Players report; training nears
Players report, get tested as training nears; Yanks won’t play in ‘Field of Dreams’ game
Players began reporting to their teams and home ballparks Wednesday in the most significant step yet as Major League Baseball presses ahead with its plan for a 60-game sprint of a season.
Most players underwent a battery of health checks, not only for COVID-19 but also for any other lingering ailments from spring training, ahead of planned workouts beginning Friday and Saturday.
Also Wednesday, Major League Baseball announced the St. Louis Cardinals, rather than the New York Yankees, will play against the Chicago White Sox in the Aug. 13 “Field of Dreams” game in Dyersville, Iowa.
White Sox infielder Yoán Moncada said Wednesday that he’s spent the past couple of months working out in a “controlled and limited environment” in Florida, where he could continue to get at-bats while protecting himself from the coronavirus.
“We were doing workouts by time, you know?” the slugger said of his sessions in Florida. “You have to reserve a time. I wasn’t interacting with a lot of people there. The last couple of weeks, I started lifting a little bit. I was hitting with limitations that we had during this situation. But I feel good. I’m ready to go.”
Much like other clubs, the White Sox intend to split their 60-man roster into two groups for “spring” training — one working out in the morning and the other in the afternoon. All players will have their temperatures checked multiple times each day, observe increased social distancing and get accustomed to stringent safeguards that MLB has put into place for the season.
“That’s going to be different to see and feel as a team,” Moncada said. “We’ll have to wait and see Friday how it goes.”
The Yankees won’t hold their first full-team workout until Saturday, even though manager Aaron Boone said players began intake testing Wednesday. That’s when he plans to address the team for the first time — also in waves.
“We’ll have to get creative with how we communicate,” said Boone, who plans to make the same speech three or four times.
Faced with the prospect of playing 60 games in 66 days, time-consuming safety protocols, the responsibility to remain diligent health-wise off the field and the general anxiety of working amid a pandemic, Boone believes focus and toughness can be as important to a team this season as baserunning or bullpen management.
“How do you deal with that mentally and emotionally?” Boone asked. “How you’re able to separate that out when you take the field each and every night? There’s an advantage to be had there.”
After gauging workloads for pitchers during the shutdown, Boone expects his starters will be ready to face live hitters on the first day of summer camp. He plans to stay flexible on usage and may consider using a six-man rotation or openers, but nothing has been determined yet as all teams adjust to a new norm.
“An injury can wipe out a season in a hurry,” Boone said, adding that he’s likely to be cautious with players early after New York placed a major league record 30 players on the injured list a total of 39 times last season.
For the “Field of Dreams” game, a temporary 8,000seat stadium is nearing completion in Dyersville, about 200 miles west of Chicago, adjacent to where the 1989 movie “Field of Dreams” was filmed on a diamond cut out of a cornfield.
The movie starred Kevin Costner, Amy Madigan, James Earl Jones, Burt Lancaster and Ray Liotta, and it focused in part on the 1919 “Black Sox” scandal. Liotta played “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, one of eight White Sox players accused of throwing that year’s World Series against the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for money.
The Aug. 13 game is to be the first Major League contest played in Iowa and will be televised by Fox. It remains unclear whether fans will be allowed.
in Baltimore on Wednesday, Orioles general manager Mike Elias said there had been no positive tests for COVID-19 among players and staff who were examined, but he acknowledged that “it’s going to be an ongoing process.”
Elias has thus far named only 44 players of the 60 available to participate in the preseason workout. He will decide later which prospects will fill out the preseason roster in advance of a projected season opener July 23 or July 24.
And despite rising numbers of COVID-19 across the country, and a few players opting out, most players and executives have been bullish on the season taking place. They believe in protocols hammered out during lengthy negotiations between MLB and its players’ association and are eager to provide fans with some much-needed diversion.
“We’ve got to make sure we understand best practices in social distancing, make sure we know we are keeping ourselves not only apart from one another but also behaving in a way that’s consistent to what’s going to keep us all healthy,” Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen said. “Provided we can all work together to comply with these protocols and respect — as I said earlier — respect each other and respect the rules, I’m optimistic that we can make this happen.”