Musing From the Bleachers 03.06.09: The World Baseball Classic
Posted by Frank Fedele on 03.06.2009
Spring training is in full swing with exhibition games going strong. Some players have left their Major League teams to play for their country in this year’s World Baseball Classic. The event though seems more known for who is not there than for who is there. We discuss the World Baseball Classic and the other big news in Baseball in this edition of Musing From the Bleachers.
World Baseball Classic
The concept is rather good in theory. Get the best of the best from each country and put them in a big tournament to fight for bragging rights for best baseball team. Unfortunately, reality has been far from theory.
The list of players that declined the offer is long. The American team lost C.C. Sabathia and Mark Teixeira so they could open camp with their new team, the Yankees. Albert Pujols declined an invitation to the Dominican team. Johan Santana's injury concerns knocked him off the Venezuela team. Each country has at least one major player not on their roster. Some major league teams even requested that their stars not play due to injury concerns.
The teams are full and the games should still be good, though. They could have been much better. If you could position the games in a better slot where the players are already in baseball shape and ready to go then injuries would not be such a concern. The problem is finding this slot.
Derek Jeter: Captain of the USA team, image courtesy of silive.com
There has been talk of lengthening the All-Star break and every four years playing a World Baseball Classic tournament. This could work well, but would stretch the season even further into the fall. A compromise could be worked with more double headers played to allow all the games to fit into the normal season window. If the players and management can come to an agreement, you could actually see the best of the best compete. Though I will enjoy the World Baseball Classic games this year, I will still wonder what could have been. Especially when Joel Hanrahan comes in to close for the United States. If you're wondering, he is a reliever for the 58 win Washington Nationals.
Joel Hanrahan, image courtesy of the Scout.com
Free Agents
Manny finally landed in Los Angeles. The contract was for 2 years and $45 million dollars. Manny has the option of opting out of the final year if he feels he has a large long term deal out there. Why this deal wasn't done earlier, I have no clue. I guess Manny didn't want to have to report to spring training on time this year, give him an extra week or so to relax. The team and player were the only matches for each other once the other big corner outfielders signed. Manny was hoping to find somebody else to give him more money. Didn't happen. The Dodgers were just content to wait him out and pay him what they wanted to. It is a good money deal for Manny, more than other players were signing. I hope it keeps him happy, because an upset Manny can be a terrible thing. Just ask a Red Sox fan.
Manny Ramirez, image courtesy of the LA Times
Final Thoughts
Spring training is going on strong, but there is more Alex Rodriquez news. Though this time it isn't about steroids, it is about an injury. Alex has a hip injury that should keep him out of the World Baseball Classic and the first couple weeks of the Yankees season. Even though this is bad news for Alex, at least it is somewhat baseball related. And doesn't involve Madonna. Come back next week where we look at the spring season thus far. Until then, that is my view from my bleacher seat.
