CARACAS, Venezuela -- Leading Venezuela players are threatening to boycott next year's World Baseball Classic unless team officials listen to their opinions.
U.S.-based stars Magglio Ordonez, Miguel Cabrera and Johan Santana were among several top players who believe local officials are ignoring them regarding the Classic. They and others also are unhappy over the reappointment of Luis Sojo as manager.
"We haven't been consulted regarding the important issues," Cabrera told the Associated Press on Monday. "We only want Venezuela to go to the Classic with the best coaches and players, but it's necessary that we work together."
The dispute has drawn resignations from some of Venezuela's organizing officials.
One official, Eduardo Alvarez, resigned last week citing "differences with other members."
Some other representatives of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League resigned from the organizing committee on Sunday, saying in a statement that their resignations were aimed at "bringing together Venezuela's best team for the World Baseball Classic."
The baseball-mad nation was eliminated in the second round of the inaugural Classic in 2006.
Sojo, who managed the Class A Tampa Yankees this year, could not be reached for comment regarding the dispute, but admitted when he was reappointed national manager in August that there were a lot of issues from three years ago.
Those included tickets for players' family members, team meals, and Sojo's decision-making in games.
"There were a lot of mistakes, a lot of things happened and we've got to fix it," he said in August.
The World Classic will be hosted by the United States, Japan, Mexico, Canada and Puerto Rico in March.
