Beltre won't play in World Baseball Classic - 美國職棒

PEORIA, Ariz. (AP)—The Mariners told Adrian Beltre he can't play for his
native Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic because he hasn't fully
recovered from surgery last fall.

The Gold Glove third baseman said Saturday morning that he had decided he was
healthy enough to leave Sunday and join the Dominican Republic team to train
for its opening game in the tournament on March 7.

The Mariners disagreed, saying he isn't 100 percent following surgeries in
September to repair a ligament in his left thumb and to remove bone spurs from
his left, non-throwing shoulder.

“Yes, we took the decision (away),”Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik
said.“We need this player, and we need this player badly, to be competitive
this year.

“I feel bad about it. I know how badly he wanted to play. As I said all along,
I would support him—as long as he was healthy. … If he's not right at 100
percent, then we as an organization couldn't afford to have a setback.”

Beltre was on the final WBC roster, but he can be replaced before his nation's
opener in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

“It's disappointing,”Beltre said, one day after he went 2-for-3 with three
RBIs as a designated hitter in his first spring game.

He was obviously unhappy, but said he understood the Mariners’decision.

“I gave up my apartment because I was going to go,”he said, smiling.“Yes,
now I have no place to live. I'm homeless.”

Zduriencik said Beltre could stay at his place during camp.

All kidding aside, this is a sensitive issue for the team and for Beltre, who
can become a free agent after his $64 million, five-year contract ends this
fall.

When asked two weeks ago if this may be his last spring training with the
Mariners, especially given their rebuilding mode following a 101-loss season,
Beltre said:“I don't know.”

Zduriencik said he hopes Beltre separates that issue from this one.

“I hope this is just something he looks at and sees this had to be the
decision, for the right reason,”the GM said.

Beltre wished Zduriencik would have told him in a meeting they had last week
that the team would not let him play. Beltre and manager Don Wakamatsu had said
the result of that meeting was the Mariners did not want him to play in the
tournament, but that the team was leaving the decision up to Beltre.

“He wanted to play so badly and I wanted to do everything I could to allow him
to play—if the circumstances could have been such,”Zduriencik said.“The
reason this took a little time was I was sympathetic to his heart. I didn't
want to say no to the guy.”

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