All in all, the Mets acquisition of K-Rod could have been worse. For the millions of you who read this blog, it’s well-documented that he was my last choice of the three FA closers, but the contract could have been worse, and it’s obviously still an upgrade. But mainly, I think the reason I’m not that upset about it is because I’ve been expecting it for a while now. Of course Omar Minaya would just get the safest, biggest name that would get him the most publicity. So I was fine. 

And then I saw this. 

So in order to get my mind of that terrifying proposition, I decided to try and create a potential roster for the U.S.A. Team in the WBC, which begins in early March. Teams can have roster sizes up to 30 players, and must have a minimum of three catchers and 13 pitchers. In 2006, the U.S. carried 14 pitchers, only four of whom were starters. Position player-wise they had three catchers, two First Basemen, one Second Baseman, two Shortstops, two Third Basemen, two Left Fielders, three Center Fielders, and one Right Fielder. So I tried to model this roster after that one. 

Catcher: Joe Mauer, Brian McCann, Russell Martin – Mauer and McCann are no-brainers. Last spot needs to be a right-handed hitter and I’m giving Martin the edge over Chris Ianetta because he’s better defensively and is a little more versatile. Also, there’s about a 95% chance that Jason Varitek is on this team in the spring, but at least I get to cut him. 

First Base: Mark Teixeira, Kevin Youkilis – Lance Berkman ended the year with some injury trouble, so although he deserves the spot based on his performance last year, I’ll assume that he doesn’t want the extra games. I love that both of these guys are very good with the glove in addition to their prowess at the plate. Prince Fielder and Ryan Howard are tough cuts, but they’re just not as complete packages for this team. 

Second Base: Dustin Pedroia, Ian Kinsler – Obviously if Chase Utley were healthy, he’d be starting on this team, or platooning with Pedroia at the worst. With him out until June, there’s one spot open for a backup middle infielder. Jeter will probably be on the team in real life, I’m taking Kinsler over J.J. Hardy, Michael Young, and Brian Roberts. He’s the best hitter by a significant enough margin, and in an emergency can either slide over to short, or let Pedroia make the switch and handle second well. 

Third Base: David Wright, Evan Longoria – Just like Lance Berkman, I’m leaving Chipper Jones off the roster because of lingering injury concerns even though his ’08 performance would merit him a starter. Wright’s an obvious call, and I love getting Longoria on the roster for his defense which helps him edge out Ryan Zimmerman, Troy Glaus and Garrett Atkins. 

Shortstop: Jimmy Rollins – After a career year with the bat in ’07, Rollins came back and had his best year defensively in ’08, taking home the Fielding Bible award. The shortstops mentioned above were all in consideration but Rollins takes the spot pretty handily. 

Left Field: Matt Holliday, Carl Crawford – Holliday’s aneasy call, and will be one of only a few players on my team who were also on the ’06 roster (Teixeira and three closers). I’m going with Crawford barely edging out Ryan Braun and Carlos Quentin because his speed and defense (another ’08 Fielding Bible award winner) will be very welcome on the bench. 

Center Field: Grady Sizemore, Josh Hamilton, Matt Kemp – Sizemore is one of the true stars of this team and will be starting every game in Center. Hamilton should make a good DH against righties and is definitely a welcome addition to the roster. In the sixth and last outfield spot I wanted someone who would be on the team mainly for defensive and speed purposes, and I was leaning toward Shane Victorino. But Kemp is a much better hitter, can play both center and right above-average, and stole 35 bases last year. Also, Kemp absolutely mashed lefties last year, which is going to earn him some at-bats. 

Right Field: Nick Markakis – I thought about a straight righty-lefty platoon with Markakis and Ryan Ludwick, but I’m honestly still just not sold on Ludwick, and I like Kemp more because of his versatility. Besides Braun and Quentin, outfield apologies go out to Rick Ankiel, B.J. Upton, Mike Francesa’s man-crush Nate McLouth, and Pat’s hero Griffey. 

Lineups

Vs. RHP
1. Sizemore CF
2. Pedroia 2b
3. Teixeira 1b
4. Hamilton DH
5. Holliday LF
 6. Wright 3b
7. Markakis RF
8. Mauer C
9. Rollins SS

I love this lineup, there’s not really a hole in it. I thought about swapping Pedroia and Sizemore, and also hitting Holliday or Wright third with Teixeira in the cleanup spot, but I think this is the most balanced lineup.  

Vs. LHP
1. Pedroia 2b
2. Youkilis 1b
3. Teixeira DH
4. Holliday LF
5. Wright 3b
6. Kemp RF
7. Mauer C/Sizemore CF
8. Sizemore CF/Martin C
9. Rollins SS

You’re gonna have to give Mauer a couple days off, so he’ll probably be sitting against lefties in which case Martin gets the nod behind the dish. Kemp starts over Markakis against a lefty, and although he doesn’t hit right-handed as well as he does left-handed, Teixeira stays in the 3 spot. Another option would be to hit Rollins second, and drop Youkilis to six and slide everyone down from there. 

Pitching

Following the lead of the ’06 team, I’m only taking four starters. By the way, those four starters were Roger Clemens, Jake Peavy, Dontrelle Willis (probably not getting chosen again) and … Al Leiter. Yeah that was only three years ago. 

SP: C.C. Sabathia, Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels, Tim Lincecum – choosing these four starters was probably the toughest decision I had to make on the roster. In real life, I don’t believe that Hamels will be there because of how late into the year he pitched in ’08, and I wouldn’t be surprised if both Sabathia and Lincecum weren’t a part of the team either because of pressure from their respective teams. Peavy is a definite possibility, especially considering he was on the team three years ago. Cliff Lee is the toughest snub coming off his monster ’08, and guys like Brandon Webb, Dan Haren, and Jon Lester can all make legit cases. 

RP: Brad Lidge, Joe Nathan, Jonathan Papelbon, Kerry Wood, Brian Fuentes, J.J. Putz, George Sherrill, Ryan Madson, J.P. Howell, Brad Ziegler – Lidge, Nathan, Papelbon, Wood, and  Fuentes are all easy choices, as is Sherrill who demolishes lefties. I take Putz as the last true closer on the roster over Bobby Jenks, B.J. Ryan, Trevor Hoffman, and Jon Broxton. The last three guys I all wanted for specific roles. Howell was great last year against both lefties and righties, and can extend himself if need be. Ziegler was terrific last year and will give a different look for a couple hitters. Madson was the last choice, and I take him because he can also has experience throwing more than an inning and was dominant at the end of the last year. 

So there you have it. If there were actual readers, I’d ask for your comments/changes etc. But instead, I’ll just wait to here what Pat would do differently. And if I go on MLBTradeRumors and there’s a rumor that the Mets are interested in David Eckstein, then I’ll be providing my rosters for the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Canada, Mexico, Japan, China, South Africa, and Australia.