The love of the green and not of the game will always hurt the World Baseball Classic.
The announcement of the provisional rosters for the upcoming World Baseball Classic presents a lot of questions. First of all, is anyone taking this seriously? Second, does Major League money trump national pride?
Case in point is Cubs' starter Ryan Dempster, who hails from Gibsons, BC. Now from everything I've heard about Dempster, he's a great guy. Boothmate Jamie Campbell raves about him from when he worked on Sportsnet's playoff coverage a few years back. Articulate, funny, and a master impressionist, Dempster is coming off his best season in the majors, winning 17 games on a Chicago team that ran away with the N.L. Central before falling short, yet again, in the post-season. In short, Dempster would be the perfect ace for manager Ernie Whitt's Canadian team that will take the field for the preliminary round at the Rogers Centre starting March 7, 2009.
But Dempster decided to take a pass on the invite to wear the Canadian maple leaf across his chest. Something that must make our hockey mad citizens shake their collective heads in disbelief. You see hockey players take great pride in representing our country. Contractual obligations to their club teams always take a back seat to playing for our country. That's what comes from playing a team game.
Baseball players, especially those born in the United States, have always been individuals within this team sport. The possibility of getting injured in the month prior to the start of the regular season, with millions of dollars hanging in the balance, has caused many players to pass on this tournament. That's why the likes of Ryan Howard, Brad Lidge, Cole Hamels, Josh Hamilton, CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, and the two defending Cy Young Award winners - Cliff Lee and Tim Lincecum - said thanks, but no thanks.
(Everyone's favourite player to hate - Alex Rodriguez - has decided to play for the Dominican Republic due to the fact that his parents were both born there.)
Surprisingly, Blue Jays' ace Roy Halladay also decided to take a powder. I say surprisingly because it will probably be his only chance to play on a winning team in 2009. Selfishly, I'm glad that 'Doc' isn't participating as he pitches more innings during the regular season than any other pitcher; and tacking another month on his workload isn't in the best interest of the Blue Jays.
Getting back to Dempster's decision not to pitch for Canada, it certainly leaves them in a bind when it comes to cobbling together a starting rotation. Two other obvious choices, Rockies' left-hander Jeff Francis (Vancouver, BC) and Cubs' right-hander Rich Harden (Victoria, BC), are both currently experiencing shoulder problems and will likely be unable to pitch. These absentees mean that Blue Jay Scott Richmond, with a grand total of five major league starts under his belt, is likely the ace of the staff.
That fact alone should tell you that Canada will be a long shot to advance out of the opening round. I guess that's what happens when players decide to play for the name on their cheque, and not the name on the front of their jersey.
THIS & THAT
Offensively, Canada shouldn't have trouble putting some crooked numbers on the board. With Justin Morneau, Russell Martin, Joey Votto and Jason Bay in the lineup, they will have to try and slug their way out of their pool. With only two teams advancing per pool, the United States will likely move on, while the Canadians will have to beat Venezuela - with Magglio Ordonez, Miguel Cabrera, Bobby Abreu, Francisco Rodriguez and Carlos Zambrano - to advance ...
Elsewhere around the majors, while the Yankees have stolen the majority of the headlines by signing CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira and A.J. Burnett to outlandish free agent contracts, I've been impressed with what the Red Sox have done this offseason. The signings of John Smoltz, Brad Penny, Takashi Saito and Rocco Baldelli - all with health questions - are low risk with a possibility of high rewards. Now all the Sox need to do is find a catcher. If the season started today, veteran back-up Josh Bard would be the man behind the plate in '09...
Here's hoping that Blue Jays follow this lead and sign some free agent pitching to low base salary contracts with incentives to help fill in some of the holes on their roster. But judging by their inactivity this off-season, I won't be holding my breath...
I'm not a lawyer - nor do I play one on TV - but it sure seems to me that after a brilliant career, Roger Clemens will not be remembered for his 354 wins and seven Cy Young Awards, but instead as a liar and a cheat, if perjury charges against 'The Rocket' are laid following the grand jury testimony of former trainer - and one-time Blue Jays employee - Brian McNamee...
