World Baseball Classic Roster Announced; 8 Cubs

The World Baseball Classic Rosters were announced and eight Cubs will be involved with the event - five from the major league squad. (Drumroll please)

  • Carlos Marmol (Dominican Republic)  (See Update below)
  • Carlos Zambrano (Venezuela) (See Update #2)
  • Kosukue Fukudome (Japan)
  • Geovany Soto (Puerto Rico)
  • Ted Lilly (USA)
  • *Vince Perkins (Canada) 
  • **Alex Maestri (Italy)
  • **Hung-wen Chen (Chinese Taipei)

* Non-Roster Invitee, ** Minor League System

So the story from yesterday turns out true about Zambrano and looks like Carlos Marmol had a last minute change of heart. Say hello to your 2009 closer - Kevin Gregg!

UPDATE: Either Muskat is doing her usual bang-up job or some things are still up in the air. Her story doesn't mention Marmol or Zambrano at all. Soto is set to DH in the first game for Puerto Rico and catch Jonathan Sanchez in their third game. Also, under the Cubs headlines on that story is the "Cubs' Marmol opts to skip Classic for D.R." article and it looks like the rosters no longer have Marmol on them, but Zambrano still is listed. Not so fast Kevin Gregg - hahahaha!!

UPDATE #2:  Zambrano said he's not pitching in the WBC. He is set to go Monday for the Cubs in Cactus League play. The Venezuelan teams attempt at the Jedi Mind Trick seems to have failed. 

"Carlos, it says right here that you're pitching for the team. You will pitch in the WBC. Look, it's been printed on the web."

"No, I'm not"

(Waves hand) "Yes, you will."

"No, I'm not, and stop waving your fucking hand around."

Tags: 
World Baseball Classic
Submitted by Rob G. on Tue, 02/24/2009 - 5:37pm
Return to Homepage

Comments

Submitted by John Beasley
on Tue, 02/24/2009 - 5:48pm

Repost from the last thread.

We're probably set on the keeper league pending final vote. Thanks for all the interest.

Those who are signed up - stop by and make some recommendations. Possible Parachat about it if there's ample reason.

Submitted by SJS
on Tue, 02/24/2009 - 6:58pm

I'm having problems getting into Parachat. Hopefully I can get in later tonight. I'm going to try periodically.

Submitted by SJS
on Tue, 02/24/2009 - 8:38pm

*Removed

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Tue, 02/24/2009 - 5:54pm

"Say hello to your 2009 closer - Kevin Gregg!"

Good.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Tue, 02/24/2009 - 6:54pm

Updated...seems they jumped the gun on Marmol. Zambrano is still listed although Muskat doesn't mention him.

Submitted by CA-Phil
on Tue, 02/24/2009 - 7:23pm

When did Puerto Rico leave the United States?

Submitted by Rob G.
on Tue, 02/24/2009 - 8:36pm

The Team Venezuela page still has a picture of Z saying he won't play and the article from Feb. 13th, but he's on both roster pages still.

Other fun notes, Cueto and Volquez both pitching for Dominican Republic...shall we pick squares for their injury date?

Submitted by Brick
on Tue, 02/24/2009 - 8:38pm

Guess this means Gregg is one of our starters.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Tue, 02/24/2009 - 10:54pm

http://www.cleveland.com/tribe/index.ssf/2009/02/j...

Submitted by crunch
on Tue, 02/24/2009 - 11:06pm

joe got a chance to come back from a near-dead career and made some DAMN GOOD loot for himself. from what it seems he's a decent enough guy to have that happen to. later borowski...

Submitted by Charlie
on Tue, 02/24/2009 - 11:30pm

I have fond memories of Joe that completely overshadow his hard times as a Cub. He was definitely a feel-good story, and seemed like a personality I could get behind. That said, he had a pretty good run, in comparison to almost everyone else who plays the game. I'm glad he got to be a pretty successful big league player for a while.

Submitted by carlosrubi
on Wed, 02/25/2009 - 12:16am

So long, Sweaty Joe.

Submitted by rokfish
on Tue, 02/24/2009 - 11:02pm

all i hear on local chicago tv markets is who is gonna be the 5th starter
should we be more worried who is gonna be the 4th starter in my eyes rich
hardin should be the fifth starter if healthy if he is not then we need a 4 and 5
assuming lou wants marshall in the pen ( i think ) then samardzja would
be stretched out for a starters role.

Submitted by Mister Whipple
on Tue, 02/24/2009 - 11:49pm

Just curious, are we counting Peavy as one of the Cubs that's playing in the WBC? When's that trade coming through? Soon?

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 02/25/2009 - 1:37am

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/baseball-insider/...

seems like he needed a new visa when he changed employers...

not to make excuses, but seems like the team should know that.

Submitted by big_lowitzki
on Wed, 02/25/2009 - 1:53am

Wait... I thought it was Pie's fault... and it is another reason that we should be glad that he is gone?

Submitted by WISCGRAD
on Wed, 02/25/2009 - 10:05am

Except Pie himself had to reapply "for his visa that noted his change of employer."

There is nothing in that article or in the information that we have available that identifies the source of the problem. Likely a combination of many factors.

And yes, I am still glad he is not around. If you guys miss Pie then that's your prerogative. I think he is a worthless turd and am glad he is not around.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 02/25/2009 - 10:16am

no there wasn't...

I was just thinking that a team would know more about the visa process than an individual player, especially if a trade goes down. You think they'd give a player a heads up.

no biggie...

Submitted by WISCGRAD
on Wed, 02/25/2009 - 10:55am

A new article after Pie spoke to the media today indicates that he had "passport" problems. We will probably never actually know what "i" was not dotted and who was supposed to dot it.

Submitted by Arizona Phil
on Wed, 02/25/2009 - 10:59am

MLB Clubs have administrative personnel who assist major league and minor league players with these matters. Perhaps the Orioles admin was on vacation when Pie was acquired.

Submitted by big_lowitzki
on Wed, 02/25/2009 - 10:52am

I am sorry... can you point out where I said I missed Pie?

Submitted by WISCGRAD
on Wed, 02/25/2009 - 11:04am

Why does everything have to be a fight? If you don't miss him, why can't you just say "well, I'm glad to see him gone too." Instead you have to do this crap.

I said "IF" you guys miss him, then that's fine, I don't. Simple as that. I assumed from the ferocity in which people flocked to defend him that some of you must miss him.

All I pointed out was that it seems like he is always in the news for something - yelling at coaches in the tower in Arizona, late night partying with Soriano, now VISA issues, etc. Even if this problem is not at all his fault, some people are magnets for distractions and I for one am happy we are not dealing with it this year.

Submitted by kmokeefe
on Wed, 02/25/2009 - 11:20am

well said

Submitted by Dusty Baylor
on Thu, 02/26/2009 - 8:04am

Great. Are you done yet?

Submitted by Dusty Baylor
on Thu, 02/26/2009 - 8:04am

Double posted.

Submitted by big_lowitzki
on Thu, 02/26/2009 - 12:45pm

Wow... you are getting crabbier around here these days.

It is pretty funny that I am doing "crap" and you are just being nice.

I just think that using Pie's visa issues to bash him is pretty laughable. I made a smart ass comment about it, and you got pissy. I don't and won't really miss the guy, though I still think that he could become a pretty productive major league player. And I still think that he is a better option than Gathright.

And FWIW... he wasn't in the news for yelling at coaches in Arizona. He was on on TCR about that. And I am assuming that you have a problem Soriano also then, right?

Submitted by Dusty Baylor
on Wed, 02/25/2009 - 8:29am

Bwaahaaaaaaaaaa-haaaaaaaa...

That was classic lowitzski!!

Submitted by Tito
on Wed, 02/25/2009 - 9:16am

Nah, there was no "Uh..."

Submitted by jacos
on Wed, 02/25/2009 - 11:16am

according to bruce levine Z IS NOT IN WBC.

JUST on espn 1000, z pitching monday for cubs. z said he doesn't know why they think he s in wbc.

scott eyre"broke" due to madhoff .

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 02/25/2009 - 12:05pm

updated the post btw...weird.

Submitted by CPH2133
on Wed, 02/25/2009 - 12:16pm

There you go again Rob with that not child safe language, you bad boy of NL Central Team's Blogs. But I would envision Big Z saying "quit waving your fucking hand".

Submitted by mikese
on Mon, 06/22/2009 - 5:09pm

I'd like to know how many of these players have taken some kind of anabolic steroid being that baseball seems to the the sport with the most people on the news for juicing up.

Submitted by marks
on Wed, 08/19/2009 - 3:07am

In my opinion baseball is the best game if it is played solely on your health. Usage of legal steroids are harmful and have only short term benefits.

X
You may login with either your assigned username or your e-mail address.
The password field is case sensitive.
Loading