With Team USA set to go up against an extremely slick-fielding Japanese team tonight in their semifinal matchup to determine who goes to the championship game against Korea, USA manager Davey Johnson is going with a bafflingly bad defensive alignment.

First of all, it is highly questionable to go with an outfield of Ryan Braun in left, Curtis Granderson in center, and Adam Dunn in right.  Granderson is decent enough, but I am tempted to say that an outfield of Granderson in center and two completely immoble industrial-sized trash dumpsters in left and right would catch more fly balls.

But most baffling of all is Davey Johnson’s decision to go with worst-defensive-shortstop-in-baseball Derek Jeter at short while actually-pretty-good-defensive-shortstop Jimmy Rollins is the DH!

Actually, this is of course not baffling at all, since most crusty old baseball men still think Jeter is awesome at defense, but really, it’s hard to think of a defensive move more damaging to the squad’s chances of victory, other than putting Dunn at 2B or something.

As anyone who watched today’s semifinal matchup between Korea and Venezuela knows, the Korean national baseball team is good. Ridiculously good.  Korea utterly dismantled a Venezuelan team chock-full of major league superstars, putting on a show of power, patience, good pitching and outstanding defense.

Meanwhile Venezuela cracked under the pressure, making 5 errors including an unconscionable dropped fly ball by Bobby Abreu, a sight with which Angel fans will soon be far more familiar than they want to be.

Many people have been talking about how Korea is the surprise of the tournament, but these people obviously have no idea what they are talking about, as Korean baseball has been on the rise for almost a decade now.

Korea first served notice to the world way back in 2000 at the Sydney Olympics, when they stunned a Japanese team loaded with stars to take the bronze medal, handing Japan its first medal-less Olympics ever.  Korea then finished second at the Intercontinental Cup in 2002 and in the Baseball World Cup in 2005, and actually outplayed almost everyone in the 2006 World Baseball Classic, going 6-0 to sweep through the opening rounds only to be knocked out in the semifinals in their only loss of the tournament.  Korea then promptly rebounded in 2008 by sweeping through the Beijing Olympics to take the gold medal.

Korea is definitely my favorite team to watch in the WBC.  What I love about them is that they have the total package.  They put their best players on the field, play outstanding ball in all phases of the game – defense, batting, and pitching, and their players seem to be running their absolute hardest on every single play.  Team Japan plays hard too, but they still do stupid small-ball stuff like an idiotic attempt to bunt Ichiro over with one out late in a game earlier in this tournament while down 1-0.

I won’t guarantee that Korea is going to win Monday night’s championship game. After all, baseball is virtually a .500 game. But I’ve already seen more than enough to say that they are the best baseball team on the planet, outside of perhaps the American League All-Star team.

If Team USA winds up defeated in the World Baseball Classic, a big part of the reason will be a roster decimated by injuries.  Or should I say “injuries.”

"waah, my oblique!"

First Chipper Jones had “soreness” in his side, then Dustin Pedroia got a strain in his abdomen, then Ryan Braun got “tightness” in his rib cage, and now Kevin Youklis is out for the tournament with a “mild sprain” to his ankle, Derrek Lee is unavailable because of a “sore thigh,” and David Wright is moaning to ESPN about his sore toe.

Do you think Korea or Japan, a team which is marketing itself as “Samurai Japan” this tournament, would have any players bowing out with such minor injuries?  You never hear of the minor injuries of players on other teams, because they just shut up and play. It makes the US look like a bunch of crybabies.

And even more galling is that as soon as Pedroia arrived back in Red Sox camp, he suddenly realized his injury was “not as bad as feared,” and expects to be starting in Red Sox spring training games by next week.

You get the feeling that if major league teams are not actually encouraging these injuries, the certainly are happy to have players back early.

Look, I understand the concern about pitchers, and when closer Matt Lindstrom felt soreness in his shoulder that was obviously a situation which deserved to be treated seriously.  But I simply can’t see how a position player playing a handful of ballgames in spring is all that bad, and I’m sick of all the moaning by major league teams.

Certainly, the timing of the WBC is not perfect, but it is an awesome event the provides far, far more exciting baseball than spring training, or even a lot of regular season games (I’m looking at you, Pittsburgh Pirates), and it deserves to be supported.

Nobody cries in the rest of the world, and a sport that forces its stars to play a grueling schedule of almost a game a day for 162 games plus spring training and playoffs hardly has a leg to stand on when complaining about 3-5 extra games.

Over the past week or so, we here at UmpBump have been honoring the festival of baseball joy that is the World Baseball Classic with a series of posts in which we compile our versions of the All-time greatest teams for as many countries around the world as we can.

In the end, we managed to come up with pretty good squads for Canada, Italy, Japan, Panama, Venezuela, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic.

So now it is time to pit our 8-team field of all-time teams against each other in an apocalyptic battle for eternal baseball glory – The All-Time Baseball World Classic!  Now, it almost goes without saying that an all-time team of US players would win this tournament if they entered, but for the sake of debate let’s just assume the All-American team were banned for various abuses like the color barrier, moving the Dodgers from Brooklyn, appointing Bud Selig commissioner, and the abomination that is American Idol – who would win in an all-out grudge match between the rest of the world?

Take a look at each of the teams linked above and vote below for who you think would win it all in our All-Time Baseball Classic!

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In honor of the World Baseball Classic, we are coming up with “All-Time Teams” for as many of the participating nations as we can. So far, we’ve done the Canadians, the Italians, the Japanese, the Puerto Ricans, the Cubans, the Venezuelans,  and the Panamanians. Now, we aim the spotlight on the Dominicans! Alas, this year’s Dominican team has already been eliminated from the WBC, causing a national outpouring of shame and lamentation in that island country. But how would an All-Time DR team fare? Let’s take a look.

For some teams, such as the Italian team (a total of six native-born players), fielding a roster of native-born major-leaguers is challenging, if not impossible.That’s not the case with creating an all-time team from the Dominican Republic. The DR has sent 472 sons of the soil to the majors, more than any other foreign country. More than 42 US states, too, as a matter of fact. Since they have such a large pool to draw from, I am not going to go the route of some of my fellow Umpbumpers and use American-born players of Dominican descent or argue that a guy with 12 starts at centerfield deserves to start there on the All-Time team. Ahem.

Lineup:

Designated Hitter – David Ortiz – David Ortiz finished the five seasons from 2003 – 2007 in the top five of MVP voting, an impressive feat – but downright incredible when you consider that many voters refuse to support a full-time DH for the honor. Since coming to the Red Sox (in 2003), he did not hit fewer than 30 home runs until last year, when he only played in 109 games. Even in 2007, a supposed “off-year” in the eyes of the media, he recorded his highest-ever OPS+ at a ridiculous 171.

Left Field – Manny Ramirez – Somehow, in between all the hijinks and shenanigans, Manuel Aristides Onelcida Ramirez has amassed, in 16 years in the majors, 527 homers and 2,393 hits. Given how he plays when he’s motivated – he hit 17 homers in 53 games with the Dodgers last year after hitting 20 dingers in 100 games with the Red Sox – can you imagine what he could have accomplished by now if he hadn’t been faking those knee injuries and striking out on purpose? But in the bottom of the 9th when your team is down a run and there’s a man on base, there’s still no one you’d rather have at the plate than this future Hall of Famer. And he just gets tougher with two strikes against him.

Right Field – Vladimir Guerrero – While Manny had scouts drooling over him when he was in high school, Vladi had to prove he could play ball. His older brothers, Elisier and Wilton, had already been scouted by the Dodgers, but they weren’t sure about Vladimir’s strange-looking body and ungainly movements. Well, little bro gets the last laugh. A career .323 hitter who hits what he wants to – whether or not it’s in the strike zone – he’s also just 8 shy of 400 homers. Despite looking like an old man when he runs (there’s that ungainly physique again) he’s still only 32 and, for the last 13 years, has been one of the game’s more durable stars. (And for those of you who might wish I had gone with Sammy Sosa, well – yes, Slammin’ Sammy certainly epitomized his, um, era. A seven-time All-Star, the 1998 NL MVP, 609 career home runs. But Guerrero still has a better career OPS+, so I don’t feel too bad about going with Vlad. That rhymed.)

Center Field – Cesar Cedeno – from his debut in June of 1970 at the age of 19 until his retirement from baseball 16 years later, Cedeno had six years where he had 50+ steals and three years where he had 20+ homers. He also had a couple of neat years where he hit .320. Welcome to the team, Cesar.

Third Base – Aramis Ramirez – Expecting to see Alex Rodriguez here? Well, too bad. A-Rod was born in New York, NY so he doesn’t count towards the REAL Dominican team. But A-Ram, on the other hand, hails from Santo Domingo, DR. And in 8 seasons as a regular, he’s averaged 29.6 home runs per season. Not too shabby.

Shortstop – Hanley Ramirez - There are a lot of great Dominican shortstops out there. Tejada. Reyes. Fernandez. But after just three full seasons in the majors, Hanley beats ‘em all. The 25-year old phenom is just approaching his prime and already averages 27 home runs a season with a career OBP of .379. These averages are depressed slightly by what would turn out – in hindsight – to be a lackluster debut season (only 17 dingers; just a .353 OBP). But that rough first year was still impressive enough for him to scoop up a Rookie of the Year trophy. Last year saw him add an All-Star nomination and a Silver Slugger award. An MVP nod surely won’t be far behind. And yes, his defense ain’t great. But you know what? It’s better than Derek Jeter’s. So there.

Second Base – Luis Castillo -A three-time Gold Glover and three-time All Star, Castillo also has a World Series ring from his days with the Florida Marlins. After 13 seasons in the bigs, he has amassed a career .292 average and a .363 OBP. So his career 27 homers aren’t going to blow anyone away. But 342 stolen bases aren’t anything to shake a stick at! Even so, I nearly went with Placido Polanco, who hits for more power. Close call.

First Base – Albert Pujols - It seems almost silly to have to make a case for Albert Pujols, but I’ll play along. Born in Santo Domingo in 1980, Pujols is 28 years old, has never missed significant time, has won two MVP awards (and come in second three times) and was the 2001 Rookie of the Year. His career OBP is .425. He has never hit fewer than 30 home runs in a season. Never. Not even one time. Yes, your girlfriend would rather be with him. But face it: so would you.

Catcher – Tony Pena – Yes, his career .309 OBP is downright hideous, as is his career 84 OPS+. But he did hit .300 a couple of times. And twice he slugged 15 (count ‘em!) home runs. He debuted at age 23 and managed to hang around until he was 40. And he was the 2003 Manager of the Year for the Kansas City Royals!

Bench - Jose Reyes, Miguel Tejada, Placido Polanco, Carlos Pena, Sammy Sosa, Alfonso Soriano, Rico Carty, Tony Fernandez, Jose Offerman (you know, for those bench-clearing brawls)

SP1 – Pedro Martinez - They called him El Duro in the Dominican – the Hard One. He has famously long, crazily-jointed fingers that create more spin on the ball than the ball knows what to do with. He once told Tom Verducci, “There are days when I first get out to the mound and it feels just like this, like the plate is closer than it’s supposed to be. Then I know right away. It’s over. You are f——-. F——-.” Even though he has not been able to find an employer yet this year, he still owns the best winning percentage of any active pitcher. I am almost certain that Pedro lied about his age when he was first signed – the age of his grown son strongly suggests at least a little fibbing – but there is no doubt that the three-time Cy Young winner is the ace of the Dominican staff. He has amassed not only an impressively long, consistent career – a 2.91 ERA over 17 seasons, with a career 151 ERA+ – but achieved a peak that has not been matched by any other man. In 1999, the annus mirabilis that saw him robbed of his dual MVP and Cy Young awards by a couple of douchebag writers, he logged a 2.07 ERA and 313 strikeouts over 213.3 innings. His record: 23-4. His ERA+: 243. While the following year, his win totals and strikeouts were down, he finished the year having pitched 217 innings with an ERA of 1.74 and an ERA+ of 291. Why do I feel the need to recite all of these well-known stats? I guess, somehow, even though I was there and watching – glued to the old TV during that 17-strikeout game against the Yankees – I still can’t believe it really happened. That’s how good he was. Now I have to move on before my head explodes.

SP2 – Juan Marichal - It may seem a little crass to put the Hall of Famer second, but it’s only a matter of time until Pedro is inducted anyway. After 16 years in the majors, Marichal retired with an ERA under 3. He never won a Cy Young, but he was a perennial all-star and a six-time 20 game winner. (And, through modern eyes, it seems pretty bad-ass that he broke the 300-innings barrier three times.)

SP3 – Ramon Martinez – He won 20 games once and 17 games twice, and also threw a no-hitter and once struck out 18 batters (in a game Nick was at!).

SP4 – Jose Rijo - Six consecutive seasons of sub-3.00 ERAs helped fuel a 1990 World Series sweep in which the Reds hurler earned two of the victories – and the Series MVP award. Though he often struggled with injuries and was out of baseball between age 30 and age 36 with elbow problems, he did return – albeit briefly – in 2001 and 2002, lifting the hearts of Cincinnatans everywhere. Or, you know, in Cincinnati. Unfortuantely, this uplifting tale – which saw Rijo win a Tony Conigliaro Award – has taken a recent sad twist, with Rijo being fired from the Nationals after one of his Dominican scouting finds was discovered to be  a totally different person – and, like, a totally older person.

SP5 – Bartolo Colon – Would you believe that Colon has a .607 career winning percentage? Colon is a former Cy Young-winner and a two-time 20 game winner, even though his career ERA is a hardly ace-like 4.09. Well, I guess he’ll round out the rotation anyway.

Relievers: Rafael Perez, Damaso Marte, Jose Valverde, Rafael Soriano, Octavio Dotel, Armando Benitez, Mel Rojas, Jose Mesa, Alejandro Pena

CL – Francisco Cordero

Manager – Felipe Alou

Final Verdict – Just for fun, I plugged the career OBPs and SLGs of this lineup into the lineup analysis tool at Baseball Musings. This had the unfortunate impact of wiping out some players’ impressive career peaks, but the overall result was still heartening:  an average of 6.17 runs per game, with the ideal lineup producing 6.426 runs per game. But we don’t need a fancy interwebby gizmo to tell us that a lineup featuring Hanley, Prince Albert, Papi, Manny, and Vladi is going to score a lot of runs. As for the pitching, the DR’s team features one Hall of Famer, one future Hall of Famer, and a back-end of guys who were all, at one time, team aces. Sure, Felipe Alou would have his hands full – but as far as I can tell, this fearsome Dominican squad would lose to only one foe:

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With the World Baseball Classic getting underway, and having done the Canadians yesterday, we thought we would have a look today at the all-time Italian team.

However, given that there were only ever just six major leaguers who were actually born in Italy, we decided that in honor of the Baseball Classic we would use the same wacky rules used by the Italian team, which stipulate that at least one of a player’s grandparents must have been born Italian.

In other words, this is really the All-Italian-American team.  Have a look at the starting lineup we came up with…

C Roy Campanella
1B Jason Giambi
2B Tony Lazzeri
3B Ron Santo
SS Phil Rizzuto
LF Rocky Colavito
CF Joe DiMaggio
RF Carl Furillo

What a lineup! OBP and power up and down the lineup, as well as rock solid defense! And the Italians have so much talent to spare that their bench is rock solid too. Catcher is particularly strong, with all-time greats Yogi Berra, Mike Piazza, and Ernie Lombardi all riding the pine. Other notable players who just missed the cut include 1B Dolph Camilli, OF Dom DiMaggio, 1B Paul Konerko (Italian mother), 2B Craig Biggio, 3B Robin Ventura, 3B Ken Caminiti, SS Jim Fregosi, and C/1B Joe Torre.

The Italians are not quite as amazing when it comes to pitching, although still quite strong, and as a secret weapon they would get to have Leo Mazzone as their pitching coach!

SP1 Mike Mussina
SP2 Eddie Cicotte
SP2 Sal Maglie
SP3 Frank Viola
SP4 Johnny Antonelli

CL John Franco

Just missing the rotation are Barry Zito and Vic Raschi. The bullpen would be rounded out with spare parts, although notable among them would be Dave Righetti as a setup man.

The Italians would also have no shortage of managerial candidates, with Joe Torre, Tony LaRussa, Billy Martin, Bobby Valentine, Mike Scioscia all vying for consideration, although in the end I think the job would have to be given to Tommy Lasorda for being the most Italian of them all!

Final Verdict: The All-Italian team is easily the strongest squad out of all the all-time teams we have looked at so far here on UmpBump. In a 7-game series, they would easily pummel the Canadians, the Jews, the Mormons, or the Smiths. They could also put up a pretty good fight against some of the teams we haven’t gotten around to yet, such as the Poles or the Cubans, although they would be clearly outclassed by the African-Americans or the Dominicans.

With the World Baseball Classic coming up, we here at UmpBump couldn’t help noticing how many good young players there are on the team from Canada, so we figured it was time to revisit the All-Time Canada team.

You will recall that last time, we had a bit of trouble filling out the whole team.  But with some of the new players that have come onto the scene since then, and a little more digging into history, we find that its quite easy nowadays to field a full All-Canadian squad that is actually very very good.

Here’s the starting lineup we came up with…

C Russell Martin
1B Justin Morneau
2B Dave McKay
3B Corey Koskie
SS Frank O’Rourke
LF Tip O’Neill
CF Jason Bay
RF Larry Walker

As you can see, this is actually a pretty decent lineup. Outfield is a particular strength, where George Selkirk (127 OPS+) and Jeff Heath (139 OPS+) just missed the cut, but would definitely be part of a very powerful bench, along with 1B Joey Votto and DH (when necessary) Matt Stairs. Tip O’Neill vies with pitcher Fergie Jenkins for the title of Greatest Canadian Baseball Player Ever, having batted .435 for the 1887 St. Louis Browns and having topped .300 six other times. Poor Corey Koskie was a superior defender at third and a very patient hitter at the plate before a horrific concussion derailed his career. The middle infield is the major weakness, where O’Rourke and McKay provide little offense, although McKay did make it into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, mostly on account of his long and distinguished coaching career.

Where the Canucks really gear it up is in the starting rotation:

SP1 Ferguson Jenkins
SP2 Russ Ford
SP3 Rich Harden
SP4 Erik Bedard
SP5 Ryan Dempster

Ferguson Jenkins, the only Canadian-born Hall of Famer thus far, once won 20 games or more in 7 out of 8 seasons including a run of 6 in a row, while Russ Ford won 20 games 3 times while compiling a 2.59 career ERA. And Rich Harden is famously fragile, of course, but when healthy he has compiled a 136 career ERA+.

Another major strength of the Canadians is their kickass bullpen, which is worth listing in full…

CL Eric Gagne
RP John Hiller
RP Paul Quantrill
RP Jesse Crain
RP Jeff Zimmerman
RP Rheal Cormier

Eric Gagne had the greatest run of any reliever in the history of the game for three years from 2002-04, and John Hiller was a dominant finisher for Detroit in the ’60s and ’70s, with a career ERA+ of 134. Paul Quantrill and Rheal Cormier both enjoyed long, successful careers, while Jeff Zimmerman was brilliant before flaming out from injuries.

The Final Verdict: The Canadian team is very good, and could probably win the World Baseball Classic, but it would have some trouble trying to match up to some of the other all-time teams we’ve profiled here on UmpBump, such as the Mormons or the Smiths, and its fragile pitching staff would face injury woes over any extended period of time.