Can't believe Captain Brief Stuffer would put his job, livelihood, and career ahead of supporting a lame promotional stunt created solely to benefit his sport's owners.

Me neither.

“I never would have pitched,” the Hall of Famer said Tuesday.

No, but he would have played shortstop for Canada.

a lame promotional stunt created solely to benefit his sport's owners.

Whereas Major League Baseball was a non-profit association founded for the betterment of human-kind?

EDIT: I should add, if a guy doesn't want to play in the WBC that's his choice. But clearly some players want to play for their country (admittedly probably more than non-Americans than the Americans), and a lot of fans want to see their country play. I couldn't care less about Bud Selig's motivations for putting it on.

Ah, here come the WBC haters, right on schedule. "My favourite player will get hurt against Chinese Taipei! Waaaaaahhhh!" STFU.

With the WBC starting soon is there any expectation of either MLB AtBat or a similar app being available for the tournament? I'll be on vacation without access to MLBN during much of the tourney and I'd like to follow on my phone.

With the WBC starting soon is there any expectation of either MLB AtBat or a similar app being available for the tournament? I'll be on vacation without access to MLBN during much of the tourney and I'd like to follow on my phone.

I actually have the same question about mlb.tv. In both previous tournaments I was in Canada so could just watch it on TV.

I'm shocked, SHOCKED, that Jim Palmer, one of the most selfless players in the history of MLB, would turn his back on this opportunity.

#8 You see this all of the time with the World hockey championships. It's a big deal for most Russians, slovaks, Czechs and many Swedes.

Top Canadian players routinely say that they'd planned to wash their hair that week and aren't available.

his job, livelihood, and career

All three?!

Jim Palmer hates America and whatever countries his grandparents were born in.

Well, looking at formats for other sports - the one that jumps out to me is the World Cup. Yes, it's exciting, and always fun to root for your country, but, quite frankly, they have to pull players from their club teams right before the Cup, and the National teams play reasonably well together, but not quite as cohesively as the club teams the players are used to being with.

In 2010, for example, Messi looked lost for much of the Cup as he just wasn't really in sync with his Argentina teammates the same way he would be playing for Barcelona.

Point being, I guess, that to me it seems the best soccer in the world is really being played in the Champions' League, and not at the World Cup, although it is probably blasphemous to say so.

I see a lot of the same issues with the WBC. I don't think this is ever going to completely take off in popularity, certainly not here in the US. You might be better off having the US "World Series" champion take on the Japanese league champion or something like that if you want to see the highest levels of performance.

I see a lot of the same issues with the WBC. I don't think this is ever going to completely take off in popularity, certainly not here in the US. You might be better off having the US "World Series" champion take on the Japanese league champion or something like that if you want to see the highest levels of performance.

This of course supposes that the highest level of performance is the goal of the WBC. I think the draw of the WBC (for those who are drawn to it) isn't so much the calibre of play as the chance to see your country play. Adam Stern isn't anybody's idea of a good player, but the fondest memory of my baseball fandom is his performance in the Canadian victory over the US in 2006. The Japanese, Koreans, Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, and Cubans that follow the WBC aren't necessarily watching to see the best baseball in the world, they're watching to see their country represented. I think US fans are at a bit of a disadvantage in the WBC in that there isn't a whole lot for the US to play for. Any rational observer can see that the US is the best baseballing nation in the world, you don't need a tournament to prove that...there's noting to play for. But for a Cuban, Dominican, Japanese fan, winning means a lot. They're watching with a chip on their shoulder as it were.

I think the comparison is there are a lot of people in Argentina who would rather see Messi win with Argentina rather than Messi win with Barcelona even if he plays much better with the latter.

You might be better off having the US "World Series" champion take on the Japanese league champion or something like that if you want to see the highest levels of performance.

I disagree. If you want the "highest levels of performance", you've got that in the MLB playoffs. The Japanese champions aren't usually going to be any better than MLB playoff teams, and might be worse, so that won't help.

Moreover, baseball doesn't really have the same synergies as soccer. There's no reason to assume someone will hit worse because they're unfamiliar with the hitter behind him. With that in mind, I think the top teams in the WBC are probably the best teams in the world, even if they are not the best possible teams in the world.

To prove he really was better than Palmer, Reuschel should announce that he would have pitched in the WBC

Do some people still care about the World Baseball Waste of Time? Lets see, playoff jockeying in hockey(college and NHL) likewise in hoops, Spring Training, and an exhibition series vaguely related to where players originated...in baseball, you more or less get to choose what country you are from. Its a joke, Bud, and I don't understand the point. The WBC is a far worse idea than the USFL.

This of course supposes that the highest level of performance is the goal of the WBC. I think the draw of the WBC (for those who are drawn to it) isn't so much the calibre of play as the chance to see your country play. Adam Stern isn't anybody's idea of a good player, but the fondest memory of my baseball fandom is his performance in the Canadian victory over the US in 2006. The Japanese, Koreans, Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, and Cubans that follow the WBC aren't necessarily watching to see the best baseball in the world, they're watching to see their country represented. I think US fans are at a bit of a disadvantage in the WBC in that there isn't a whole lot for the US to play for.

That's just it. There is exactly nothing to play for. The highest title in the game is the World Series. Everything else is just short of a beer league trophy. Its nice and the beer was cold. Hopefully. But it isn't the World Series. Its contrived and intrusive.