What's Mandarin for "Who are these guys?"
The travel roster for the Great China Adventure has been released (Download 2008_china_roster.pdf), and not surprisingly, it's short some big names. No pitcher who started the '07 season on the Dodgers active roster will travel, and the catchers include Lucas May, Danny Ardoin, and A.J. Ellis. Among the infielders, Nomar Garciaparra has some cache, but once you get past him, the only players with real Major League pedigrees are Ramon Martinez and Mark Sweeney. Juan Gonzalez is making the trip, but that'll likely only confuse people. The outfield is where the real star power lives, with Matt Kemp and Andruw Jones both heading east. And as far as I know, Wilkin Ruan is to the People's Republic what David Hasselhoff is to Germany.
Chin-Lung Hu and Hong-Chih Kuo, both born on Taiwan, will make the trip. Takashi Saito and Hiroki Kuroda, both Japanese, will not. Obviously, everything regarding China has some sort of political angle to it, and while I have some understanding of politics and history over there, I'm not going to pretend I can break all of that down. Feel free to chime in, if you're able.
Given the incredible length of the trip and the time of year, it's a wise move for the Blue to leave the arms and catchers at home. It's hard enough to keep guys on schedule without epic plane flights and jet lag. Plus, this could just be the opening Brian Shackelford needs to make the team.
BK
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Zhe4 xie1 nan2 ren2 shi4 shei2 (number indicates tones) is the Romanization of a translation. It may not be the best, however, those who know Chinese better than I do are welcome to suggest better alternatives.
Posted by: E. Koven | March 03, 2008 at 01:11 PM
bottom line, its going to be a great and new season for baseball. Check out this great photo of Dodger Stadium opening day April '62, its a nice reminder of the pre-steroid era.
http://johnnydoom.blogspot.com/2008/03/opening-day-dodgers-joe-torre-keep-it.html
Posted by: johndoom | March 03, 2008 at 02:32 PM
This trip to China is a joke. Valuable training time lost to to play a few games in 45° weather. I don't get it.
They can get a better Chinese food in Monterey Park.
Can somebody please explain the upside to this disruptive frolic.
Santa Monica Coach
Posted by: Jim | March 03, 2008 at 05:59 PM
SaMo Coach,
The prospect of gaining fans in one of the largest markets in the world is too enticing for MLB, the Dodgers, and the Madres to pass up. The Dodgers also have partnered with Chinese baseball on a stadium in Nanking (I think), so they already have a relationship in China. Just look at how popular the NBA is in China with Yao and Yi playing in the states. As soon as China produces a player capable of performing in the bigs, expect someone to pick him up. The merchandising possibilities are tremendous.
BK,
Many countries that were occupied by Japan during WWII (esp. China and Korea) still hold a very strong grudge against the Japanese. It's extremely evident when watching international competitions like soccer and baseball. A recent E. Asia soccer tournament match between China and Japan (in China) needed the military to ensure that there weren't any riots or violence like there were a few years ago at the same tourney. It is a very political move to not include the Japanese pitchers and include the Taiwanese players. Even though there is a political rift between China and Taiwan, they do have a working baseball relationship from what I understand.
Posted by: el jeffe | March 04, 2008 at 09:45 PM