M’s Take Beltre Out Of WBC
Per Geoff Baker, the M’s have told Adrian Beltre that he won’t be allowed to participate in the World Baseball Classic. Teams have the right to deny players who are coming off surgeries from the previous year the option of playing, and the M’s invoked that right to keep Beltre out of the tournament.
On one hand, I feel a bit bad for Beltre – they’d told him it was up to him, and he probably feels like he had the rug pulled out from under him here. He obviously wanted to play. However, the M’s do have to act in the best interests of the organization, and keeping Beltre healthy is definitely in their best interests. The team can’t win without him, and he’s a trade asset even if they aren’t winning. So, there’s definitely two sides here, neither one wrong, but I have to wonder if maybe there was a better way to handle this than telling him no at the last minute.
LaRue has a humorous anecdote about this – Beltre apparently gave up his apartment, because he had decided he was leaving Peoria tomorrow to join the Dominican team. Now that he’s not going, he doesn’t have a place to live.
And I don’t have anywhere to live, either. Where ever Jack (Zduriencik) is staying, I’m going to show up at his door and ask for a room.â€
Zduriencik said that would be fine.
“I’ll be glad to give him my bed – my wife and I will move to the other room,” he said. “Adrian and his whole family can come stay with us.
Sounds like they’re all keeping a sense of humor, at least.
Is it possible that he had second thoughts, and the team was giving him cover with his country?
I’ve got a feeling maybe it’s not so abrupt as was reported. It was probably something like “we’ll let you be on the roster, but depending on how your rehab goes we may or may not let you play, don’t count on it.”
Or maybe it was this sudden in which case I feel bad for Beltre and think they should have let him play. If they’re going to tell him it’s up to him, they should leave it up to him. It’s like signing a minor league contract with the worst team in baseball and then deciding you don’t want it any more, so you’re just not going to show up to spring training until they void it.
While amusing, I don’t feel that bad that Beltre doesn’t have a place to stay.
You see, two years ago we rented a house a year ahead of time for spring training, signing a contract and all. A month before we were due to arrive the owner of the house broke the contract so she could rent the house to Beltre and his family, insisting that we take another house that wasn’t even in Peoria. I’m sure the M’s will find somewhere for the millionaire and his family to stay.
I smell sitcom!
I think it’s a good call, but the way it was made kinda sucks.
Beltre clearly had his mind set on playing in the WBC if he felt his body was in good shape. That was pretty much the determining factor in his decision. Then suddenly, when he has one foot out of the door, he’s told he can’t go.
The only thing that could have probably made this easier is by being overprotective of Beltre’s health since he’s been pulled from today’s lineup at the last minute.
I wonder if having the decision taken away from him might not be a relief in the end — he was obviously so torn about staying or going
Wasn’t he supposed to play third today?
Hmmm… where have I seen this before. 🙂
Drayer has some more quotes
…With nowhere left to go, Adrian showed up at the door of his old friend Jack Zduriencik…
Can these two friends live together without driving each other crazy? 🙂
They gotta move this thing to November or something. Geez, it creates more hassle than it’s worth. Anyway, does this decision signal a change in approach for a franchise that used to habitually insist its young pitchers “pitch/play through the pain?”
Well, the whole “pitch and play” through major reconstructive surgery approach wasn’t too successful, so why not try something different.
I don’t buy the conspiracy theory (team giving cover for Beltre) but maybe found out something about ARod that made him not want to share 3B/DH duties with him?
So would it be more like this or this?
Titles:
(A)drian to (Z)duriencik
Jack & The Glove
Mr. Beltredere
3rd Base from Home
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Tre
Hangin’ with Mr. Zduriencik
Just the Twenty-Five of us (have the whole team move in)
they’d told him it was up to him, and he probably feels like he had the rug pulled out from under him
I think that all along the Mariners didn’t want Beltre to play in the WBC, and were hoping he would make that decision himself.
When it got late, they made it for him.
BTW, if the WBC had a rule that prohibited players coming off of injury/surgery from playing in the WBC, they’d be fewer hard feelings. (The WBC seems greedy–like those managers that put winning above a player’s health.)
I really wish there was a way for everyone who is anyone to play in a competitive WBC, but that is not the way that it is and I don’t blame teams for trying to avoid losing key guys to injuries.
Not that any of you care, but my first thoughts were oh boy here we go, more sour M times ahead. But hey, its not like Beltre was going to play third base anyways (even though we all now hes wayyy better defensively than the other person scheduled to play there).
(*as of this post Beltre is still listed on the Dom roster. also, #24 still holds the preference of DHing no more than a couple times a month.)
dingla: . . . its not like Beltre was going to play third base anyways (even though we all now hes wayyy better defensively than the other person scheduled to play there).
Huh?! Bloomie’s on the U.S. WBC team, my friend…
😉
Dear Elmer,
If not being born in the country you play for is not a requirement and man originated in Africa, then South Africa should have a screaming team, no?
Also, tricking me into thinking that boom boom was going to play for the U.S. was not nice.
Take Care,
Dingla
p.s. did you know that Seattle Mariner teenager Anthony Phillips is representing his home country RSA? pretty cool huh?
Actually, I’m kinda curious as to how close the WBC rules are to the Olympic rules regarding a player’s eligibility to participate for a certain country’s team. For example, I think Mike Piazza played for Team Italy one year in the Olympics, if I recall correctly — and was allowed to do so because he had either a parent or grandparent who was born in Italy.
is it just me, or does it seem as though the original blog report was “news”, and the news article more an opinion piece? Where does this ‘speculation’ come from, aside from the author?
Africa is a continent. South Africa is a country–wait, why am I bothering?
Perhaps because I have the misfortune of living in a state with a governor who seems to believe Africa is a country too, and it makes me sensitive.
But on the bright side, JF, at least she can see Cape Town from her back yard. 🙂
Even being thousands of miles away, Ichiro is still awesome in texts to Wakamatsu:
John McGrath gave USSM a shout-out today on the radio– mentioning it as a “can’t miss” and particularly the “I smell sitcom” comment