Eduardo Nunez will represent the Twins in the Japan All-Star Series starting next week.

 

Former Twins Justin Morneau and Drew Butera will also be on MLB's roster. 

 

The games will be televised on MLB Network.

 

Below is the poorly formatted roster:

 

 

 

MLB ALL-STAR ROSTER FOR JAPAN ALL-STAR SERIES 2014
(With 2014 Season Statistics)
Manager: John Farrell, Boston Red Sox
Coaches: Terry Francona, Manager, Cleveland Indians
Brian Butterfield, Third Base Coach, Boston Red Sox
DeMarlo Hale, Bench Coach, Toronto Blue Jays
Mike Maddux, Pitching Coach, Texas Rangers
Juan Nieves, Pitching Coach, Boston Red Sox
Pitchers (14)
Catchers (3)
Infielders (7)
Outfielders (2)
Infielders/Outfielders (3)
Player, Team B-T Age W-L ERA G GS SV IP H R ER BB SO
Jeff Beliveau, TB L-L 27 0-0 2.63 30 0 1 24.0 19 7 7 7 28
Jerry Blevins, WSH L-L 31 2-3 4.87 64 0 0 57.1 48 31 31 23 66
Chris Capuano, NYY L-L 36 3-4 4.35 40 12 0 97.1 101 51 47 34 84
Randy Choate, STL L-L 39 2-2 4.50 61 0 0 36.0 27 18 18 13 32
Jeremy Guthrie, KC R-R 35 13-11 4.13 32 32 0 202.2 215 100 93 49 124
Tommy Hunter, BAL R-R 28 3-2 2.97 60 0 11 60.2 55 22 20 12 45
Hisashi Iwakuma, SEA R-R 33 15-9 3.52 28 28 0 179.0 167 70 70 21 154
Mark Melancon, PIT R-R 29 3-5 1.90 72 0 33 71.0 51 15 15 11 71
Franklin Morales, COL L-L 28 6-9 5.37 38 22 0 142.1 166 90 85 65 100
Hector Santiago, LAA R-L 26 6-9 3.75 30 24 0 127.1 120 63 53 53 108
Matt Shoemaker, LAA R-R 28 16-4 3.04 27 20 0 136.0 122 49 46 24 124
Jose Veras, HOU R-R 34 4-1 4.50 46 0 1 46.0 37 25 23 27 50
Tsuyoshi Wada, CHI L-L 33 4-4 3.25 13 13 0 69.1 67 28 25 19 57
Rob Wooten, MIL R-R 29 1-4 4.72 40 0 0 34.1 42 18 18 8 29
Player, Team B-T Age G AVG AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO
Drew Butera, LAD R-R 31 61 .188 170 16 32 6 1 3 14 17 41
Erik Kratz, KC R-R 34 47 .218 110 12 24 4 0 5 13 4 22
Salvador Perez, KC R-R 24 150 .260 578 57 150 28 2 17 70 22 85
Player, Team B-T Age G AVG AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO
Jose Altuve, HOU R-R 24 158 .341 660 85 225 47 3 7 59 36 53
Robinson Cano, SEA L-R 32 157 .314 595 77 187 37 2 14 82 61 68
Alcides Escobar, KC R-R 27 162 .285 579 74 165 34 5 3 50 23 83
Evan Longoria, TB R-R 29 162 .253 624 83 158 26 1 22 91 57 133
Justin Morneau, COL L-R 33 135 .319 502 62 160 32 3 17 82 34 60
Eduardo Nunez, MIN R-R 27 72 .250 204 26 51 7 4 4 24 5 31
Carlos Santana, CLE S-R 28 152 .231 541 68 125 25 0 27 85 113 124
Player, Team B-T Age G AVG AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO
Dexter Fowler, HOU S-R 28 116 .276 434 61 120 21 4 8 35 66 108
Yasiel Puig, LAD R-R 23 148 .296 558 92 165 37 9 16 69 67 124
Player, Team B-T Age G AVG AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO
Chris Carter, HOU R-R 27 145 .227 507 68 115 21 1 37 88 56 182
Lucas Duda, NYM L-R 28 153 .253 514 74 130 27 0 30 92 69 135
Ben Zobrist, TB S-R 33 146 .272 570 83 155 34 3 10 52 75 84

Drew Butera on an All-Star team huh? 

 

That roster looks like it has at least a half dozen players that will at some point in their career play in Japan full time.

Neat, that's a fun opportunity for those guys - who's playing left field for that team? Puig?

 

The question is, will Nuñez still represent the Twins come April?

Wish Dozier had gotten the chance because he really wanted to go but I guess God wants him and his wife to build water systems in Costa Rico instead.

 

If the were adding a last minute Twin, Nunez makes sense as a utility player.  Congrats to him.

Drew Butera on an All-Star team huh? 

 

That roster looks like it has at least a half dozen players that will at some point in their career play in Japan full time.

All strange and true facts.  But I'm wondering what the motivation to play is for guys like Cano, Morneau and Longoria?

All strange and true facts.  But I'm wondering what the motivation to play is for guys like Cano, Morneau and Longoria?

 

Yeah, some of those names really stick out.  I'm guessing some of the bigger names just like to travel and others might just like the oportunity to play baseball.  Either way, it's good for the game to have a few of the bigger names travel.

 

Though you have to wonder if a team like KC really wants Jeremy Guthrie to actually pitch.  They guy has hardly had a break from baseball this year.

Edited November 7, 201412 yr by nicksaviking

Wish Dozier had gotten the chance because he really wanted to go but I guess God wants him and his wife to build water systems in Costa Rico instead.

 

 

 

Probably a good thing, Dozier playing in Japan has the chance to only encourage his home run fetishes.  I'd like to see him shoot next year for 6 months worth of the numbers he put up in August:

 

Only 1 HR, but with a slash line of .280/.414/.421  with a .375 wOBA....

Wish Dozier had gotten the chance because he really wanted to go but I guess God wants him and his wife to build water systems in Costa Rico instead.

I had missed this.  I see it on his Wikipedia page referring to a year ago; he's going again, and it's become news?

I had missed this.  I see it on his Wikipedia page referring to a year ago; he's going again, and it's become news?

 

He's tweeted several times about wanting to go to Japan and indicated that if not selected they'd go on a mission trip.

 

More newsworthy than a lot of what players tweet.

 

Edit:  There are probably more tweets on this from Berardino than Dozier.  Twins need to start naming coaches soon so there is some real news.

Edited November 7, 201412 yr by JB_Iowa

Any unrealized Costa Rican talent we can have Dozeir scout?

Reds Catcher Brayan Pena is Cuban, but he went to Junior College in Costa Rica (presumably to make him eligible to play in MLB). There are still no major league players in the history of the league to be born in Costa Rica.

In not really ironic (but some might call it ironic) twist, major league baseballs are manufactured in Costa Rica.