Carlos Correa breaks silence on Bad Bunny’s ‘bad idea’ for the WBC

Carlos Correa has ended his public silence about the World Baseball Classic insurance impasse that will keep him out of Puerto Rico’s lineup, confirming that global music superstar Bad Bunny’s well-intentioned offer to pay his premium was rejected by baseball’s power structure.

Speaking to The Athletic’s Chandler Rome, the Houston Astros shortstop said Major League Baseball, the Astros and his agent Scott Boras all advised against accepting the reggaeton artist’s proposal to cover the insurance costs that had been denied through MLB’s designated carrier. The same stance was taken regarding fellow Puerto Rican standout Francisco Lindor, who will now spend March recovering from surgery to repair a fractured hamate bone rather than representing the island.

Bad Bunny, whose Super Bowl halftime performance ranks as the fourth-most-watched in history, floated the idea after retired infielder Carlos Baerga first revealed that both Correa and Lindor had been turned down for WBC coverage. While the musician could easily absorb the expense, the arrangement was ultimately viewed inside the sport as a non-starter.

Correa will remain with the Astros in spring training when the tournament opens next month, joining a growing list of high-profile players sidelined by insurance complications. Venezuela’s Jose Altuve was also withheld from his national roster for the same reason, underscoring a league-wide issue that even a superstar’s checkbook could not solve.