I know I've posted before about my dislike for the WBC, so I promise this will be the last one. But honestly folks, the WBC is ruining spring training.
Spring training is a time to get your act together for the coming season. It's a time to start that bond with your fellow teammates and get started on the right foot. It's a time to get back into shape and focus on what your contribution to the team will be.
That's not what's happening. The Mets have 16 players involved in the World Baseball Classic so it's not like a random 2 or 3 guys are out of spring training. David Wright got kneed in the head the other night. KRod is pitching lights out, but is throwing more innings on back to back nights than he's used to. Heaven forbid anything should happen to either of these guys because the Mets season would be in trouble for a glorified exhibition.
I do get the part about playing for your country. Even I was moved when in a SportsCenter clip, Brian Roberts of Team USA talked about wearing the uniform for our country and what a great feeling that is. I get that it's a time for other countries to band together and play against the world's best.
But in a week no one will even think or talk about the WBC. This isn't the Olympics. It's something created by Bud Selig to monetize baseball even more than it already is and somehow symbolize baseball as a "world game."
Whatever.
I want my players focused on the task at hand, overcoming the debacle that was last year and coming out of the gates strong. I can't wait for the WBC to be over and we can get back to some real baseball games.
1 comment:
I could not agree more! And from an owner perspective, I can't see how these players are allowed to participate (maybe you can shed some light). I usually never take sides with owners, but in these types of cases, If I'm an owner, I am negotiating contracts that preclude any of my "highly paid" athletes to participate outside the team. One way to avoid this might be to make spring training mandatory?
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