This seems penny wise and pound foolish. The WBC has helped quite a few Japanese players cash in when they head to MLB. They'd be better off agitating for better rights and salaries within Japanese baseball.

I am not reading this article, but good. The WBC is dumb. #### it.

That's funny, I thought the only reason to dislike the WBC was because of the conflict with MLB.

The WBC is awesome. I hope they work it out.

The WBC is awesome.

Agreed. We're days away from the summer Olympics and I haven't seen a single person complaining that baseball isn't included. The WBC is orders of magnitude better than the best Olympic baseball competition ever was.

Well, WHAT ARE THE MONEY ISSUES? I RTFA and it doesn't give any indication of what players receive or how revenues are allocated, either for the upcoming WBC or the previous ones. Maybe the Japanese have a point if there is heightened interest in the WBC there and they are producing more of the WBC revenue than originally anticipated.

I agree with number four

Apparently the Japanese federation and NPB still is expected to send a delegation. Meaning, yes, it's entirely possible (although unlikely- eventually one of these sides if going to give in) we could see a team made up of Japanese players who play in America mixed with guys from Japan's Indy leagues, semi-pro Industrial Leagues, and amateurs from the High Schools.

This seems penny wise and pound foolish. The WBC has helped quite a few Japanese players cash in when they head to MLB. They'd be better off agitating for better rights and salaries within Japanese baseball.

That players cash in when they go to MLB does absolutely nothing for the vast majority of players who don't go. In essence, the player's association is agitating for better rights and salaries within Japanese baseball with this threatened boycott. It comes down to fighting the battles you have a chance of winning. The JPBPA can't strike for better salaries or rights. But they are on firmer ground for refusing to play in the WBC.

The JPBPA can't strike for better salaries or rights.

Why can't they?

The U.S. has a long history of pro-union sentiment, but when the MLB players struck, the public turned against them in a big way. Japan has no pro-union history, and strikes are hardly ever used to resolve labor issues. If the players took a hard-line and struck for better conditions, they'd lose virtually all public support, and they would still be unlikely to win.

When NPB tried to unilaterally contract one of the teams, and negotiations with the players broke down, the players struck...but only on the weekends. And the head of the JPBPA went on the news to apologize to fans. That's about as favorable conditions for players to strike as you're likely to see, but that's as far as it went.