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A few days ago Rich posted a compelling write-up focused on the joys of the World Baseball Classic. His writing got me to take a glance at a couple games, something I hadn’t done previously.

I’d never been staunchly anti-WBC, but it seemed to me as though the timing of the event made the games nothing more than glorified exhibitions with some semblance of national pride supposedly on the line.

I won’t go as far as some have in calling the tournament a farce and a “World Baseball Money Grab by the Joke of a Commissioner.” But I do think there is at least one thing someone is going to have to address if this tournament is going to be the Classic it is billed as being: Injuries.

The main concern I’ve heard teams voice through the media about the WBC is their legitimate worry about players who are just starting their spring trainings going out in a highly-competitive atmosphere before they are ready and getting themselves hurt. And it’s playing out so far this spring.

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Canada was eliminated by Italy last night in the World Baseball Classic. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking.

“So?”

Well, Mr. Cheney, you aren’t alone.  There’s been a lot of criticism of the WBC. That it’s played at a poor time of the year, that it’s not a true showing of international talent, that it’s a superfluous exercise created by the commissioner to do nothing more than line the pockets of Major League Baseball. While it’s hard to argue with some of these points, the critics are missing the bigger picture.
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