17 players from Reds organization to participate in 2009 World Baseball Classic

[OnBaseMachine]

TODAY’S NOTES: The 45-player provisional rosters for the 2009 World Baseball Classic were announced tonight and included 17 players in the Reds organization and 8 players on the 40-man roster: 1B Joey Votto (Canada), RHP Francisco Cordero (Dominican Republic), RHP Johnny Cueto (DR), RHP Edinson Volquez (DR), C/IF/OF Wilkin Castillo (DR), OF Willy Taveras (DR),IF/OF Jerry Hairston Jr. (Mexico), C Ramon Hernandez (Venezuela)...also on the provisional rosters are 9 minor leaguers: RHP James Avery (Canada), RHP Kyle Lotzkar (Canada), LHP Philippe Alexandre Valiquetto (Canada), IF Yen-Wen Kuo (Chinese Taipei), LHP Luca Panerati (Italy), LHP Mateo Pizziconi(Italy), LHP Alexander Smit (The Netherlands), RHP Juan Carlos Sulbaran(The Netherlands) and RHP Luis Machuca (Panama)...final 28-player rosters for the 16-team international tournament will be announced February 24.

http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs...cincinnati.com

[OnBaseMachine]

Volquez headlines Reds in Classic
Right-hander could be joined by Cueto, others on Dominican club

By Jenifer Langosch / MLB.com

Each of the 16 teams participating in the upcoming World Baseball Classic released provisional rosters on Monday. And while players won't be wearing Cincinnati red and white, the Reds will certainly be well represented.

Seventeen players from the Reds' organization are listed on those rosters, which can include as many as 45 players.

The final rosters of 28 players -- including a mandatory 13 pitchers -- must be set by Feb. 24. Tickets can be purchased online through mlb.com.

Nowhere will the Reds' presence be more visible than on the Dominican Republic club, which could have as many as five Cincinnati players suiting up. Leading the group is 25-year-old Edinson Volquez, who will likely fill one of the Dominican Republic's rotation spots.

Fellow right-handers Francisco Cordero and Johnny Cueto are also among the 24 pitchers on the provisional roster. With none of the three having ever been able to represent the Dominican Republic in the Olympics, the Classic will provide a unique opportunity for these players to play for their native country.

And interestingly enough, they will be tutored by a former Reds player, Mario Soto. Soto, who played with Cincinnati from 1977-1988 and has mentored pitchers in the organization since, will serve as the pitching coach for the Dominican Republic.

Utility player Wilkin Castillo is listed as a catcher on the Dominican Republic roster and could serve as a backup to likely starting backstop Miguel Oliva. Willy Taveras, who signed with the Reds in December, is listed as one of six outfielders to be considered for the team.

Jerry Hairston is on Mexico's provisional roster.

The Reds will almost certainly have a starting presence on Team Canada. Joey Votto is the leading candidate to serve as the team's designated hitter. Three Reds Minor Leaguers -- right-handers Kyle Lotzkar and James Avery and left-hander Philippe-Alexandre Valiquette -- are also among the players being considered for final roster spots on the Canadian team.

Team Canada is paired with the United States, Venezuela and Italy in the first round, and the Reds could have representation on two of those three teams as well.

Ramon Hernandez is one of six catchers that the Venezuelan team is considering for its tournament roster. And left-handers Luca Panerati and Matteo Pizziconi, both of whom played for Cincinnati's Gulf Coast League team last season, could be on Team Italy.

Four other Cincinnati Minor Leaguers -- infielder Yen-Wen Kuo (Chinese Taipei), left-hander Alexander Smit (Netherlands), and right-handers Juan Carlos Sulbaran (Netherlands) and Luis Machuca (Panama) -- are also on the provisional rosters.

The first round opens March 5 in Tokyo, with defending 2006 champion Japan facing China. Mexico City, Toronto and San Juan, Puerto Rico, host the other three first-round brackets, as follows:

• Tokyo (March 5-9): Japan, China, Chinese Taipei and Korea

• Toronto (March 7-11): USA, Canada, Venezuela and Italy

• San Juan, Puerto Rico (March 7-11): Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Netherlands, Panama

• Mexico City (March 8-12): Mexico, Cuba, South Africa, Australia

It's a double-elimination format this time in the first two rounds. The winners from Toronto will meet the winners from Puerto Rico in the second round at Miami's Dolphin Stadium, while the winners from Tokyo will face the winners from Mexico City in San Diego's PETCO Park.

The semifinals and finals are March 21 and 23 at Dodger Stadium.

http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/news/...=.jsp&c_id=cin

[RedEye]

I didn't realize Juan Carlos Sulbaran was Dutch. Huh!

[OnBaseMachine]

I didn't realize Juan Carlos Sulbaran was Dutch. Huh!

Yep, he's from Curacao. There's some nice talent down there. Listen for the name Juremi Profar in a few years. He played in the 2008 Little League World Series and was easily the best player I saw in the tournament.

[dougdirt]

I didn't realize Juan Carlos Sulbaran was Dutch. Huh!

He is from Curacao. Played high school baseball in Florida. Technically that makes him Dutch.

[RedsManRick]

Good to see our young ace throwing getting some extra work in...

[OnBaseMachine]

Good to see our young ace throwing getting some extra work in...

Cueto and Volquez have already thrown roughly 15-20 IP apiece in the Dominican Winter League...

On another note, did anyone see the video footage of Yu Darvish? Wow. That kid has some filthy stuff. I wonder when we'll see him in the US?

[membengal]

Cueto and Volquez have already thrown roughly 15-20 IP apiece in the Dominican Winter League...

On another note, did anyone see the video footage of Yu Darvish? Wow. That kid has some filthy stuff. I wonder when we'll see him in the US?

I am not rolling my eyes. I don't like it. At all.

I bumped the A-Rod to WBC thread for a post I had in there on this topic back in December, but I will paste it here since this is a better place for it:

One more from the vault, a BP article from Nate Silver dated May 8, 2006, was an exhaustive look at how the WBC starters were doing with regard to their PECOTA projections five weeks into the season:

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/ar...articleid=5054

The money graph?

These are very disturbing numbers. The relievers have emerged relatively unscathed--sixteen of the thirty-two relievers in our study have outperformed their PECOTA, and sixteen have underperformed it. But the starting pitchers have been brutalized. Nineteen of the 26 starters--nearly three-fourths of our sample--have underperformed their PECOTA. In most cases, they haven’t even come close to their projection. The weighted average ERA for the WBC starters is 5.49, a buck and a quarter higher than their PECOTAs. Keep in mind that these are supposed to be, quite literally, the best starting pitchers in the world, and that this performance has come over hundreds and hundreds of collective innings.

Silver's best guess as to explain the collective awfulness?

I don’t think this is the result of overwork per se. The WBC pitch count limits were a necessary evil, and were relatively well-designed to prevent any one pitcher from bearing too much of the burden. No major league pitcher threw more than 14 innings in the Classic (Bartolo Colon and Jae Seo were tied at this threshold). Rather, I think the problem is that the pitchers had been taken out of their routines. They didn’t get to see their trainer, pitching coach, or manager for a couple of weeks, they weren’t able to relax in the low-pressure environment of the Grapefruit or Cactus Leagues, and so forth. The pitcher may have been throwing in a relief role for his national club, when he hadn’t done that in the major leagues in years. If a certain pitching coach doesn’t like his pitcher to throw breaking stuff early in camp, or his manager wanted to pull him out after a high-effort inning, there wasn’t the opportunity to play it safe. This is why I think that the starting pitchers have been disproportionately affected as compared to the relievers--starting pitchers are creatures of habit and routine.

Interesting to remember back on and pause to reflect upon. The starters were horrible to start 2006, regardless of which country they pitched for in the WBC.

So, no, I am not particularly thrilled that Volquez and Cueto are about to enter the experiment vortex of this dealie, round 2. Maybe teams learned from 2006. I can only hope. Or at least hope that time has not faded such that teams forget just how bad it was for their starters who pitched in the WBC four years ago...

[11larkin11]

Ahh the legacy of Yu Darvish. He is like Elvis over there. Read some articles on the legend of Yu Darvish, lol.

[OnBaseMachine]

To be exact, Volquez has thrown 21.2 innings and Cueto has thrown 15.2 IP. Plus they are both participating in the World Baseball Classic. A smart organization would have given them the choice between pitching in the DWL or WBC, not both.

[OnBaseMachine]

I am not rolling my eyes. I don't like it. At all.

I don't like it either, hence the rolling my eyes emoticon.

[membengal]

Gotcha, wasn't clear. The data from the first go round for the WBC and starting pitchers was scary. And the two pitchers the Reds are counting on most if they are to make the run at .500 are part of this experiment part II. Don't like it, even a little.

[Highlifeman21]

Good to see our young ace throwing getting some extra work in...

The Dusty is smiling somewhere...

[Degenerate39]

This is stupid. They should make sure their star players aren't going to do this. Just wears the arms down sooner. And the often injured Jerry Hairston is another mistake when it comes to this. There's also alot of money on Cordero and he's doing it?

They really need to change the World Baseball Classic some how or another. Do it after the regular season and for the teams that are in the playoffs don't allow their players to participate.

[dougdirt]

I think there is a lot more being made about this than there should be.

These guys would be throwing innings in ST anyways. These are a little more stressful innings, but its not like its adding 30 innings to their work load directly before the start of the season.