Houston Astros stars Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa will not play in this year’s World Baseball Classic because they were unable to get insurance on their contracts, reports The Athletic. Without insurance, the two players would risk forfeiting their salaries for any regular-season games missed as a result of an injury suffered during the tournament.
“I’m definitely upset because I’ve been preparing really hard this offseason to get better this year and be ready early so I can be ready for the WBC,” Correa told The Athletic. “I also understand the business side of things and that’s too big of a risk to take, to play with no insurance.”
Correa is owed $31.5 million in 2026, $10 million of which will be paid by the Minnesota Twins as a condition of last summer’s trade that sent him back to Houston. Altuve has a $30 million salary this coming season. He missed the first 43 games of the 2023 season after getting hit by a pitch during the WBC and suffering a fractured thumb. The injury required surgery.
All 40-man roster players are evaluated by an independent insurer (agreed upon by MLB and the MLBPA) that determines whether the player’s contract is insurable based on his injury history. If the player can’t be insured, he can still participate in the WBC, though he would risk forfeiting salary during any time lost to injury.
Future Hall of Famers Miguel Cabrera and Clayton Kershaw withdrew from the 2023 WBC because they were unable to secure insurance.
An oblique strain and multiple bouts of plantar fasciitis have limited Correa to 365 of 486 regular-season games since 2022, including only 86 games in 2024. Altuve has played at least 153 games each of the last two seasons, though he had minor surgery to remove fluid from his right foot in November. He is expected to be ready for spring training.
Teams can only block players from the WBC if they spend a certain number of days on the injured list in the most recent season. Neither Altuve nor Correa meet that criteria, but without insurance, they risk forfeiting salary. Astros owner Jim Crane reached out to both players about the insurance issue and implored them to skip the event.
“Jim called me and told me that he wants me to focus on the team and spring training,” Correa told The Athletic. “Obviously he traded for me to win a championship here and we had too many injuries as a team (in 2025).”
Correa, 31, played for Puerto Rico in the 2017 WBC. He skipped the 2023 WBC because his wife was expecting their second child. Altuve, 35, played for Venezuela in the 2017 and 2023 WBCs.