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SAN DIEGO – Hideki Kuriyama, Japan’s national team manager, couldn’t call whether Cubs outfielder Seiya Suzuki would decide to play for his country in the World Baseball Classic.
“I want him, and he wants to play for the team,” Kuriyama said through an interpreter on Tuesday at the winter meetings, “but there’s multiple factors and layers with that, talking with the club and talking about his health and preparing in the offseason.”
Suzuki didn’t have a normal spring training leading up to his first MLB season, and playing in the WBC would make for another unique leadup to the regular season.