Phillies pitcher suffers huge blow for World Baseball Classic

Philadelphia Phillies reliever Jose Alvarado will reportedly not compete for his native Venezuela in the upcoming World Baseball Classic because he could not get insurance for the tournament.

Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extrabase reported the news Saturday on Twitter/X.

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Alvarado was announced as a member of Team Venezuela on Feb. 5. Now he’ll be forced to watch his WBC teammates from the Phillies’ camp in Florida when the tournament commences in March.

Several star players have been unable to get insurance for the WBC, including Puerto Ricans Francisco Lindor and Carlos Correa. Another left-handed reliever for Venezuela, Oddanier Mosqueda, is reportedly missing the tournament because his coverage was denied by the insurer as well.

National Financial Partners, an official partner of MLB, brokers the insurance policy. NFP did not comment for a recent story in The Athletic about why so many players have been denied insurance for the 2026 WBC.

However, according to Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich, the heightened insurance concerns stem from injuries to Jose Altuve and Edwin Díaz during the last WBC in 2023.

Ostensibly, NFP is wary of being left on the hook for paying expensive players’ salaries after they have been red-flagged for heightened injury risk.

The result: a WBC with significantly less star power for some teams — including Venezuela — compared to when the tournament was last held.

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