Felix on Venezuela's 60 man roster for WBC

[Edgartohof]

Young Felix Hernandez was placed on Venezuela's preliminary 60 man roster, against protests from the Mariner's organization. It is not that they do not want him to pitch, but they want to protect their investment in their young star. By putting him on the "60", that does not mean that he will play, as they will have to whittle it down to 30 before the WBC begins in March, but he would not have been allowed to be added if he wasn't originally on their 60 man roster.

One cannot fault Venezuela for wanting him to play for them, as he has tremendous talent, and I am sure he would love to represent his own country in this manner. But due to his age and inexperience, there is some concern here about him pitching.

So do you think that he should pitch for Venezuela, or sit it out. And if you believe he should play, what kind of pitch count or innings would you limit him too, if at all.

[Mariner Fan]

Originally I was against it because I felt he could hurt himself in the excitement of pitching for his country. I believe they were talking a 50 pitch count per game so that shouldn't be bad.
Of course teams like Cuba aren't restricted to this and if they (Cuba) end up pushing hard on an opponent the manager could extend the pitch count.
I would prefer they didn't use Felix.

[Honus Wagner Rules]

I'm not sure how this works? Can major league teams actually force a player not to play or can they only "advise" then not to play? If I were the Mariners I would talk with Ozzie Guillen and tell him, "OK we'll let Felix play if you promise to limit his pitch count to say 40-50 pitches max.

[Edgartohof]

I don't think that they can stop him if he wants, but they probably have a little sway with him. Just as he can go out and pitch to his hearts desire, they can choose not too play him at the start, just to keep innings/pitches down for him. I wouldn't mind him pitching if there was a reasonable pitch count for him, because at that time, he would be getting prepared at Spring Training anyways, so let's get him some major league experience while we can. It may not be real beneficial to other veteran players (other than just getting out there and playing again), but for him, it allows him to garner more experience against a variety of different players/teams/coaching styles, in many different environments.