Next spring, baseball's best players will represent their countries in the fourth installment of the World Baseball Classic. At least in theory. The best players don't always participate in the event.
According to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, Team USA submitted their 50-player preliminary roster for the WBC last month, and it did not include Angels outfielder Mike Trout or Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper. Neither player is willing to commit to the event yet.
Harper's representative, Scott Boras, confirmed Harper will not play, saying, "The key thing for players is routine. The key thing [for Harper] certainly is to focus on conditioning and getting ready for the season."
The preliminary rosters are just that, preliminary. Players can be added or subtracted at any point. The rosters do not have to be finalized until January, so it's still possible for Trout and/or Harper to be added.
Sherman has a partial list of players on Team USA's preliminary roster:
Dellin Betances and Noah Syndergaard were the only New York players on the preliminary list of 50, which also included Chris Archer, Nolan Arenado, Jake Arrieta, Kris Bryant, Eric Hosmer, Ian Kinsler, Corey Kluber, Jonathan Lucroy, Andrew Miller, Buster Posey, David Price, Max Scherzer, Giancarlo Stanton, Justin Verlander and Christian Yelich. Players can still pull out and/or not make the final roster.
Jim Leyland will manage Team USA and Joe Torre is serving as GM. We took a shot at building Team USA's roster back in April, though that represents the best case scenario roster.
The 2017 WBC field is set. Games begin March 7 and continue through March 22. The Dominican Republic won the last WBC in 2013.
