We started the day with teams hunkered down in their spring facilities, awaiting word on what to do next with Cactus and Grapefruit League contests cancelled. MLB and MLBPA discussions resulted in an agreement that allowed players to head home and recommended they do so in many cases. MLB has just announced that Spring Training has officially been suspended.
Thus far, however, teams have taken differing approaches — driven at least in part, it must be noted, by player preferences. In all cases, players can now elect to join their families at their homes. Should they elect to stay, they’ll receive standard per diems.
While all players are being allowed to make their own choices, the disparate approaches don’t seem optimal. We’ll have to see whether this prompts a brighter-line approach at the league-union level.
Then again, teams and players are in a gray area in terms of preparing for the season. It’s clear that Opening Day will be pushed back at least two weeks, but far from obvious when it’ll occur.
We’ll use this post to track the developments on this topic.
Staying as a full group:
- Tigers players voted to remain in Florida for now, and general manager Al Avila will also be on hand, MLB.com’s Jason Beck writes. The players will be taking part in informal workouts with the medical staff and minor league coaches on hand.
- Brandon Belt and Evan Longoria believe the entire Giants team will return to the field when the club’s spring facility re-opens on Monday, the two players tell Henry Schulman and John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle.
- Just about all of the Rangers‘ players plan to stay in camp through week and then proceed to Dallas, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News writes. Workouts will then continue either at the Rangers’ new ballpark or at the team’s youth academy, provided no further developments have taken place.
- The Yankees players have unanimously voted to remain and keep training, per player rep Zack Britton (via George A. King III of the New York Post, on Twitter). GM Brian Cashman says he will remain as well, along with the coaching and training staff, Jack Curry of YES Network tweets.
- All of the Padres‘ MLB roster is staying in the area for now, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports on Twitter.
Mostly or largely dispersing:
- Most of the Twins are leaving camp, with The Athletic’s Dan Hayes (Twitter link) writing that around 20 players from both the Major League and minor league camps will stay.
- The Cardinals, meanwhile, have decided to close camp for the most part, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports (Twitter links). Ten to fifteen St. Louis players will remain on hand for the time being.
- It seems that’s more or less the approach of the Braves. MLB.com’s Mark Bowman tweets that multiple players have left the facility, some of whom hope to be able to train together in the Atlanta area.
- The Reds are also seeing the majority of players off, Bobby Nightengale Jr. of the Cincinnati Enquirer was among those to report on Twitter.
Wait-and-see stance:
- A “high majority” of Mets players are expected to remain in camp, a source tells Newsday’s Tim Healey reports.
- The Diamondbacks face “a little bit of a unique situation” in that their Spring Training site is close to their home city, GM Mike Hazen told reporters (including The Athletic’s Zach Buchanan and MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert). Since so many players live in the area, Hazen believes most of the team will continue to work out at the spring facility.
- The Rays‘ Florida camp is also relatively close to home, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times writes, though it isn’t yet clear how many players are planning to remain. Tropicana Field will be opened for informal workouts on March 23, however.
- The Nationals will meet as a team tomorrow, Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post reports on Twitter, with many planning to stick around.
- Most Cubs players will remain in Arizona, at least until their leases run out at the end of the month, MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian tweets.
- The Angels are still thinking through their options, Maria Torres of the Los Angeles Times reports on Twitter.
- Likewise, the Marlins are staying close by and waiting to make decisions, Craig Mish of SportsGrid tweets.
- All but three of the players in Mariners camp — 40-man members plus non-roster invitees — will stay on hand, Corey Brock of The Athletic was among those to report via Twitter.
Yankees just want to get more injuries
lol! Btw, this site really needs the like, haha, sad and angry emoji options.
No
What it really needs is uncensored messages
No.
DOm: Yankees and Mariners players would be mad to go back to the two regions reported to have the highest amount of ppl tested positive w the virus – NY and Seattle. Let’s see, 70* and sunny or 38* with sleet and wind? Hmm?
Not all of they players live where the team is located.
Yeah sure. Players always fly across the States every morning just to go on camp. lmao
How about the clubhouse staff, groundskeepers etc… Do they get a choice?
Good question!
Yes but if they leave no $$$
Not if the players vote to stay. It sounds lovely they voted to stay, but unless they aren’t venturing out in public during off time, it could be incredibly stupid.
I was just reading about the massive short term and long term job losses for hundreds of thousands of workers in the airlines industry. The stadium staff could be going in the same direction
Padres going to keep it going
I like it
The Padres will be playing mlb2020
Hope they use clorox wipes on the controllers afterwards
The disparate approach is not optimal, but none of this is. Having the players all go home puts them at some risk during travel, but once home they can self isolate and use social distancing to reduce the chance they get sick with COVID-19 or reduce the risk if they do get it. Keeping them all in camp eliminates the risk associated with travel, but now we have 100’s of players (if you include the minor leaguers) in relatively close contact and the illness could spread pretty quickly among a team if any of the players eventually contracts the illness.
So what is the best option? That may not be the easiest question to answer, so giving options to the players and teams is a fairly reasonable thing to do.
With certain municipalities having numerous outbreaks, why wouldn’t they stay where they’re at, especially in Arizona?
I’m just thinking out loud but it might be best to force them all to go home. What happens if one of these guys gets sick in camp and half the roster catches it?
Then half the roster would have mild symptoms for a few days and then would go back to work. We’re talking about a group of elite athletes in prime health in their 20s-30s… many wouldn’t have symptoms at all.
I might be talking worse case scenario but I believe you’re underestimating this a bit. People in prime condition can still get really sick.
Highly unlikely. This is not as serious as media is over hyping it to be. In the us 1600 ppl have been diagnosed and 40 have died and 31 are in washington. And ppl that r dying are babies, old ppl and ppl with weakened immune systems. For the average healthy adult it’s like a serious case of the flu and these guys are in their prime and healthier than average. Dont drink the koolaid
But the average healthy adult could be a carrier and pass it along to the more at risk population. Being in “their prime” has zero to do with it. So yes, it IS serious.
Pay attention to the real people working on this and not buy into the “media is overhyping it”
@Ricky Adams
Your facts are a little off there. The US is currently up to just under 2,500 cases and increasing pretty rapidly (it was at around 1,900 cases last night). I’m sure some of this is due to more testing since many people will have mild symptoms, but still test positive.
So far there have been no deaths related to babies as you state and the highest risk part of the population is older (50+) with pre-existing medical conditions. Keep in mind, just because these players are low risk, it doesn’t mean the people they interact with are. Social distancing isn’t just to protect yourself, but to protect the people who may be vulnerable around you.
arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda759474…
@Ricky Adams
Glad you dropped in from the CDC. Always good to have someone pretending to be an expert spreading disinformation.
What about Latin players, who account for 40% of the league. Not like they can fly home right now. Would be very difficult. Where do they go?
Makes sense that the Mariners stay down there with Washington shutting down everything. No school till late April. Craziness.
No it’s not.
Liquor stores rejoice!!
If the team says you can go if you want to but we can stay if you want to, I would stay just because I want the job.
I know that the team probably would not hold it against me if I left though considering the circumstances.
I m a Cubs fan. I would at least send home Rizzo and Bryant and the other core members of the team. let the guys that are fighting for the spots on the roster stay and Duke it out with each other.
It is not for the Cubs to decide who is “sent home” and who stays. Players have sole discretion.
Furthermore no one is “duking it out”. Spring training is suspended. No games. No competition. No “duking it out”.
That’s the problem with this whole situation. The media is over hyping it, and ppl read something and take it how they want to.
Ricky Adams
And you know this because you’re an expert? No, because you’re pretending to be one. Thanks for spreading disinformation.
Yankees hit the stores and have the toilet paper covered.
It’s only the 14th of the month and I’m on SS, and there’s no more money in the account.
BUT I”VE GOT 35 CASES OF T-P!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I”M RICH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You could probably trade three roles for a house right now
My wife wants to follow the government’s “social distancing” guidelines. She’s moving in with the guy next door.
Should I be suspicious?
IMO it’s an easy choice to stay at camp. Large, state of the art facilities, very few people on site. Stay in shape and away from dense urban areas with outbreaks.
Everyone is forgetting the TRUE comparison for the decisions of these ballplayers:
If the leave, they go to their offseason home.
If they stay, they aren’t bunked in a shared quansett hut or something – they live in the local apartment they chose to rent near ST, or in some few cases, the team provided accommodations with one roommate.
There isn’t this hyper dense living situation at ST. Likewise, they don’t have “close contact” with hundreds of people a day unless they want to.
No matter how much ‘self isolation’ you try to have, there will be less contact in FL or AZ than there would be in NYC or LA.
Let the guys decide what they feel is best for them, and leave it at that. Having said that, I believe any cancellation is kinda ridiculous because you could just ban live spectators. Players are distant enough on the field to present no real danger, and, dugout could be dispersed partly into the seats all the security go in and out the little doors onto the field from during the game.
One advantage from shut down, team like the Indians with two starting pitchers and starting centerfielder injured, time for them to get healthy.
Of all the subjective “facts” floating around, I think two things are safe to conclude:
1) The “two week MLB shutdown” will be much longer. That is, simply put, because there is no defined end point as to “when is long enough, long enough?”, as far as shutting down the MLB ( and actually, most of the country).
The H1N1 (Swine) flu lasted approximately from April 2009 through June 2010. If the risk is significant enough to shut down the country, when will it be safe to “un-close” the country, and restart the MLB season? Not in two weeks, certainly. A month? Laughable. 2-3 months? Now you’re getting warmer. Since “safety” is a relative term, there can be no “safe” point at which to restart the season.
2) This is a significant, history altering event in the 2020 MLB season. However this turns out, it is very likely that the team or teams which handle this event best, will reap great advantages during the season.
For example, if teams decide to stay in AZ and continue to work out, maybe even do some unofficial scrimages (e.g. easy for teams like the Padres and Mariners which share a stadium), and the season restarts soon, with only a week or two of “Spring Training 2”, those teams may win big during the first 30 days of the season. On the other hand, if the season restarts in July, and other teams who have sent their guys home have well rested, physically ready players, while teams that hung on out in AZ for weeks to months are basically burned out on training, the teams which acted early in furloughing the team may win big. (I’m using extreme examples for illustration, of course. No team is going to hang out in AZ indefinitely for months.)
I think that the MLB/MLBPA made a poorly thought out, very bad decision, which could be catastrophic to the league. Something like this can kill off a sport (e..g the NHL had something like this a while ago, can’t recall the details). That said, they had little choice. With jurisdictions across the USA acting to preempt a Federal response (i.e. virtue signaling during an election year), if the MLB had attempted to move forward, they would have been legally entangled with local authorities’ prohibition on large group meetings. (Plus, legions of lawyers would be waiting to sue if anyone got sick in relation to a MLB events, players, fans, stadium staff, etc..)
In my gut, I think the 2020 MLB season is toast. Maybe they can work in a short season program, 60, 75 games? The teams won’t even get through a full circuit of competition within their own divisions and leagues.
Optimistically, maybe MLB starts Spring Training II, a 30 day period starting May 1st, with no hard season restart date, and hope for a season restart anywhere between June 1st and the July 4th weekend. Pitchers and catchers start on the 1st, and regular players on the 15th, giving each just enough time to be ready by June 1st (but the season won’t restart by that date, anyways).
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Good post. I think they’re trying to have a season and am looking at 1995 as a likely indicator of ramp up time if the season does start in May.
But the later it starts, the less preseason time teams will get.
It isn’t “virtue signaling”. Stop repeating what Fox News tells you.
The media isn’t correct on the amount of cases, this could be because of what the gov is reporting. There’s about 4x as many cases as what the media is reporting.
Well, there are multiple problems with the case reporting thus far.
1) It’s international. The Chinese, Iranians, and Italians may not have the same reporting standards. (In other words, some are lying.)
2) US testing has thus far been ineffectual. South Korea has been testing 30,000 a day, and the US hasn’t gotten over 10K total. However, even then, not everyone who gets the Wuhan flu will get tested. 90% experience minor cold symptoms, i.e. a “normal” flu taking them out of action a day or two. We will only know the percentages (i.e. infected to hospitalized to fatalities from reported, tested cases, but like the body of an iceberg, most cases will remain unreported no matter how intensively the USA ramps up it’s testing. Those % figures will never be entirely accurate,
3) 60% of the cases reported were in China, and about 20 to 30 of the US deaths, happened witinin one city, in one US state. Plus, (Plus, that nursing facility where those patients died was a palliative care facility, i.e. they experienced 20 deaths a month with no virus epidemic..) China and Italy’s triage policies exclude the elderly for intensive care treatment. Since those populations are at the greatest risk in any case, the 3.4% (China), 6% (Italy), and totally unknown (Iran) fatality statistics are mythological data points.
4) I won’t go through all the statistics again, but thus far, including the rate of infection, the Wuhan flu is much less severe than the H1N1 (Swine) flu pandemic of 2009. Quarantines are prudent and effective, but shutting down entire countries including their economies and supply chains, is a suspect reaction, probably an overreaction, to the threat posed by CoViD-19.
There may indeed be 4x, or 10x as many cases as reported, but for all of the above reasons, we just don’t know, and like in the case of the H1N1 flu, we probably won’t know for certain until 3-4 years from now. We’re shutting the country down due to the risk Wuhan flu poses, which is substantial, but not unique. For how long? When will it be “safe” to restart the economy, to play baseball, and who will make that determination. The H1N1 flu lasted about 15 months. Six months from now, the Wuhan flu, even with a summer lull, will still be massively infecting people. Do we shut down the country for a year and a half, until the medical community gives us the definitive “all clear”?
People aren’t applying common sense to this crisis.
I agree with you. MOS? Thanks for serving with us!!!
CDR/05, and my OBDC is “top secret” 😉
It was an honor and privilege to serve, and I still owe my country more than she owes me.
You might look at Italy and see reasons why the concern is there. All we are trying to do is slow the cases down…at the rate they are going world wide and the USA if we do not slow it down we do not have the equipment or resources to handle it. The experts also don’t see this virus being effected by the warmer weather.
Not saying that this isn’t a significant crisis, nor that it’s unncessary to flatten the contagion curve, but that the response is disproportionate to the threat, compared to similar threats in the past (e.g. H1N1).
As the Surgeon General of the US also stated today (or yesterday), now is not the time for fault finding or recriminations. However, that said, there are usually reasons why biohazards go berserk in some places, and are slower spreading, and more benign in others..
Here’s an article about Italy. Not saying it’s definitive, but before you start using Italy, China, or Iran to draw conclusions about the CoViD-19 SARS virus, we ought to qualify the differences..
rairfoundation.com/exposed-italys-deadly-recipe-fo…
Yeah Yankees! That’s what I’m talking about. And, who knows, maybe they will discover Coronavirus prevents injuries?
Love that it’s unanimous though; teamwork at its finest.
angels players are waiting for the test result of charles barkley who had visited the clubhouse a couple of weeks ago.
I’d leave if my spring training site was in a boring town. The virus wouldn’t cause me to leave, but more what’s there to do when I’m not playing games or training. A lot of hours in a day. Braves for example, play in North Port FLA in the boondocks.
They’re basically there to work. Just like a lot of people who work a long day, eat dinner and maybe read a book, surf the net or watch TV for a few hours before bed. But it centers on work, not entertainment.
I wonder if their families are joining them. In this crazy time I would want to be with my family and helping with scared children.
If only Yairo Munoz waited a week, his departure to the Dominican would have been okay
Naturally, the Yankees (who I believe were the first team to decide to stay) have baseball’s first corona case in their organization.
“The Yankees players have unanimously voted to remain and keep training, per player rep Zack Britton (via George A. King III of the New York Post, on Twitter). GM Brian Cashman says he will remain as well, along with the coaching and training staff, Jack Curry of YES Network tweets.”
So, of course, they have the first positive test result in one of their minor leaguers. Honestly, the pounding on the chest has got to stop immediately. Shut up and go home. It’s over.