WBC roster announced, no Pettitte

Photo courtesy of mlb.com

Nervous Yankee fans breathed a sigh of relief Thursday when Team USA's roster was announced without Andy Pettitte's name on it. As of now, the left-hander will not pitch in this year's World Baseball Classic, contradicting reports earlier in the week that the soon-to-be 41 year old would participate. However, the roster only has 27 of a possible 28 players. Pettitte could still join the team, as that one roster spot is reserved for a starting pitcher. Teams have until Feb. 20 to finalize formal rosters.

The Yankees would like for Pettitte to focus solely on Spring Training and being healthy for the upcoming season. Historically, the organization doesn't like to send their players to compete in these "exhibition" games if they don't have to.

Also, according to a column by Bob Klapish, tournament eligibility is based upon guaranteed insurance coverage in the event of an injury. Therefore, insurers tend to shy away from players over 38 with history of injuries.

Here is the provisional roster for Team USA:

Manager: Joe Torre

Position players:

C/1B- Joe Mauer MIN C- J.P. Arencibia TOR C- Jonathan Lucroy MIL 1B- Mark Teixeira NYY 2B- Brandon Phillips CIN SS- Jimmy Rollins PHI 3B- David Wright NYM UT- Ben Zobrist TB UT- Willie Bloomquist ARI OF- Ryan Braun MIL OF- Adam Jones BAL OF- Giancarlo Stanton MIA OF- Shane Victorino BOS

Pitchers:

LHP- Jeremy Affeldt SF LHP- Tim Collins KC LHP- Derek Holland TEX LHP- Glen Perkins MIN RHP- Heath Bell ARI RHP- Mitchell Boggs STL RHP- Steve Cishek MIA RHP- R.A. Dickey TOR RHP- Luke Gregorson SD RHP- Craig Kimbrel ATL RHP- Kris Medlen ATL RHP- Chris Perez CLE RHP- Vinnie Pestano CLE RHP- Ryan Vogelsong SF