While we all wonder if Justin Verlander will change his mind and join the WBC (he’s leaning to no, at least for the initial round), here’s the latest news:

• Xander Bogaerts, one of the top prospects of the Boston Red Sox, will be representing the Kingdom of the Netherlands (he’s from Aruba).
• The Korean press is apparently a bit worried about the Taiwanese team, which, unlike Korea, will have some of it’s MLB-experienced talent with it. Of course, Taiwan also will have some domestic players: new names revealed in the article include Lamigo Tigers star SS Chih-Sen Lin and young pitching phenom Jen-Ho Tseng, who, although only 18, has already pitched well for Chinese Taipei in international competitions.
• Edited in at 12:48- Drew Butera, of Italian descent, will play for Italy in the WBC.

As usual, you can find it the whole list after the jump, and more news will be posted as it is revealed, in addition, you might be interested in Joe Connor’s World in a Ballpark:

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Today’s WBC news:

• The third catcher for Team USA will be J.P. Arencibia. Perhaps not coincidentally, he’s one of the catchers for the Blue Jays, and will be one of the people responsible for trying to catch R.A. Dickey‘s knuckleball this season.
• As expected, Dustin Pedroia won’t be playing. He was expected to take part only if his surgically repaired ligaments in his finger was 100%.

As usual, you can find it the whole list after the jump, and more news will be posted as it is revealed, in addition, you might be interested in Joe Connor’s World in a Ballpark:

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Today’s news so far:

• Tyler LaTorre, who is in the Giants system, is expected to play for Italy in the WBC.
• Another player who may be playing for Italia: Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs.
• Miguel Tejada will be a part of the Dominican Republic team.
• According to Yakyu Baka, at least four players in the NPB or it’s minor leagues have been selected by the Chinese Taipei national team for the WBC: I-Cheng Wang, Yi-Hao Lin, Dai-Kang Yang and Yao-Hsun Yang.
• Speaking of which, the Chinese Taipei team has apparently been officially released, but… the article I found didn’t actually list the roster, besides mentioning the previously-announced Hong-Chih Kuo and Chien-Ming Wang are on the roster and that Che-Hsuan Lin (who is now with the Astros and had a cup of coffee with the Red Sox) is as well. If I find the full list, I’ll let all of you know.

The current rosters as well as possibilities and non-possibilities (impossibilities?) for the World Baseball Classic teams are below the jump:

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Today’s World Baseball Classic news- depending on whether any more news comes out, there could be another update tonight:

• According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Phillies don’t expect to lose many players to the WBC. They are likely to lose Phillippe Aumont to Canada (possibly/likely), and possibly Tyson Gillies as well to the Canadians (under consideration). And, of course, Jimmy Rollins is a possible player for Team USA, but we knew that already, although for some reason I neglected to put that down.
• Adam Rubin of ESPN New York tweeted out that former Mets farmhand (and current indy-leaguer) Jonathan Malo will be playing for Canada. Into possibly/likely he goes.
• In Venezuela, some players who likely won’t be taking part as they try and get starting spots out of Spring Training: Henderson Alvarez and Guillermo Moscoso and probably not Gregor Blanco (but he was mentioned already)
• Buried in a story about Ryan Braun’s participation in the WBC was a list of other Brewers’ players expected to take part. They include Yovani Gallardo for Mexico (who I’ve now moved up to possibly/likely) and his countryman Marco Estrada, Canadians John Axford and Jim Henderson, and the previously-mentioned Martin Maldonado.
• Similarly, buried in a story about Tulowitzki possibly playing in the WBC is a note that Andrew McCutchen is “expected” to play in the WBC. So I’m putting him in the possibly/likely category. LATER ON TODAY, IT WAS CONFIRMED THAT HE ACTUALLY HAD DECLINED.
• LATER IN THE DAY, Jonathan Lucroy of the Brewers tweeted that he’d be in the WBC for Team USA. This presumably means that either Matt Wieters and/or Buster Posey has declined, as I had Lucroy at 4 on my Team USA depth chart.

As usual, the whole list is below the jump.

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Today’s news as of posting time:

• Probably the biggest name to confirm his participation for Team USA since Joe Mauer and David Wright were announced by WBC officials, Ryan Braun has said he’s in for Team USA. Since it isn’t official from WBC Inc. yet, I’m putting him in possibly/likely, even though he’s likely definitely in, since he’s not exactly somebody who would be left off the roster for lack of talent or something.
• Meanwhile, Rick Vandenhurk (or van den Hurk, depending on spelling) will not be playing for the Netherlands, as he wants to get prepared for his new team in Korea.
• Omar Infante wants to play for Venezuela in the WBC. I’m putting him in the under consideration category, since he hasn’t been mentioned by anybody for Venezuela yet, as far as I know.

As usual, the rest is after the jump:

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