Man, I'm excited about this.
Why? Because I get to see some of the great players around the world play against MLB players that people may not know about. I want to see Yu Darvish for Japan- a lot of people consider him to be the best pitcher in the world. The Cubans are always a lot of fun to watch to. And I'm bitterly disappointed that Sung-Yeop Lee won't be playing for Korea. Lee hit an Asian record 56 home runs in the Korean League, and did quite well in the first World Baseball Classic.
I know a lot of Americans don't care about it, but the thing is, this isn't for America. It's for the world. Baseball has been way behind on the International scene for years now. This is definately a step in the right direction. This tournament is going to be seen in 200 countries.
And it's smart that MLB is doing this. I mean, what better way to evaluate some of these players like Darvish than have them play against other MLB players? You couldn't do that in the past. For example, the Cuban Leagues (Serie Nacional) used to use metal bats for years. I remember when Rey Ordonez defected, he was supposed to be "Ozzie Smith with power". That never happened becuase he couldn't adjust to the wood bats, although his defense was spectacular. Then you have some guys that can use this as kind of a try-out- see Pedro Martinez and Ivan Rodriguez among others. A good WBC could land them some more money.
And yeah, yeah I know someone could get hurt, but the fact of the matter is, they could get hurt in spring training to. Or taking clothes out of the dryer for that matter. At least the WBC has taken precautions like strict pitch counts to try to help.
Of course, I'll be pulling for Team USA, although I do kind of like Japan and Cuba to, and how can you not like Australia and South Africa? I'm actually disappointed that Israel doesn't have a team. But, I hope that the US has a better showing than last time. I think not having Dontrelle Willis and a 40 year old Al Leiter in the rotation is a good start as far as that is concerned. It will be fun to watch.
Why? Because I get to see some of the great players around the world play against MLB players that people may not know about. I want to see Yu Darvish for Japan- a lot of people consider him to be the best pitcher in the world. The Cubans are always a lot of fun to watch to. And I'm bitterly disappointed that Sung-Yeop Lee won't be playing for Korea. Lee hit an Asian record 56 home runs in the Korean League, and did quite well in the first World Baseball Classic.
I know a lot of Americans don't care about it, but the thing is, this isn't for America. It's for the world. Baseball has been way behind on the International scene for years now. This is definately a step in the right direction. This tournament is going to be seen in 200 countries.
And it's smart that MLB is doing this. I mean, what better way to evaluate some of these players like Darvish than have them play against other MLB players? You couldn't do that in the past. For example, the Cuban Leagues (Serie Nacional) used to use metal bats for years. I remember when Rey Ordonez defected, he was supposed to be "Ozzie Smith with power". That never happened becuase he couldn't adjust to the wood bats, although his defense was spectacular. Then you have some guys that can use this as kind of a try-out- see Pedro Martinez and Ivan Rodriguez among others. A good WBC could land them some more money.
And yeah, yeah I know someone could get hurt, but the fact of the matter is, they could get hurt in spring training to. Or taking clothes out of the dryer for that matter. At least the WBC has taken precautions like strict pitch counts to try to help.
Of course, I'll be pulling for Team USA, although I do kind of like Japan and Cuba to, and how can you not like Australia and South Africa? I'm actually disappointed that Israel doesn't have a team. But, I hope that the US has a better showing than last time. I think not having Dontrelle Willis and a 40 year old Al Leiter in the rotation is a good start as far as that is concerned. It will be fun to watch.
