US WBC Team not built to win

[Ender]

Oswalt is getting ready for the regular season, Johnson left him out there to get his pitches in.

[angels7777]

Oswalt is getting ready for the regular season, Johnson left him out there to get his pitches in.

you can claim that all you want and I have heard Johnson say that, but when you are in the semi-final of the WBC you go for the win and not claim a guy is "getting his pitches in" - if that is the case then that guy should not even be on the team.....

we should be playing to win, not playing to get ready for the regular season...

[Yoda]

Yeah but the win doesn't matter that much to the US.

[CubsFan7724]

Oswalt is getting ready for the regular season, Johnson left him out there to get his pitches in.

you can claim that all you want and I have heard Johnson say that, but when you are in the semi-final of the WBC you go for the win and not claim a guy is "getting his pitches in" - if that is the case then that guy should not even be on the team.....

we should be playing to win, not playing to get ready for the regular season...

No, because fans of the indivdual temas don't care. I was ecstatic when the DR was eliminated, because it meant Marmol wasn't going to get overworked. Considering how many US players got hurt, I'm guessing most people are just happy no major leagues got injured for any decent amount of time.

All it does is hurt the major league teams, which is what I really care about. I don't care about this overhyped exhibition, and judging by the empty seats at Dodger Stadium, neither do most Americans.

It's different because in basketball, we are so utterly dominant that we have no excuse for not winning. When we got bad for a few years, it was embarrassing. Then we got a real coach, and we actually got the best players, and what do you know, we embarrassed the world.

But the WBC? I only wish it for to be over with all the Cubs players and any of my fantasy players completely healthy.

[bigh0rt]

For you guys saying that the U.S. didn't care, I'm not sure you could have been watching the WBC (and maybe you weren't, but if you weren't you missed out on some great games in there), but for the players who actually did go and represent the U.S., they were as into it as anybody could ever ask for. When they rallied back in the Quarter Finals they celebrated like they won the World Series. Hell, even if you don't consider all the guys who weren't willing to play, had the team not gotten so decimated by injury since the beginning, they could have probably still given it a run. The liked of Pedroia, Chipper, Youkilis, etc. all having to be sent home really hurt the team. So, on the grand scale maybe the country doesn't care about it as much as, say, Japan, but those guys who did show up and represent the U.S. went 100% in every game I watched.

Also, some of those runs could have been saved yesterday if either

a) Derek Jeter could make a throw to 1st base
or
b) Davey would have started Rollins at SS and Jeter at DH and not vice versa

[Ender]

Oswalt is getting ready for the regular season, Johnson left him out there to get his pitches in.

you can claim that all you want and I have heard Johnson say that, but when you are in the semi-final of the WBC you go for the win and not claim a guy is "getting his pitches in" - if that is the case then that guy should not even be on the team.....

we should be playing to win, not playing to get ready for the regular season...

Its the same reason that Longoria pinch hit in the 8th, it was going to be the only chance he had to get into the game. Victorino is the smarter play there, LH bat instead of RH, strikes out less but if they dont' pinch hit there in a 2 run game with the top of the order up next inning he most likely doesn't get to play.

I'm not saying it is right or wrong, but that is how the USA approaches this thing. The same reason they let Jeter play at all when Rollins is a better player.

[MasterX1918]

An All-Star team with John Grabow on it. Sounds about right. Honestly they should of done a better job with the pitching. Ted Lilly and Jeremy Guthrie shouldn't of been starting games.

[BitterDodgerFan]

for starters, get a decent manager. davey johnson is a joke, he is the "lets wait for the big home run" manager. that's exactly what his excuse was for bringing in longoria. watching part of the post game conference, saying things like he thought longoria could hit a home run or that his team played pretty good showed me this guy is clueless.

in japan when they tried to hire the manager who failed to medal in beijing, ichiro spoke out against it and they promptly hired a more capable manager.

player selection: after watching this year's wbc, i say don't try to recruit all the big name players for the sake of putting together an all star lineup. but pick the players who are gonna play hard and with passion. more guys like derosa and less players like jeter.

another thought i had was maybe this tournament should be played in the fall when all the pro league seasons are over.

[Amazinz]

This team was built to win just fine IMO. We might not have had the very best U.S. team possible but it was good enough. I can definitely agree that our manager needs to be able to play to win rather than massage egos and make MLB GMs happy but it was still good enough. They just didn't play well enough last night.

[MasterX1918]

player selection: after watching this year's wbc, i say don't try to recruit all the big name players for the sake of putting together an all star lineup. but pick the players who are gonna play hard and with passion. more guys like derosa and less players like jeter.

I think that is what they tried doing this year, selecting guys like victorino, youkilis, dunn and pedroia. Even David Wright and Jimmy Rollins seemed to hustle at times. I agree Jeter looked like he didn't give a damn and should of never gotten PT over Rollins. To be honest I think that no matter what players USA selected, Japan and Korea would still put together better teams. Those teams just want it more.