Rattlers in the World Baseball Classic news

Here are a couple of stories involving ex-Rattlers and the WBC.

First up, Ryan Rowland-Smith ('02, '03) from USA Today.

Ichiro Suzuki is chilling out at home. Ryan Rowland-Smith is 8,000 miles from his home, sweating out a thankless choice between his country and his employer.
Just another difference between baseball's elite and those craving a job.

Suzuki is in Japan preparing to play again in the World Baseball Classic. Seattle's All-Star and franchise cornerstone doesn't have to report to spring training until after the tournament ends. Given Japan is one of the favorites, that may not be until March 25.

Rowland-Smith, a brawny 26-year-old pitcher hoping to start for Seattle this season, is in Arizona. Saturday he completed his first bullpen session of camp. He'd love to play for his native Australia in the WBC. He just doesn't think he can afford to.

RRS is one of seven pitchers competing for five spots in the rotation and leaving camp for 10 days would not help his get one of those five spots. But, there is the opportunity to pitch for his country.

"To be honest, I wish people would make the decision for me. I wish they would have said, 'No, you're staying here."'

That's what Tampa Bay apparently did to one of Rowland-Smith's countrymen. MLB.com reported that Grant Balfour won't be in the WBC because he said the Rays told him last month when he signed a new contract that they didn't want him playing in it.

When asked if he understood that by leaving the decision up to Rowland-Smith the team was putting the pitcher in a box, Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu cackled.

"I don't know what box you are talking about," Wakamatsu said.

Much more at the link.

This is not a problem for Felix Hernandez ('03).

A smile crossed the lips of Felix Hernandez as he labored for breath after a series of nauseating wind sprints.

Mention the World Baseball Classic to Hernandez, and the Mariners pitcher's mood brightens instantly. Hernandez's team has long kept him from pitching winter ball in front of his native Venezuelans, so the WBC is his one chance to shine for his homeland on an international scale.

And unlike the team's prior stances with Hernandez and winter ball, not wanting him to tax his arm, the Mariners are taking a hands-off approach this spring with the WBC. Despite the disruption to their spring-training camp, which opened here Saturday for pitchers and catchers, the Mariners are allowing anyone who wants to participate in the March tournament to do so.

"For me, I'll be very proud to play," Hernandez said. "The major leagues are the ultimate experience, but a tournament like this is unique. You don't get to do this very often."

The Mariners have 16 players from their organization selected to WBC provisional rosters, and 10 of the players hail from Seattle's 40-man roster — the third-highest total in baseball.

This spring training promises to be one of the more challenging and unusual in their history. But Howard Lincoln, the team's chief executive officer, insisted the Mariners won't stand in anyone's way if they want to play.

Because it's important:

Major League Baseball used a plethora of new ballparks, subsidized largely with public money, to boost sagging revenue streams in the 1990s. This past decade has seen the growth of online media ventures add to MLB's coffers at a time when the novelty of retro-style ballparks was fading.

And as it looks to the decade ahead MLB hopes new ventures in other countries — encompassing everything from merchandise sales to television rights — will be the next oil well from which to tap profits. Lincoln is cautious of speculating about just how far the WBC could go toward opening new marketplaces for the sport.

"Ultimately, the more fans that you have interested in the sport, the better for the health of the sport," Lincoln said. "Certainly, financially that's the case. I don't think anybody's expecting that this is a panacea or anything. We're in the middle of a very severe recession and every business is hurting, including baseball. So everything helps."

There is some news about another ex-Rattler in the story:

Canadian pitcher Phillippe Aumont, a No. 1 draft pick from 2007, pull himself out of the WBC to focus on his season.