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Several Rays Drawing Interest From Team USA

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By MARC LANCASTER | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 10, 2008

LAS VEGAS – Joe Maddon and Marcel Lachemann chatted Tuesday about the World Baseball Classic, with Lachemann slated to serve as the pitching coach for Team USA.

To hear Lachemann tell it Wednesday, he rattled off the names of enough Rays pitchers of interest to him and U.S. manager Davey Johnson that Maddon felt moved to ask his old friend to take it easy on Tampa Bay.

Rays players will need no introduction to those charged with assembling a U.S. roster that could include up to 28 players for next spring's tournament.

USA Baseball executive director Paul Seiler rattled off more than a half-dozen names of interest off the top of his head, from Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria to James Shields and Scott Kazmir. Seiler even made it a point to include Andy Sonnanstine and J.P. Howell and noted that Matt Garza – who also has received overtures to play for Mexico – is on a list of candidates.

"All those guys are going to be in the conversation, with the year that they had," Seiler said.

How many might the Rays ultimately lose to WBC play? At this point, Maddon is guessing Team USA will take two players – Crawford and a starting pitcher. The Rays' Rookie of the Year is definitely under consideration – "I love Longoria," Johnson said – but the U.S. is extremely deep at third base with Chipper Jones, David Wright and Ryan Zimmerman other possibilities at the position.

"With Evan, I still think he's attractive to them, but I also believe that they'll believe the next time it comes around [in 2013], he would be the guy at that particular moment," Maddon said. "But if he were chosen, it would not bother me."

The Rays also figure to see other players on their roster elsewhere in the tournament. Akinori Iwamura is slated to play for Japan once again, and Carlos Pena (Dominican Republic), Grant Balfour (Australia) and Dioner Navarro (Venezuela) could also end up getting the call.

Reporter Marc Lancaster can be reached at (813) 259-7227.

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