Who's Playing in the World Baseball Classic?

Since you're all just dying to hear the latest on the World Baseball Classic, I have an update. Below is a list of the participants from the AL East teams with the country they will represent. Most notably, the Yankees have two players that will not participate. Alex Rodriguez, the 2005 AL MVP, will not participate because he cannot decide whether to play for the United States or the Dominican Republic. "When faced with the decision to choose between my country, the US, and my Dominican heritage, I decided I will not dishonor either," said Rodriguez.

The Yankees have also said that they will not allow Jorge Posada to represent Puerto Rico in the event. According to the Star Ledger, teams are allowed to file objections to their players' participation. These objections are then heard by a technical committee. This committee upheld Brian Cashman's objection to Posada playing. According to a person familiar with the workings of the WBC, the Puerto Rican baseball federation did not fight the objection because of its depth at that position: Sandy Alomar Jr., Ivan Rodriguez and the Molina brothers, Bengie, Jose and Yadier.


Blue Jays

• Burnside, Adrian: Australia
  
• Catalanotto, Frank: Italy
  
• Halladay, Roy: United States
  
• Koskie, Corey: Canada
  
• Ryan, B.J.: United States
  
• Wells, Vernon: United States
  

Devil Rays

• Cantu, Jorge Mexico
  
• Colome, Jesus Dominican Republic
  
• Crawford, Carl United States
  

Orioles

• Bedard, Erik: Canada
  
• Cabrera, Daniel: Dominican Republic
  
• Chen, Bruce: Panama
  
• Loewen, Adam: Canada
  
• Lopez, Rodrigo: Mexico
  
• Matos, Luis: Puerto Rico
  
• Mora, Melvin: Venezuela
  
• Stephens, John: Australia
  
• Tejada, Miguel: Dominican Republic
  

Red Sox

• Lowell, Mike: Puerto Rico
  
• Ortiz, David: Dominican Republic
  
• Ramirez, Manny: Dominican Republic
  
• Varitek, Jason: United States
  

Yankees

• Cano, Robinson: Dominican Republic
  
• Jeter, Derek: United States