Paul Goldschmidt to play for Team USA in World Baseball Classic

There have been rumblings that this is going to be the last World Baseball Classic tournament, the competition apparently not making enough money to justify its existence. Which is sad, considering how much it seems to have done to help popularize the sport outside of its usual territories in the Americas and East Asia. Witness the Netherlands’ fourth-place finish at the last tournament in 2013 - lasting longer in the event than the United States, and only going out to eventual winners, the Dominican Republic.

But if this is indeed the case, it seems the home nation wants to do better than it has done over the three previous events. Team USA has yet to finish higher than the fourth place it managed in 2009, but the roster for next year’s event is shaping up to be impressively strong. That list already included Max Scherzer, Nolan Arenado and Buster Posey, and received a further boost today, presuming the accuracy of this Tweet from Jon Morosi.

He won’t be the first Diamondback to appear in the contest, of course, or even for Team USA. Last time out, the American roster included Heath Bell, Willie Bloomquist and David Hernandez, while other teams included Miguel Montero, Gerardo Parra, Martin Prado (all Venezuela) and minor-leaguer Nelson Figueroa (Mexico). But it’s safe to say he’s going to provide quite a boost to the team, considering that in 2013, the starting first-baseman in Team USA’s games was Eric Hosmer. Who better to play first baseman for America than America’s first-baseman? [Yes, the T-shirt IS still available, thank you for asking...]

As usual, the games will take place during spring training, with the United States’ first contest taking place on March 10, in Miami against Colombia.