ORLANDO — The Red Sox aren’t sure yet exactly which of their players will be participating in the World Baseball Classic next spring. It’s safe to assume, though, that two big names won’t be playing.
As the Winter Meetings opened Monday in Orlando, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow said he doesn’t expect ace Garrett Crochet or star rookie Roman Anthony to participate in the March tournament. The Red Sox are still working through which players will represent their countries in the event.
In July, Crochet said he would consider it a “huge honor” to represent Team USA in the WBC but noted that he’d have to get approval from the Red Sox first. After a stellar first year in Boston in which he pitched a total of 213 innings (including one postseason start). Crochet won’t take on additional high-leverage innings during spring training.
Anthony was a theoretical Team USA candidate and there was also some talk he could suit up for Team Italy. But after suffering a season-ending left oblique strain in early September, the Red Sox are proceeding with caution.
“Coming off the injury, we’ll be pretty sensitive to that,” Breslow said, adding that Anthony has been cleared medically and has had check-ups in Fort Myers.
Last month, reliever Garrett Whitlock announced his commitment to play for Team USA in the tournament, which will require players to leave spring training camps for multiple weeks. Breslow didn’t confirm any other Red Sox participants but others could play. Closer Aroldis Chapman has been in talks with Great Britain about pitching but nothing has been finalized. Jarren Duran and Marcelo Mayer (Mexico), Masataka Yoshida (Japan), Ceddanne Rafaela (Netherlands), Wilyer Abreu and Carlos Narváez (Venezuela) and Brayan Bello (Dominican Republic) are all potential candidates as well.