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Santana v. WBC

AG/DC Aug 14 2008 11:30 AM

THE NEW YORK POST wrote: SANTANA IS FED UP WITH WBC By BART HUBBUCH Posted: 2:57 am August 14, 2008 WASHINGTON - Don't expect to see Johan Santana playing for Venezuela again in the World Baseball Classic next spring. It's not because the Met ace is unpatriotic or wants to sit out the international tournament. Santana told The Post that his country instead is leaving him no choice with the way its organizers treated him and his teammates when he played in the WBC in its 2006 inauguration. Echoing complaints made by the Tigers' Carlos Guillen and other Venezuelan big-league stars, Santana said how the players were handled two years ago was "really, really bad." That included no hotel rooms, no tickets to games and even a postgame meal of Burger King takeout. "If they're not going to do anything right, then there are a lot of us who aren't going to go," Santana said. "They need to be more serious about it and take care of their players. If that changes, I would definitely consider playing. But this is very serious. If I'm going to do my best, then I expect the other people involved to do the same. If not, then I'll just sit home and get ready for the season." I don't know. When you're representing your developing nation, is it too much to ask a few of the American millionaires on the team to front some of their own meal and lodging money? I know your country is being ruled by phony Marxist strongman, and maybe they want to show him up and discredit him, but I'd hope most Venezuelans would have an attitude of "Let them eat whoppers."

Frayed Knot Aug 14 2008 11:54 AM

What they may be objecting to is the feeling that the Venezuelan baseball authorities are getting a pile of money for this stuff and are cheaping out on the players by pocketing most of it for themselves. If so it certainly wouldn't be an uncommon trait among authoritarian rulers, nor among sporting committees where the players are supposedly participating for no or limited extra pay. See the likes of the IOC, NCAA, AAU, etc through the years.

AG/DC Aug 14 2008 12:04 PM

Certainly. Which is why I led with "I don't know." It'd be nice to see them make that case, however, instead of complaining about cheeseburgers.

Kong76 Aug 14 2008 12:08 PM

It takes two hands to handle a Whopper

metirish Aug 14 2008 12:12 PM

I think for a lot of today's highly paid athletes representing their country is not a big priority , in Europe at least it has become very popular to " retire" from international soccer at around age 30/31. Still the WBC is every few years , Johan should suck it up or bring his personal chef.

Gwreck Aug 14 2008 01:31 PM

This discussion should be completely irrelevant, because the Mets should completely prohibit Johan Santana from participating. Sorry, he's just worth too much.

Vince Coleman Firecracker Aug 14 2008 01:36 PM

Gwreck wrote: This discussion should be completely irrelevant, because the Mets should completely prohibit Johan Santana from participating. Sorry, he's just worth too much. I think Selig feels the WBC is his baby. Can't see the Wilpons standing up to Selig in any way.