“If I only play three more years this would be a good opportunity,” Oswalt said. “I thought it’d be a great time to do it and try to win a gold medal.”

Oswalt, who won a gold medal on Team USA at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, did not participate in the first WBC in 2006.  But he has committed to play on this year’s team.

Full Article:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6195573.html

Lefebvre, who recently became the San Diego Padres’ hitting coach, guided China’s fledgling national baseball team throughout its formative years.

Collins, a former director of player development for the Los Angeles Dodgers, went to Japan in 2007 and managed the Orix Buffaloes in the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) league before resigning early in the 2008 season.

The former big league manager compiled a 444-434 record in six years calling the shots for the Los Angeles Angels (1997-99) and Houston Astros (1994-96).

China will be one of 16 nations that will be competing in the second World Baseball Classic slated to be held in Canada, Japan, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and three U.S. sites. The championship game will be staged at Dodger Stadium on March 23.

Other nations receiving invitations to the star-studded tournament includes Australia, Canada, Chinese Taipei, the Dominican Republic, Italy, the Netherlands, Korea, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico, South Africa, the U.S. and Venezuela.

The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) announced a list of prospective players that included 11 who are playing for US teams and six playing for NPB clubs in Japan.

The 48 players will train from January 29 until February 7 in Taiwan, and will prepare for the WBC in Australia from February 7-20. The CPBL will cut down the lineup to 28 players on February 21 and will play a trio of exhibition games in Taiwan before departing for Japan on February 26 for the World Baseball Classic.

The 2009 World Baseball Classic will kick off on March 5 with the preliminaries being played in Tokyo, Toronto, Puerto Rico, Mexico City, San Diego and Miami.

The Taiwan National Team will battle China, Japan and South Korea in Pool A, and will play six games at the Tokyo Dome in Japan from March 5-9.

The finals will be held March 21-23 at Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles, California.

Taiwan Preliminary WBC Roster

Catchers (4): 1)Cheng-Da Wu (K. Rangers) 2)Chih-Kang Kao (Lions) 3)Yi-Feng Kuo (Elephants) 4)Kun-Seng Lin (no affiliation)

Infielders (12): 1)Chin-Lung Hu (Dodgers) 2)Chih-Hsien Chiang (Red Sox) 3)Yen-Wen Kuo (Reds) 4)Chung-Shou Yang (Fighters) 5)Tu-Hsuan Lee (Hawks) 6)Cheng-Min Peng (Elephants) 7)Sheng-Wei Wang (Elephants) 8)Chih-Hsiang Huang (drafted by Elephants) 9)Kuo-Ching Kao (Lions) 10)Han Lin (amateur) 11)Chia-Hsien Hsieh (drafted by Bulls) 12)Yi-Chuan Lin (amateur)

Outfielders (10): 1)Che-Hsuan Lin (Red Sox) 2)Kuo-Hui Lo (Mariners) 3)Wei-Chu Lin (H. Tigers) 4)Cheng-Wei Huang (Elephants) 5)Chih-Yuan Chen (Elephants) 6)Ssu-Chi Chou (drafted by Elephants) 7)Wu-Hsiung Pan (Lions) 8)Fu-Hao Liu (Lions) 9) Tai-Chi Kuo (Lions) 10)Chih-Yao Chan (drafted by Bears)

Pitchers (22): 1)Hong-Chih Kuo (Dodgers) 2)Ching-Lung Lo (Rockies) 3)Chen-Chang Lee (Indians) 4)Sung-Wei Tseng (Indians) 5)Chia-Jen Lo (Astros) 6)Hong-Wen Chen (Cubs) 7)Wei-Yin Chen (Dragons) 8)Yi-Jie Hsiao (H. Tigers) 9)Yu-Cheng Liao (Elephants) 10)Chin-Hui Tsao (drafted by Elephants) 11)Fu-Te Ni (drafted by the Elephants) 12)Wei-Lun Pan (Lions) 13)Yueh-Ping Lin (Lions) 14)Wei-Hua Lee (Lions) 15)Po-Hsuan Keng (drafted by Bears) 16)Ko-Chien Lin (drafted by Bulls) 17)Chien-Ming Chiang (drafted by Bulls) 18)Ying-Chieh Lin (drafted by Bulls) 19)Kai-Wen Cheng (amateur) 20)Yu-Chi Hsiao (amateur) 21)Pai-Yu Lin (amateur) 22)Si-Yo Wu (no affiliation)

Source: Taiwan Baseball

Kim managed Korea to the surprising semifinal berth at the inaugural WBC three years ago. But the bar has been raised for Korean baseball since it won the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics last year. And when other veteran managers declined to take the WBC job, Kim was summoned once again.

And if he is feeling the pressure - well, actually he is showing it. “I will lose sleep when the tournament nears,” Kim said. “I just know it won’t be an easy job.”

Kim also spoke of the responsibilities of the national team players, and of his plans for the national team.

Full Article:

http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2899318

After a poor performance in the 2006 Classic wrought with a series of problems, manager Luis Sojo took over the reins, smoothed differences and gave rebirth to hope for the Venezuelans.

Sojo controlled a rebellion of a few big leaguers, received a list of 80 candidate players, “revised the list a thousand times,” made a cut to 51 and expects to leave 40 players by January 16 to present the final 28 choices by February 22.

Although he has not wanted to name names, Magglio Ordonez, Miguel Cabrera, Bob Abreu, Johan Santana, Francisco Rodríguez and Carlos Zambrano are being mentioned as an expression of their talent and because Sojo “does not want any weak spots.”

Full Article:

http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID={4FC30E71-4B46-4FCD-9A4F-97AEBE555E95})&language=EN

The two teams swapped the lead several times before the Rams ultimately took the points.

They put on a show for the Baxter Field crowd with solid hitting and some superb fielding punctuated by two home runs.

The Rams were leading 5-3 into the sixth innings before the South Australians capitalised on a series of wild pitches and some well-constructed hitting to score five runs.

Undeterred, Queensland fought back in the top of the seventh when Ben Simpson beat out a hit to short-stop to be safe at first.

Full Article:

http://www.northernstar.com.au/story/2009/01/06/queensland-rams-win-baseball-title-opener/

Team USA will begin their campaign the following night against South American baseball heavyweight Venezuela. A pair of games are scheduled for both September 11th and 12th.

The Americans, who captured the gold medal at the 2007 World Championship for the third time (1973 and 1974), will open the tourney as the group favorite.

Contrary to past competitions elite players with Major League experience will again participate in international competitions. Altogether, the Americans have won 14 medals at the World Cups.

Venezuela is likely to be a tough opponent as well. The South Americans experienced ‘golden times’ in the 1940s when they won three gold medals (1941, 1944, 1945).

The least experienced of the scheduled opponents for the German national team is likely to be China, who was last present at the World Cup in 2003 and 2005, where they finished in 13th and 11th place, respectively.

Squads will need at least one win to have any chance of advancing to the next round. The teams in each group finishing first and second place, as well as four of the best third place teams, qualify for the second round which takes place in Italy and the Netherlands.

Preliminary Round Schedule:

September 9th
Germany vs China

September 10th
USA vs Venezuela

September 11th
Venezuela vs China
USA vs Germany

September 12th
China vs USA
Germany vs Venezuela

Photo courtesy of the IBAF

Source: Confederation of European Baseball (CEB)

Mora, who had a strong bounce back season last year, hitting .285 with 23 homers and 104 RBIs, was scheduled to play in the inaugural 2006 event, but he pulled out before the tournament started because of concerns about his role. Mora was miffed that Venezuelan team officials planned on using him in the outfield, which he hadn’t played in several seasons, with Miguel Cabrera getting the starts at third base.

Full Article:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/baseball/bal-orioles1229,0,3826460.story

Lee had repeated his intent not to play in the competition, and Park wanted to focus on training for next season after signing a one-year deal with Philadelphia. Excluded was pitcher Baek Cha-seung of the San Diego Padres, who has become a naturalized American citizen.

The Korea Baseball Organization held a technical committee meeting in Seoul Friday attended by national team coach Kim In-shik (Hanwha Eagles) and six assistant coaches. They finalized the list of 32 candidate players, including five playing abroad.

The 15 pitchers on the list included Kim Kwang-hyun and Chung Dae-hyun of the SK Wyverns of Korea, who led Team Korea to the Olympic title in Beijing; Ryu Hyun-jin (Hanwha); Yoon Seok-min (Kia Tigers); and Bong Joong-keun (LG Twins), as well as Hwang Doo-sung (Woori Heroes), who was not in the initial list of 45 candidates.

Lee Hye-chun (Japan’s Yakult Swallows), Song Seung-joon (Lotte Giants), Ma Il-young (Woori) and Seo Jae-weong (KIA) made the initial list but did not make the cut this time.

The catchers are Park Kyung-wan (SK), Kang Min-ho (Lotte), and the nine infielders include Kim Dong-ju (Doosan Bears), Lee Dae-ho (Lotte), and Park Jin-man (Samsung Lions).

Among the six outfielders were Kim Hyun-soo (Doosan), Lee Taek-keun (Woori) and Lee Jin-young (LG). Five of the eight players active overseas made the roster, including Choo Shin-soo (Cleveland Indians), and Lim Chang-yong (Yakult).

The technical committee, which originally planned to finalize a list of 28 players, announced 32 because it said it wanted to wait and see in the hopes that Lee and Park will join the team.

MasterCard was one of two global partners for the inaugural country-against-country event in 2006, while Anheuser-Busch was a partner in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. PepsiCo Inc. may also skip the second edition of the tournament. All three companies are official sponsors of Major League Baseball, which created the event with its players union.

Full Article:

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/sports/baseball/2008/12/24/189041/Breuer-Anheuser-Busch.htm