Thursday, March 02, 2006
Thoughts on World Baseball Classic
It's a dream come true to any baseball fan in the world. Finally for the first time ever, the world will see it's first "World Baseball Classic". The absolute best players in the world will come together to represent their countries to see who is the best baseball country on the planet. Though the idea seems great, there are many problems that are already forumlating. Scared baseball owners, player fear of injury, unwillingness to play in a "made up event", low American baseball and country pride and most of all the fact that the classic will take place before the MLB starts it's season. Those are the main problems.Let's take a look at the them more in depth.
The WBC is a great idea minus the fact that the timing is horrible. Now a strong counter argument would be the fact that there really is no other good time to have this event other than a month before the Major Leauge Baseball season begins. The timing of this event means players are not in top physical form to compete. Pitchers will be limited to strict pithing counts and games will even end in a tie to reduce the risk of pitching injuries after 14 innings. This in my mind takes away from a full out fight to the bone tournament atmoshre that would be cool to see.
Owners are also very upset that their star players, some playing for millions of dollars, might get hurt. If A Rod brakes his leg, his 100 million dollar contract still goes to him and he retires at the expense of George Steinbrenner. That also goes for everyother player. We must remember this isn't the olympics, it's a un tested tournament that players are risking their careers on. Is it worth playing in this tournament? A recent scare was with Milwaukee Brewers ace Ben Sheets and his desire to play in the games. Sheets, an olympic hero from the Olympics in 2000, wanted to be there. The Brewers filed a complaint to MLB asking that the star not be able to participate. Sheets is owed 11 million this season, the largest in Brewers history and they didin't want the teams future and his future risked.
Also it seems America wont care as much for the upcoming tournament as other countries with alot more pride (venesuala, panama, dominican republic). Every day that passes by, another star pulls out. Though lots of the players are recovering from injuries, some do not want to participate to not risk their bodies. Barry Bonds, Manny Rameirez and Ben Sheets are some big names that felt it was best to stay with their teams.
I love the idea of the tournament and look forward to watching every game that I can. I do however feel that one injured baseball star will give the classic lots of bad publicity. I hope America wins and hopefully as each classic comes and goes, they can learn something different to keep making it better each time to help eliminate some of these problems. GO USA!
The WBC is a great idea minus the fact that the timing is horrible. Now a strong counter argument would be the fact that there really is no other good time to have this event other than a month before the Major Leauge Baseball season begins. The timing of this event means players are not in top physical form to compete. Pitchers will be limited to strict pithing counts and games will even end in a tie to reduce the risk of pitching injuries after 14 innings. This in my mind takes away from a full out fight to the bone tournament atmoshre that would be cool to see.
Owners are also very upset that their star players, some playing for millions of dollars, might get hurt. If A Rod brakes his leg, his 100 million dollar contract still goes to him and he retires at the expense of George Steinbrenner. That also goes for everyother player. We must remember this isn't the olympics, it's a un tested tournament that players are risking their careers on. Is it worth playing in this tournament? A recent scare was with Milwaukee Brewers ace Ben Sheets and his desire to play in the games. Sheets, an olympic hero from the Olympics in 2000, wanted to be there. The Brewers filed a complaint to MLB asking that the star not be able to participate. Sheets is owed 11 million this season, the largest in Brewers history and they didin't want the teams future and his future risked.
Also it seems America wont care as much for the upcoming tournament as other countries with alot more pride (venesuala, panama, dominican republic). Every day that passes by, another star pulls out. Though lots of the players are recovering from injuries, some do not want to participate to not risk their bodies. Barry Bonds, Manny Rameirez and Ben Sheets are some big names that felt it was best to stay with their teams.
I love the idea of the tournament and look forward to watching every game that I can. I do however feel that one injured baseball star will give the classic lots of bad publicity. I hope America wins and hopefully as each classic comes and goes, they can learn something different to keep making it better each time to help eliminate some of these problems. GO USA!
# posted by Sheetsfan15 @ 8:06 PM 
