Baseball player insurance concerns potentially could cause one country to drop out of the World Baseball Classic.
On Saturday, officials from Team Puerto Rico said they might withdraw the team from the tournament after learning eight of their 10 players would be denied coverage, according to The Athletic.
“That option is on the table,” said Joey Sola, Team Puerto Rico’s operations manager told The Athletic. “It obviously will depend upon if we can figure out the substitute players.”
Mets captain Francisco Lindor was one of the big-name players who had to withdraw from the tournament Friday because he was denied coverage after undergoing two surgeries on his right elbow in the past three seasons.
Fortunately for Mets fans, Lindor is expected to be ready for spring training.
The insurance concerns stem from the numerous injuries players suffered in the 2023 WBC tournament. Mets fans remember when closer Edwin Díaz, now with the Dodgers, suffered a harrowing right knee injury in that tournament that cost him the season.
Jose Altuve also broke his thumb in that year’s event, which was a months-long injury.
According to The Athletic, those injuries from the last tournament caused insurance for big leaguers to grow considerably more expensive, forcing the league’s insurer to become more stringent on which players it approves.
Astros third baseman Carlos Correa, Blue Jays right-hander José Berríos and Twins catcher Victor Caratini are among the other Puerto Rican players who were not cleared to play — though the cases of Correa, Berríos and several others are under review, Sola told the website.
Team officials fear if some of those reviews aren’t overturned, they will be unable to get enough substitutes to field a quality team.
If Puerto Rico can’t field a team it would be especially harmful because it‘s scheduled to host the first round of the WBC in San Juan from March 6-11.
Puerto Rico is in a pool that also includes Canada, Colombia, Cuba and Panama.
MLB declined comment as the statuses for many players in different countries are still to be decided. National Financial Partners, an official partner of the league that brokers insurance policy did not immediately respond to request for comment, according to The Athletic.
MLB and the Players Association, co-owners of the tournament, are lobbying the insurer to change some decisions before the rosters are due Tuesday.
They are scheduled to be announced Thursday.