Taking a look at the World Baseball Classic insurance situation
Why players like Francisco Lindor are not being allowed to compete for their countries
The World Baseball Classic is set to begin in just about one month. The WBC has become one of the marquee events on the baseball calendar and something for fans across the world to look forward to every three years. Instead of the conversation leading up the event being about Team USA’s star-studded rotation featuring Paul Skenes and Tarik Skubal or Shohei Ohtani and Team Japan’s pursuit of a repeat, something as seemingly mundane as… insurance… has stolen the headlines.
On the surface, insurance coverage looks as boring as it gets (and does not help change baseball’s perception). But, some controversy surrounding contracts not being able to be insured has led to a significant number of players not being able to represent their countries in the WBC, decimating Puerto Rico and Venezuela’s teams.
All Major League Baseball players on 40-man rosters who are trying to compete in the WBC are evaluated by a third party insurer, National Financial Partners (NFP). Based on factors like injury history and age, the insurer determines if a player’s contract is able to be insured in case they suffer an injury during the WBC that would force them to miss time with their Major League club. Prior to this season, notable examples of players whose contracts were denied insurance included Clayton Kershaw and Miguel Cabrera.
Here are all of the players who have reportedly been denied insurance coverage for their contracts:
Team Puerto Rico: Francisco Lindor, Carlos Correa, Jose Berrios, Victor Caratini, Jovani Moran, Emilio Pagan and Alexis Diaz
Team Venezuela: Jose Altuve, Miguel Rojas, Martin Perez and Carlos Narvaez
Team Panama: Justin Lawrence
Team Dominican Republic: Elly De La Cruz
That is a lot of star power. The Athletic’s Evan Drellich and Ken Rosenthal reported that the high-profile injuries to Altuve and Edwin Diaz during the 2023 WBC is the biggest reason why players are having more difficulties securing contract insurance. NFP reportedly has three different classifications for players’ injury history: “chronic condition,” “intermediate condition,” and “low-risk condition.”
ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez laid out what criteria players need to meet in order to be classified as “chronic,” meaning they are very unlikely to be insured.
If they were on the injured list for an aggregate of at least 60 days in the prior season
If they were injured and unable to participate in two of their teams’ last three games of the prior season
If they underwent surgery following that season
If they underwent more than one surgery throughout their career
If they were placed on the IL in the last day of August of the prior season.
NFP will also not cover players once they turn 37.
That is why Los Angeles Dodgers utilityman Miguel Rojas was denied insurance and will not be able to suit up for Team Venezuela. He turns 37 next month. The World Series hero addressed the denial during a Dodgers fan event on Saturday (via Gonzalez).
“It’s really hard to not have the opportunity to put my country on my chest and to represent them and help win a World Baseball Classic–and not have the opportunity to do it because I’m 37 years old,” Rojas said. “That’s not right. I don’t feel it’s right.”
Team Puerto Rico has been his especially hard with insurance denials. There have even been discussions about them dropping out of the tournament entirely.
“That option is on the table,” Team Puerto Rico operations manager Joey Sola said to Drellich and Rosenthal. “It obviously will depend upon if we can figure out the substitute players.”
Not only was Puerto Rico projected to be one of the top contenders at this year’s tournament, but they are hosting Canada, Colombia, Cuba and Panama for the first round pool play in San Juan at Hiran Bithorn Stadium. It would be a disaster for the WBC if Puerto Rico does not participate, especially because they are hosting. Puerto Rico fans are known to be among the most passionate, and having games on the island without the home team even participating would create an odd and uncomfortable atmosphere to say the least.
Looking a little deeper at some of the players who had their insurance denied versus who had theirs approved, it is easy to see why people are frustrated. New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor is the most obvious case. He has not had any major injuries during his 11-year career. The reason for his denial was a cleanup procedure on his right elbow that he had done earlier this offseason. At the time of the procedure, Lindor was expected to be fully ready for the start of Spring Training. Based on his desire to compete with Team Puerto Rico, it seems as if his recovery was on schedule and there were no setbacks.
An MLBPA statement posted to Twitter on Saturday about Lindor’s participation in the WBC confirmed that there are no lingering injury concerns that would impact his ability to play.
“He will participate fully in all spring training activities,” the statement reads.
Team USA has a few players with far more significant injury histories than Lindor. One example is Minnesota Twins outfielder Byron Buxton. 2025 was Buxton’s first full season since 2017. He sprained his thumb during his rookie year in 2015, strained his groin in 2017, missed significant time in 2018 with migraines and a broken toe, had a wrist contusion, concussion and shoulder subluxation in 2019, missed time during the shortened 2020 season with shoulder inflammation, strained his hip and broke his hand in 2021, strained his hip again and had knee surgery in 2022, had a rib contusion and a hamstring strain in 2023 and missed time due to knee and hip inflammation in 2024.
While Lindor technically meets the criteria necessary for a “chronic” designation and Buxton does not, it is difficult to understand how anyone could view Lindor as more of an injury risk than Buxton.
WBC rosters have to be finalized today and will be announced on Thursday. It is a shame that something as tedious as insurance has had this big of an impact on such a universally beloved part of the game.