Yeah, but Chipper was banging a Hooters girl at the time and was probably more worried about his wife finding out than about what position he was playing the next afternoon.

There are the cynical among us who believe that this could involve machinations by MLB. MLB still owns the Washington Nationals, and this is turning into a MLBPA vs. MLB.

If MLB thinks it can win a case that weakens the MLBPA, I'm not surprised to see them force the situation in that direction through Nationals management.

the result is simply not legitimate. The tie-breaker system, which was critical to japan's advancing to the semi-finals had about as much to do with baseball as flipping a coin would have been.

Just to recap, Japan, the US and Mexico finsihed the second round with records of 1-2. The first tie-breaker in a three way tie is runs allowed per defensive inning in games against the other tied teams. Thus, since Japan and the US both allowed 5 runs in their respective 2 games, but Japan did so in two-thirds less of an inning that did the US, because the US was the visiting team against Mexico and therefore Mexico didn't bat in the bottom of the ninth in their game against the US. Mexico, you might recall could have advanced if, and only if, they beat the US by at least a score of 3-0 in a game that lasted at least 14 innings. That is simply not a legitimate way to decide that Japan should have advanced to the semi-finals. I can't, and no one else should, take the result seriously even though the games were generally well-played and exciting.

King,

Just checked out your team over at BP, and I think you've outdone yourself this time. Perennial sleeper Toby Hall AND John Buck behind the dish? How are you ever going to be able to decide from that stellar platoon? What is this, a 2-person league?

I do like the Sox-centric (new, old, and batshit insane) outfield, though. Good luck; you're going to need it: you and Peter King are probably the only ones without $3,000 calculators.

First of all, even if Soriano plays left field, Brad Wilkerson is a better baseball player. Soriano is fast and has power, but he strikes out way too much. This trade was a bad deal for Washington even before the drama (and even if we don't add in the pitching prospect Bowden included in the deal). Hey, at least Soriano is much, much more expensive than Wilkerson.

Second, this disaster was ENTIRELY PREDICTABLE! Soriano has consistently fought position changes in New York and Texas. Michael Young moved from 2nd to shortstop because Soriano wouldn't. Bowden wanted Soriano to do something. He had to know that Soriano wouldn't want to do it. And yet, it seems that he didn't do anything to guard against the possibility that Soriano would refuse to change positions.

The Nationals had a good year last year, but most of the players who produced (Johnson, Cordero, Hernandez, Wilkerson, etc.) came in under the Minaya regime. When you look at what Bowden has done to this team (see: Guzman, Cristian and Castilla, Vinny) is there really any doubt that this is the worst executive in the history of baseball?

Now I know who to blame every time I find a chewy sticky mess underneath some table.

By noting how little attention the pussies at ESPN paid to steroids at the event. No steroids trash talk = No legitimacy in the eyes of sports/entertainment.

The WBC was excellent baseball and a great example of baseball where all the players aren't angling for a potential slot on some other team.

Dear King:

I enjoyed your columns on the World Baseball Classic. I think the success of the Japanese, Cuban and Korean teams speaks not only to their preparation, but also to a concept that you've dismissed in your column: chemistry. What does it take to hit the cutoff man flawlessly time after time, to execute a perfect hit and run, to have great communication between pitcher and catcher? It's not just a few extra weeks of workouts. It's a group of guys that are highly motivated to win who play well with each other and allow themselves to be managed. Part of that is skill and relentless practice (physics, if you will); part of that is chemistry.That's something that will often be lacking in a group of multimillionaires thrown together. And I'm not just talking about the U.S. or Dominican national teams. Witness the implosion of the Yankees in recent years. It's the same phenomenon. Okay, I've made my point.

Whenever I hear about professional athletes flaking out with the media or their teams (Bonds, Ron Artest, Terrell Owens, Ryan Leaf, and this week's whipping boy, Alphonso Soriano) their huge incomes seem to be the justification of our criticism.

But, if we were to take 100 fans out of an arena or stadium at random, give them all 30 million dollars, tell them they still had to go to work each day, then every evening at 6 PM make them sit on a wooden bench in their underwear with a dozen video cameras in their faces and demand they explain every move they made during their work day (We noticed at 11:38 this morning you walked past the water cooler with your eyes averted from one of your co-workers. Is there a problem between you two? Or are you just a bad teammate? We know you were hired as a comptroller, but why won't you wash your supervisor's car on weekends? Are you not team player anymore?)...how long would it take for each and every one them to forget about the 30 million they have in the bank and crack? I'm thinking somewhere in the neighborhood of two weeks.

Soriano doesn't want to move to the outfield for a simple reason: money.

Here are Soriano's career stats, according to MLB.com: .280 average, .500 slugging percentage, .320 OBP, and 162 HRs. Now, those aren't bad stats for an outfielder, but they aren't anything spectacular either.

But for a second baseman, those are spectacular offensive stats. So, which would you pay more for? An outfielder with a big bat, or a second baseman with a big bat? The first are relatively common, but a second baseman who can hit for power... that's rare. Soriano wants to stay at second base simply because that way he will be worth more next time arbitration or free agency comes his way.