World Baseball Classic Lacking Talent

It is time for baseball fans to get excited now that the pitchers have started to arrived early for spring training, and the World Baseball Classic rosters have been released.  All of the best players will be showing off their talent as well as representing their countries in the classic.  Well, almost all of the best players.  Many of the super star athletes won't be joining their countries this year for a many of different reasons.

Albert Pujols will not be participating this year for the Dominicans.  It isn't his personal decision, actually he said he want to play.  His manager was the one who put the end to all of that talk.  He is coming off of knee surgery, which took place in November, and is still recovering from that.  This is a great decision by the manager.  Though the World Baseball Classic does only happens every four years, and Pujols will be 38 when the next classic happens, he needs to sit this one out.  He is making $16 million this year and $23 million the year following is only a small reason why the Angels should not risk letting him play in the classic.  I think the bigger picture is how the Angels look as a team this year.  Many fans are predicting them to win the World Series with the addition of Josh Hamilton to an already offensive team.  So risking injury to a player who is one of the biggest offensive threats in all of baseball just seems ridiculous.

Another star player has also decided not to play in the classic; Felix Hernandez has, according to Yahoo! Sports, agreed to a $175 million dollar contract with the Mariners. The Mariners not letting their star pitcher play in the classic is understandable, but kind of a let down.  Hernandez is a very young pitcher and great to watch.  Obviously protecting your investment, especially when dealing with $175 million dollars, is a good idea; I would like to see the flame thrower pitch against the best in the world.  This is a very limited opportunity and is a great honor to be asked to play.

Another great pitcher that has decided on his own he is going to sit out this year is Justin Verlander.  His main reason that he stated for not wanting to play in the WBC is because of the length of the 2012 season for the Tigers as well as the amount of pitches he threw over the season.  Yet another let down for baseball fans.  This is one of the greatest pitchers to play the game and he is not going to play for the American team because of last season?  Sure, he pitched more than others because of the post season, but I can't stress enough how this is such a honor to play in this event, so why not take the limited honor?

Though many of the big names won't be playing in the WBC, I am sure it will still be a great to watch.  There is some young talent that will be taking the field such as Anthony Rizzo playing for Italy, but also being able to see the talent that other countries have the privilege of having.