Bud Selig wants the US team to improve in the WBC.  He's bemoaning the fact that the US didn't field the best team possible.  He's not thrilled the US didn't wind up in the finals for the second tournament in a row.  Bud wants things to change for 2013. 

Once again, Bud Selig is proving how out of touch he is with reality.

Reality in this case is teams that hesitate to send their best players to the WBC because the risk of injury is so great.  Pitchers with very little mound time are throwing all out, risking serious injury even though they are on pitch counts.  Position players risk back and leg injuries from not being in quite baseball shape. It's really not a good situation for a veteran player.

Many of the teams prefer to have their players in camp so they can control the innings played or get them instruction with their host of special spring training instructors.  There's an old saying in sports that championships are won in training camp and if a player is gone for three weeks to play an international series, he is three weeks removed from that focus.

It's obvious that Bud is not thinking about the players or the teams but the revenue stream.  The fact is, with the US not being in the championship, there are less butts in the seat providing money to Selig and MLB.  Unfortunately for Bud, he can't move the tournament to Japan, Korea or the Dominican because even more US players would not play. 

Bud is between a rock and a hard place.  The US doesn't take it seriously, the fans don't take it seriously, the teams hesitate to participate and nobody wants to buy a ticket.  His baby is ugly and no amount of lipstick is going to make this pig look any better.

As nice a notion as playing an international tournament may be, it's time the WBC goes away.  It's not legitimate, it's a forced event, it extends spring training to a long, slow grind and it just isn't interesting.

Meanwhile, Bud Selig is more concerned about his wallet then he is the flag.  Shame on you, Bud.