I agree wholeheartedly with Jayson Stark on both his points here. Participating in the Olympics would be bad for Major League Baseball, and the WBC should be held at a different time. Play all the preliminary games a little later in spring training than you otherwise would, and then hold the semi-final games and the Finals over all-star week. It'd be a big Baseball fest with an international home run derby, the futures game, and most importantly, the big time WBC games. (I don't even think you need what would be a watered down all-star game. Just announce the chosen players and let interleague play decide the home team for the World Series).
And one more change I would make, whether or not you changed the timing of the thing. When choosing WBC rosters, make the provisional rosters larger, and tiered. Each country chooses 3 players for each position, and brings only the first guy on the depth chart. The teams also grab a couple of utility guys, the same way a normal MLB squad would. Derek Jeter won't have to worry about missing valuable ST time sitting on team-USA's bench. And if there are a rash of injuries, a utility player won't have to start a semi-final game out of position at 1B, you just call up the next starter, who has been hitting everyday in the Cactus or Grapefruit league.
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