Injuries Not Isolated to WBC

Let's get this straight: The World Baseball Classic is far from perfect. If you want to hate the event, and believe it should never occur again, that's well within your rights. I won't argue, although I'm personally enjoying it. I do, however, have a problem with the constant complaining done both in the media and by fans of Major League Baseball when it comes to injuries.

Injuries are part of baseball. They occur whether you are playing in your local summer bush league, Spring Training, the World Baseball Classic, or in the regular big-league season. This spring, there have been a rash of injuries across all of the majors, but the overwhelming majority of them had nothing to do with the WBC.

I've heard the arguments. The players' bodies aren't yet ready for such intense competition, and spring exhibition games are much more laid back. Playing these games brings out the competitive nature in players, which further puts them at risk. Playing 162 games injury-free is difficult enough a task. And, of course, those pitchers. You can't protect a guy's arm enough nowadays. God forbid someone throw more than 50 pitches in a game.

There are easy counter-arguments to each case, though. First of all, anyone who has ever played the game will tell you the easiest way to tweak a muscle is to do something at less than 100 percent. Secondly, freak accidents can happen anywhere. Keep in mind there are players in Spring Training fighting for jobs. I don't see how they won't be playing with all the intensity the WBC players have. It's their livelihood, after all. Finally, pitchers in Spring Training work on new breaking pitches, new mechanics, and throw tons of bullpen sessions. Any of these situations are just as risky to health as throwing 50 pitches in the WBC, if not more.

Detractors of the WBC will point to the injuries to Team USA members Matt Lindstrom, Chipper Jones, Dustin Pedroia, and Ryan Braun. Hanley Ramirez, Damaso Marte and Robinson Cano have also returned injured to their teams.

Chipper strained a muscle on a swing. He's going to be 37 years old in just over a month and hasn't had a fully healthy season since 2003. Plus, wouldn't he be swinging quite a bit in Braves' camp? Pedroia didn't even get hurt during a game. You can't correlate Ramirez's injury to the WBC, since he was already been back with the Marlins when his injury surfaced.


I can't really argue with the cases of Braun of Lindstrom. Of course, they aren't near as serious as some things that have occurred in Spring Training.

Fernando Perez dislocated his wrist while attempting a diving catch. Julio Lugo tore the meniscus in his right knee. Those players will miss a significant chunk of time, and were injured far more seriously than anyone in the WBC. I'm sure the pundits would mention those aren't marquee names. I'd counter with the status of Cole Hamels' elbow. Thank the lord he wasn't on Team USA, or Bud Selig would be burned in effigy on the streets of Philadelphia.

Just to illustrate the manner in which muscle tweaks so frequently occur in Spring Training, here is a partial list of non-WBC players who are injured just as seriously -- if not moreso -- as Chipper, Braun, and Pedroia.

Tim Redding, Trevor Hoffman, Matt Joyce, Jayson Nix, Koji Uehara, Doug Mientkiewicz, Cristian Guzman, Cody Ross, Joey Devine, Brandon Morrow, Tony Gwynn Jr., Jim Thome, Rich Hill, Justin Duchscherer, Ervin Santana, Garrett Anderson, Doug Davis ... we'll just stop here, because I could go on for a long time. There are many more.

The point here is that, yes, injuries happen, but they happen everywhere. The WBC doesn't cause injuries. So, if you want to go on hating the WBC, be my guest. I'm not asking you to jump aboard some crusade in support of the event. What I am asking is to please proceed with legitimate arguments against it.