I've really been dragging my ass about writing recently, just haven't had the time or the motivation to, but the developments in the Bud Selig-approved World Baseball Classic have peaked my interest, namely the injury crisis on the United States. As I have written in this space before, I feel that the WBC, while a nice idea and can be exciting, is a detriment to the quality of the product Major League Baseball gives to the fan. It puts unecessary wear and tear on a players body at a time when they should be getting ready for the rigors or a long season, forcing them to play at a very high level when they're not really ready to. Well I don't mean to make this a "I told you so" piece, but the results thus far are less than suprising to me.
If you haven't been following the WBC its been a sad tale of one big superstar going down for the United States after another, Ryan Bruan, Dustin Pedroia, Chipper Jones, Matt Lindstrom, Kevin Youkilis, and most recently David Wright. While none of the injuries were career or even season ending injuries, such a lengthy list of superstars on the mend is problematic. Sure one could merely write these injuries off as a string of bad luck but I would argue otherwise. Indeed, being forced to play in playoff-type situations months before their bodes are ready, their bodies reacted in kind. Now instead of preparing for the regular season as these guys always have, easing into the season playing a few innings here and there and working on fundamentals, they're on the mend, in the training room and missing the valuable training time to get ready for the real season.
What's more is the lengthy spaces in time between games is a further detriment to the players. Instead of getting the regular work in easing into the rigors of a 162 game season plus the playing time is sporadic. Echoing Chipper Jones' sentiment a few weeks ago its frustrating for a ballplayer to have a game and then not play for several days, forced to sit around and endure the sights of cities like toronto instead of concentrating on what's important.
My sentiment is not the popular or even the more lucrative one but it is the most sensible when you consider how it affects Major League Baseball. Yes the WBC has been exciting at times, giving baseball audiences riveting playoff caliber baseball at a time when they're used to the nonchalance of a spring traning game, but it comes at a cost that is too great. When you're not allowing players to adequately get ready and prepare themselves for the regular season you're putting an inferior product on the field and damanging the marketability of baseball. So as more reserves are being called in to fortify the United States team and more players go down as a fan do you want to see your players being the next in line? Are the rays comfortable with the distinct possibility that Evan Longoria will follow the other third baseman on the team and go down with a serious possibly season altering injury? There is too much at stake, too much talent, too much money in major league baseball for players to be messing around. Let the amateurs go play and put them in harm's way, better them go down then potentially dimish the lustre of the MLB.
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