Mark DeRosa deserves every bit of heat he is getting for the way he handled Cal Raleigh in Team USA’s 3-2 World Baseball Classic final loss to Venezuela. We’re not going to pretend Raleigh had a great tournament, he definitely did not. It’s also not like Will Smith was a ridiculous choice to be the starting catcher for the championship game.
But we are going to talk about a manager getting to the biggest game of the event, losing by one run, getting just three hits all night, and still never finding a single plate appearance for one of the most dangerous switch-hitters on the planet.