CHICAGO — White Sox fans are very proud of John Danks. He declined the chance to play for the United States in the World Baseball Classic, saying he wants to make sure he's prepared for the 2009 season.

This is a very popular position for him to take, but it raises a couple of questions:

Why can't a 23-year-old in great shape make two or three starts in March, working with strict pitch limits and extreme caution, without risking his readiness for the season?

Why would the United States want Danks in the first place?

He's a good pitcher and a tough competitor with a great future. Every major-league team would want to have him on its roster. But he has had one strong season in the big leagues. Does that qualify him to represent his country? What about CC Sabathia? Or Brandon Webb? Or at least a half-dozen others, such as Cole Hamels, Tim Lincecum, Roy Halladay, Derek Lowe, John Lackey and Cliff Lee?

You take any four of those eight guys, you have a serious staff, a real All-Star team, the kind of team that was envisioned when Commissioner Bud Selig and his staffers dreamed up the WBC.

But unfortunately, major-league dugouts and front offices are populated by far too many short-sighted, self-interested players and executives.

The second edition of the WBC gets here in March, three years after the inaugural, in which the U.S. went 3-3 and failed to advance to the four-team final round. Once again the U.S. has put together a team lacking the bulk of American talent, limiting the possible success of the event before it even begins.

Sabathia, Webb and those other six starting pitchers are among the huge group of American stars who didn't submit their names for inclusion on the provisional roster or whose names were pulled back before the roster was released.

Final rosters for the WBC, to be set Feb. 24, will include 28 players. As an exercise, draw up an American roster — excluding guys recovering from injuries, like Chase Utley — and then cross-reference it with the provisional roster to see how many of those 28 actually might be in Toronto when the U.S. faces Canada in its opening game March 7.

Only 12 of my 28 are still in the picture. Among the missing are all seven Americans who received 2008 Cy Young votes: Lincecum, Lee, Sabathia, Webb, Halladay, Mike Mussina and Brad Lidge. Others conspicuously absent: Mark Teixeira, Ryan Howard, Josh Hamilton, Joe Mauer, Michael Young, Ian Kinsler, Jonathan Papelbon, Jermaine Dye and Nick Markakis.

Then there are the second-tier no-shows. These guys might not have fit on the ultimate 28 but would have been good options: Prince Fielder, Lance Berkman, Torii Hunter, Nate McLouth, Lackey and Lowe.

These guys have taken themselves out of the mix, some with explanations — Mauer, for instance, had minor surgery in October to eliminate a kidney obstruction he has had since birth — but most because they couldn't be bothered or they faced interference from their teams.

As a result, the U.S. hardly is guaranteed to win the two four-team, double-elimination events necessary to advance to Dodger Stadium for the finals.

Roy Oswalt is in line to be the ace, with guys like Ted Lilly (fourth in Lou Piniella's October rotation), Scott Kazmir, Justin Verlander and Jeremy Guthrie in the mix behind him. The bullpen should be the team strength, with Joe Nathan as the anchor and B.J. Ryan, Brian Fuentes and J.J. Putz behind him, but it won't be as good as it would be with Lidge and Papelbon.

The guys who are eager to play, like the Cubs' Derrek Lee and the White Sox's Matt Thornton, deserve credit for getting it. The WBC should be a welcome break from the drudgery of spring training. It's surprising that more players don't look at it like this.

Yes, there's a chance of injury, but players get hurt in spring training games all the time. Remember that Robin Ventura broken leg in 1997? The Kerry Wood blown-out elbow in 1999? The seemingly annual run of injuries to Mark Prior? Knuckleballer Charlie Hough broke a finger trying to give a soul handshake to a friend after a spring night out.

Bottom line: Baseball players shouldn't be afraid to play baseball.

Everything he touches: This has been a great stretch for Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon. After getting his Rays to the World Series, he watched with delight as the Arizona Cardinals, his favorite NFL team, stunned the NFC in its run to the Super Bowl.

He has left good-luck messages for Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt before each playoff game. He shouldn't have much trouble getting tickets for the Super Bowl, which will be played in Tampa.

While his Rays had to get past the Red Sox and Yankees in the regular season, he says the Cardinals have had a more improbable run.

"For them to get to the Super Bowl, I don't think that was really on anyone's radar," Maddon said.

And a lot of people were picking the Rays?

Making them earn it: Minnesota's Scott Baker pitched 1721/3 innings without allowing an unearned run last year, the majors' best mark. The flip side is how Mark Buehrle and Gavin Floyd somehow won 32 games while allowing a combined 33 unearned runs.

Floyd and his White Sox fielders permitted 19 unearned runs, most for any major-league pitcher. Buehrle ranked fourth with 14 allowed. Washington's Jason Bergmann and Minnesota's Nick Blackburn had 15 apiece.

Bergmann, who went 2-11, had a tough season all around. The Nationals were shut out in five of his 22 starts, tying him with Greg Maddux for the NL lead in that category. The bullpen blew four saves behind Bergmann.

The last word: "It's not that we didn't appreciate draft-choice compensation was a burden on players. We always knew that. But the value of those draft choices is shifting. Clubs see that as a way to develop an economically feasible team in a relatively short amount of time." — Major League Baseball labor boss Rob Manfred on how compensation rules requiring the loss of a first-round pick have contributed to keeping Jason Varitek, Orlando Cabrera, Juan Cruz and certain other free agents unsigned.

WHISPERS

If the White Sox have any money left to spend, they should consider 37-year-old Ivan Rodriguez as a platoon partner for A.J. Pierzynski. He is motivated to make himself relevant again after being a non-impact player the last few seasons and could get some at-bats as a designated hitter. "I'm in great shape," Rodriguez says. "Whoever gets me, it's going to be like hitting the lotto." Rodriguez isn't what he once was but still threw out 31 percent of attempted base-stealers, the sixth-best ratio among regulars last season. Catching prospect Tyler Flowers might learn a little something watching Rodriguez. ... Three of the top five figures belonged to the Molina brothers: Jose (43 percent), Yadier (32 percent) and Bengie (32 percent). ...

Tampa Bay signed outfielder Gabe Kapler for $1,000,018, the extra 18 representing Kapler's lucky number as well as a symbol of life in the Jewish community. ... The Pirates are saying that only Paul Maholm is assured a spot in the starting rotation entering spring training. Yet somehow the Pirates have avoided adding outside candidates to the mix, with Rule 5 pick Donald Veal of the Cubs their biggest move involving starting pitching. It's no wonder Pittsburgh is a football and hockey town. ...

Look for Sox starter Gavin Floyd to spend a lot of time working on his pickoff move this spring. He allowed 37 stolen bases in 33 starts last season, nine more than any other major-leaguer. Jose Contreras was almost as bad, allowing 16 in his 20 starts. ... The guys who were run on the least were Andy Sonnanstine (one stolen base in 193 1/3 innings), Kenny Rogers (one in 1732/3 innings) and Zack Greinke (two in 202 1/3 innings). Mark Buehrle, always tough to run on, deserves credit for holding opponents to five steals in 2182/3 innings, a stellar number given Pierzynski's 10 percent success rate stopping thieves. ... The Twins continue to talk to Joe Crede, but would 81 home games on turf make sense for a guy with back problems? He'd be a better fit in San Francisco or Houston.