It’ll be home for all spring training 2.0
The process might be rushed, and it might be a little chaotic. But at least the view would rock.
Oh, and sadly, there would be no fans, although one source made a solid suggestion: streaming the whole thing online.
With Major League Baseball hoping to solve its economic equation soon, the Pirates are making tentative plans to hold spring training 2.0 at PNC Park — again, if there’s a 2020 season.
Speaking Wednesday on a Zoom call with local reporters, general manager Ben Cherington said there were a number of factors that played a part in deciding to hold things here rather than at LECOM Park or Pirate City in Bradenton, Fla.
“We felt like Pittsburgh made the most sense, assuming we get to that point,” Cherington said. “[It was] a combination of wanting to minimize the amount that we are
moving groups of people from one place to another, wanting to maximize our proximity and connection to health experts and medical providers and also being sensitive also to players’ lives.
“We’ve got players that have housing set up in Pittsburgh who normally wouldn’t have housing set up in Bradenton this time of year. And we just believed that we’ll be able to use the facility in creative and different ways than we normally would during the season. We can use both clubhouses. We can use concourse areas. We can use the full infrastructure.”
Cherington did say that he thought the Pirates — and likely all teams — would require an additional facilities, perhaps if they’re trying to work around rain or they need a multitude of mounds. That would be fairly easily to figure out, Cherington said.
The same as spring training 1.0, the biggest challenge will fall on the shoulders of bench coach Don Kelly, who was responsible for devising the schedule. It’ll be the same thing this time around, too. Only now Kelly gets to worry about social-distancing guidelines and 70 or so pages of collectively bargained health and safety guidelines … in a facility that has never played host to something like this before.
“I think Pittsburgh is the best scenario for us,” manager Derek Shelton said on his weekly 93.7 The Fan appearance. “Donnie, to his credit, has been working really hard with the staff and already has a tentative schedule in place of how we’re going to do it.
“I think the guidelines that MLB sets out are going be what we have to work about in terms of how many people we can have at the facility at a time, how we’re going to do our workouts.
“To Donnie’s credit, he did a hell of a job in regular spring training, and he’s already well ahead of it now in terms of how we’re going to do it and using the full facility, full clubhouses, full cages. They’re trying to get creative with how we use rooms down below in the concourse, so I feel very good with where we’re at.”
In his previous availability, Cherington talked about feeling optimistic that a season would resume, although Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association have encountered myriad issues of late. That seemingly hasn’t changed. The GM still feels like there will be baseball for two reasons.
One, the protocols. Cherington feels like both sides have figured out what should be the hardest part of this entire thing. He also believes both sides are motivated, although they seemingly have a strange way of showing it.
“I believe that the league, teams and players all are motivated to get to a season,” he said. “And, when groups are motivated, it gives us a chance to find a solution.”