Perspective as Mets plan out next steps
thought processes to determine what their immediate plans will be.” If those plans include traveling from South Florida to their respective homes, the Mets will guide the players through their options.
“Our focus and our encouragement is first and foremost about player and family wellbeing and we are encouraging people to talk to their families and make sure that they’re focusing on their health and safety above and beyond the competition or baseball activities,” Van Wagenen said.
The Mets are in the process of working through schedules to ensure the players have the resources required to remain in Port St. Lucie, or in New York if they decide to travel. Van Wagenen said the team will be working very closely with the players who have chosen to return home — in conjunction with the health and performance staff — which indicates players will be provided with proper medical care should they need it.
The club dodged what could have been a serious problem when Donovan Mitchell Sr., the Mets’ director of player relations and community engagement, tested negative for COVID-19 a day after his son, Utah Jazz star Donovan Mitchell Jr., tested positive for the virus. Mitchell Sr. frequents the Mets clubhouse on a daily basis during spring training and the regular season.
No other Mets employee or player has been tested for COVID-19, Van Wagenen said. The Mets will “continue to monitor” and work with health, performance and medical professionals — as well as state and local authorities — to ensure the people remaining on site are as safe as possible.
“We all were very pleased and happy for Donovan and his family that his test came back negative,” Van Wagenen said. “And I know there was a sigh of relief to a degree from our players and staff here.”
On Thursday MLB decided to delay the start of the regular season by at least two weeks “due to the national emergency created by the coronavirus pandemic,” as stated in the league’s press release. Although, as new intelligence on the spread and containment of the virus develops, that two-week mark seems increasingly premature.
When Van Wagenen was asked whether he is operating under the assumption that Opening Day will take place around April 8-9, the Mets GM indicated he is not yet planning that far ahead.
“Given the pace at which information is coming in and circumstances are changing, we really are only focused on this afternoon, today’s schedule, the number of people that will be in camp with us tomorrow and then mapping out their day tomorrow — rather than focused on the start of the season or dates or anything of that matter,” Van Wagenen said.
Van Wagenen said he plans to remain in Port St. Lucie for the time being and will “move forward based on all the information that comes in.”
The Mets were scheduled to open the regular season on March 26 against the Nationals at Citi Field.
“This is bigger than Opening Day,” Van Wagenen said. “We want to make sure that [player’s] families and friends and their own individual health is the paramount concern at this point.”