Because I care. Japan, having won the first two WBC (2006, 2009) will defend his crown against Cuba, China and Brazil during the first round. Here is the provisional roster : Kazuki Yoshimi has withdrawn, his elbow wasn't healed enough. Other than that, there's no MLB player and if you look at who could have been in the team (Yu Darvish, Ichiro, Kyuji Fujikawa, Norichika Aoki, Hiroki Kuroda, Koji Uehara, Hiroyuki Nakajima, Junichi Tazawa, Tsuyoshi Wada, Tsuyoshi Nishioka, Dice-K etc ...) you can consider that's a HUGE loss. But Japanese baseball is so strong that the fielded team, and particularly in the pitching department, should be excellent. The Ace of the team will be Masahiro Tanaka, winner of the Sawamura Award in 2011. He's a power pitcher (can reach 97mph), lot of Ks and few walks. Behind him will line Kenta Maeda (Sawamura Award 2010, threw a no hitter this year), Tadashi Settsu (Sawamura Award 2012), a lefty to be chosen between Toshiya Sugiuchi (Sawamura Award in 2005, threw a no hitter this year) and his teammate Tetsuya Utsumi (most wins in 2012). Also, it has a become a tradition, a submarine pitcher in Kazuhisa Makita, very useful against an american opposition not used to face those particular type of pitchers. In the relief department there's also plenty of talent like Tetsuya Yamaguchi, Hirokazu Sawamura (powerful pitcher), Masahiko Morifuku (finesse lefty), Takeru Imamura and the fantastic Takuya Asao (CL MVP 2011). The field players pool is weaker. We'll still be couting on the undisputed Central League 2012 Shinnosuke Abe, a catcher with tremendous hitting abilities. First base will be very weak since the best power hitter the NPB has ever produced, Takeya Nakamura, is rehabing and won't be able to play. Abe will see time at 1B, so will Atsunori Inaba et Seiichi Uchikawa. 2B is also weak offensively, Yuichi Honda and Hirokazu Ibata are both excellent defenders but they can't hit. A good option would be to try Takeshi Toritani, who is likely to be the shortstop backup, there. We'll see. Shortstop will be filled by the excellent Hayato Sakamoto who can hit for power, average, with running abilities and good defense. Starting third baseman should be Nobuhiro Matsuda, a decent power hitter who can hit for average and run. As for the outfielders, there is a bit of uncertainty but I think Japan will play small ball, defense and running above all, so we should see something like Hisayoshi Chono, Yohei Oshima and Yoshio Itoi, at the expense of the power hitter Sho Nakata who isn't as good on defense as these guys. Six players will be cut with the obligation to carry 13 pitchers.
The 5 players who got cut : Unfortunately Takuya Asao isn't ready enough to play and must go along Daisuke Yamai, Shuichi Murata, Yohei Oshima and Ryo Hirijisawa. These last two choices are puzzling as, in a team which lacks power, you could expect the manager to focus on speed and those two guys were the Stolen Bases champions in their respective leagues. But whatever ... Here's the final roster : I must admit I lost a bit of confidence after watching them getting wrecked by Hiroshima Carp.
Looks like Korea will also send a understrenght squad. After winning the last (and only) two tournaments...looks like our aces completely lost interest in it.
Do you think people will have interest with our current squad? what is your prediction? It will be interesting to watch Brazil Team as well. Most of them are Nissei.
It's the national team so they will always garner attention, losing Ichiro is too bad but there will be interest. And it's going to be alright as long as the pitching is good, the offensive staff is weak unfortunately. They played a training game against Australia and barely won today thanks to a 3r HR from catcher's backup Ryuji Aikawa :
Tough game ne Saku. Brazil showed great potencial, using a mix of baseball schools. Barry Larkin is doing a great job and keep an eye at Reginato, excellent Brazilian Player. Japan is shaky but got the job done.
50% of my expectations lie on whether the top pitchers pee in ther pants (as they did today) or perform at their real level and the other 50% on Uchikawa.
Overall, it was disappointing. They look extremely nervous even against a immature side such as Brazil. I loved the Japanese Staff face when the 8th inning started. The killer glare!!! (you better step up your game punks)
Taiwan and the Netherlands advance to the second round in Tokyo, South Korea are eliminated. If Japan beat Cuba today, they face the Netherlands first, if not, it's Taiwan.
The Netherlands is no joke. They have talented Caribbean-born players. Wladimir Balentien won the last two home run champion titles in Japan. Andruw Jones currently plays in Japan and had a quite successful career (10 times gold glove winner) in MLB.
Seriously - can't they go to brothel? It would probably be cheaper, cleaner and more fun for them rather than doing it like... unlike a grown-up men?
