Miguel Rojas didn’t announce his World Baseball Classic exit with a press conference.
He posted a photo.
Wrapped in the Venezuelan flag, standing quietly, the message said everything before fans even read the words. This wasn’t frustration. It wasn’t anger. It was something heavier — acceptance layered with disappointment.
“Today is very sad,” Rojas wrote in Spanish. “A real pity to not be able to represent my country and put this flag on my chest. On this occasion, age wasn’t just a number.”
For a player who has built his career on resilience and preparation, the ending feels especially cruel in its simplicity. No injury. No decline scandal. Just a door that didn’t open.
At 37, Rojas hoped for one final chance to represent Venezuela on baseball’s international stage. He was part of the 2023 WBC roster but never appeared in a game — a footnote that quietly lingered. 2026 felt like closure. Instead, it became absence.
According to reporting, the reason wasn’t performance-related. It was insurance.
As MLB contracts grow more complex, veteran players face a hurdle that rarely makes headlines: insurability. For the World Baseball Classic, players must be fully insured to protect MLB teams from potential injury losses.
When age, contract structure, or risk factors complicate that coverage, the decision is effectively made for the player.
In Rojas’ case, the math didn’t work — even if the heart did.
So while others prepare for national anthems and opening ceremonies, Rojas will report to Dodgers spring training instead, focusing on what is expected to be his final MLB season.
He has already acknowledged that 2026 will likely be his last year on the field, with a transition into a front-office role afterward.
That context makes this moment sting more.
This wasn’t about chasing glory. It was about finishing a story properly.
Rojas has never been a superstar. His value has always lived in leadership, defense, and steadiness — the kind of player national teams rely on when games tighten and emotions rise.
That he won’t get to offer that presence to Venezuela again feels like something quietly taken, not lost.
And he isn’t alone.
Across MLB, a growing list of veteran stars are facing the same reality. José Altuve. Carlos Correa. Clayton Kershaw before them. The World Baseball Classic celebrates national pride, but its structure increasingly sidelines the very veterans who helped build that pride.
No one is accusing teams of wrongdoing. The system is doing exactly what it was designed to do: protect assets. But protection comes with a cost — and sometimes that cost is personal.
For Rojas, the goodbye arrived without ceremony. No final inning. No last anthem. Just a post, a flag, and a sentence that landed harder than most headlines.
Age didn’t erase his ability.
It simply closed the window.
And as the WBC approaches, his absence will be felt not in statistics, but in something harder to measure — the quiet weight of a dream that didn’t get its final moment.
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