FanPost

Soriano & Marmol on D.R. WBC Initial Roster

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20081110&content_id=3672454&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

Link from MLB.com detailing the Dominican Republics initial roster, or available players might be more appropriate, its pretty stacked; including our two Cubs, Soriano and Marmol.

As you might expect, their group of prospects is ridiculously talented, especially for such a small nation.  Included in the group:Tejada, Ortiz, H.Ramirez, Soriano, Marmol, Volquez, Guerrero, Manny, Carlos Pena, Jose Reyes and even our dear old Sammy Sosa.

As for the US, their initial pool, while not containing any current Cubs, though a few Cubs targets, consists of Arod, Howard, Utley, Jeter, Upton, Ibanez, Braun, Holliday, Joe Mauer, Cliff Lee, Jake Peavy, Huston Street, Lidge,Jenks and surprisingly Mike Mussina, amongst others. US ROSTER

So there is obviously an injury concern for any players involved, but with rosters so stacked, and pitch counts enforced, its difficult to imagine any pitcher getting over used.

The D.R.s group includes Panama, Puerto Rico and The Netherlands.  So they should walk through Panama and Holland rather easily.

One would imagine Soto will play for Puerto Rico and Fukudome for Japan as well. Im looking forward to it, the last one was very entertaining and should satisfy your pre-Spring Training Baseball itch.

The tournament runs from March 5-23, 2009.  Japan is the reigning champion

FanPosts are written by readers of Bleed Cubbie Blue, and as such do not reflect the views of SB Nation or Vox Media, nor is the content endorsed by SB Nation, Vox Media or Al Yellon, managing editor of Bleed Cubbie Blue or reviewed prior to posting.