Personal safety is top priority for the Brewers
PHOENIX – As with everyone running a major-league baseball operation these days, David Stearns has been overseeing an ever-changing landscape in recent days after the spread of coronavirus prompted spring camps to shut down.
“Operationally, this is something we've never experienced before,” said the Milwaukee Brewers president of baseball operations, answering questions from reporters Sunday for the first time since major-league baseball was shuttered along with virtually every other sport.
“There are a whole host of concerns that we're working through. First on that list of concerns is making sure all of our employees are safe. That includes our players, our coaches, our medical staff, our front-office staff, our parttime workers, our temporary workers. We have 300 employees and we have to make sure we're providing all of them a safe environment in which to work. That's been the top-level concern.
“Beyond that, we have major-league baseball players and minor-league baseball players that at some point are going to begin a season. We have to work through how to make sure that whenever that occurs, they are appropriately prepared.”
There is no way to know when the regular season might start but even the most optimistic of guesses are beginning to point toward Memorial Day. After a minor-leaguer in the New York
Yankees' camp tested positive for COVID-19, teams and players were instructed to forgo any organized workouts at spring facilities, falling more in line with the “social distancing” recommendations of the CDC.
“As you know, players were given three choices,” Stearns said. “They could stay in Arizona with access to our complex, they could go to Milwaukee and have access to our facility there, or they could go home. Players are still going through the decision process. Based on the numbers that I have, ultimately, we'll have a third of our major-league players here in Arizona, about a third in Milwaukee and then a third going home.
“I'm in Arizona right now. I'll get back to Milwaukee as soon as I can. But, for now, we've got to make sure the operation here is working. The major-league coaches are or will be going to their home cities. That's true of all of our coaches major-league and minorleague.
"We have coaches who live here locally in Arizona, including Steve Karsay, Pat Murphy, Jacob Cruz and Jason Lane, in addition to numerous minor-league coaches. So, players here will have access to coaching if they so choose.
“(Manager) Craig (Counsell) lives in Milwaukee; Eddie Sedar (who lives in Illinois) is going to Milwaukee; Marcus Hanel lives in Milwaukee (area). So, for players who choose to work out in Milwaukee, we'll have coaches there as well. As a best practice, (most) coaches are going to be in their home cities.”
For many of the players who chose to remain in Phoenix, it was an easy choice because that's where they live in the offseason. Those players can both live at home and work out at American Family Fields of Phoenix, if they so choose.
Of the latest directive against organized workouts, Stearns said, “What they're trying to get away from is teams having organized, full workouts. ‘Go out to the complex at 9 a.m. and go out for team stretch.' Major-league players still have access to our facility. But we don't necessarily have the same organized workouts.
“We will be staffed to some extent, in a skeleton nature here in Phoenix, but to assure player safety we will have some staff. So, players can come and work out but there will not be the formal, organized spring-training workout that everyone is used to.”
Minor-league players, who aren't members of the players association unless on the 40-man roster, also are being sent home, according to Stearns.
“I think the vast majority wanted to go home,” he said. “We do have a very small subset of minor-league players who are staying here. Those are players with unique cases from countries that perhaps it's not safe to go back to right now. Players who may have instances where this is the safest place to be. In those cases, those players will remain here and we're looking at what the next couple of weeks will look like for them.”
Neither major-league players nor minor-leaguers are paid until their seasons begin, which already has led to discussions between MLB and the union over how that will be addressed during this hiatus.
“That's something that everyone is working through right now,” Stearns said. “The commissioner's office, and the commissioner personally, is in meetings with the players association throughout this weekend. They are working through what this means, from those standpoints. We haven't seen this before, so this is new. I think everyone is doing their best to try to find solutions.”
As for how minor-leaguers not part of the union will be handled, Stearns said, “We're having a wide variety of conversations on those topics. On employees, including minor-league players, who traditionally have not been paid until games get going. That includes parttime employees, hourly employees, minor-league players. We've got a host of them.
“Those are conversations that are going to be ongoing. We understand this is a crisis that is affecting large segments of our community, both inside and outside of our organization. We're going to do everything we can to be sensitive to that.”
Stearns said the Brewers are following PDC protocols that require a person to show symptoms or have contact with those who tested positive to be administered a COVID-19 test. He said, at this point, the team is “comfortable” that no one in Milwaukee's camp has tested positive.
Furthermore, Stearns said steps are being taken to assure safe work environments for everyone in the organization.
“This coming week, both here at our facility (in Phoenix) and at Miller Park, we'll be going through a rigorous deepclean for the entire facilities,” he said. “It will cause certain portions of our facilities in both places to be closed at times as we go through that process. Throughout the spring, we have been testing surfaces in our complex for various levels of bacteria. This is actually a practice we implemented a couple years ago. We've obviously ramped it up in the recent weeks here.
“Our levels have actually gone down because of the precautions we've taken. So, we've done everything possible to keep our facilities clean and operational. We also are very aware that epidemiologists and the best public health officials we have are strongly advising against mass congregations of people. So, the decisions to have people have the option to go their own way was probably a wise one.”
With developments occurring on a mind-boggling pace over the past week, Stearns said communication throughout the sport has been vital in assuring everyone is up to speed with best practices in what quickly became a world pandemic.
“Things are moving really fast and have been, really, since the night the NBA postponed its season,” Stearns said. “That's clearly the night that everything picked up rapidly. Since then, we've had multiple conference calls per day. The commissioner's office holds calls with the principal owner of each club at least once a day, from what I can gather.
“And they'll hold calls with the head of baseball operations with each club at least once a day. It's turned into multiple times a day for the last couple of days. They are doing their best to keep us updated but this is new for them as well. I think everyone is learning more each day and everyone is doing their best to put in the best operational protocols as possible.”
It has been anything but business as usual but Stearns said the multitude of issues that have arisen are being addressed as quickly and efficiently as possible in this changing world.
“Step 1 is making sure our staff is safe and comfortable,” he said. “Step 2 is we'll continue to work. There will certainly be things we can do to continue to prepare. So much of our landscape has changed over the last week.
“That extends beyond the majorleague team. That extends to when the minor-league seasons will start. It extends to amateur talent acquisition. Those seasons have been disrupted. So, our operation will look different and we're still evaluating what that is. But I anticipate we'll still be able to be productive in the intervening time.”
Asked if he had an educated guess as to when Spring Training Part II might take place, much less the start of the regular season, Stearns said there was no way to know at this time.
“I wish I could give you an estimate (as to when the season might begin),” he said. “I really don't have one. Everyone will get back here as soon as it's practical and safe to do so. It's March 15. Everyone was looking forward to opening day. That's going to continue until we get to an opening day.
“So, as soon as the environment indicates it's safe to do so, we'll get back to playing baseball.”
As for the likelihood of playing a full 162-game schedule, Stearns said, “It all depends on when the season ultimately begins and the feasibility of adding games to the back end of the season. I think it's safe to assume the longer it takes to start a season, the tougher it is to play a full complement of games.
“Until we have some indication of when a start day will occur, it's really tough to comment on that.”