Twins in the World Baseball Classic

Posted by John on December 30, 2008 under John | Read the First Comment

Quiet week on the Twins front here on the back end of the holiday season. I know the Twins front office always takes off the week of Christmas and doesn’t come back until the new year so don’t expect any significant Twins news until we ring in 2009.

On that note, LaVelle Neal III examines the list of potential Twins who will participate in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. We know that Justin Morneau and now Joe Nathan are locks to participate for Canada and the U.S. Neal guesses that Joe Mauer could play this year after declining in the 2006 competition. It appears that Francisco Liriano and Luke Hughes could also be playing for the Dominican Republic and Australia respectively.

As a baseball fan I certainly enjoy watching more baseball and not having to wait until April, but I must admit I wasn’t enamored by the innaugural tournament in 06. I loved the country pride and I thought the country’s respective colors and uniforms were pretty cool. I even enjoyed seeing the U.S. lose and America noticing the rest of the talent around the world but I just didn’t get hooked. I must admit it does throw a wrench in the spring training schedule and you have to worry about the injury history with players like Mauer and Liriano, or the overwork of players like Nathan or Morneau who is coming off a 163 game season.

All in all I am excited for the WBC and hopefully we’ll have a competitive tournament with few injuries.