Mets getting firsthand experience of WBC's risks and rewards
Brooks Raley of Team USA practices ahead of the World Baseball Classic at Papago Park Sports Complex on March 7, 2023 in Phoenix. Credit: Getty Images/Christian Petersen
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Lefthanded reliever Brooks Raley returned to Mets camp on Tuesday after getting injured preparing to play for the U.S. in the World Baseball Classic.
Raley’s pulled hamstring has him “week-to-week,” according to general manager Billy Eppler.
Raley, whom the Mets acquired in an offseason trade from Tampa Bay, still hopes to be ready by the March 30 season opener.
Raley called being chosen for Team USA “an honor” and said he enjoyed getting announced as part of the American squad before its first WBC game.
Raley’s injury underscores the risks and rewards — especially the risks — of the Mets having so many key players in the WBC.
The Mets have seven big-leaguers competing in the WBC. Their entire starting infield in Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil (USA), Francisco Lindor (Puerto Rico) and Eduardo Escobar (Venezuela), their new catcher Omar Narvaez (Venezuela), plus relievers Edwin Diaz (Puerto Rico) and Adam Ottavino (USA).
Eppler and manager Buck Showalter are keeping their fingers crossed that their stars stay healthy, get enough work to get ready for the real season, and have fun at the WBC. In that order.
Brandon Nimmo, who played for Italy in the 2017 WBC but declined this year, said of his teammates: “For me, they're playing playoff baseball right now. As long as they come back to us healthy, I’m happy. They're around some of the best players in the game and they're going to pick up stuff and it's going to be really great. I just want them to come back to us healthy.”
Nimmo knows of what he speaks: He pulled a hamstring in the 2017 WBC and missed a chance to make the Mets' Opening Day roster.
Every time the WBC is played, the same debate happens: It is worth it for teams to let players ramp up to playoff-level competition in March with an entire season ahead of them? Is March really the best time to hold this event?
Max Scherzer said on Monday that he thinks some sort of midseason tournament that replaces the All-Star Game every four years might be worth discussing.
"I think it would be a good idea," Scherzer said. "You would get more pitchers participating and more importantly, I think it would be more exciting for the fans. You'd actually have starters built up. You wouldn't have guys on pitch counts. You'd actually have real guys going out and it would be a real game.”
Scherzer, who agreed to pitch in the 2017 WBC but withdrew because of a knuckle injury, said he declined to participate this year at age 38 because “I'm not ready to step into quasi-playoff games right now. I do that, I'm really rolling the dice with my arm. It's hard enough to try and make 33 starts, throw 200 innings with the normal ramp-up in spring. If I go out there and try to do too much, too early, it could really affect me throughout the season."
The Mets in this year’s WBC have had varying amounts of playing time in the tournament.
Going into Tuesday, Lindor was 5-for-11 (he had a three-run triple in Puerto Rico’s 10-0 victory over Israel on Monday); McNeil was 1-for-8; Alonso and Escobar were both 0-for-5; Narvaez was hitless in one at-bat; and Diaz and Ottavino had thrown one inning apiece.
The WBC teams also played exhibition games before the tournament began on March 7. It ends on March 21.
Another possible issue: The WBC is being played with shifts (which are not allowed in MLB games anymore) and without a pitch clock (which players are getting used to in regular spring training).
A month before the WBC opened, Showalter expressed some concern.
“We are excited and proud that they are going, but they can’t come back and be way behind,” he said. “You worry when guys start their clock up that quickly, But [the WBC] is good for the game, I am told, and that is the bottom line. It enhances our game globally and I support it. But I am looking at it selfishly from what’s best for the New York Mets."
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
