On Tuesday afternoon, team Puerto Rico manager Yadier Molina announced that Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Jose Berrios was going to be able to join the national team for the elimination round of the World Baseball Classic.

Puerto Rico has already advanced to the quarterfinal round despite a loss to Canada on Tuesday and Berrios would have been a big help moving forward.

However, just hours after Molina made those comments, the decision was reversed. Berrios, who was not on the original roster because of insurance issues, was denied insurance yet again. That was noted by Shi Davidi of Sportsnet on social media:

Insurance has been the buzzword of this World Baseball Classic, as several key players were denied insurance and were unable to participate. Puerto Rico was hit especially hard with Francisco Lindor, Berrios and Carlos Correa all denied coverage under the strict policy.

Per TSN:

Outside of age, those who are classified as having “chronic” injuries by NFP have a hard time getting insured. If a player was on the injured list for an aggregate of at least 60 days in a previous season, was injured and unable to participate in two of his team’s last three games of that season, underwent offseason surgery, underwent more than one surgery throughout his career or was on the IL on the last day of August of the previous season, he is classified as “chronic.”

Berrios ended the season on the 15-day injured list because of elbow inflammation and did not pitch in the team's playoff run to the World Series. That injured list trip at the end of the season is likely what caused him to be denied. He's been remarkably healthy for the entirety of his career, making 30 starts or more in each of the last seven full seasons. He also made a full 12-start slate in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.

He has pitched at spring training for the Jays without issue to this point. He's tossed 10.2 innings over three outings.

Now 31 years old, Berrios is a 10-year veteran of the Minnesota Twins and Blue Jays. A two-time All-Star, he's 108-82 lifetime with a 4.08 ERA.

After a solid season in 2024, he regressed in 2025, going 9-5 with a 4.17 ERA. His ERA was better than his FIP (4.65), suggesting that some regression to the mean is possible, which is bad news for him and the organization. He only struck out 138 batters in 166.0 innings. And the injury news at the end of the season doesn't help.

Berrios is under contract for the next two seasons and there's been talk of the team trading him, but with Shane Bieber injured and Trey Yesavage having to get eased into the season ahead, his role is seemingly important to the organization. 

He figures to be involved with the starting rotation in some capacity, perhaps serving as a piggyback to Yesavage starts in the early part of the season.

Thus far: Puerto Rico, Korea, Japan, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela have advanced to the elimination round. Team USA, Italy, Mexico, Cuba and Canada are all working to advance. The final day of pool play is Wednesday.

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