Norichika Aoki (OF)–Aoki will possibly be playing out of position (left field) a little bit during the WBC due to the talent that is joining him from overseas, namely Kosuke Fukudome (Chicago Cubs) and Ichiro Suzuki (Seattle).
He shouldn’t have any problem handling the shift though (if one actually materializes). The 27-year-old, who bats left and throws right, is fleet of foot and has one hell of a glove.

Aoki has played a lot of international baseball these past few years, and we fear that with each additional tournament he gets just that much closer to leaving.

He led the Swallows last season with a .347, .413, .529 line, and he also managed to hit the most home runs with 14. Lord, that’s sad.

Chang-yong Lim (P)–Second year closer, Lim, is making a triumphant return to the top of the Korean professional baseball world after coming back from arm surgery last year. The Korean national team is not to be scoffed at either. They beat Japan twice in the pool stages of the innagural WBC, and let us not forget that they won gold in Beijing last summer.

Lim made 54 appearances for the Swallows in 2008 and notched 33 saves from 51 innings of work with 50 strikeouts.

Lim is the only Japan-based player on the South Korean roster. Min-han Son from the Cleveland Indians rounds out Korea’s imports this year.

Of note in Korea’s bullpen is 20-year-old starter, Kwan-hyun Kim. The lefty has a seriously ungodly slider, and he has been dubbed the “Japan-killer”. Incidentally, the one guy that Kim really worries about in the Japanese lineup is Aoki. Or at least that’s what he says. I’m sure that Ichiro causes him to lose a little sleep as well.

Akinori Iwamura (IF)–Joining Aoki on TEAM JAPAN is our beloved Iwamura. Yes, he doesn’t play for the birds anymore, it’s true, but we here at Tsubamegun like to keep an eye on him, and the WBC won’t be any different.

Iwamura was instrumental in leading the Rays to last year’s World Series where they were overtaken by the Philadelphia Phillies. He looks to feature prominently in a versatile crew of players including Ogasawara (Yomiuri), Kataoka and Nakajima (Saitama), Kawasaki (Fukuoka), and Murata (Yokohama).

Iwamura had 172 hits for Tampa Bay last year.

After Senichi Hoshino reiterated his refusal to lead Japan’s team again, Sadaharu Oh, NPB Commissioner Ryozo Kato, and the rest of the crew flipped their approach around 180 degress and decided to go with an active manager.  Not only is Yomiuri skipper Tatsunori Hara still an active manager, his team is still in the Japan Series, has Fall camp coming up, and could be starting Spring training during the WBC.  So much for wanting the manager’s undivided attention.

I’m going to be cynical and say that the manager of Japan’s national team has to be a celebrity, which means he has to be a former star player, has to have a Japan Series title under his belt, and has to be an eager participant in the good old boys’ network of Japanese baseball.  Hara fits the bill.

While I think Hara’s performance has been overrated as manager of the Giants, his experience there might make him well-suited to the WBC job.  After all, in fairness he’s done pretty well at letting a team of stars do their thing and win.  The real test of immediate impact will be how well he uses his ptiching staff in the WBC and he hasn’t done too badly at that with Yomiuri.

I’m not a fan, but I expect him to be an improvement over Hoshino.

Despite promising he wouldn’t, unsuccessful Olympic baseball manager Hoshino has accepted the top job for the World Baseball Classic, according to stories filtering through this morning.

Although I thought, and hoped, it was a rumor, it appears to be for real. I guess it wasn’t that surprising. Older, respected managers tend to get jobs regardless of performance and tend not to be held responsible for bad decisions or incompetence by the powers that be in Japanese baseball. It’s also an old boys club, which means only the older, respected members of the club, guys who played by the rules and toed the line throughout their careers were ver really in contention. Sadaharu Oh had already accepted an advisory position with the WBC team and remains in poor health, so he was out. Talk of fresh blood was hopeful gossip, not a real possibility.

From this point, I’m sure you, the readers and commenters, can express the thoughts we’re probably all having best, so have at it.