Saturday, March 14, 2009

The WBC Strikes Again.... At least this time it's a Red Sock

Yep, the WBC has claimed another victim, this time it's Red Sox second baseman and reigning MVP Dustin Pedroia. According to Ken Davidoff, Pedroia has a strained left oblique muscle.

He will be replaced by Cleveland's Mark DeRosa in the Team USA lineup tonight against Puerto Rico.
Pedroia is heading to Fort Myers to be checked out by the Red Sox's doctors today. He spoke of his desire to return to the WBC, but if I were you, I'd bet a month of Mark Teixeira's salary that Pedroia won't be back. The Red Sox, like the Yankees, hate the WBC, and they'll exercise their rights to restrict Pedroia. Oblique injuries can linger if you're not ultra-careful with them.

When a reporter asked Pedroia if he thought this was the sort of thing that concerned teams - that a player ramped up his preparation for the WBC - Pedroia offered a passive-aggressive response.

"A little bit. I know when we got to Toronto, that first game, you play nine innings, you’re not really ready for that. You try to do things you’re not capable of doing at that time. But I knew that getting into it. I don’t think this little injury, or whatever it is, is because I jumped in and played nine innings right away. I’d probably be playing five innings in Fort Myers. It’s just kind of a freak deal, and hopefully, it’s nothing serious."

Who will be the next victim of the WBC?

I just hope it isn't Jeter.

12 Comments:

Anonymous said...

This tournament is a joke. I'd rather watch spring training games than this crap.

Greg Cohen said...

Besides the Netherlands-Dominican Republic game I have had trouble enjoy this thing also.

Anonymous said...

So far it looks like USA is Gonna Lose tonight, i hope they go home i want jeter back in spring training.

Greg Cohen said...

Yea, as long as Jeter comes back healthy I really don't care what team USA does.

Anonymous said...

I actually am a fan of the WBC, I just hate the timing of it...

Greg Cohen said...

I agree the timing of the tourney is awful. It totally ruins it for me. These guys have a season to get ready for.

Play the thing in November or something, but not two weeks into spring training.

I'll say this, though, it would have been nice if the US didn't completely embarrass themselves tonight.

Anonymous said...

yeah i live in tampa, so this spring kinda sucks without jeter, arod and cano...Oh and the USA just got "10 run ruled" by the puerto ricans haha

Greg Cohen said...

What a joke.

JCBauer24 said...

They'll never do it in November for a couple reasons, though...

1. Players won't want to extend their season by another two months. Unless their team makes the playoffs, they'll need to sit through October...then fire it back up in November.

2. There won't be any TV coverage in November. The reason it gets the major coverage on ESPN/ESPN2 right now is because most of the tournament takes place when NOTHING is going on in sports. Notice how tonight they opted for the NCAA basketball coverage instead of this US/PR game? That's what it would be like for the whole tournament if it was in November.

I agree that this thing is kinda a joke, though. Players aren't in shape, not all the wanted players opt to play, etc. You just can't take these games seriously and think they really determine the best countries in baseball.

Greg Cohen said...

You're right Bauer, I just think it's played at the worst possible time when it comes to the upcoming season.

JCBauer24 said...

Oh, I totally agree. I'd rather they play it in November, even if it didn't get big TV coverage. But that's just not how things work these days. :-/

And it annoys me to no end that Marte and Cano didn't tell the Yanks about their injuries until they were back from the WBC. I understand that they want to play, but the Yanks are the ones paying them millions to play baseball.

Anonymous said...

The WBC is a joke, and its definitely not worth risking the health of players and the cost of their salaries.