Passan: The WBC is a Farce

From Jeff Passan:

The World Baseball Classic is a farce. There’s no other way to put it. As much great baseball as it showcases, and as much as it means to other countries, until the United States starts treating the games as something more than exhibitions, the American public will continue to ignore it, and rightfully so.

This has little to do with the outcome of Team USA’s game Saturday night against Puerto Rico, an 11-1 mercy killing. ...

... What’s inconceivable and inexplicable and downright insulting to anyone who wants the WBC to succeed was Team USA manager Davey Johnson’s explanation of why he continued to let his starting pitcher, Jake Peavy, rot away any chance for a win with pitch after ugly pitch that the Puerto Ricans sprayed to every corner of Dolphin Stadium.

“Just basically let him get a little more work,” Johnson said.

Really.

OK, just to go over this one time: The WBC bills itself as a tournament to determine the world’s best team and spread the game’s allure (and, yeah, maybe fatten Major League Baseball’s wallet). It expects fans to take such notions seriously. They do, even though a double-pronged reticence within MLB – players and management alike – prevents many of the best players in the world from participating. Still, the games in the first round win support for their intensity and quality, especially this early in spring. And how does the manager for the most visible team, the one with the most major league stars, repay such commitment from those who bought tickets and watched on TV and sponsored the event figuring it more than a glorified spring training game?

He makes sure Jake Peavy hits a pitch count.

Fifty-two, by the way.

That it followed manifold other mistakes makes Johnson resemble his predecessor, Buck Martinez, who fumbled and bumbled as the United States bombed out of the first WBC.

...

Its second pool kicks off play Sunday in San Diego with a rematch of the 2006 final, Cuba and Japan. If Cuba’s starting pitcher struggles, manager Higinio Velez will have no qualms about yanking him in the first inning. He did so in the first championship game, pulling Ormari Romero after 23 pitches and one out.

That’s the urgency this tournament demands: caring more about the team’s well-being than the individual’s. Let Peavy throw his pitches in the bullpen. The WBC deserves better than Johnson’s cockamamie excuse.

One problem with "caring more about the team’s well-being than the individual’s," is that at this point in the year everyone is trying preparing for their real season, the one that begins in April. The one they get paid for.

I don't know if there is a better time for this tournament, but having it two weeks into spring training is about as bad as it can get. These guys are barely in shape to play a full spring training game, so how can we expect them to play playoff-type games on the world's stage? That's one of the reasons all these b-level pitchers look like Sandy Koufax out there.

Passan also mentions in the article that several of the United States players didn't even realize the game had ended when Puerto Rico scored its 11th run in the seventh. How is that even possible? It's like Donovan McNabb not knowing that NFL games could end in a tie if nobody scores in overtime. It's pretty obvious that Team USA in unprepared, poorly coached, and probably doesn't really give a damn.

Meanwhile, the uninspired USA team takes on the Netherlands tonight at 7:30 p.m. with their tournament life on the line.