Skip to Content Facebook Feature Image

Bad Bunny offered to pay for Puerto Rican star Carlos Correa's WBC insurance

Sport

Bad Bunny offered to pay for Puerto Rican star Carlos Correa's WBC insurance
Sport

Sport

Bad Bunny offered to pay for Puerto Rican star Carlos Correa's WBC insurance

2026-02-14 05:44 Last Updated At:05:50

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Bad Bunny really wanted to see Carlos Correa play for Puerto Rico at home in the World Baseball Classic.

Correa, the infielder for the Houston Astros left off the WBC roster over insurance coverage, said Friday that the music superstar and fellow native of Puerto Rico had offered to pay for a policy.

“It means a lot that he’s that involved,” Correa told reporters at the Astros' spring training complex. “He tried to do everything possible. I wanted to play and make sure that I was going to go out there and play for Team Puerto Rico in Puerto Rico. The fact that he did that means a lot in how much he cares for the country, how much he cares for the fans back home. I’m deeply grateful that he tried that hard.”

Correa, who has a $200 million contract through 2028, had surgery in 2014 to repair a broken right tibia and both San Francisco and the Mets failed to approve his physicals for a contract during the 2022-23 offseason.

While not providing the name of the provider Bad Bunny proposed, Correa said it was one that was not approved by Major League Baseball, the Astros and Correa’s agent, Scott Boras. A person familiar with the process said MLB was not contacted about the possibility of Bad Bunny arranging an insurer. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because no public statements were made.

“I could not sign my life away with something that three people that I trust are telling me not to do,” Correa said.

Puerto Rico is hosting pool play games in the WBC next month.

Bad Bunny, who was born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, is one of the most-streamed artists on the planet. He was the featured halftime performaer at the Super Bowl last Sunday, a week after winning album of the year at the 2026 Grammys for “Debí Tirar Más Fotos", which is the first time an all Spanish-language album took the top prize.

Bad Bunny's sports representation firm, Rimas Sports, and the MLB Players Association settled a lawsuit last year after the union disciplined the agency over violations of its agent regulations. It revoked the agent certification of Rimas’ William Arroyo and denied certifications of executives Noah Assad and Jonathan Miranda, citing citing a $200,000 interest-free loan and a $19,500 gift. The union issued a $400,000 fine for misconduct. Arbitrator Ruth M. Moscovitch upheld the union’s five-year suspensions of Assad and Miranda and cut Arroyo’s suspension to three years.

AP Baseball Writer Ronald Blum contributed to this report from New York.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Bad Bunny performs during halftime of the NFL Super Bowl 60 football game between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Bad Bunny performs during halftime of the NFL Super Bowl 60 football game between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

NEW YORK (AP) — A second suspect in the stray-bullet killing of a 7-month-old baby on a Brooklyn street was arrested Friday, police said, two days after a shooting the police commissioner called “a tragedy that truly shocks the conscience.”

Matthew Rodriguez, 18, was apprehended in Pennsylvania by New York Police Department detectives working with U.S. Marshals, the NYPD said.

The suspected shooter, 21-year-old Amuri Greene, was arrested shortly after the drive-by gunfire that killed Kaori Patterson-Moore. Greene pleaded not guilty to murder and other charges at an arraignment Friday night.

Kaori was in her stroller when a two men sped down a street on a moped Wednesday afternoon. Greene, riding on the back of the vehicle, fired into a group of people on a street corner, according to a court complaint.

Kaori's mother, Lianna Charles-Moore, told the New York Post that after hearing what she initially believed were fireworks, she was comforting her startled 2-year-old son — who had been grazed by a bullet — when she looked to her left and saw her baby daughter bleeding. The infant had been shot in the head.

“My daughter was innocent. She didn’t deserve that," Charles-Moore told the newspaper. She said her daughter was just about starting to crawl and had recently begun saying “Mama.”

Greene told police he was aiming for another person in the crowd, according to the court complaint.

Police said the moped sped and crashed into a car two blocks away, hurling both men off the vehicle. Greene was injured and soon was hospitalized in police custody, but the moped driver fled.

Authorities haven't yet released court papers that detail Rodriguez's alleged role. But they haven't indicated they were looking for anyone other than the gunman — alleged to have been Greene — and the moped driver.

Greene was being held without bail after his arraignment. A voice message seeking comment was left with his attorney.

Police didn't immediately have information on how the men are connected or where Rodriguez lives; no working telephone number for him could immediately be found. Police charges against him were pending.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch expressed heartbreak and outrage over Kaori's death.

“This is a terrible day in our city, a tragedy that truly shocks the conscience,” Tisch said at a news briefing Wednesday.

This image taken from video provided by the New York Police Department shows New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, flanked by Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, left, and Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny, speaking during a news conference, Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in New York. (NYPD via AP)

This image taken from video provided by the New York Police Department shows New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, flanked by Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, left, and Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny, speaking during a news conference, Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in New York. (NYPD via AP)

Recommended Articles