54 Responses to “All-Dominican Team”

1. Nash Bruce Says:
   April 30th, 2011 at 6:12 am

   WOW. One town, not one country, or one region, even, but one TOWN, kicking the entire, ENTIRE planet Earth's A**.........WOW.

2. Nash Bruce Says:
   April 30th, 2011 at 6:14 am

   *Earths.............sry:(

3. Thomas Court Says:
   April 30th, 2011 at 6:18 am

   Cano will make the team even better when he passes Polanco.

   This team does have an Achilles heal: On Base Percentage. This team is loaded with free swingers. To defeat this team, you need a pitcher with command of the strike zone. A Greg Maddux type, who can take advantage of the fact that many of these players live by the premise: "You cannot walk off the island."

4. Nash Bruce Says:
   April 30th, 2011 at 6:32 am

   @3: I hear what you're saying, and agree. However, I think, that any team, that had Greg Maddux,would have a good shot at winning, regardless of WHO their opponent was, nevermind WHAT kind of team, their opponent was.....:)

5. Jimbo Says:
   April 30th, 2011 at 6:55 am

   Any info on how Domingo Martinez managed to retire with a .409 avg. over 2 seasons?

   I know it was only a 22 at bat sample, but you'd think he'd find a way to get some playing time somewhere? Or did he just get injured and never recover?

   I wonder what's the most PA's any player had in their career since 1970 managing to finish with a career .400 avg.

6. Jimbo Says:
   April 30th, 2011 at 6:57 am

   Also, a lot of players implicated with steroids on that list. Ramirez/Sosa/Ortiz/Tejada.

7. Thomas Court Says:
   April 30th, 2011 at 7:01 am

   Sosa, Manny, Ortiz, Tejada...

   This team might run into trouble playing in a league that had drug testing. They also don't have much speed top to bottom. The starting nine hitters only combine for 890 career stolen bases. A team with Rickey Henderson already has 516 more steals in the leadoff position than the whole DR team combined.

   It would be interesting though to see how they would compare to a team of US only players, or perhaps even a team of California born players.

   A Calfornian only team has:
   1B - Mark Mcguire
   2B - Jeff Kent or Joe Gordon (HOF)
   3B - Darrell Evans
   SS - Nomar Garciaparra
   C - Gary Carter (HOF)
   OF - Barry Bonds
   OF - Joe Dimaggio (HOF)
   OF - Ted Williams (HOF)
   DH - Eddie Murray (HOF)

   SP - Tom Seaver (HOF)
   SP - Randy Johnson
   SP - Don Drysedale (HOF)
   SP - Bob Lemon (HOF)
   SP - Lefty Gomez (HOF) or CC Sabathia or David Wells
   CL - Dennis Eckersley (HOF) or Trevor Hoffman (I have to go with Eck here)

8. Jimbo Says:
   April 30th, 2011 at 7:01 am

   Oops, all the answers about Martinez here....weight problems, poor fielding, and his best years played in Japan/Mexico.

   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domingo_Mart%C3%ADnez

9. Dvd Avins Says:
   April 30th, 2011 at 7:19 am

   I'd put Cedeno in center field, even if it meant giving up Vlad's or Sosa's bat.

10. David W Says:
    April 30th, 2011 at 7:31 am

    Where is Pedro Guerero? He was from the D.R.

11. Neil Paine Says:
    April 30th, 2011 at 7:44 am

    #10 - I see the problem with Guerrero -- I have the positional searches set to pick up guys who played >=50% of their games at that position, and Guerrero didn't play any single position that much. If we consider him a 1B, with 35.1 WAR he'd be 2nd, way behind Albert. If he's in the OF, he'd be right behind Felipe Alou at #6. Peak-wise, though, Guerrero was a great player.

12. Wine Curmudgeon Says:
    April 30th, 2011 at 7:45 am

    Let's not forget why the OBP is so poor. The old saying goes: "You can't walk off the island."

13. Neil Paine Says:
    April 30th, 2011 at 7:48 am

    #9 - Yeah, you'd probably have to end up doing that. But Sosa actually played 25 games at CF in 1999 and was at +4 runs/yr, so you could at least give him a look out there.

14. Thomas Court Says:
    April 30th, 2011 at 7:57 am

    @12

    Apparently you forgot that I mentioned that quote in response #3. LoL

15. Thomas Court Says:
    April 30th, 2011 at 8:21 am

    You can make some really good teams with players from Ohio, Alabama, New York or Pennsylvania. But the aforementioned team from California comes out on top. Tony Gwynn, Duke Snider, Harry Heilmann, Harry Hooper, Joe Cronin, Bobby Doerr, Tony Lazzeri, and Ernie Lombardi are all Hall of Famers from California who didn't even make the team I put together.

16. Dan Franzen Says:
    April 30th, 2011 at 9:15 am

    @1,2 - I'm gonna be That Guy. You had it right the first time ("Earth's"). There is only one Earth.

17. Frank Clingenpeel Says:
    April 30th, 2011 at 9:31 am

    And to manage this outfit -- Felipe Alou'

18. Francisco Says:
    April 30th, 2011 at 9:32 am

    #7 Sosa, Manny, Ortiz, Tejada...

    Mcgwire, Bonds …

    California is almost 9 times bigger than DR and has 4 times DR population. Besides drugs implications, there is the color integration. The first Dominican player to play in MLB was Ozzie Virgil in 1956. There are some remarkable cases of players from DR that had been stars, like Tetelo Vargas or Diómedes Olivo. The last one arrived the big leagues being 41 years old in 1960. In fact, the color integration promoted the organization of the professional league in DR in 1951, and the need of becoming a winter league, instead of a summer one, in 1955.

    It’s true, the team has a low OBP. And it isn’t so fast, but it’s a lot faster that that Californian team.

19. Spartan Bill Says:
    April 30th, 2011 at 9:52 am

    Should Pujols and Man-Ram be on a true Dominican list?

    Sure they were born there, but both grew up in the United States.

20. Spartan Bill Says:
    April 30th, 2011 at 9:53 am

    The talent level here further emphasizes why players from the D-R should be included in the annual draft.

21. Wine Curmudgeon Says:
    April 30th, 2011 at 10:02 am

    @3..

    Whoops, sorry. Mr. Court.

22. Francisco Says:
    April 30th, 2011 at 11:17 am

    #19 Pujols went to USA when he was 16. It's a Dominican born list. Or maybe we must include Moisés who has made his life in DR. Or we can exclude those Californians who moved from that state for the Californian team. Or we can make a Dominican Citizens team where we can legally include A-Rod. Multiple Vantage points.

    #20 The talent level is not the main reason for including a location in the annual draft.We have the case of Puerto Rico where its representation has diminished since PR was included in the draft. The problem with Latin locations is the organization. The way of a boy from USA reaching MLB is studying. The way of a Dominican boy maybe is quitting studying. There’s not a correlation between studying and being a sport athlete there.

23. Jim Says:
    April 30th, 2011 at 11:28 am

    The problem with this team's OBP is being overstated -walks alone don't mean a player is good at getting on base. Vlad, Tejada, and Polanco all had high career BABIP, not because of luck, but because of high line drive rates. I'd rather take my chances with guys like that against a good pitcher than a low average/high OBP, high strikeout guy like Jason Giambi or Jim Thome, who could be waiting around for a perfect pitch they never get.

    Against lefties, Cedeno would have to be in CF, while Manny or Sosa would DH.

    I'm not surprised Beltre is ahead of Aramis Ramirez among 3B, but I would not have expected the gap to be so significant.

24. Spartan Bill Says:
    April 30th, 2011 at 12:07 pm

    @ 22 The studying issue is exactly why the under-developed nations meed the draft.

    Sure Pedro Martinez, and Vlad Guerrero made it without an education, but what about all those guys who hit .208 in A-ball and are never heard from again?

25. Jaded Salinger Says:
    April 30th, 2011 at 12:54 pm

    Mobile, Alabama (which is actually smaller than San Pedro de Macoris as of 2000) looks pretty good for a city its size (number listed next to names is career WAR):

    C - Bob Henley - 1.2
    1B - Willie McCovey - 65.1
    2B - Frank Bolling - 13.3
    SS - Ozzie Smith - 64.6
    3B - Jimmy Sexton - 0.4
    LF - Juan Pierre - 13.3
    CF - Amos Otis - 40.4
    RF - Hank Aaron - 141.6

    SP - Don Sutton - 70.8
    SP - Early Wynn - 52.0
    SP - Jimmy Key - 45.7
    SP - Virgil Trucks - 41.6
    SP - Doyle Alexander - 31.9
    Closer - Clay Caroll - 16.9

    Also worth noting that at least one HOF was left off, Satchel Paige.

26. John Autin Says:
    April 30th, 2011 at 1:50 pm

    I think the "50%" setting also filtered out Julio Franco (40.6 WAR). His games were divided somewhat evenly among SS, 2B and 1B. At 2B, he would rank #1 in WAR, almost 6 WAR above Polanco.

    Also filtered out:
    -- Rico Carty (OF/DH, 31.4 WAR). He would rank 5th as an OF.

    BTW, I'm not criticizing; it's hard to target a P-I search for specific positions without unintentionally excluding some players based on the % setting.

27. John Autin Says:
    April 30th, 2011 at 1:59 pm

    Some players manage long careers without quite denting the WAR leaders:

    -- SS Alfredo Griffin: 1,962 G; 7,330 PA; -2.4 WAR.

28. Thomas Court Says:
    April 30th, 2011 at 3:20 pm

    @18

    I was just amazed at the amount of talent to come out of California. I was also surprised at the lack of speed on the basepaths on the DR team. Averaging less than 100 SB per position over an entire career is hard to accomplish with such a talented list of players. Cedeno would help that, and so would adding Hanley Ramirez to replace Tejada (also nearly a 100 point OPS bump). I also forgot to include the fact that California also has its steroid skeletons as well (they get them from BALCO and from those muscle junkies on the beach). But you can't edit posts once they are submitted (something I wish we could do, if only to korrect myy occasional spelling miztakes).

    But the talent from Cali is so deep that you can exclude the steroid users, and add some speed as well and still have a great team:

    1B - Keith Hernandez (now we have cocaine instead of steroids)
    2B - Joe Gordon (HOF) or Steve Sax (444 SB)
    3B - Darrell Evans
    SS - Alan Trammell (236 SB)
    C - Gary Carter (HOF)
    OF - Tony Gwynn (HOF) 319 SB
    OF - Joe Dimaggio (HOF)
    OF - Ted Williams (HOF)
    DH - Eddie Murray (HOF) or Duke Snider (HOF) if Murray was secretly on 'roids

    SP - Tom Seaver (HOF)
    SP - Randy Johnson
    SP - Don Drysedale (HOF)
    SP - Bob Lemon (HOF)
    SP - Lefty Gomez (HOF)
    CL - Dennis Eckersley (HOF) or Trevor Hoffman (I have to go with Eck here)

    This team has up to 11 Hall of Famers and will have 12 when RJ is elected. It is also steroid free (unless Gwynn, Murray or RJ were juicing and escaped detection). There is still the integration point that was made, but this thread is about "Where" players are from... not "When" they are from. "When" they are from also effects William's and Dimaggio's numbers because of WWII and Korea.

29. Nash Bruce Says:
    April 30th, 2011 at 4:05 pm

    @23: the value of swinging the bat, (versus how Ryan Howard, 'ended' last year's NLCS, holding his) I agree....
    Tony Gwynn comes to mind, as someone who didn't walk much, and certainly didn't wait around for the perfect strike to hit. But he hit Maddux very well, over a long career.
    @16: will keep guessing, until I get it right! 😉

30. Andy Says:
    April 30th, 2011 at 4:05 pm

    Holy middle infielders...wow.

31. Johnny Twisto Says:
    April 30th, 2011 at 7:41 pm

    Second base is interesting. Without checking the numbers, I think there's a reasonable argument that Cano, Soriano, Castillo, and possibly Samuel had better peaks than Polanco and could be the choice if not going by career WAR.

    Harking back to a recent discussion, if the actual starting roster was as shown above, is there any doubt that Polanco would be batting 2nd, or possibly 1st?

    (FWIW, I have no problem with Polanco and think he is a good player. He's just an example of things I've been pointing out so it may appear I've been ripping him lately.)

32. steven Says:
    April 30th, 2011 at 9:42 pm

    I see Stan Javier on the list. Where did his Dad, Julian rank? He had some good years at second base with the Cardinals.

33. John Autin Says:
    April 30th, 2011 at 11:22 pm

    @32, Steven -- Although Julian Javier played 13 seasons (11 full), won two WS titles and was twice an All-Star, he is credited with just 9.4 total WAR, well out of the top 5 in Dominican second basemen.

    Julian Javier's offense was (I think) a little above average for the position, taking his career as a whole. But the WAR method sees him as a poor defender, charging him with -3.5 defensive WAR for his career.

34. John Autin Says:
    April 30th, 2011 at 11:35 pm

    @31, Johnny Twisto -- I rarely sing the praises of Placido Polanco, but WAR shows him as clearly better than Juan Samuel, even in peak value.

    Samuel's 3-year WAR peak (1985-87) averaged 2.9 WAR.
    Polanco's 3-year WAR peak (2006-08) averaged 3.3 WAR.

    And Polanco had 5 seasons with a higher WAR than Samuel's season high of 3.0.

    Samuel was considered to be a very poor defender, and WAR agrees; he averaged -1.1 dWAR for his first 6 full years (the Philly years). Offensively, he did have a lot of extra-base hits, but (a) he used a ton of outs to get them, and (b) he rarely walked, so his offensive value was less than it appeared at first glance.

35. John Autin Says:
    April 30th, 2011 at 11:40 pm

    Polanco's 3-year peak WAR (avg. 3.3) was also little higher than Alfonso Soriano's 3-year peak as a 2B (avg. 3.2).

    Soriano did average 3.8 WAR from 2006-08, but he was a full-time outfielder. BTW, with 93 more games in the OF, Soriano will have more career games in the OF than at 2B.

36. What is the best college football movie ever? | pandora charms Says:
    May 1st, 2011 at 3:55 am

    [...] All-Dominican Team » Baseball-Reference Blog » Blog Archive [...]

37. NoChanceforPettitte Says:
    May 1st, 2011 at 10:41 am

    For such a team, I don't think Manny Ramirez should be on the list. Putting Manny Ramirez on the DR list is like putting Derek Jeter on the best players to come out of New Jersey list; or Bert Blyleven as the best player to come out of the Netherlands; Barack Obama the best president to be born in Hawaii; etc., etc. Though born there, they grew up in different systems (NY; MI; CA; Kenya respectively).

    Removing 'drafted' from the query would remove Ramirez and others who were the product of the US system.

38. NoChanceforPettitte Says:
    May 1st, 2011 at 10:45 am

    ... and Albert Pujols too...

39. Francisco Says:
    May 1st, 2011 at 11:32 am

    #37 We've been get used to comments like this since Dec 5th 1492. If you remove drafted players you put Plácido out too. #38 Pujols have lived less than half of his life in USA. It's a better idea to include them in the USA team, except those who plays in Canadian teams. I don't know I just trying to read what you want to say.

    Let's wait WBC.

40. NoChanceforPettitte Says:
    May 1st, 2011 at 12:56 pm

    @39: The argument is simple, and contains cultural implications: The opening of this post reads:

    "Baseball is so deeply ingrained in the culture of the D.R. that Pedro Gonzalez once said, "Every boy grows up with a bat and a ball—it’s the first present a male baby gets in his crib."

    If the point is to simply state that these are the best players who were thrust out of their mothers' wombs, via a natural thrust or the intervention of foreceps, in the DR then this is by all means accurate.

    If the point is to state these are the best players not only born, but cultivated in the DR baseball system then it's not accurate. Manny Ramirez was a star high school baseball player in NY. Dominican roots: yes; cultivated in the 'Dominican system': absolutely not.

    Albert Pujols initially may have suffered because he played in Missouri. He was a product of a MO system that is not considered by many, if anyone, to be a 'baseball factory'. His obvious talents may have been a partial product of his heritage, but his being drafted in the 13th was a direct result of the system in which his talents were initially cultivated.

    As for whatever was intended by your "Let's wait WBC" comment: Maybe you are mistaking one's heritage with where one grew up. I am not sure. I would be surprised if anyone thought Mike Piazza was even born, let alone reared, in Italy when he played for Italy in the WBC, but maybe you did.

41. DoubleDiamond Says:
    May 1st, 2011 at 4:32 pm

    I keep in my head a long list of major league players, including Blyleven, whose place of birth is not in California but who appear to have grown up there.

    Here are a few:

    Bert Blyleven (Netherlands)
    Rick Monday, Pat Burrell (both Arkansas)
    Robin Yount (Illinois) (and presumably his brother Larry, too)
    Ed Sprague, Sr. (Massachusetts)
    Andy Messersmith (New Jersey)
    Dave Duncan (Texas, which itself has such a list beginning in my brain, with Roger Clemens, among others)
    Aaron Rowand (Oregon)
    Bobby Grich (Michigan)
    Shawn Green (Illinois, with a stop in New Jersey along the way)

    There are a very few that have gone in reverse, including two who became Phillies closers:

    Brad Lidge (born in CA, appears to have grown up in Colorado)
    Mitch Williams (born in CA, appears to have grown up in Oregon)

42. NoChanceforPettitte Says:
    May 1st, 2011 at 4:53 pm

    @41
    Probably the greatest player born in West Virgina, George Brett, grew up in California as well.

43. John Autin Says:
    May 1st, 2011 at 8:47 pm

    @40, NoChance -- You seem to have an extremely narrow view of what it means to be "cultivated in the Dominican system."

    Manny Ramirez was born in the D.R. in 1972. His family moved to the U.S. in 1985, which would make him 12 or 13. I submit that for at least 9 out of 10 baseball stars, the seeds of their future stardom have already grown deep roots by that age, and for Dominicans the numbers would be even higher.

    Furthermore, in case you didn't know, after leaving the D.R., Manny lived the remainder of his youth in the Washington Heights neighborhood of upper Manhattan, an area in which Hispanics (and particularly Dominicans) are predominant. I'm certain that the majority of the players and coaches with whom Manny was involved in amateur baseball in the U.S. had Dominican origins.

    The fact that George Washington High School, where Manny developed into a baseball prodigy, had an excellent baseball program is, I think, more a statement about "the Dominican system" than about our own. There aren't a lot of high-caliber baseball programs in the NYC high schools. The ones that do exist are almost all driven by Latinos.

    There might be some reason to deny Manny a place on our imaginary All-Dominican team, but the fact that he went to H.S. in the States isn't it.

44. NoChanceforPettitte Says:
    May 1st, 2011 at 9:31 pm

    @40: John, you're right. I just checked all the great hitters and pitchers that played with me in little league when I was 12 and 13... they were all drafted by MLB teams. Sorry for the confusion. I also just verified that Roy Halladay was actually born Danny Almonte...

    Your statement about GW High School is in fact an argument for my argument. The fact that there was a strong program, and strong coaches, possibly less corruption and different opportunities inherently available in the US than in the DR definitely had nothing to do with Manny Ramirez's success.

    By your argument, Facebook is a product of the White Plains, NY school system. Though Mark Zuckerberg's talents (whether it is a talent for stealing other's ideas or other) were cultivated at Harvard and later Palo Alto, CA I guess means nothing because he turned his first computer on in White Plains, NY.

    Success is usually about opportunity, not heritage and not where you lived until you were 12 or 13. If you think that Manny Ramirez got his opportunity to be a top flight player in the DR at the age of 9... well... then, again you win the argument.

45. DoubleDiamond Says:
    May 1st, 2011 at 9:53 pm

    Over the years, I've tended to place foreign-born players into three categories:

    1. Players who were born to American parents (or one American parent and one non-American parent, such as Danny Graves) while they (the parents) were living outside the U.S. but did most of their growing up in the U.S. or on U.S. military bases overseas. Other examples include Steve Jeltz and Dave Roberts (the one who was with the Red Sox in 2004).

    2. Players who were born outside the U.S. to non-American parents who were brought to the U.S.as a child and signed their first professional contract while living in the U.S. There were a number of such players in the 19th century and in the first half of the 20th century who were born in Europe. Examples include Bobby Thomson, Moe Drabowsky, Bert Blyleven, Manny Ramirez, Albert Pujols, and Jose Canseco (and his twin brother Ozzie).

    3. Players who were born outside the U.S. who did all of their growing up outside the U.S. and either signed their first professional contract or were recruited to play in a U.S.-based college baseball program while living outside the U.S. or after defecting to the U.S.

    There are a few complicating factors, such as how do I classify Canadians, Puerto Ricans, and players from other U.S. territories?

    Where would Reno Bertoia have been placed? He was born in Italy and brought to Canada as a young child. I would tend to put him into category #2.

    What about Rafael Palmeiro, a Puerto Rican who came to the U.S. to play college baseball? I would tend to put him into category #3.

    Now that foreign adoptions are fairly common, in which category would a child born overseas but adopted at a very young age by an American couple fit? I would tend to put him into category #1 because of the American parents aspect. I don't know of any major leaguers who were adopted in such circumstances. (Jim Bouton adopted a son from Korea. Based on what I read about him in "Ball Four" and/or a subsequent book, possibly including his ex-wife's "tell all" book written with pitcher Mike Marshall's ex-wife, this son was more interested in playing hockey than baseball.)

46. John Autin Says:
    May 1st, 2011 at 11:11 pm

    NoChance, if you weren't so quick to sarcasm, you might have a better chance to understand what I said -- or at least not to misrepresent it in paraphrase.

    Your opening line makes no sense; it certainly isn't a logical reply to anything that I said. As for the rest of your argument, I don't get it, and I'll leave it at that.

47. John Autin Says:
    May 1st, 2011 at 11:52 pm

    Here's my argument that, by any reasonable understanding of the term "product," Manny Ramirez is a product of the Dominican Republic.

    (1) Manny was born in the Dominican Republic and lived there until the age of 12 or 13.

    (2) Baseball is extremely popular in the D.R., and playing baseball is a primary recreation activity of most Dominican boys.

    (3) Thus, it is very likely that Manny played a lot of baseball before he moved to the U.S. -- more than most American boys who wind up in MLB.

    (4) Playing a lot of baseball as a child greatly improves one's chances of becoming a MLB player.

    (5) It is likely that Manny Ramirez's ambition to become a MLB player was formed while he still lived in the D.R., and this ambition shaped his behavior after he came to the U.S.

    (6) The great majority of Dominicans who make it to the major leagues have never lived outside the D.R. before signing a pro contract.

    (7) Although Manny played in a good baseball program in the U.S., it is likely that, even if he had stayed in the D.R., a player of his talent up to age 12 would have continued to develop that talent through his teens, and likely would have been discovered and signed by a MLB team

    (8) If Manny had been born in the U.S., his odds of becoming a MLB player would have been lower. In terms of becoming a MLB player, the sum of the advantages he gained by living in the D.R. for his first 12 years outweighs the advantages he gained by living in the U.S. afterward.

48. NoChanceforPettitte Says:
    May 2nd, 2011 at 10:19 am

    @45 comes up with an intelligent classification system which I agree with more or less.

    It's simple: Manny Ramirez did not come through the DR system. He came through the US system, which inclusive of PR and Canada, has strict rules regarding amateur athletes.

    Though one could argue that the US amateur system is flawed and rife with corruption (see Newton, Cam); it is inarguably less corrupt than that of Central and South American 'baseball academies'.

    Baseball is a way of life in the DR partly because it is a 'way out'. Because it is a 'way out', players in the DR are subject to, and victims of, extreme exploitation. That exploitation would exist here however is reduced significantly due to in place collective bargaining agreements (which include the amateur draft).

    Players are squirreled away in 'training academies' as young as 12-13 with no protection; players 'sign' with 'scouts' who's primary responsibility is to keep talent flowing to the MLB. Their responsibility is not to the player, but to maximize returns.

    Players are subject to, and victims of, significant amounts of fraud and exploitation primarily because 'baseball is a way out.' Steps have been taken to ensure violations are reduced, but these steps were introduced over the past few years only.

    You can ascribe to the pollyanna view that baseball is clean and pure and that boys in the Dominican Republic play for the love of the game and recreation. You can similarly say that reason lottery tickets sell better in lower income areas is because people in lower income brackets love games of chance more than those in higher income areas. Honestly, though, if you think this, you're delusional.

    Manny Ramirez, Carlos Pena, Albert Pujols, et al. were not subject to, or products of, the DR system (which MLB essentially dictates). They were born there, may have first fallen in love or lust with baseball there, but were not products of its system. They were products of the US system.

49. John Autin Says:
    May 2nd, 2011 at 2:05 pm

    NoChance, this is what I still don't understand in your statements:

    You continue to cite, over and over again, corruption among D.R. scouts / agents / academies.

    Nobody is denying the existence of said corruption.

    What you have yet to do is to explain what how that corruption is relevant
    to the question of which country has a better claim to "producing" Manny Ramirez.

    I'm not asking whether Manny would have been more in danger of exploitation had he stayed in the D.R. I'm not asking whether he might have committed some kind of immigration violation, date-of-birth subterfuge, or other illegal act if he had stayed in the D.R. I'm not asking if he would have missed out on schooling if he had stayed in the D.R. (and by the way, he left George Washington High without graduating).

    What I'm asking is: If he had stayed in the D.R., would he still have developed into a talented hitter who signed with a MLB team? Would his MLB career arc have been significantly different?

    These are questions that I see as relevant to the question of which country "produced" Manny Ramirez.

50. Alberto Says:
    May 2nd, 2011 at 10:03 pm

    @45 Rafafel Palmeiro is not Puerto Rican, he is Cuban.

51. TheGoof Says:
    May 3rd, 2011 at 8:27 pm

    Best outfield: the three guys of Donora, Pa. DR's not even close.

52. Andrew Says:
    May 4th, 2011 at 8:39 pm

    @37

    Off-topic, but Obama didn't grow up in Kenya. He grew up in Hawaii and Indonesia and went to Kenya for the first time at the age of 26.

53. NoChanceforPettitte Says:
    May 4th, 2011 at 8:48 pm

    @52
    I know... was a bad joke... ill timed and ill-er conceived.
    Cheers

54. Arturo Ruiz Says:
    May 5th, 2011 at 8:25 pm

    @20

    That would be the coup de grâce for an already crippled Dominican Winter League, by all the restrictions put in place by MLB.

    The DWL cultivated a lot of talented players, where they would be showcased and then signed by MLB clubs. Now it's the other way around, where a player first needs to be signed by an MLB team and be in there system before entering the DWL draft.

    I'm not sure how including a spot for DR players in the MLB draft would help a league strugling to keep up with MLB demands.