Top concern health, not wealth
The public spat between owners and players over salary compensation has been stealing most of the attention lately, but the much bigger threat to the prospect of an upcoming baseball season can still be found in health and safety.
The league and players association can argue about finances all they want. The number of zeroes at the end of a paycheque will do little to stop another outbreak or prevent the cancellation of more games. If the proper system is not in place to stop the coronavirus, everything else about these current negotiations becomes irrelevant.
Almost everyone involved in talks about the sport’s return already knows this. That’s why, even as Tampa Bay Rays lefty Blake Snell had outspoken remarks about wanting to get paid what he was owed, there has been very little discussion between owners and players about financials. To date, the bulk of negotiations have centred around health guidelines and fundamental changes to the sport.
Salaries will get brought up soon, likely early next week, but before there is any talk about money everyone must be convinced it’s even possible to play. The owners made their first attempt on Saturday, per a report from The Athletic, by submitting a 67-page proposal for health and safety regulations. The document is an attempt to ease player concerns and it details everything from testing to travel, on-field operations and another spring training.
Most of the suggestions have already been previously reported and resemble what leagues in South Korea and Taiwan have been doing for the last several weeks. High fives and spitting would be banned. Lineup cards would no longer be exchanged before games, new baseballs would be used every time a ball is put in play and non-playing personnel would be required to wear masks.
On the travel side, players would be discouraged from taking taxis or Ubers and teams would fly into smaller airports wherever possible. Team members would not be placed into quarantine, but they would need to ask for special permission to leave their hotels and only members of their family would be allowed to visit. Other measures, seemingly less realistic, call for lockers to separated by at least six feet and hands to be washed between innings.
The most important section of the proposal is testing. Players, umpires and staff members who come into proximity with the players would be required to undergo regular tests. Similar arrangements reportedly would be made for family members. Asymptomatic individuals would have their temperatures checked at least twice a day and those with a fever would be subject to selfisolation.
“Nothing is risk-free in this undertaking,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred told CNN earlier this week. “We’re trying to mitigate that risk with the repeated point-of-care testing to make sure that people who have had contact have not been exposed, and by obviously removing those individuals that have a positive test, they will be quarantined until they have two negative tests over a 24-hour period.”
MLB can take every precaution possible and it still might not be enough to stop the virus. Over the last couple of days, several players within the Blue Jays organization reached out to The Star with their concerns. None of the players involved were threatening to sit out the upcoming year but they made vague allusions to some who might.
The examples used were players with babies on the way and those who have family members with pre-existing conditions. Another suggested the biggest names in the sport, ones with fewer financial concerns than most, would be less inclined to sign up for a modified quarantine. Players who are set to hit free agency at the end of the year might decide they are better taking the season off entirely. Many in the union are hesitant to speak out, not wanting to be labelled a complainer by the public.
How these cases should be handled presents another problem for the league and union. Professional athletes are not essential workers, nobody can force them to show up if they don’t think it’s the right decision for their family. Still, difficult questions must be asked. If Mookie Betts decides it’s not safe to play, does he still get paid? Does he still become a free agent at the end of the season or would he owe the Los Angeles Dodgers another year?
Nationals lefty Sean Doolittle outlined some of the health concerns earlier this week on social media. The veteran closer pointed to studies that showed early signs of permanent lung damage as a result of the disease, a drop in male hormone ratios and the dangers of asymptomatic people acting as carriers.
Doolittle wasn’t trying to scare people, he was trying to show that the negotiations between the league and players are about more than money.
“There are a number of players and staff who have preexisting conditions that they are aware of (and likely more who aren’t yet),” Doolittle wrote on Twitter. “We need a plan that seriously considers the increased health concerns of any players, staff or workers who are at higher risk.
“And if even mild cases can cause long-term health effects, will there be added health-care benefits for players, staff and workers that will extend beyond their employment and into retirement to mitigate the unknown risks of putting on a baseball season during a pandemic?”
It’s easy to get turned off when millionaire players and billionaire owners complain about money during the middle of a crisis, but a lot of baseball’s issues are the same problems people are faced with all over the world. As the economy reopens and people return to work, they need to feel secure. Baseball players aren’t any different, even if their paycheques are.