Donnellon: How can World Baseball Classic become something we care about?

THERE'S A TON of hemming and hawing in the baseball community these days about the World Baseball Classic, and how no one cares, no one watches, and no one you really care about plays in it anyway.

OK, that last part isn't completely true. Ryan Dempster came out of retirement to help his native Canada, as did retired reliever Eric Gagne. I once saw Whitey Ford come out of retirement in the middle of the game and mow down the heart of a Mets lineup that ended up winning the World Series. But that was an exhibition game and there was a little winking going on afterward that Whitey might have taken some hair product onto the mound with him.

Still, it was good, memorable theater and, up to now, I can't recall one great moment from the World Baseball Classic of 2006, 2009 or 2013. I'm sure there were plenty of them, they just didn't register much here in the continental U.S. In the Dominican Republic, winner of the 2013 tournament, yes. It was also source of great civic pride in Puerto Rico when its team rolled into the championship game in 2013.

Here? It was a paragraph on the agate page. The WBC isn't made for us. It's made for them, and for fans in the Far East, as well. Boiled down, it's about increased international exposure, which is why the two things that stand out about to me about this one so far are that Israel beat Korea in its first-ever appearance in the thing and that the team from the Netherlands is good again.

Israel, I get. There are some closet Americans on that team. But the Netherlands . . . Really?

What a thing for baseball.

That's the vantage point from here: a curiosity more than a competition. The next time someone says, "I can't believe we did so poorly in the WBC" . . . Well, it will be the first time.

Oh, commissioner Rob Manfred wants it to be more, of course, and said last month that "we've made real progress this time around in terms of the quality of the rosters." But the truth, as it has been from the start, is that the U.S. roster is more notable for who is missing than who is on it. Buster Posey, Giancarlo Stanton and Andrew McCutchen are on it. Mike Trout, Bryce Harper and Josh Donaldson are not.

Nor is just about any American-born, established starting pitcher with a realistic hope of amassing 200 innings. And not a single fan, even ones of teams without a realistic shot at October baseball - i.e., us - blame them. Would you really like to see Aaron Nola or Vince Valasquez pitching in this thing? Heck, the manager of the U.S. team, Jim Leyland, advised his former pitcher, Justin Verlander, not to play.

Manfred's point is valid though: There's plenty of established talent on the U.S. team and on several of the teams it will compete against. Competitiveness is not the problem. The U.S. team, which has never made the championship of this thing, is 10-10 lifetime. And one look at the Dominican roster is all you need to conclude that a team drawn from a full pool of U.S. players team would not be a lock to win this thing.

Far from it. Especially in March.

The trouble with the tournament is the timing sucks. Look, two teams get to play in the World Series, four teams play beyond the middle of October. That leaves 26 teams for a tournament that could be played from late November into early December, when college football takes its monthlong sabbatical, college basketball has just begun, and pro hoops and pro hockey are still in their feeling-out stages. The event could even sustain the interest baseball has built and peaked through its feverish postseason, extend its all-important advertising season.

Too cold? Not in the islands. If you want to sell this thing, wouldn't it make more sense to play it with the best of the remaining teams competing in domed or warm-weather settings? Hell, build a place in those baseball-rich but economically beaten-down places such as Puerto Rico or the Dominican Republic - where, combined, 96 of the 868 Major League players hailed from in 2016.

Yes, I know. Many players will say they are too worn out to play. But others, perhaps those who missed portions of the season because of injury, those learning a new pitch or position, or with arm slot or control issues to work on, might see it as a useful tool.

Again, timing, not talent has been the major obstacle in creating interest here. And as pro hockey's Winter Classic proved, creating an event out of nothing is all about timing.

Who knows, you might even turn it into a destination event, such as the Final Four or the Super Bowl. People already flock to Florida and Arizona in March to watch exhibition baseball. Just imagine sipping a boat drink in early December, watching your country play in games that matter.

It's enough to make you care.

donnels@phillynews.com

@samdonnellon

Columns: ph.ly/Donnellon