Arenado, Goldschmidt & Waino headline Cardinals competing in World Baseball Classic

Recalling a scene from the 2017 World Baseball Classic in which Team USA was desperate to pull out a victory, Paul Goldschmidt mentioned his then-and-now teammate Nolan Arenado was so dialed in to the drive to win he attempted to lay down a sacrifice bunt — something he’s done five times in 5,831 Major League plate appearances.

Adam Wainwright, new to the international scene but very experienced at the plate, piped in that he’d be more than happy to provide timely bunts should Team USA need them in the upcoming WBC.

Said Goldschmidt: “No you won’t.”

And Arenado: “You’re going to miss on purpose and try to swing away.”

The team spirit is already strong.

That trio, along with teammate Miles Mikolas, will head to Scottsdale in the first week of March to kick off an abbreviated training camp with temporary teammates before the WBC gets underway. With as many as a dozen Cardinals on similar spring paths — some headed as far away as Tokyo — ramping up for the season will have a different look and feel.

To the extent that it represents a non-bunt sacrifice, it’s one that all three are eager to make.

“I’m very proud to be representing our country,” Wainwright said. “(I’m a) patriotic guy, man. I love wearing the red, white and blue and representing our country, and I can’t wait to do that for our great USA team.”

“Watching the World Cup and how awesome that was to represent your country,” Arenado recalled, “hopefully one day we can get (the WBC) close.”

“I was recruiting as many guys as I could to get back on the team,” Goldschmidt said. “I thought it was so great, and I was basically begging to get back on the team this time.”

Never been asked

Arenado and Goldschmidt were both on the roster for the American champions the last time the event was played, in 2017. It was that experience that drew them closer together, and each has described forging a friendship in competition that spilled over into their lives both on and off the field.

Arenado’s lobbying behind the scenes to become a Cardinal, for instance, was at least in part informed by that relationship, and a comfort and desire to join forces with Goldschmidt.

Wainwright, entering his last professional season as a player, described “carrying a pretty big chip on [his] shoulder” as he recalled his closest taste to international glory, having been cut late from the prospective 2004 Olympic team which ultimately failed to qualify for the event.

Asked why he hadn’t participated in prior editions of the WBC, Wainwright said the reason was simple — he’d never been asked.

Waino coming out of the pen?

With friend and former teammate Mark DeRosa managing this year’s squad, though, Wainwright seized on an immediate opportunity to lobby for his spot.

Final rosters are set to be announced Thursday night, but Wainwright currently seems set to join a starting rotation which includes Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Nestor Cortes of the New York Yankees, Kyle Freeland of the Colorado Rockies, Brady Singer of the Kansas City Royals, Merrill Kelly of the Arizona Diamondbacks, and Logan Webb of the San Francisco Giant.

He is, he confirmed, preparing as though he’ll start, rather than be used out of the bullpen. “I mean, I’ve had some success as a starter before,” he said, dryly.

The volume of Cardinals competing in the event has led to an influx of early trash talking — to everyone but Goldschmidt, who said he hasn’t talked to anyone at all.

Arenado, who spent a large part of the winter working out in California with Lars Nootbaar among others, volunteered that the outfielder has taken up the cause of Team Japan, for whom he’ll be the first player not born in that country to compete internationally. Tommy Edman, in a similar position for Korea, has expressed similar sentiments.

‘We’re playing this to win the gold medal’

Wainwright chimed in that Yadier Molina, now retired and managing the Puerto Rican team, suggested that since Wainwright is his brother in all but formality, he should be pitching for Puerto Rico rather than the United States.

“He probably won’t talk to us,” Arenado predicted of Molina in a potential match-up between the teams. “He might talk to Waino, but he probably won’t talk to us if we end up facing him because he really wants to win.”

So, of course, do the three who spoke Tuesday. Each is off to an early start in their preparation so as to soften the blow of missing part of camp for the tournament, and each was vehement that they wouldn’t make that sacrifice if they didn’t believe they would — and fully intend to — come out victorious.

“We’re playing this to win the gold medal,” Arenado said. “We’re the last team to win it, and we want to do it again. There’s no other goals than that.”