Look, I'm a huge Mark DeRosa fan. Love the guy. I think he's one of the best studio analysts in sports. There's a reason his show, MLB Central, wins an Emmy every year.
He's an excellentMLBanalyst, was a very good player, and – up until last night – was a relatively decent Team USA manager.
All that being said, he should probably be fired. Like, today. Right now. Five minutes ago, actually. What he did this week – what he ADMITTED to – is completely inexcusable.
DeRosa, for those who were asleep Tuesday night, admitted to entering the team's final pool game against Italy NOT knowing that Team USA had NOT yet clinched a spot in the knockout round of the World Baseball Classic.
He thought his team had already punched their ticket to the next round. He said as much in an interview with MLB Network earlier Tuesday. He sat guys like Bryce Harper and Alex Bregman. He sent scrub pitchers to the mound.
Italy then stunned America, 8-6, and now the US is staring down the barrel of one of the mostembarrassing WBC eliminationsin the history of not only this tournament, but any tournament ever.
First of all, DeRosa didn't "misspeak." Watch the first video. He literally thought this was a throwaway game. He said as much.
He didn't know the rules, which, to be fair, are very stupid. All the tiebreaker rules for this tournament are ridiculous. You need a PhD from Harvard to figure them all out. I failed high school Algebra. I wouldn't stand a chance against them.
BUT, I'm also not the manager of what's been billed to us as the "dream team." It's Mark DeRosa's job to know the rules. And if he can't figure them out, it's his job to hire people and surround himself with people who do.
He failed. And now, the US needs a mini miracle to advance in this tournament. That's right. The heavy favorite. The dream team. The ‘greatest US baseball team ever assembled.’
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