World Baseball Classic: Updates 01/18/2009
World Baseball Classic
Updates 01/18/2009
Yankees want Posada to skip Classic.
NEW YORK — Jorge Posada’s hopes of playing for Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic may be dashed by the Yankees, who would prefer to have the catcher physically prepared for Opening Day.
The 37-year-old Posada is currently on a throwing program in Tampa, Fla., rehabilitating the right shoulder strain that cost him most of last season. Posada underwent surgery July 30 and the Yankees are counting on him as their starting backstop next season."I am sure he would love to play [in the World Baseball Classic], but he is currently rehabbing from surgery and would not be ready," Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said.
Reports out of Puerto Rico indicated that Posada has started training for the tournament, concurrent with his rehab to prepare for the Yankees’ season.
In a Spanish-language interview with Primera Hora, Posada said that he is especially motivated to get into the tournament since he may no longer be an active player for the next one in 2012.
"This will be my last chance to play for Puerto Rico, and I’m very clear on that," Posada said. "For that reason, I’ll do anything possible to be 100 percent, because it is a dream of mine to wear that uniform."
Posada estimated that his recovery from the July 30 surgery is at "75 percent," though he is batting and throwing without problems.
Posada’s father, Jorge Sr., told The Associated Press that his son has already signed a participation agreement for the Classic.
"He feels fine and wants to play for Puerto Rico," Posada Sr. reportedly said.
The interest, it would seem, is mutual. In an e-mail to MLB.com, Lou Melendez — the general manager of Puerto Rico’s Classic team — wrote: "I would love to have Posada on Team PR. I am waiting to learn his status because of insurance issues."
Yankees media relations director Jason Zillo also confirmed that Posada will not play in the tournament. The only Yankees currently slated to play in the Classic are Derek Jeter, who will represent the United States, and Alex Rodriguez, who will switch teams and play for the Dominican Republic
While Mariano Rivera will not be ready to represent Panama after having surgery to remove a calcified AC joint in his pitching shoulder, Johnny Damon and Joba Chamberlain are also among those who have expressed interest in playing for the United States.
The switch-hitting Posada was limited to 51 games last season, batting .268 with three home runs and 22 RBIs in the first year of a four-year, $52.4 million deal.
Ortiz hopes to play for Dominican
BOSTON — As long as David Ortiz’s left wrist continues to give him no pain, the star slugger plans on suiting up for the Dominican Republic in the upcoming World Baseball Classic.
"I have been swinging some, and my injured wrist has not bothered me since last year," Ortiz told The Associated Press by e-mail on Thursday. "Just as I promised, if I’m healthy, I will join the team."
Ortiz played in the inaugural World Baseball Classic in 2006, hitting a prodigious home run off Johan Santana, who was pitching for Venezuela.
The left-handed masher suffered a partially torn tendon sheath in his left wrist on May 31 of last season and was on the disabled list until July 25.
Ortiz was candid in saying that he was never 100 percent for the rest of the season. However, after the Red Sox were knocked out of the American League Championship Series and Ortiz had a chance to rest, he said that his wrist felt noticeably better.
Ortiz hit .264 with 23 home runs and 89 RBIs in 109 games last year, all lows for him since he joined the Red Sox in 2003.
The Red Sox are expected to have several other players participate in the World Baseball Classic, including Daisuke Matsuzaka (Japan), Jason Bay (Canada), Kevin Youkilis (United States) and Dustin Pedroia (United States).
Johan eager to resume pitching.
NEW YORK — Johan Santana hasn’t thrown a pitch since Sept. 27. And since then he has endured, in order, the disappointment of the Mets’ defeat in their final game of the 2008 regular season, surgery on his left knee, weeks of rehabilitation and, within the last two weeks, the death of his 10-year-old nephew in an automobile accident in Venezuela.
Santana anxiously awaits the new baseball year. It will allow him to get past an uncomfortable period. And participating in the World Baseball Classic would be part of it.
Santana intends to tread lightly, though. Riding an exercise cycle as he has regularly since recovering from the surgery in one thing. Pitching competitively in March is something else. And pitching in April comes first — as a priority, if not on the calendar.
Santana is to be examined by the Mets’ doctors in Port St. Lucie, Fla., next week, and he has some thought of reporting to the club’s complex a week before the beginning of Spring Training. He’d like to know as soon as possible what the immediate future holds.
"I’d love to represent my country," he said. "But I’m not going to do anything crazy. We’ll see how everything is with my knee. I’m hoping the doctors will give me the OK.
"The team will have to approve of [the course of action]. It’s a medical decision. The reality is I haven’t pitched or played in a game since September. They’re going to keep an eye on me. I’m going to go one step at a time."
So Santana as of yet has no sense of what March will hold for him — innings wearing the uniform of his country, days dealing with the uncertainty of rehabbing from surgery or what he would consider a normal training camp.
"Everything feels good now," Santana said.
But, strangely, he must wait for the Mets’ medical staff and trainers to tell him how he feels. And even then, we won’t know how his push-off leg will respond to the rigors of pitching.
General manager Omar Minaya said Wednesday of the World Baseball Classic and Santana: "We encourage all our players to participate. However, we have to take it case by case, and Johan had surgery last October. Once we get to Spring Training, we will consult with our medical staff and decide whether he is physically able to represent his country."
Santana’s surgery on Oct. 1 was to repair a tear in his meniscus, one that he apparently suffered weeks earlier. The injury was repaired without incident — but surgery is surgery. And Santana turns 30 in less than a month. He doesn’t feel his age, but acknowledges his daughters have found some gray hairs — and plucked them.
At age 29, he was everything a No. 1 starter should be. He led the National League in ERA (2.53), and innings (234 1/3). He won 16 games, lost seven and was in position to win seven other starts that became no-decisions because of runs allowed by the bullpen. The Mets won 22 of his 34 starts, including 10 of the final 11. And his three-hit shutout of the Marlins in the season’s 161st game — he pitched on short rest and with a bum knee — stands as the team’s premier pitching performance of the season.
He wants more of the same, plus a chance to pitch in October
Kazmir and Howell added to Team USA
ST. PETERSBURG — The Rays will be represented on Team USA’s roster for the upcoming World Baseball Classic after Scott Kazmir and J.P. Howell were added to the team Thursday.
On Friday, USA Baseball announced 23 players who had made commitments to play in the second edition of the tournament, which begins in Tokyo on March 5 and ends at Dodger Stadium on March 23.
The additions of Kazmir and Howell on Thursday expanded the USA roster to 26, meaning they will report March 2 with the rest of what could be a 28-man roster under USA manager Davey Johnson in Clearwater, Fla., the spring home of the defending World Series champion Phillies. The Americans’ first game in the tournament is March 7 against Canada at Toronto’s Rogers Centre. They will play in Pool C along with Venezuela and Italy.
Kazmir, 24, went 12-8 with a 3.49 ERA in 27 starts in 2008, while Howell, 25, went 6-1 with a 2.22 ERA in 64 appearances out of the Rays’ bullpen.
The starters for Team USA are Jake Peavy, John Lackey and Roy Oswalt, and the bullpen boasts Brian Fuentes, Joe Nathan, Scot Shields, Jonathan Broxton, B.J. Ryan, J.J. Putz, Matt Thornton and Matt Lindstrom.
Kazmir’s and Howell’s participation could take them away from the Rays’ Spring Training camp for more than three weeks. They would report to Port Charlotte, Fla., with the team on Feb. 14 and then report to the Team USA workouts on March 2.
Should Team USA advance to the finals on March 23 at Dodger Stadium, Kazmir and Howell could rejoin the Rays on March 24, in time for the final 10 exhibition games of Spring Training.
The provisional rosters for the Classic are due on Friday, with the final roster to be set by USA Baseball on Feb. 24.
From MLB.com
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