Here’s how MLB teams should deal with World Baseball Classic injuries
Tom Joyce
Some baseball fans love the World Baseball Classic, but the exhibition tournament is an unnecessary injury risk.
All-Stars such as Houston Astros second baseman Jose Altuve, New York Mets closer Edwin Diaz, and St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado have gotten hurt playing in the World Baseball Classic this year. Diaz’s injury is the worst of the bunch; he tore his right patellar tendon and could miss the entire 2023 season.
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Ultimately, these injuries will hurt MLB franchises. Some teams are losing excellent ballplayers who suffered needless injuries in this exhibition tournament. Moving forward, MLB teams will need to take a different approach to this problem if they want to prevent this from happening in the future.
MLB teams should look to their standard player contracts when dealing with the World Baseball Classic. Contracts usually say players cannot participate in many activities, given the unnecessary injury risks. Those activities include auto racing, skiing, motorcycle racing, skydiving, etc. If a player gets hurt participating in one of those activities, then the team can void his contract and refuse to pay him.
It makes sense because of what happened to the 1967 American League Cy Young Award winner. After a stellar season, Boston Red Sox pitcher Jim Lonborg got hurt in a skiing accident and was never the same pitcher afterward.
If MLB teams do not want their players getting hurt competing in the World Baseball Classic, they could add the exhibition tournament to the list of prohibited activities in contracts. Or, they could have an enter-at-your-own-risk World Baseball Classic policy; they could allow players to participate if they wish but dock their pay for any time missed due to injury.
Then, competing in the World Baseball Classic becomes a less appealing choice for players. Who will risk losing millions of dollars to play in an exhibition game? Players enjoy representing their home country, or a country they have an ancestral connection to, in the tournament. However, they may enjoy being extremely wealthy even more and be less likely to take this risk if their actions have costly consequences.
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It would also allow players who otherwise would not participate to join the games. While Ken Griffey Jr. may have been joking about playing in the 2026 World Baseball Classic, maybe some other great retired players would consider participating. If they get hurt playing baseball, at least that will not negatively affect a Major League team.
Tom Joyce (@TomJoyceSports) is a political reporter for the New Boston Post in Massachusetts.