Oldest Ringless Players: 2012

Welcome back to another edition of Oldest Ringless Players. No longer do I have to list eight teams here. No, we're up to ten now, thanks to that moronic new second wild card! Regardless, I'm here to report the data, and if ten I must report, ten I shall.

The same rules as always apply: I view anyone who was on the 40-man roster at the end of the year as in line for a ring, so who is the oldest eligible player for each team?

Atlanta Braves: Tim Hudson (July 14, 1975)
Baltimore Orioles: Jim Thome (August 27, 1970)
Cincinnati Reds: Miguel Cairo (May 4, 1974)
Detroit Tigers: Joaquin Benoit (July 26, 1977)
New York Yankees: Raul Ibanez (June 2, 1972)
Oakland Athletics: Bartolo Colon (May 24, 1973)
San Francisco Giants: Marco Scutaro (October 30, 1975)
St. Louis Cardinals: Brian Fuentes (August 9, 1975)
Texas Rangers: Joe Nathan (November 22, 1974)
Washington Nationals: Mike Gonzalez (May 23, 1978)

• Two of these guys, Colon and Fuentes, are currently on the restricted list, so they might not be participating in the celebration if their teams go on to win the World Series (heaven forbid, in the latter case). If you don't think they should count, the next in line would be Brandon Inge (May 19, 1977) for Oakland and Carlos Beltran (April 24, 1977) for St. Louis.
  
• The Orioles have the oldest player here, and the Nationals the youngest. I wouldn't mind seeing Thome get a ring, and despite the youth of the Nats, I want them to represent the National League in the World Series.
  
• Despite the Yankees having the second-oldest player, there's no way I'm pulling for them even a little. It's just Raul Ibanez, for crying out loud.
  
• The team I want to win it all, the Rangers, has a pretty good ORP in Joe Nathan. He's been around a while and I've never had any reason to dislike him.

I'm always a bit pessimistic about the chances of seeing a team I like win the World Series, but what is baseball without hope? As long as the possibility exists, I'll be pulling for a likable team to take the title. After last year's heartbreaking ending, I sure could use a good one this year.