Reliever Matt Strahm likely to miss start of season.
They know what lies ahead after adapting to health protocols
Padres coaches and members of the player personnel department gathered last week for a precamp meeting.
Some sat socially distanced in a room at the Peoria Sports Complex, others joined via video from apartments or hotel rooms, as they had not yet cleared the intake process required for them to be allowed on site.
“It's pretty easy to get Zoomed out,” manager Jayce Tingler said.
He is looking forward to increased face-to-face connection with his staff and players, even as he knows the restrictions of the past year are still in effect as Major League Baseball begins its sequel to the 2020 COVID season.
A year ago, as spring training began, it didn't take long to see a shift in one facet of management style by the men who would mentor the Padres.
Tingler was in the clubhouse for hours at a time, coffee cup in one hand as he sat with groups of players, mostly just talking and telling stories. Same with new first base coach Wayne Kirby. New infield coach Bobby Dickerson, it seemed, made a stop by Manny Machado's locker at least once a morning.
And then came the midMarch suspension of spring training and a 3½-month shutdown. A large group of Padres players and some coaches, including Dickerson, convened in San Diego for much of that time, though they were limited in how much time they could spend together. When summer camp began in early July, there were a new set of health and safety protocols that severely restricted the
ability of players and coaches to gather in the manner they were accustomed (and which was central to this staff's philosophy).
Rather than a locker room inside the greater clubhouse, the coaches' locker room was in the Lexus Club behind home plate. Four coaches, due to age and/or underlying conditions, had their “locker” in private suites even farther away.
Regulations regarding how long they should be in the clubhouse made communicating with players more difficult than in the past. The separation also complicated connections within the staff.
“It was very challenging because it was a new staff,” associate manager Skip
Schumaker said.
A holdover from Andy Green's staff, the 41-year-old Schumaker was one of the coaches who spent a lot of time in the clubhouse in previous seasons. He would sit on the couch and go over opposing pitchers, sit in front of lockers talking and even participate in the almost nonstop games of H-O-RS-E played on a mini-hoop.
“The small talk, the connections — not only about what are we doing tonight to beat this pitcher — it was more the get to know the player on the personal level,” Schumaker said of what was largely taken away in 2020. “When you build those relationships is when you can actually teach, when they know it's coming from a good place and it's not strictly professional. … You have to
build those relationships first before you can punch a guy in the mouth.”
Said Dickerson: “That was really a hard part last year. It's like if you think about an elementary teacher or a high school teacher, it's relationships. It's understanding each person, how they tick. Being apart, your message gets lost sometimes, when you can't get on a human level with someone. … I wasn't around the (clubhouse) very much at all. I would only get on-the-field time with guys, where I in my past, just sitting in the (clubhouse) you get a lot of coaching done.”
Connecting wasn't impossible. The Padres clearly found a way to get better in 2020, achieving the majors' third-best record and going to the playoffs for the first
time in 14 years.
“The credit to the staff was they adapted and were really flexible in a season that was obviously challenging,” General Manager A.J. Preller said. “It's a very talented staff that complements Jayce very well.”
The connections simply had to be more intentional. There were outdoor meetings, texts and phone calls, sharing of video remotely or having players to a coach's suite one at a time. The road became a place where bonding was even more prevalent than normal seasons, because players and staff members could not leave the hotel. While they were not allowed to be in another person's room, they could meet in common areas off limits to other hotel guests and they mostly all ate in the same large room.
“You just use any time you have,” pitching coach Larry Rothschild said. “I was in a suite upstairs, so I could safely have guys up where we could keep the distance, wear masks, have video set up there. I tried to use that as one-on-one time and come down to the (clubhouse) when it was the right time. Less time in the (clubhouse) than I've ever had. So you take any time you can get and take advantage of it. The availability was a little different than it has been in the past. But that was workable.”
Good thing, because they are about to go from having to survive 60 games under those restrictions to navigating the beginning — and likely the bulk — of a 162game season with the same protocols.
“We're not sure what we're going to be able to do this year, how close we can be together and such,” Dickerson said. “But we made the most of it and we're about adapting.”
Essentially since his first season ended, Tingler hoped for his second season to feature more seamless connections between staff members and between the staff and players.
“I'd like to do a better job of overall communication, finding pockets to get together more,” he said in October.
Tingler knows that at during least spring training and into the first couple months of the season, the same challenges are in place.
“Now that we've been through it, we can be aware of some of those things, and it gives us an opportunity to overcommunicate now on the front end,” he said. “Any time you go through something, you learn a ton. Year two, you have a chance to be better at it. … It's exciting being able to build on those things going forward.”
If guidelines that rule professional and college sports can be implemented, high school sports in San Diego will begin immediately, a judge said Wednesday.
The return-to-play order was a reaffirmation of a ruling made Friday by San Diego Superior Court North Judge Earl Maas.
“We have no intention of not following the order,” said San Diego CIF Commissioner Joe Heinz said. “Our biggest challenge, our biggest hurdle is getting over the COVID-19 testing policy.”
Maas’ granting of the order was tied to an argument of attorney Stephen Grebing that high school football could resume following the safety guidelines of professional and college sports.
Heinz said the CIF is working on a plan and is getting guidance out to the schools, and teams will be back on the field as soon as the schools and/or school districts develop their own plan.
That plan would include face coverings, COVID-19 screening and testing, cleaning and disinfecting of facilities as well as social distancing.
Grebing, the attorney representing football players Nicholas Gardinera (Scripps Ranch) and Cameron Woolsey (Mission Hills), asked Maas to hold Heinz and Assistant Commissioner Todd Cassen in contempt of court for violating the order and not allowing the start of football practice until this Friday.
Maas denied the contempt-of-court request against Heinz and Cassen, but ruled the CIF must abide by his order.
The CIF would follow collegiate guidelines that read in part:
• The institution of higher education adopts, and its teams follow, an institution-specific “return to play” safety plan.
• Regular periodic COVID-19 testing of athletes and support staff is established and implemented.
“Under the guidelines we have to have a plan specific to each school,” Heinz said. “That’s where the big disconnect is.”
The California Department
of Public Health also has return-to-play guidelines.
So can football practice start immediately or Friday as planned?
“I don’t want anything to slow us down, but I’m not sure,” Heinz said.
Judge Maas did rule that the state’s color tier system for sports is obsolete because his ruling makes teams eligible to play now.
“There are basically two things to following the order,” said Grebing. “First is all sports are open if they follow the protocols.
“Second, there is a testing component, but that’s 48 hours before competition.
“The judge made it crystal clear this was about practice starting. The focus is on football, but it’s really about all sports.”
In court, Darin Wessel, an attorney representing the CIF, said “the court’s order had unintended consequences. If San Diego wants to resume competition, it must follow professional and collegiate guidelines.”
Ronald Scholar, another attorney for the CIF said “testing has to be put in place, and they are struggling with how to do that. You have the high schools’ assurance they will follow the court order.”
The CIF already has started boys and girls cross country as well as boys and girls golf.
Boys and girls swimming and diving are set to start this week, followed by coed tennis and field hockey.
Boys and girls track and field is already practicing, but competition is weeks away.
Season 2 outdoor sports — baseball, softball, boys and girls soccer, as well as boys and girls lacrosse — can start practice March 13.
Boys and girls water polo will be allowed to start practice April 17.
Indoor close-contact sports — boys and girls basketball, boys and girls volleyball, wrestling and badminton — are still up in the air.
If football practice starts this week, a six-game season can start with games March 12.
“Our biggest challenge, our biggest hurdle is getting over the COVID-19 testing policy.”
Joe Heinz
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San Diego CIF commissioner