Forget Pete Rose. Dodgers reliever Ronald Belisario needs his own reality show.
Belisario signed Wednesday in the Puerto Rican Winter League, less than a month after being suspended by his team in the Venezuelan Winter League. Belisario was banned after getting into an argument with the Bravos de Margarita general manager, Alfredo Villasmil reported for the Venezuelan publication Últimas Noticias.
According to Villasmil, a suspension would have prohibited Belisario from playing for any team in the four Caribbean Leagues — based in Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Domincan Republic and Mexico — and jeopardized his eligibility to pitch in the World Baseball Classic. However, because los Bravos didn’t report the suspension to the League by mistake, Belisario was eligible to pitch for another team. It was essentially an in-house suspension.
Villasmil relays that Belisario now plans on pitching in the WBC. Belisario is expected to close for the Venezuelan team, which plays its first exhibition game in West Palm Beach, Florida, in March.
It’s another crazy chapter in a career that’s seen the 30-year-old right-hander report late to spring training twice, then miss the entire 2011 season after being denied a visa because of a positive cocaine test.