NewsRodriguez to manage US in World Cup
Royals' special assignments coach finishing first year in KCBy Dick Kaegel / MLB.com
08/20/09 11:34 PM ET
KANSAS CITY -- Eddie Rodriguez, special assignments coach for the Royals, has been named manager of the U.S. team for the 2009 World Cup by USA Baseball.Rodriguez, 50, is in his first year with the Royals. He previously coached for the Blue Jays, D-backs, Expos, Nationals and Mariners. He was the third-base coach for the gold medal-winning 2000 U.S. Olympic Team.
Former Royals player and coach Jamie Quirk will be the bench coach and third-base coach on Rodriguez's staff. Also included are pitching coach Kirk Champion, hitting coach Ernie Young and bullpen coach Roly de Armas.
The U.S. team will be made up of players not currently on 25-man Major League rosters for the 38th installment of the International Baseball Federation's biennial world championships.
The U.S. World Cup team will gather in Cary, N.C., for training Sept. 2-6 with games against Canada's team. The U.S. will open Cup competition on Sept. 10 against Venezuela in Pool E at Regensburg, Germany. China and Germany are the other two teams in the opening-round pool.
The second round will be held in the Netherlands and Italy and the final rounds will be in Italy. The tournament will run Sept. 9-27 with other first-round action in Barcelona, Prague, Sundbyburg, Sweden and Zagreb, Croatia. The 2007 U.S. team won the gold medal with a 9-1 record, beating Cuba, 6-3, in the final.
Quirk, an 18-year Major League player with eight clubs, was with the Royals three different times. He was bench coach for the Rockies in the 2007 World Series.
Champion is the Minor League pitching coordinator for the White Sox and was the Team USA pitching coach in the 2001 World Cup. He's been with the Sox since 1989.
Young, a Major League outfielder for eight seasons, is manager of the Class A Kannapolis club for the White Sox. He was on the 2000 Olympic gold medal team.
De Armas, a former Minor League catcher and manager, was bullpen coach for the 2008 World Series champion Phillies. He's been with USA Baseball since 2006.
Dick Kaegel is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
