Injured Otani says he won't pitch in World Baseball Classic

As his ankle has been hurting since at least the Japan Series, it is a wise decision. If he plays with the pain he might also injure his pitching arm. Too bad because the Major League scouts wanted to see what he could do against Major League pitchers and batters in the WBC. Anyway, they'll get to see him next year as he has expressed his intention to play in the Majors next year.

there aren't many top Major Leaguers in the WBC. The tournament, quite frankly, is becoming a joke. Its possible Otani realized this and decided to blow it off. after all, Ichiro, Tanaka, Darvish all took a pass on the WBC.

Just disband WBC organization. It's too risky for injuries for any player to do games in such a bad time of year. Do it in the mid season or just give it up.

WBC was made solely to make a few teams feel better about a sport that is far from international compared to soccer and others. It has no meaning.

agree, WBC is a waste of time, especially if the world's top players aren't going to take part. MLB commish Bud (used-car salesman) Selig came up with the idea and it was a bad one. I think you could come up with a decent international tournament for baseball but this isn't it.