Major League Stars Sign Up for World Baseball Classic

Nearly 180 major league players, among them Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Vladimir Guerrero, Eric Gagne and Derek Jeter, have volunteered to play in the inaugural World Baseball Classic, the 16-team international tournament to be held over 2 1/2 weeks in March.

Despite the spring training conflict and risk of injury, particularly to pitchers who must be game-ready nearly a month before opening day, Major League Baseball’s 30 teams opened their rosters.

As a result, Angel closer Francisco Rodriguez, pitching for Venezuela, could be summoned to face Guerrero, who would bat in the Dominican Republic’s lineup. Panama’s Mariano Rivera could throw fastballs to Jeter.

New York Yankee third baseman Alex Rodriguez, eligible to play for the Dominican and U.S. teams, has not yet selected a team.

“He went so far as to ask me that if one team got eliminated, could he play for the other at the same time? It’s a difficult decision. I know he’s brooding about it,” said Gene Orza, chief operating officer of the players’ association.

Albert Pujols, Bartolo Colon, Mike Piazza, Ken Griffey Jr., Andruw Jones, Manny Ramirez, Miguel Tejada, John Smoltz, David Ortiz and Derrek Lee have asked to be included on their nations’ 30-man rosters, Piazza on Italy’s.

On the first day of baseball’s annual winter meetings, officials from Major League Baseball and the players’ union further firmed the details of the pool-play tournament, whose semifinals and final will be held March 18 and 20 at San Diego’s Petco Park.

Despite Cuban President Fidel Castro’s assurances that Cuba will participate, baseball officials await confirmation from Cuba, which is scheduled to open play March 8 in Puerto Rico.

“We have had some discussions with the Cubans that make us feel very, very confident that the Cubans will play,” Orza said.

Buck Martinez, who managed the Toronto Blue Jays in 2001 and for 53 games in 2002, will manage the U.S. team. He selected former Angel manager and pitching coach Marcel Lachemann to be his pitching coach, former Dodger manager Davey Johnson his bench coach and former Dodger Reggie Smith his hitting coach. Among the tournament’s other managers: Jim Lefebvre (China), Ernie Whitt (Canada), Sadaharu Oh (Japan), Jose Oquendo (Puerto Rico), Manny Acta (Dominican Republic) and Luis Sojo (Venezuela). Tom Lasorda, who managed the U.S. to a gold medal in the 2000 Olympics, was appointed WBC ambassador.

Six Dodgers -- Duaner Sanchez (Dominican Republic), Jose Cruz Jr. (Puerto Rico), Ricky Ledee (Puerto Rico), Russ Martin (Canada), Oscar Robles (Mexico) and Gagne (Canada) -- agreed to participate, as did three Angels -- Guerrero, Rodriguez and Colon (Dominican Republic). Baseball officials expect Rafael Furcal (Dominican Republic), who has agreed to a three-year contract with the Dodgers, to play.

Gagne underwent surgery on his pitching elbow last season, and the Dodgers probably would prefer he not pitch for Canada. The club sent Gagne’s medical records to the league, according to a team source, in the hopes that the league and the union would refrain from putting Gagne on the Canadian roster.

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Times staff writer Mike DiGiovanna contributed to this report.