World Baseball Classic thoughts

A few quick thoughts on the conclusion of the World Baseball Classic:

• How long will it be before Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish is going to be pitching for a team in the United States?


• Here's a good way to sum up the problem with the team that the United States put together for the WBC: Ted Lilly was the number three starter on the team. If Ted Lilly pitched for the New York Yankees, he wouldn't even be the third best American starting pitcher, never mind in all of baseball. The U.S. can't compete with the rest of the world unless we have our best players on the field.


• Even if the WBC never achieves the recognition that World Cup soccer or Olympic Basketball has, the WBC is still an enjoyable exhibition that I hope sticks around every four years as planned.