When the World Baseball Classic begins next month, Puerto Rico will be without several key players for insurance reasons. Infielders Carlos Correa and Francisco Lindor, and right-hander José Berríos, are unable to participate in the WBC because they were unable to secure insurance. Puerto Rico’s roster will be very short-handed this spring.
Music superstar and fellow Puerto Rican Bad Bunny really wanted Correa to represent their country in the WBC, so much so that he offered to pay for an insurance policy.
“It means a lot that he’s that involved,” Correa said Friday, according to the Associated Press. “He tried to do everything possible. I wanted to play and make sure that I was going to go out there and play for Team Puerto Rico in Puerto Rico. The fact that he did that means a lot in how much he cares for the country, how much he cares for the fans back home. I’m deeply grateful that he tried that hard.”
Ultimately, Correa did not take Bad Bunny up on his offer because the insurance provider was not approved by Major League Baseball or Scott Boras, Correa’s agent. Both MLB and Boras advised Correa against taking Bad Bunny’s insurance.
“I could not sign my life away with something that three people that I trust are telling me not to do,” Correa said, per the Associated Press.
The offer extended to Lindor as well, per Héctor Gómez. The Mets star has since suffered a hamate injury, which would have kept him out of the tournament anyway.
Correa, 31, had surgery to repair a broken tibia in 2014 and had contracts with the New York Mets and San Francisco Giants scuttled during the 2023-24 offseason because of concerns about his ankle. Plantar fasciitis in both feet have limited him in recent years as well. Correa played 365 of 486 possible regular season games from 2023-25.
This year Year 4 of the six-year, $200 million contract Correa signed with the Minnesota Twins in Jan. 2023, after his deals with the Mets and Giants fell apart. He was traded back to the Houston Astros at last summer’s deadline. Every player who participates in the WBC must be insured by a provider approved by MLB and the MLB Players Association.
Bad Bunny, who was born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, is one of the most streamed artists on the planet. He performed at Super Bowl LX last weekend.
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