The World Baseball Classic is once again upon us, and it does have a considerable effect on the Red Sox organization.  I’m actually among the vast minority of Sox fans who like the idea of the WBC, even though I acknowledge the inherent risk in having our guys participate in these game.  Yeah, I’ll be taking a deep, uneasy breath every time Daisuke uncorks a slider and every time Youk leans into a fastball, but I also love the idea of globalized baseball.  How cool is it that places like Italy, Holland, and South Africa are actually fielding baseball teams against the likes of the United States, Japan, and Cuba?

So, which players in the Red Sox organization will be participating?  Here’s a list (the names of major leaguers and prominent prospects are in bold type):

Jason Bay (Canada)
Fernando Cabrera (Puerto Rico)
Angel Chavez (Panama)
Chih-Hsien Chiang (Chinese Taipei)
Mitch Dening (Australia)
Justin Erasmus (South Africa)
Enrique Gonzalez (Venezuela)
Steve Green (Canada)
Che-Hsuan Lin (Chinese Taipei)
Javier Lopez (Puerto Rico)
Daisuke Matsuzaka (Japan)
Dennis Neuman (Netherlands)
David Ortiz (Domincan Republic)
Dustin Pedroia (United States)
Kevin Youkilis (United States)

Here’s a complete list of all rosters: MLB.com link

There was one recent disturbing bit of WBC Red Sox related news: Jason Bay will be playing CF for Canada.  Yeah, sweet.  Hey, any chance Pedroia gets to play shortstop?  Maybe David Ortiz can grab a catcher’s mitt?  I’m not loving the idea of giving our players more difficult positions to play in March, but I am a supporter of WBC, so I guess I have to accept its warts.

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