Bouncing Around Baseball

Just some quick thoughts for today:

Japan has claimed the first-ever World Baseball Classic title, beating Cuba 10-7 last night. What started out as a fledgling tournament struggling to gain the interest of both fans and players alike grew into a worldwide sensation of amazing brotherhood, national pride and baseball. After seeing how popular this tournament became over the past few weeks, I bet there won’t be such reluctance on the part of MLB players to participate next time it rolls around.

I would have to call the inaugural season of the WBC a rousing success, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s looking forward to the next incantation four years from now. In a world divided by politics, religion, beliefs, and anything else people decide to disagree about on a daily basis, its nice to see something bring nationalities together in celebration. Even nicer that its baseball for a change.

Japan had a rough road to the top, overcoming some bad calls against them when playing Team USA, surviving elimination when Mexico demoralized that same Team USA, and benefiting from the WBC’s funky tiebreaker math to make the final round. They played like champions against a surprisingly tough Cuba squad, and came out on top.

And it couldn’t have happened to a better bunch of players. Not to harp on Team USA, but I doubt the likes any of their MLB stars would hold a WBC trophy in such high regard as Team Japan. Even Ichiro, now a seasoned MLB vet, claims this was the greatest thrill in his life. They were playing for national pride, and revel in every minute of their victory.

So Congratulations, Japan, you earned it.

Alfonso Soriano has decided he’d rather sit out the season than take a stab at playing left field for the year. Considering the struggles most infielders-turn-outfielders have faced in recent years (see Jones, Chipper and Knoblauch, Chuck), he might have a legitimate gripe over being asked to make the change.

However, his refusal to even take the field in the new spot for a Spring Training game today could land him on the National’s Disqualified list – and keep his $10-million-a-year salary out of his pocket.

Its hard to know who to blame in this situation. Soriano, for being so stubborn and childish as to leave left field empty at the start of an exhibition game? Or the Nationals GM, who traded for the All-Star second baseman when they already had one in Jose Vidro? No matter the outcome of this standoff, someone’s going to come out a loser here.

But if I were Soriano, I’d grab my mitt and start shagging some fly balls in left. Play the position for the 8-month-long season. Get the exposure of playing in the Nation’s Capital, where the love of baseball was reborn last year. And come off your one-year contract with more leverage for a big contract than ever.

Johnny Damon truly is an idiot. Its amazing to me how some players just can’t learn when to keep their mouths shut. This time he’s sounding off against the Red Sox over the Bronson Arroyo trade, ripping Sox brass for their misguided philosophy on players.

"They have their plans, and they have their computers, and they believe that's right," Damon said. "Unfortunately, computers don't judge a person's heart.”

Pretty funny to hear talk about a person’s Heart from someone who sold their Soul.

I'm kind of an idiot, too. In my writeup of the Arroyo trade yesterday, I somehow neglected to mention what was probably Bronson's finest moment in his Red Sox career: beaning A-Rod to start The Brawl. Granted, it was more A-Rod's mouthing off to Tek (dumb dumb dumb!) that started the fraccas, but if it wasn't for Arroyo coming inside to the Yankees' 3rd baseman, the Sox may not have turned the corner they did that day and go on to win the Series.

So again, Cheers to you, Bronson. We'll miss ya.