Despite the ongoing battle over whether the World Baseball Classic “matters”, largely fueled by one national writer who absolutely must be on the WBC payroll, I’ve enjoyed it. It’s real (sort of, anyway) baseball during the middle of March when we’d otherwise have only endless spring training games on. I can’t say I put a lot of stock into it being any sort of indicator of the skill of a country — not when many squads are missing top players, not when pitch limits turn games into glorified scrimmages, not when players aren’t sure what country they play for days before games are to begin — but it’s fun nonetheless.

That said, I’m really ready for it to be over. I’m ready to see Hanley Ramirez back in Dodger camp, after weeks of playing with the Dominicans. It’s not just because he’s not playing shortstop there — and, as Bill Shaikin notes, he really hasn’t been — but because it’s time. Opening Day is less than two weeks away, and I can’t really say I care in the least whether the Dominicans beat Puerto Rico in the final tonight. It’s time for this fun to end and for the season to be the primary focus.

In response to the Shaikin story, Eric Stephen tweeted that any issue of the Dodgers being concerned that Ramirez is not playing shortstop is the biggest non-story of the spring. Perhaps that’s true, though I don’t really expect the Dodgers to be making public waves at this point by moaning and groaning over what Ramirez is doing in the WBC. Either way, I think it’d do us all some good to see Ramirez taking balls at short rather than Dee Gordon or Nick Punto, who starts there today.

I was going to put “or Justin Sellers” in that preceding sentence, but he’s unsurprisingly been optioned to the minors today along with Shawn Tolleson. In addition, catcher Jesus Flores has been reassigned to minor league camp, which all but officially gives Tim Federowicz the backup catching job, as we’d long assumed. As for Tolleson, he showed he belonged last year, but was always a long shot to make the club due to the numbers game and the fact that he has options remaining. He’ll almost certainly be back up during the season. That leaves the Dodgers with 40 players in camp; assuming one or two or more end up on the disabled list, we’ll still see another 12-14 cuts. The bell tolls for thee, Alfredo Amezaga, Stephen Fife, Elian Herrera, Peter Moylan, etc. (And, of course, Yasiel Puig as well.)

Today’s game against Oakland is another of the free dodgers.com webcasts, and while it’s good to see Carl Crawford & Puig in the lineup, many of the regulars are sitting this one out. That means no Matt Kemp, Adrian Gonzalez, Luis Cruz, or A.J. Ellis, and of course no Ramirez. Cruz will instead play in a minor league game to get some time in at shortstop, per David Young, though if he’s the starting third baseman, he’s not likely to move around. If he’s seeing time at shortstop, it probably means things have gone poorly for him at third.

Chris Capuano starts, to be followed by J.P. Howell, Brandon League, & Mark Lowe against Oakland’s Dan Straily.

It’s not quite, you know, actually getting playing time at the position that we’re all terrified of him playing, but…

Rangers GM Jon Daniels confirmed to reporters on Monday that third baseman Adrian Beltre will skip the first round of the World Baseball Classic due to a minor calf injury that he described as a “tweak.” The injury will not limit him in workouts, and he could join Team Dominican Republic if it advances.

…it’s a start. That means Hanley Ramirez is likely to get additional playing time at third base, at least as long as the Dominicans don’t go crazy and let Miguel Tejada or the stone-gloved Edwin Encarnacion ahead of him. It’s not shortstop… but at least it’s a gloved position rather than designated hitter.

Among those likely to play more shortstop than Ramirez: old friend Russell Martin. Yes, the catcher.

I haven’t talked that much about the World Baseball Classic because I don’t really find it all that interesting, and there’s no Dodgers on the American roster anyway. That said, there are seven Dodgers representing other nations — including 75% of the projected infield — and Steve Dilbeck of the LA Times makes some cogent points about what that time away from camp means for Hanley Ramirez.

To help him better reacquaint himself at short — the Miami Marlins had moved him to third last season after they acquired Jose Reyes –  the Dodgers wanted him to play short during winter ball.

But Ramirez suffered an early minor shoulder injury playing in Puerto Rico and ended up a designated hitter, not playing short or anywhere in the field. And now he’ll potentially miss most of spring training – and he’s unlikely to play any shortstop for the Dominicans.

Reyes figures to be their starting shortstop. And with Adrian Beltre at third and Robinson Cano at second, Ramirez is likely looking at DHing yet again. Plus, the Dominicans have strong-fielding Erick Aybar as the backup at short. The Dominicans list Ramirez as a third baseman.

As Dilbeck goes on to note, this is seemingly bad news for the Dodgers, given that the shortstop who needs to work on his defense isn’t actually going to play much shortstop at all before the season — potentially returning to camp only a week before the season starts if the Dominicans make it to the finals.

On the other hand, I do wonder if it’s an opportunity. If the main argument towards keeping Ramirez at shortstop is simply the worry that he won’t want to return to third, being able to point out that he was unable to show any improvement defensively this winter — which the Dodgers made clear they needed to see — would seem to be a pretty convincing selling point. Hell, perhaps that’s been the plan all along; as we’ve argued all winter long, if you’re going to go into the season with a left side of Ramirez & Luis Cruz, then there is just no justification for not putting Cruz at shortstop.

Now that being said… Cruz was horrible in his own stint in winter ball, hitting .184/.213/.398 in 75 plate appearances, and he’ll be away from camp for a while as well, joining Adrian Gonzalez on a potentially strong Mexican team. If Cruz & Ramirez are both absent, that may give Dee Gordon a stretch of two weeks or more where he’s the only shortstop in town. (Which, by the way, get ready for a bunch of infields that feature Nick Evans / Mark Ellis / Gordon / Dallas McPherson during the spring).

I’ve been pretty clear about my desire to see Gordon back in Albuquerque fine-tuning his game this season, but I also acknowledge that he’s probably the only way we’re going to avoid a lineup that has Ramirez at short & Cruz at third. That span of time might be Gordon’s last best chance to show that he’s a contributor this year — though, again, I don’t think he is.

Not that I think he’ll take advantage of it, of course, but the opportunity could at least be there. And if not? Please, please, just swap Cruz & Ramirez. It shouldn’t be that complicated.