That’s pretty much the way Ken Williams looks at the World Baseball Classic, a two-week international tournament debuting this coming March featuring Major League players. And I wholeheartedly agree.

Back when the plans for the World Baseball Classic were introduced last year I thought the whole idea was bogus- nothing more than a way for Major League Baseball and Commissioner Bud Selig to make a few extra bucks and cut into teams’ valuable spring training time. A time teams need to develop team chemistry and evaluate players. This tournament is as much of a scam as that “Make $100,000 a year as an investment banker in Latvia” e-mail I got last week.

Two White Sox players will participate in the event: Mark Buehrle for the US and Freddy Garcia for Venezuela. Though it is an honor to be selected, and no doubt Buehrle and Garcia deserve it, is it worthwhile?

The whole idea has no relevance outside of an artificial marketing exercise. Just take a look at some of the rosters - American-born and bred Mike Piazza will play for... Italy? Sure, he’s lived his whole life here, but his name does end with a vowel! And Alex Rodriguez, born in New York, might play for... the Dominican Republic? OK Bud, whatever you need to do to make it look good.

As if the innings from last year and playoffs weren’t enough (they were), now two of the Sox workhorses will have to put even more mileage on their arms before the start of the 2006 regular season. Ken Williams, Ozzie Guillen and Don Cooper have all expressed some concern about the fatigue factor, especially with Freddy Garcia, who wore down physically at the end of the last two seasons.

There’s no real “glory” involved with winning this manufactured event, (in fact, having your team bounced early might be better for a player in the long run!) and fan interest is questionable to begin with, so this whole ruse is one freak injury to a superstar like Albert Pujols, Barry Bonds or Alex Rodriguez away from becoming a total disaster. So, um, yeah... Go USA!