Francisco Lindor supports World Baseball Classic despite Edwin Diaz injury

New York Mets star Francisco Lindor is all-in on the World Baseball Classic and disagrees with the stance that Major League Baseball players should avoid the event because of the risk of injury.

Lindor addressed a wide range of WBC-related topics with reporters Monday night — five days after teammate Edwin Diaz suffered a season-ending knee injury while celebrating a victory by Puerto Rico.

The injuries to Diaz and Houston Astros star Jose Altuve have reignited the debate over MLB players participating in the WBC. Although he said Diaz's injury «broke my heart,» Lindor told reporters he «100 percent» plans to play for Puerto Rico again in the next WBC and said «it's a blessing and an honor and a privilege» to represent his country.

«We all care for each other and no one wants to get hurt,» Lindor said. «But we all love our countries and want to represent our countries.… We have an opportunity to represent our countries and learn from our peers. It's amazing.»

Lindor said he is «super proud to be a New York Met» but also «super proud to be a Puerto Rican,» and emphasized that MLB players' «participation [in the WBC] should still be there» in future years. The four-time All-Star shortstop declined to answer whether he would rather win a World Series or a WBC title.

«I'm not going to answer that question,» he said. «It's just not fair. It's not a fair question because I want to win two, three, four World Series and two, three, four WBCs. I've lost both and it is not a good feeling.»

With Lindor and his Puerto Rico teammates looking on, Diaz was carried off the field in tears Wednesday night with what was diagnosed as a torn patellar tendon. After closing out Puerto Rico's victory over the Dominican Republic, the All-Star