Toronto Blue Jays right-hander Jose Berrios is in wait-and-see-mode about his participation in the World Baseball Classic.
Slated to play for Team Puerto Rico in the upcoming international tournament, Berrios is one of several players from the country who have been denied insurance coverage and whose cases are under review, according to a report from The Athletic.
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On Saturday, the operations manager of Team Puerto Rico said the country might have to pull out of the tournament over fears it might not be able to field a competitive team if as many as 10 of their players can’t get insurance.
“That option is on the table,” Joey Sola told The Athletic. “It obviously will depend upon if we can figure out the substitute players.”
The insurance policies are in place to protect the team’s multimillion-dollar investments in their players. Should a player suffer an injury in the World Baseball Classic, the insurance steps in to pay his salary. The Athletic reported that position players would receive all of their salary for two years, with pitchers covered for four years under the insurance policy.
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Berrios, New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor, Houston Astros third baseman Carlos Correa and Minnesota Twins catcher Victor Caratini are some of the intended members of Team Puerto Rico who have been flagged as not insurable, pending the review, Sola told The Athletic.
Injury history and age, in short.
A player who has had surgery or a stay on the 60-day injured list generally is disqualified, but The Athletic said a player’s medical report will be looked at on an individual basis.
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Any player who is 37 at the time of the tournament also isn’t covered by insurance.
Berrios is 31 and never has been on the 60-day injured list. Last August, the Blue Jays placed him on the short-term injured list for the first time in his MLB career, citing right elbow inflammation. He has been remarkably durable throughout his career, starting at least 30 games in seven of the past eight seasons. The only exception was the pandemic-shortened season of 2020.
Insurance regulations have toughened since the 2023 World Baseball Classic, when Jose Altuve of the Astros and Edwin Diaz, then of the New York Mets, both suffered significant injuries.
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Altuve’s right thumb was broken when he was hit by a pitch, and he played in only 90 games that season. Diaz, the closer for Puerto Rico, suffered a season-ending knee injury during the celebration of a win in the 2023 event.
Rosters are due to Major League Baseball and the Players Association, who jointly own the tournament, on Tuesday.
Puerto Rico is set to host first-round play in San Juan from March 6-11. Canada, Colombia, Cuba and Panama are in Puerto Rico’s pool.
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Sola said the insurance company’s final decisions could leave Puerto Rico searching for players because of a comparatively small pool to choose from, and he said he doesn’t see other countries taking such a big hit with their rosters.
“I know the WBC isn’t in those decisions. It’s the insurance companies,” he told The Athletic. “But you have guys on other teams, they have an injury history and then I got guys on my roster who will be playing at the Double-A level with no (major-league) guarantee, no MLB invitation (to spring training), and they get flagged. And guys on other teams who can play in the WBC are earning $30 million per year. It’s kind of tough to understand it.”
Yes. Scheduled to play are Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Dominican Republic), Yariel Rodriguez (Cuba), Ernie Clement (United States), Kazuma Okamoto (Japan), Leo Jimenez (Panama) and Alejandro Kirk (Mexico). It is believed pitching prospect Adam Macko, who has yet to make his MLB debut, will play for Canada.
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