This has the potential to be very bad, does it not?

This has the potential to be very bad, does it not?

Define bad.

The WBC losing all credibility because it's only champion refuses to compete?

or

The WBC losing all credibility because the poorer countries have no incentive to come because Japan gets too big a piece of the financial pie?

Anyone know how the revenue is divided and what the players make? I suspect the Japanese are doing better than some but not as well as MLB and the MLB players.

The WBC losing all credibility because it's only champion refuses to compete?

You have to have credibility in order to lose it. The WBC is just a fun little "bragging rights" tourney that doesn't mean squat in the long run. Let Japan bring in scabs, who really cares? It's not like the countries make an ball-to-the-wall effort to put the best teams on the field anyway. I mean, any tourney in which Mike Piazza can play for Italy seems a little absurd.

You have to have credibility in order to lose it. The WBC is just a fun little "bragging rights" tourney that doesn't mean squat in the long run. Let Japan bring in scabs, who really cares? It's not like the countries make an ball-to-the-wall effort to put the best teams on the field anyway. I mean, any tourney in which Mike Piazza can play for Italy seems a little absurd

Yeah, but MLB seems to be putting its eggs in the WBC basket now that it looks like baseball's removal from the Olympics is going to stick. There's a lot of theoretical money to make here.

If Japan's out, Korea is going to win it all baby!

This redistribution of wealth is trickier than I thought!

It's not like the countries make an ball-to-the-wall effort to put the best teams on the field anyway.

One country clearly has done so both times the WBC has been played. And it won both times...

One country clearly has done so both times the WBC has been played. And it won both times...

True. Japan has everything to lose here and nothing to gain. In other words, they have no leverage. The WBC is going to exist and be profitable with or without Japan's best. Of course they're not going to budge. This is a Japanese pro ball issue, it's that simple.

If Japan can't field a real team, they don't get a chance to threepeat. I'm looking forward to the WBC next spring, the second time around players took it more seriously.

The WBC is awesome and will only get better as the years pass and it builds a reputation. The USA players definitely wanted to win last year: just look at their celebration after knocking off Puerto Rico. Or look at the national humiliation of the DR. People are taking it seriously already.

The WBC is just a fun little "bragging rights" tourney that doesn't mean squat in the long run.

How can you be so sure when the "long run" in this context hasn't even begun yet.

The thing with the WBC is that with the past two tournaments, they both were big successes, and everyone who actually watched them enjoyed them. Yeah, neither of them were perfect, and the pitchers often had down seasons after it, but overall, at the end of both tourneys most people had nice things to say.

And yet, then, by the time the next one comes around, almost everybody is complaining about it again like it's the first time it's ever happening. Even the Americans that did show up, as WJ pointed out, were big into it. Certainly not to the extent the Japanese and the Caribbean teams were (they weren't hiding injuries and playing through them like Matsuzaka was) but it's not like they were just there for appearances. The celebration after David Wright's walk-off win against Puerto Rico was genuine.

I personally think eventually Japan WILL take part, either through the NPB giving up some of it's money to the player's association as essentially a bribe, or perhaps because of public pressure/national pride. In the end, something is going to get done.