Francona says Indians should change contentious nickname
Cleveland manager Terry Francona won’t sidestep the hot-button topic any longer. He believes the Indians need to change their contentious nickname.
“I think it’s time to move forward,” Francona said Sunday.
Francona’s comments came two days after the Indians, amid a nationwide movement to erase racially insensitive symbols, released a statement saying the organization is “committed to engaging our community and appropriate stakeholders to determine the best path forward with regard to our team name.”
During a Zoom call following a morning workout for his team at Progressive Field, Francona said he will no longer sidestep the subject of Cleveland’s name or mascot. The team removed the highly debated Chief Wahoo logo from its game jerseys and caps last year, and now will consider changing a nickname that has been in place since 1915.
“I’ve been thinking about it and been thinking about it before we put out that statement,” he said. “I know in the past, when I’ve been asked about, whether it’s our name or the Chief Wahoo, I think I would usually answer and say I know that we’re never trying to be disrespectful. And I still feel that way. But I don’t think that’s a good enough answer today. I think it’s time to move forward. It’s a very difficult subject. It’s also delicate.”
‘King Felix’ won’t play this year
Former Cy Young Award winner Felix Hernandez has joined the list of major leaguers opting out of the 2020 season due to the coronavirus pandemic, at least temporarily ending the 34-year-old’s bid to revive his career.
Hernandez, a six-time All-Star in 15 seasons with Seattle who won the 2010 AL Cy Young Award, needed a fresh start following his worst season. King Felix signed a one-year minor league deal with the defending NL East champion Atlanta Braves and made a strong early impression in spring training before the pandemic delayed the season.
Stars Christian Yelich of Milwaukee and Jose Altuve of Houston said they plan to play the 60-game season scheduled to start later this month.
Doolittle speaks out
Reliever Sean Doolittle, the former Virginia Cavalier who helped Washington win the World Series last year, plans to play but says that if he feels uncomfortable, he’ll opt out. He also wondered if the
United States has done enough to combat the pandemic to deserve a return to sports.
Minutes after Nationals manager Dave Martinez said two players out of 60 tested were positive for the virus, Doolittle lamented not having his test results back from Friday and implored baseball to “clean this up.”
The 33-year-old said the Nationals still haven’t received the respirator masks they were told were coming.
“It’s a little bit disorganized,” Doolittle said. “We’re not getting tests back in time. They still haven’t sent us the PPE. We’re supposed to have N95 masks, stuff like that, gowns, gloves. We’re supposed to have that stuff, we don’t have that stuff. Those are the things it’s going to take for people to stay safe enough for us to continue this season.”
Doolittle said he’s still debating whether to play.
“There’s a lot of players right now trying to make decisions that might be participating in camp that aren’t 100% comfortable with where things are at right now,” Doolittle said.
Doolittle implored fans to take care of themselves and attempt to stop the spread of COVID-19 to make sure baseball and other sports can resume.
“Sports are like the reward of a functional society, and we’re just like trying to bring it back even though we’ve taken none of the steps to flatten the curve or whatever you want to say,” he said. “We did flatten the curve for a little bit, but we didn’t use that time to do anything productive.”
Elsewhere
In Oakland, two projected members of the Athletics’ starting rotation, ace Mike Fiers and Jesus Luzardo, were not on the field for a second straight day of the reboot of spring training because of what manager Bob Melvin called a “pending” issue without elaborating, aside from saying it’s not injury-related.
Fiers, the whistleblower of the Houston Astros’ sign-stealing scandal, pitched his second career no-hitter last season. He and Luzardo were workout partners in Florida during the offseason and quarantine period.
Pittsburgh manager Derek Shelton said outfielder Socrates Brito and pitcher Blake Cederlind tested positive for the coronavirus and allowed their names to be released. Shelton indicated there are other players on the club who have tested positive but have not granted the team permission to announce the diagnosis.
The Chicago White Sox said two players tested positive and are asymptomatic. They are isolated in Chicago.