What the World Baseball Classic says about the Brewers

While many people may be opposed to the idea of the World Baseball Classic, I believe it makes a statement about players and the teams they come from. The Milwaukee Brewers are no strangers to the 2013 WBC as they have 14 players representing eight different countries. What this says about the Brewers is that they are one heck of a talented team, yet nobody sees it. Sure, we hear all about how St. Louis beat us in the 2011 NLCS, but look at 2012. We had a really bad year up until the All-Star break and literally became one of the best teams after the break, yet nobody mentioned it. What’s up with that?

The WBC can make that statement that says ‘hey, this team has some pretty amazing players.’ Let’s take a look at where the Brewers representatives landed:

Move over Joe Mauer, Jonathan Lucroy (pictured) is here. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Team USA:

Ryan Braun
Jonathan Lucroy

Team Mexico

Yovani Gallardo
Marco Estrada

Team Canada

Team Puerto Rico

Martin Maldonado
Hiram Burgos

Jeff Bianchi will have a chance to show his talents in the WBC alongside Spring Training. Mandatory Credit: Scott Rovak-USA TODAY Sports

Team Italy

Jeff Bianchi

Team Dominican Republic

Carlos Gomez

Team Netherlands

Hainley Statia

Team Australia

Mike Walker

Aside from three players (Walker, Statia and Tosoni) all of the representatives are on the Brewers’ 40-man roster. That in itself is rather impressive. Sure some people look at this and say, “well isn’t this a liability?” Well sure, so is Spring Training and even thawing burgers out at your home, just ask the San Francisco Giants’ Jeremy Affeldt. The point is, the WBC is a great representation of this Brewer team and the talent they have.

Not to mention, there’s such a diversity of players that were selected from the Brewers, everyone from the ace of the staff to the 2011 National League MVP. Perhaps I’m biased in saying that I think Team USA will win being an American and all, but the additions of Braun and Lucroy do help them. Gallardo helps bolster Team Mexico’s rotation and Team Canada gets a boost from the Ax-man, Henderson and the versatile Green.

So while some of you may sit here and still be opposed to the WBC, just take this time to reflect on how good it looks for Milwaukee. I mean, not many other teams can say that they have 14 players invested into this. I think that’s some we should be proud of as Brewer fans.

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