Japan looks to become a three-time champion at the World Baseball Classic. (USA Today)

After the Dominican Republic's 2-0 victory over Puerto Rico this afternoon at Marlins Ballpark in Miami, we can now officially set up the semifinal matchups in the 2013 World Baseball Classic that will take place at AT&T Park in San Francisco.

They are as follows.

Sunday
Semifinal 1 — Puerto Rico at Japan, 9:00 p.m. ET

This will be another quick turnaround for Puerto Rico, who played on Saturday just 14 hours after eliminating Team USA from the tournament. Now they must fly across the country to San Francisco for Sunday's game with little rest and one large challenge ahead of them.

[Also: Uninspired U.S. ousted from World Baseball Classic. Does anyone care?]

On the other side, Japan will be playing their first competitive game since Tuesday’s victory over the Netherlands, though they have spent the past two days in Arizona working out the jetlag and any rust that may have settled in. They’re the two-time defending champions coming, so they’ll rightfully be viewed as the heavy favorites to advance to the championship game.

Brett and Bruce Bochy at Giants camp. (AP)Nobody was expecting Bruce Bochy's son Brett to crack the San Francisco Giants opening day roster this year. In fact, at 25 years old, he may be a long shot to ever get that call since he's not really regarded as a top prospect and he's yet to discard the durability questions that have surrounded him since he was drafted in 2010.

Still, it can't be all that good a feeling when the official word comes down that your dream to big pitch in the big leagues won't be happening as soon as you'd hoped. And it has to be an extra awkward feeling when the person informing you that you've fallen short is your own father.

That was the unfortunate case for the younger Bochy on Thursday night, though his father did take a different route to informing him than he would for any of his other players.anAccording to Andrew Baggarly of Comcast Sports Net San Francisco, he actually did it in a face-to-face meeting over dinner, which may or may not have added to the awkwardness, but it certainly didn't take away from the disappointment.

“He was disappointed I didn’t bring him in (the office) to cut him,” the manager said, smiling. “Maybe I’ll do it tomorrow to make him feel better.”

I'm sure hearing the message one time will be plenty, but one can certainly understand why young Brett would want to learn his fate in the same manner as his teammates. It's difficult enough being the son of a coach or manager in any environment. I can only imagine how it would feel in a major league clubhouse, and being treated differently in any way can only make that feeling more awkward.

(AP Photos)On the heels of yesterday's 100-game suspension for minor leaguer Cesar Carrillo comes word that Major League Baseball is prepared to hunker down and come hard after every player connected to the Dr. Anthony Bosch and the Biogenensis clinic in Florida. According to ESPN's T.J. Quinn, that definitely includes Alex Rodriguez and Ryan Braun, who he says are "strongly in their sights".

As noted yesterday, it will be more difficult for MLB to pin down players such as Rodriguez and Braun for a number of reasons. Chief among them being their protection from the MLBPA, not to mention their personal representation and the overall wealth the game has afforded them.

[Also: Uninspired U.S. ousted from World Baseball Classic. Does anyone care?]

Still, MLB seems determined to make every effort they can to discipline both men for their connections to the alleged distributor of PEDs. And in the case of Braun, who actually escaped punishment last winter after challenging the chain of custody of his positive sample, they may really be determined to even the score. Not to suggest they're targeting one player involved more than the other, but I'm sure that's a bad taste in their mouth they can't wait to wash out.

(AP)With Curtis Granderson and Mark Teixeira out of the picture early and Alex Rodriguez expected to miss at least half of the regular season, the New York Yankees have been desperately searching for stopgaps and band-aids to help keep their offense functional.

First, they reached out to former Atlanta Braves star Chipper Jones, who passed to focus on his admittedly lousy golf game. Then they called up Derrek Lee, who also turned them down as retirement has proven to be to his liking. That finally led general manager Brian Cashman to seek out active players with a little bit of pop.

[Also: Uninspired U.S. ousted from World Baseball Classic. Does anyone care?]

As things would turn out, one of those actually became available this week when the Detroit Tigers released outfielder Brennan Boesch.

According to CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman, the Yankees wasted little time in snatching Boesch up, agreeing to a one-year, $1.5 million contract with the 27-year-old on Friday. He'll now enter into competition with the likes Juan Rivera and Matt Diaz for playing time in the outfield, and a good final three weeks of spring training could allow New York to move Rivera over to first base to log some time there while he platoons with Diaz.

It’s also possible he’ll battle veteran Travis Hafner for some at-bats at the designated hitter spot.

A dejected Adam Jones following Team USA's loss to Puerto Rico (Getty)With Friday night’s disappointing 4-3 loss to Puerto Rico in the books, Team USA has fallen short of reaching the World Baseball Classic finals for the third time in as many tournaments.

I guess disappointing would actually be an understatement considering how positive things were looking on Tuesday after the American squad knocked off the same Puerto Rico team 7-1 at Marlins Ballpark in Miami. But that all unraveled quickly and violently over the past 30 or so hours beginning with the news that their hottest hitter, David Wright, would be sidelined the remainder of the tournament with a moderate intercostal strain.

[Also: Uninspired U.S. ousted from World Baseball Classic. Does anyone care?]

Then came a dramatic 3-1 loss to the Dominican Republic in which the always reliable Craig Kimbrel faltered in the ninth inning, allowing the game to slip away. But there were certainly other opportunities for the USA to turn their fortunes around. In fact, the frustrations began right away in the first inning when they plated only one run against a scuffling Samuel Deduno.

Still, despite that loss, despite the fact they were playing with a roster that had far less firepower than they were capable of fielding, and despite the fact that Joe Torre managed the tournament like a guy who's never attended a baseball game, let alone managed the New York Yankees to four world championships, all they had to do on Friday night was win. And they failed. For several reasons, too. But I've narrowed it down to the four that really stand out and help explain why we won't be seeing them in San Francisco.

Cesar Carrillo with the San Diego Padres in 2009. (AP)Major League Baseball's investigation into the Biogenesis clinic in Florida has reportedly led to a 100-game suspension for Detroit Tigers minor leaguer Cesar Carrillo.

The league announced the suspension on Friday, citing violations of the minor league drug prevention and treatment program. That didn't exactly paint a clear picture of how or why Carrillo was suspended, at least initially. However, Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal is now reporting that his sources have confirmed the suspension is directly connected to Carrillo's name coming up in Biogenesis documents.

[Also: Uninspired U.S. ousted from World Baseball Classic. Does anyone care?]

Of course we know there are much bigger names that surfaced on those documents, including the likes of Alex Rodriguez, Ryan Braun and Melky Cabrera. But this officially marks the first major fallout since the Miami New Times first reported the story in January, and it could be an indication of things to come for others named in the documents, particularly minor leaguers not currently on a 40-man roster.

Rosenthal explains:

Baseball enjoys greater jurisdiction over minor leaguers like Carrillo than major leaguers who are protected by the players’ union. When MLB announces the suspension of a major leaguer, it details the nature of his offense.

(AP)It turns out the "sore back" that kept David Wright out of Team USA's clash with the Dominican Republic on Thursday night is a little more problematic than it first seemed.

According to New York Mets general manager Sandy Alderson, Wright is actually dealing with a “moderate" intercostal strain, which will require at least three to five days of rest.

If you do the math, that means Wright is officially out of the World Baseball Classic, and there's also concern the injury will linger into the regular season, forcing Wright to start on the disabled list.

For a little perspective on the potential timetable of Wright's recovery, Comcast SportsNet's Mark Zuckerman provided the following information.

Sounds similar to Desmond last summer. Missed 5 wks. MT @adamrubinespn Alderson says David Wright has moderate intercostal strain on side.

— Mark Zuckerman (@ZuckermanCSN) March 15, 2013

(USA Today)We’re less than three weeks away from opening day and the Cincinnati Reds still have no idea whether they're going through with moving Aroldis Chapman into the starting rotation or keeping him in the closer's role.

A little alarming? Maybe?

Not that we’re rushing them, though, or have fantasy baseball drafts coming up. Not at all. And obviously we understand it’s a huge decision with wide-ranging implications not only for Chapman personally, but also in terms of how their roster will be structured for the upcoming season. Once they commit one way or the other, they’re pretty much locked into it for the next few months, so they need to be sure it‘s the right move.

[Also: Derek Jeter looks like the Jeter of old at SS]

Still, as manager Dusty Baker noted on Wednesday, they can’t tap dance around it forever, either, so a decision in the next week or so would be preferable. John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer has the quotes:

“I’d like to decide soon and get my team together,” Baker said. “I don’t like having guys in the middle. That’s a bad situation when you’re in the middle of anything. An unknown. Then everybody else is in an unknown situation. That’s unfair to him or us — the situation he’s been put in. He was in that same situation last year.

“I’d like to make a decision in the next week or so, so I can get my team together. The decision is not only mine, it’s ours. But I got my opinion.”