | No Comments »

Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico Advance

Sunday, March 10th, 2013

Both the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico moved to 2-0 to advance to the second round in the WBC. Dominican Republic beat a Spanish team 6-2 while Puerto Rico upset Venezuela 6-3. The Dominican Republic plays Puerto Rico with the winner getting the top seed.

The Spanish team held the Dominican bats to six runs, much less than the Yankees, Phillies and Venezuela did. They did walk eight hitters with Edwin Encarnacion walking twice and Hanley Ramirez walking three times. Carlos Santana hit a solo homerun in the eighth, but it was the five runs the Dominicans scored in the second and third innings that put the game away.

Nelson Cruz and Carlos Santana each drove in two runs for the Dominicans. Samuel Deduno worked four innings of shutout ball to pick up the win. Fernando Rodney was asked to make the last out of the game after Team Spain rallied to score one and leave the basesloaded in the ninth. Rodney walked the first hitter he faced to force in the second run and pull Spain to within three with the tying run at the plate. Rodney struck out Rafael Alvarez to end the game.

Puerto Rico called on Nelson Figueroa to pitch against Venezuela. He worked four innings, giving up just two runs. Venezuela took an early 2-0 lead on a Marco Scutaro RBI single and a Pablo Sandoval double. Asdrubal Cabrera were gunned down at home to end the inning.

Mike Aviles hit a 2-run single in the fifth to tie the game. An Angel Pagan single in the fifth put Puerto Rico up 3-2. Mike Aviles pulled Puerto Rico even further away with a sacrifice fly in the eighth and a 2-run single by Luis Figueroa extended the lead.