Spring training is dragging on (and on...) so I have spent the last week trying to put the WBC into focus; it's been tough, as the image keeps shifting. My feeling entering the tournament was that the worst thing that could happen would be for the Americans to win - I think that to really take off, the U.S. needs to get serious and play their A-team. If they were to win with their B-team (or even C-team), that would be disastrous.

Sure enough, they got blown out of the tournament. However, the Americans don't seem to be too upset - there isn't any indication that there is any pressure to field a better team in the next tournament (granted, Americans have a bunch of more important things on their minds at the moment). All indications are that they will field a B-squad in the next WBC as well.

So I honestly don't know; maybe, if the Americans win next time, there will be greater pressure to defend the title, and more great players will take part. In the mean time, the WBC is what it was last time - an OK tournament that is dominated by the nations that actually care.

Here in Toronto, there was a lot of excitement when the Canadian team played the Americans in the Rogers Centre, not so much excitement when they were defeated by the Italian-American team*. Oh well, shit happens; plus, it's baseball. Remember when Sergio Mitro beat Roy Halladay? I sure do.

* A lot of people thought this was an embarrassment for Canada, to lose to the Italian team... but of course, the Italian team had a bunch of guys who were born in New York. I think this was a great idea by the organizers, to allow American players to play for other countries... otherwise, you could get some pretty embarrassing blowouts that no one wants to watch.

I'm also thinking that the list of all-time Italian-American baseball players is pretty good. In addition to Frankie Catalanotto and Nick Punto, you've got:

• All the DiMaggios
• Yogi Berra AND Roy Campanella AND Mike Piazza
• Rocky Colavito and Tony Conigliaro
• Ernie Lombardi and Tony Lazzeri
• Ron Santo and Joe Torre
• Sal Maglie and Frank Viola
• Vic Raschi and Dave Righetti
• Many others

Your managing options include Torre, Tommy Lasorda, Tony LaRussa, Terry Francona and others, Leo Mazzone is pitching coach and Joe Garagiola does the TV broadcoast. Wikipedia also lists Barry Zito and the Giambi brothers and others, though I have no idea if they were eligible for the Italian team.

Getting back to the WBC... I'm beginning to think that this thing has no future in its current form. And I admit to being influenced by Chipper Jones, who bitched and complained about his visit to Toronto, saying: "We stayed in Toronto for a week and played three games. I don't know if you ever stayed in Toronto, but it's not exactly Las Vegas. To say that we were plucking our eyebrows out one at a time would be an understatement."

"You're not getting the work in that you should. You're getting reps, but you’re not getting the at-bats that you need."

Some Torontonians understandably took offence to that, but of course Chipper was 100% right. It's not really a Toronto problem, it's a spring problem. Spring is for going to someplace warm (Florida, Arizona) and dicking around. It's not supposed to be about going to someplace cold and playing in a meaningful game. It's something that's built into a ballplayers' DNA, part of the rhythm of their career. You show up in the morning, stretch, long toss, dick around, play a few innings, dick around some more, go out at night, fool around a bit, and start again the next day.**

One of the big problems with the WBC, of course, is that there are no pitching heroics; because of the innings limit on pitchers, Bob Gibson can't take the mound and fire a 1-0 shutout in the big game. But the problem goes beyond pitching; it's the widespread belief that the WBC interferes with a player's preparation - that dicking around in camp is more important than actual competition.

I don't think that's true - I think that competing hard, at all levels and at all times of year, makes you a better player. Certainly more than dicking around in camp with that new batting stance that you'll never use in an actual game, or dicking around with that new changeup that you'll never actually throw to a real batter. But the prejudice exists, that real actual competition in March is detrimental to a player's development, and I don't know how the WBC gets around that - except to move the tournament out of March.

There's no perfect time, of course. But if we're gonna do this thing, let's do it right: start the season five days early (I'd be more than happy if it started today, quite frankly) and end five days late, and play a 10-day tournament during the All-Star break. A single knockout might be required, which is scary for everybody, but who knows; maybe if you offer Roy Halladay a chance to go nine innings and win one for the Nation, maybe he accepts. If he wants a taste of the limelight, then the only alternative is to wait for his team to make the postseason... and that's far from a sure thing.

** Of course, spring training has become part of the fans' DNA as well - which might help explain fan apathy towards this tournament. It's spring, the games are supposed to be meaningless, our bodies are still adjusting to this Daylight Savings crap... how are we supposed to get all hot and bothered about this thing? It's just... wrong.