Comments on: Morosi is disappointed in U.S. stars for dissing the WBC. Here’s why he’s wrong.

By: lookinghitterish

lookinghitterish — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 22:50:39 +0000

It seems he would hardly pass up the chance to throw his base ball at foreign opposition. Literally. And especially if his catcher were an Irish Papist.

By: djpostl

djpostl — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 21:46:36 +0000

Have we heard from @OldHossRadbourn on this yet?

By: nothanksimdriving123

nothanksimdriving123 — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 20:48:44 +0000

Either cancel it or shut down all the top leagues for a month every 4 years and really make it the World Cup of Baseball. Right now it seems pretty M-I-C-K-E-Y…

By: thebadguyswon

thebadguyswon — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 20:41:52 +0000

Yeah….wake me when its over. Couldn’t care less.

By: braddavery

braddavery — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 20:41:31 +0000

You just assume that if all the best U.S. players played they would automatically dominate and win the thing every time?

By: kalinedrive

kalinedrive — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 20:12:57 +0000

Put me down in the “who cares” column. Well, I don’t suppose anyone is counting votes or anything anyway, because who cares? The WBC is worthless and meaningless and useless. I’d much rather see my team together in spring training.

By: crackersnap

crackersnap — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 20:03:37 +0000

Oh. I see. NOW Morosi is a fan of Mike Trout!

“The BBWAA membership (rightly, in my view) recognizes MVP candidates who make the greatest impact on a team’s effort to reach the postseason…”. Yeah, because having the impact of winning MORE games, against MUCH TOUGHER division, over LESS TIME in the season, mean nothing. Nope. Nothing at all. Unless, of course, you want Trout playing on your team.

By: Baseball Beer Burritos In That Order

Baseball Beer Burritos In That Order — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 19:33:27 +0000

“Dad, why was your baseball career so short?”

“Well son, I couldn’t let down the fans, so I went out and played hard, tore my UCL, and…well, son, not everything is permanent.”

“Did you guys at least win the pennant that year?”

“Um, no, it was actually the World Baseball Classic.”

“…I think I’ll ask Mom to drive me to school today.”

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 19:25:51 +0000

Except for Don Kelly.

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 19:22:08 +0000

Punks!

By: bh192012

bh192012 — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 19:17:35 +0000

I’m not going to rake these guys over the coals, however, I’m not going to look up to them as much either. Adam Jones stock has gone up, Trouts has not. I will compare Bryce Harpers patriotism.

You try to argue that US baseball is clearly the best. That it is so much better than the other countries, that it has nothing to prove. Yet it has never won this tournament. It hasn’t won any medal in it. If we’re so good, prove it. I think US teams went 1-4 vs Japan teams in exhibition games last spring. 1 gold and 2 bronze in 5 opportunities at the Olympics. Cuba, Japan, South Korea and Venezuela are not chumps. Apparently the US produces a lot of 2nd best players.

By: jarathen

jarathen — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 18:59:27 +0000

In 2011, Trout was dogging it in the AFL, and every single report I read talked about how tired he was.

While it seems odd on the surface, I’ve read from many baseball writers that playing from late February through the end of September at least is an endurance run that takes time to adjust to.

By: JB (the original)

JB (the original) — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 18:38:26 +0000

“then” not “than” as well.

By: Old Gator

Old Gator — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 18:07:49 +0000

And anyway, who gives a damn what the President of Egypt thinks?

By: zzalapski

zzalapski — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 17:57:30 +0000

Wouldn’t it be funny if Morosi used abstinence from the WBC as his rationale for voting against some of these guys for the Hall of Fame later on?

No, of course not, it would be fucking idiotic. But after what we’ve seen from the BBWAA in recent years, it doesn’t seem so farfetched.

By: bklynbaseball

bklynbaseball — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 17:51:58 +0000

Choose AAA players, as well as the guys in spots 26-40 on the MLB rosters. You could probably field a damn good team with these guys.

By: bklynbaseball

bklynbaseball — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 17:48:48 +0000

Personally, I think that the team the USA sends to the WBC should be all Minor League players. They’re really the ones with something to prove.

By: dowhatifeellike

dowhatifeellike — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 17:23:50 +0000

A player’s primary obligation is to the guy signing the checks. Secondary is that the government gets their share of said checks. Paying taxes is more patriotic than some international baseball tournament; it’s all just a p!ssing contest anyway. Being great doesn’t require consistently displaying that greatness at every opportunity.

By: philliesblow

philliesblow — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 17:16:05 +0000

WBC = Selig’s Folly. Cancel the stupid thing.

By: sabathiawouldbegoodattheeighthtoo

sabathiawouldbegoodattheeighthtoo — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 17:10:23 +0000

Is he also ripping on Ichiro and Kuroda for not playing for team Japan? It is not an exclusively American phenomenon. Guys have obligations to the teams that sign the paycheck. Plus, most of these guys have the opportunity to play against each other all the time even without participating in the WBC.

By: Ben

Ben — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 17:08:34 +0000

Yeah, ’cause the World Series has always existed, since the dawn of time (and perhaps outside it), waiting for a sport to discover it. No way the World Series was contrived or anything.

By: vallewho

vallewho — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 17:04:06 +0000

contrived tournament. fake supremacy.

By: blacksables

blacksables — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 17:02:39 +0000

Since I didn't capitalize 'world', it does count as an error. '''' word '''''

By: blacksables

blacksables — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 17:01:41 +0000

I believe capitalization of a mis-spelt world cancels out the error.

By: bricktop02

bricktop02 — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 16:59:34 +0000

Someone get Morosi a binky & blanket.

By: hisgirlgotburrelled

hisgirlgotburrelled — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 16:54:06 +0000

“the US bears a unique responsibility to grow the WBC as the sport’s premier international tournament”
because inventing the game and the MLB wasn’t enough?

By: El Bravo

El Bravo — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 16:52:43 +0000

“The WBC is kinda cool.” This is where your premise lies and why I disagree completely. I think the WBC should be and could be extremely cool. I’d much rather see premier players in the WBC than the ASG. It means more and I’d like to see that reflected by the players’ choices. Of course there’s high risk to play, but I think the MLB and teams should be as accommodating as possible to the players and create incentives for them to play for their national teams. Incentives could be monetary or whatever. IF, and hopefully when, the vast majority of elites play for their national clubs, come back again and tell me that it would be only “kinda cool”. IF the US won it, I think there would be much more appreciation here too. In fact, that’d be f@cking awesome.

By: paperlions

paperlions — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 16:39:39 +0000

Every ball player that grew up in the US (and many other countries) grew up dreaming of winning the WS. None of them grew up dreaming of winning the WBC. You can’t force weight/importance on a tournament, either it happens (as it did eventually with the World Cup) or it doesn’t….and most of them don’t.

By: professormaddog31

professormaddog31 — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 16:38:41 +0000

Also, you just know that if someone like Verlander got his arm tweaked during a WBC game, Morosi would be one of the first to ask why he was out there in the first place.

You can’t win for losing with these guys.

By: cktai

cktai — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 16:31:33 +0000

it’s = its (twice)