Logistics problems confront players
Management is dealing with news issues, too
BRADENTON, Fla. — About a month ago, Pirates players arrived at spring training buoyed by the excitement of a new regime.
Now, many of them are leaving to be closer to their families amid the COVID-19 outbreak, unsure of when the 2020 regular season might start, as well as how or where they are going to prepare for it.
Speaking on a conference call Friday afternoon, pitcher Jameson Taillon — the Pirates Major League Baseball Players Association representative — discussed several issues confronting the club, as everyone around the sport tries to figure out the best course of action.
Most basic and immediate is where to go. Shortly after Taillon finished talking, news broke that players would have three options — stay in spring training and receive the normal living allowance; go to Pittsburgh; or go home, with players who don’t live in the United States warned they might have trouble getting back depending on what happens with COVID-19.
Taillon said he planned to choose the first option, but it had more to do with his Tommy John rehabilitation than anything else.
“For me personally, the best treatment will be here,” Taillon said. “My elbow doesn’t really know there’s a virus going around. I still have to look out for that while also looking out for my safety.”
But the Pirates pitcher also understands the totality of the situation. Several of his teammates have pregnant wives, and they wouldd rather be home than here, participating in highly optional — and limited — workouts. Others don’t have housing in Florida past the end of the month and have leases beginning in Pittsburgh.
“At that point, I think it’s probably best for guys to be able to go home until we figure out more as far as where we’re going to be and what our timeline and schedule is looking like,” Taillon said.
Speaking of that, the move Major League Baseball made Friday should tell us something: There’s absolutely no way the season is going to begin on or around April 9-10, which would be roughly two weeks after it was supposed to start.
The seriousness of COVID-19, especially around the world is one thing, but so, too, is preparing for an MLB season. The 12 or 13 spring training games teams had left won’t happen. Now, it might be more of a show-and-go approach, with the rest of the ramp-up likely done as quickly as possible to get the season started.
That was one of the issues the Pirates discussed, Taillon said, in addition to myriad others such as where to go, what to do, whether there’s a need for testing and/or installing some sort of treatment plan and also how players will be compensated during the break.
“If we’re going to shut this thing down,” Taillon said, “we’re going to need ample time to build it back up again and do it the right way, looking out for guys’ health on the field after all of this. I’m not sure exactly what a season would look like, but, at this point, obviously we’re going to be pretty far behind schedule.”
Leave that for another time, though. They can lop off however many games to get this thing done right, and everybody simply will have to adjust. There are more pressing issues here.
The biggest, Taillon agreed, was health. So far, no Pirates players have required testing, Taillon said, and nobody has had to stay away from the field out of fear that they potentially had COVID-19. Taillon was also thankful that nobody was injured Thursday during the game, which was played as news about baseball’s break broke.
“We avoided something there,” he said. Pirates president Travis Williams, general manager Ben Cherington, manager Derek Shelton and director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk conducted a meeting Friday with Pirates players, Taillon said, where they fielded questions about all sorts of things, including what could and should happen if anyone started to feel sick.
Another issue discussed was where and how an abbreviated spring training would take place, which Taillon said he suspected would probably happen in Florida just because of the amount of fields and mounds off which to work.
Yet another issue here is how players are paid. For the wealthier ones, that isn’t as big of a deal, but not everybody is in that boat.
For those needing assistance, Taillon said the MLBPA has “some money in the reserve,” while players also were concerned about minor leaguers and workers at both ballparks — in Florida and Pittsburgh.
“Obviously, people are concerned about paychecks and money, that’s just the reality of it,” Taillon said. “I think a lot of guys are thinking about the workers and minor leaguers who are affected by this. It’s a conversation that’s being had, but I don’t think people are quite as concerned about [money] right now.”
Taillon said Pirates players kicked around Cavaliers forward Kevin Love’s move to donate $100,000 to arena workers affected by the NBA’s shutdown and what such a move might entail.
“That’s another conversation that’s being had,” Taillon said. “There’s nothing quite set in place right now just because there’s so much uncertainty with everyone and where they’re going and where they’re sleeping [Friday]. That’s definitely something that we were talking about, and guys are definitely thinking of all those workers. We understand that this game affects much more than just us.”
Bottom line, this is an unprecedented situation, one with few guidelines. The Pirates, the same as other pro sports teams, are doing the best they can while trying to be sensitive to players’ needs and the severity of COVID-19 on the whole.
“First and foremost everyone wants to stay safe and stay healthy,” Taillon said. “We can figure out all of the baseball stuff later.”
Ticket information
The Pirates announced plans to compensate ticket buyers in the wake of the news Thursday that MLB would basically cancel spring training and delay the regular season at least two weeks in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The plans involve spring training games only. The Pirates have not yet released information on games at PNC Park.
Season-ticket holders have the option of getting their money back or credit toward 2021, while single-game tickets will net a refund to the original purchaser. Tickets bought on the secondary market cannot be refunded. Although the Pirates have begun reaching out to season-ticket holders, anyone with questions should contact their representative.
Group tickets will be refunded in the name of the purchasers; the Pirates say they’ve already started reaching out to those folks, as well. It’s the same for singlegame tickets, as refunds in most cases will be processed automatically.
If you bought tickets with cash at LECOM Park, you need to mail them back by May 1, including your actual tickets, name, address and a daytime phone number.
That address info should look like this: LECOM Park Ticket Office
Attn: Spring Training
1611 9th Street West Bradenton, Fla. 34205.