Are Derek Jeter and others ready to beat the world?

AP

In theory, the World Baseball Classic is a tremendous idea. With baseball out of the Olympics, an international tournament is really the only way to determine which country is king of America's Pastime. But that sound you're hearing right now -- that long, low inhale rising up across North America -- is a giant collective yawn. The WBC is wrong for so many reasons, and here are just a few:

First, and here's where that yawn comes in, it's boring. The WBC is not the Olympics -- there are no gold medals -- and it's certainly not the World Series. Sure people have an allegiance to their country, but it doesn't manifest itself in baseball the same way it does in soccer at the World Cup or even in golf at the Ryder Cup. Those events are steeped in tradition, and bring together very different brands of their respective sports, crowning not just a geographic, but a stylistic champion, as well.

Major League Baseball has been international for years, drawing the best players from across the globe. Even when baseball was in the Olympics, there was no bigger prize in the sport than a World Series ring. The WBC won't change that.

Second, regardless of how good an idea the WBC is, it shouldn't be plopped in the middle of Spring Training. In the era of free agency, this is a time players should spend with their teams, working on fundamentals, and preparing for the long season ahead. Instead, some of the game's best players are hopscotching across the continent and around the world, risking (non-cyst-related) injuries, possibly overextending themselves, and potentially jeopardizing the World Series chances of the teams that pay them.

If Derek Jeter gets injured leading Team USA to victory, do you think Hank Steinbrenner will take solace in the fact that America won the WBC? More importantly, should that even be a concern? The simple solution is to play the Classic after the season. If it's that important, and means that much to Major League Baseball and the players who play, it's only reasonable to assume they'd still show up.

And finally, what's the point of playing a contest for baseball supremacy when a huge cross-section of players is in preseason form? Granted today's athletes stay in better shape during the offseason than players of any generation before them did, but shouldn't the ideal be playing these games with players at their best? Athletes train for years for the Olympics, gearing their training toward peaking at the right time. A WBC during Spring Training does exactly the opposite.

There are easy fixes to some of the problems that plague the Classic today. Some of the world's best players dot the lineups of squads from across the globe, and certainly there's potential. A lot needs to be done, and a lot needs to change, however, if the WBC has any hope of ever ending with a bang, rather than another yawn.