I swear, if one more columnist writes a hack column complaining about how the World Baseball Classic is a horrible idea and everyone’s going to get horribly injured, I’m going to hire Roger Clemens to throw fastballs at his head.
But wait, you say. What if someone gets hurt and misses the season while they’re playing in the WBC? Guys get hurt during spring training all the time. The only difference this time is that it’s not going to be while taking batting practice on Field 6, or while getting his 2 at-bats against a split-squad Marlins team.
And I’d love to know how all these columnists know that every player involved really doesn’t want to play but is afraid of being labeled unpatriotic. Is it that hard to believe that some of these guys actually have a sense of honor and want to represent their country?
And all the whining that unnamed GMs have been doing is annoying too. Do European soccer teams bitch about their players leaving for international games, or is this a purely American phenomenon? Spring Training games don’t count, fellas, and your players will still be seeing live pitching and getting their work in.
Should the tournament be in November? Probably. Unfortunately, this was the only time they could hold it right now, so suck it up and have fun watching.
I got all excited thinking someone was finally going to defend the Westboro Baptist Church and I was going to witness the largest smackdown in SDMB history. Don’t do that to me, man!
God yes, in particular for friendlies. The pissing and moaning about players leaving for the recent African Cup of Nations was something to behold. In some cases it’s justified; quite a few players have come back injured, with strong indications that they were pumped full of painkillers to put them back on the pitch with no regard to their long-term fitness (el-Hadji Diouf, if you believe Allardyce). And some players (Eric Djemba-Djemba for instance) simply didn’t bother to come back at all for some strange reason.
It depends on the countries involved, of course; I believe the richer nations compensate the clubs for the players used. However, it’s ridiculous to expect Ghana’s FA to be able to compensate the likes of Chelsea for Essien, who gets paid about 50% of Ghana’s GDP. So this all gets rehashed every time someone important gets injured. But to sum up; no, the WBC is by no means alone in being subjected to this sort of wrangle.
I’m excited because it should be pretty wide open with, what, 4 maybe 5 teams with a realistic chance of winning. Plus we get to watch South Africa face the United States and I guarantee one of the South African players is gonna forget he’s not playing cricket and run straight to second base. I just know it!
I clicked on it because I thought such a thing was impossible. And it is!
Hearing the team management complain is annoying. Steinbrenner just went public about it, but I’m sure they all feel the same way. But you can ignore that. For the columnists to get on board is confusing. Aren’t these the same gasbags who complain every four years when NBA players turn down the Olympics in droves?
The columnists are, as a whole, split on this thing. Jayson Stark thinks it’s a great idea. Most of the Sports Illustrated staff thinks it’s going to somehow violate the sanctity of spring training (as though spring training games are anything more than exhibitions where the good players get 2 ABs before retiring to the golf course for the afternoon.) The owners are pissed off because they think it’s going to decrease attendance for spring training games, and the GMs are pissed because they’re all a bunch of Nervous Nellies who think their guys are going to die while playing WBC games.
None of them seem to realize that this is going to be a good thing for baseball. Hell, I read one column where some mouthbreather was complaining that if this tournament is successful, it’s going to mean fewer homegrown players make it to the majors, as though MLB should be the sole domain of American players. If 15 fewer Midwestern kids get a cup of coffee with a major league team so players from Australia and Europe get a shot, big deal.
