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Yankees outfielder Harrison Bader drops out of Team Israel’s World Baseball Classic roster, citing injuries
(JTA) — New York Yankees outfielder Harrison Bader, whose father is Jewish, shared this week that he will no longer play for Team Israel in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, citing a desire to remain healthy after an injury-plagued 2022 season. The 2023 Major League Baseball season begins only days after the WBC concludes in March.
But Bader did not rule out the possibility of playing for Israel in the future.
“When it comes back around and the opportunity’s extended, I would absolutely consider it much more, and we’ll kind of go from there,” he said on the New York Post’s baseball podcast.
Bader’s Yankee teammate Scott Effross, a reliever who posted a stellar 2.54 earned-run average in 2022, had also planned to play for Team Israel. But he had to undergo Tommy John surgery this fall, which will likely keep him off the field for at least a year.
Thanks to a recruiting effort by former All-Star second baseman Ian Kinsler, who is now Team Israel’s manager after previously playing for it during the 2020 Olympics, the squad remains loaded with major league talent.
According to publicly released information and the Jewish Telegraphic Agency’s reporting, here are some of Team Israel’s key current roster pieces:
Pitchers: Dean Kremer (Baltimore Orioles), Jake Bird (Colorado Rockies), Eli Morgan (Cleveland Guardians), Zack Weiss (Los Angeles Angels), Richard Bleier (Miami Marlins), Jake Fishman (Marlins organization), Robert Stock (plays in Korea), Bubby Rossman (free agent)
Infielder: Ty Kelly (free agent)
Catcher: Ryan Lavarnway (free agent)
Outfielders: Joc Pederson (San Francisco Giants), Kevin Pillar (free agent)
All told, the Israeli team could feature up to a dozen major league players. One contributing factor is that Israel’s group in the WBC will play in Miami, close to many MLB team’s spring training facilities.
“Team Israel has shown well,” Kinsler told JTA in October. “Being in Miami makes [players’] decisions easier. All of those things led to more opportunities for more players. I think we get more accomplished players.”
Another element is Israel’s continued success on the international stage. The team reached seventh place at the 2017 WBC and was one of just six teams to qualify for the 2020 Olympics.
With the tournament still months away, the recruitment continues.
Houston Astros star Jewish third baseman Alex Bregman, who played for the U.S. team in 2017, does not plan to play in the tournament. Atlanta Braves ace pitcher Max Fried has thus far been noncommittal, according to Team Israel’s general manager Peter Kurz. Catcher Garrett Stubbs, a backup on the Philadelphia Phillies, is considering joining the team. Milwaukee Brewers slugging first baseman Rowdy Tellez, who has a Mexican father and Jewish mother, has committed to play for Mexico.
Kinsler said his biggest recruit so far — Pederson, who has become a star in recent years by helping multiple teams earn World Series victories — is helping with the effort.
“Joc’s making phone calls and sending texts and is doing his best,” Kinsler said. “He wants to play on a competitive team.”
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The post Yankees outfielder Harrison Bader drops out of Team Israel’s World Baseball Classic roster, citing injuries appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Iran’s Guards Will View Military Vessels Approaching Strait as Ceasefire Breach
FILE PHOTO: A map showing the Strait of Hormuz is seen in this illustration taken March 23, 2026. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Sunday that any military vessels attempting to approach the Strait of Hormuz will be considered a violation of the two-week US ceasefire and be dealt with harshly and decisively.
The strait is under the control and “smart management” of Iran’s Navy, the Guards said in a statement reported by Iranian state media, adding it is “open for the safe passage of non-military vessels in accordance with specific regulations.”
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Iran Rejected US Demand to Stop Funding Proxies, and Halt Uranium Enrichment During Talks
FILE PHOTO: The atomic symbol and the Iranian flag are seen in this illustration, July 21, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
i24 News – Iran has rejected core US demands in recent negotiations, including an end to uranium enrichment, the dismantling of major nuclear facilities, and a halt to support for regional terrorist groups, according to a senior US official speaking to Reuters.
The official also said that Tehran refused to end backing for Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, as well as calls to fully open the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, underscoring deep divisions that continue to stall diplomacy.
The failed talks come as assessments from officials and experts suggest that Iran’s nuclear program has remained largely resilient despite five weeks of intense US and Israeli strikes.
According to reporting from The Wall Street Journal, that while the campaign did cause significant damage to research facilities and parts of Iran’s enrichment infrastructure, the strikes appear to have stopped short of eliminating Iran’s most sensitive capabilities.
Iran likely retains operational centrifuges and access to a heavily fortified underground enrichment site, preserving the technical foundation of its program.
A critical concern for Western officials is Iran’s continued possession of an estimated 1,000 pounds of near-weapons-grade uranium. The International Atomic Energy Agency has reported that roughly half of this stockpile is stored in reinforced containers within tunnels beneath the Isfahan nuclear complex.
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Trump Vows to Blockade Strait of Hormuz After Iran Peace Talks Fail to Yield Agreement
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif meets with Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, as delegations from the United States and Iran are expected to hold peace talks, in Islamabad, Pakistan, April 11, 2026. Office of the Iranian Parliament Speaker/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
President Donald Trump said on Sunday the US Navy would start blockading the Strait of Hormuz, raising the stakes after marathon talks with Iran failed to reach a deal to end the war, jeopardizing a fragile two-week ceasefire.
Trump also said in a post on Truth Social that the US would take action against every vessel in international waters that had paid a toll to Iran, and begin destroying mines that he said the Iranians had dropped in the strait, a choke point for about 20% of global energy supplies that Iran has blocked.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards responded with a statement warning that military vessels approaching the strait will be considered a ceasefire breach and dealt with harshly and decisively, underlining the risk of a dangerous escalation.
“Effective immediately, the United States Navy, the Finest in the World, will begin the process of BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump said in his Truth Social post.
“I have also instructed our Navy to seek and interdict every vessel in International Waters that has paid a toll to Iran. No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas,” Trump added.
“Any Iranian who fires at us, or at peaceful vessels, will be BLOWN TO HELL!” he added.
Six weeks of fighting has killed thousands, roiled the global economy and sent oil prices soaring as Iran prevented traffic through the strait.
MORE NEGOTIATIONS?
In an interview with Fox News after his post about the strait, Trump said that he believed Iran would continue to negotiate and called the weekend discussions “very friendly.”
“I do believe they’re going to come to the table on this, because nobody can be so stupid as to say, ‘We want nuclear weapons,’ and they have no cards,” Trump told Fox News from his golf course near Miami, Florida.
Trump also said that NATO allies, whom he has criticized for failing to back the war he launched along with Israel on February 28, wanted to help with the operation in the strait.
There was no immediate comment from Washington’s allies.
The weekend talks in Islamabad, which followed the announcement of a ceasefire last Tuesday, were the first direct US-Iranian meeting in more than a decade and the highest-level discussions since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
“The bad news is that we have not reached an agreement, and I think that’s bad news for Iran much more than it’s bad news for the United States of America,” said Vice President JD Vance, who headed the US delegation.
A US official said Iran had rejected Washington’s call for an end to all uranium enrichment, the dismantling of all major enrichment facilities and the transfer of highly enriched uranium. The two sides also failed to reach agreement on the US demand that Iran cease funding for Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis as well as fully open the strait, the official added.
Iran’s Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, who led his country’s delegation along with Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, blamed the US for not winning Tehran’s trust, despite his team offering “forward-looking initiatives.”
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, who discussed the talks in a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Tehran wanted “a balanced and fair agreement.”
“If the United States returns to the framework of international law, reaching an agreement is not far off,” he told Putin, Iranian state media reported.
ISRAEL CONTINUES BOMBING LEBANON
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said “excessive” US demands had hindered reaching a deal. Other Iranian media said there was agreement on a number of issues, but the strait and Iran’s nuclear program were the main sticking points.
Despite the stalemate, three supertankers fully laden with oil passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, shipping data showed, in what appeared to be the first vessels to exit the Gulf since the ceasefire deal.
Israel has continued bombing Tehran-backed Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon, insisting – along with Washington – that that conflict was not part of the Iran-US ceasefire. Iran says the fighting in Lebanon must stop.
The Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah rocket launchers overnight into Sunday and black smoke could be seen rising in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital Beirut.
And in Israeli villages near the border, air raid sirens sounded, warning of incoming rocket fire from Lebanon.