Familiar rites become strange for Giants, A’s
MESA, Ariz. — For the A’s and the Giants, spring training 2021 is at once strange and familiar.
Yes, players were told to quarantine for five days before reporting to Arizona, screened with diagnostic and antibody tests upon arrival. Sure, there are fewer players than usual in camps and workout groups. Coaches roam fields in masks. Clubhouses aren’t for hanging out.
A year ago, that might have seemed exceptional. After a shortened 2020 season played under extensive health and safety protocols, and with a full 162game schedule planned for this year amid the ongoing pandemic, it’s more expected.
“I think it feels normal because we’re more used to this lifestyle,” said Giants outfielder Mike Yastrzemski. “Last year we weren’t sure how this would work when we were at
the field, with protocols to follow off the field, and it threw you for a little bit of a spin. Now that everybody knew what to expect coming in, it seems like it’s translating easier.”
When Major League Baseball regrouped last July, months after shutting down in the midst of spring training, there were plenty of unknowns. Initial delays with testing and coronavirus outbreaks among the Marlins and Cardinals led to questions about whether a 60game season could be completed. It was, and health protocols expanded during the season to include maskwearing in more places and limit players’ activities on the road.
New guidelines this spring hit similar notes. Players and staff with access to team facilities are not allowed to dine indoors at restaurants, patronize bars or use fitness centers away from the ballpark. They are barred from indoor gatherings of 10 or more people and are expected to quarantine when not at team facilities or traveling with the team, with a few exceptions. Limits on time spent at team facilities remain — odd for a camp setting that is typically laidback.
“It is weird being here and having some differences, but for the most part it’s … pretty similar to last year,” A’s first baseman Matt Olson said. “Everybody just needs to take care of themselves and do the right things off the field and we’re going to do the right things here.”
Oakland reliever Jake Diekman suggested the different format might have a benefit.
“Normally spring training’s a lot of wasted time,” Diekman said. “I feel like it honestly just streamlines it. When you’re here, you’re ready to work, you don’t have time to dillydally around.”
A’s manager Bob Melvin said that after his team’s 2020 season ended with a playoff loss, “We were like, ‘I’m glad this year is over with — I hope we never have to go through that again.’
“Fact of the matter is we do. But I really do feel like guys are a little bit more used to it and … it doesn’t feel as dramatic, the protocols, as they did last year, at least at this point.”
It’s still far from a normal spring. Just ask Ryan Christenson, the A’s bench coach, who organizes the team’s daily workouts at its Fitch Park facility in Mesa.
Avoiding large groups in enclosed areas, like the clubhouse and weight room, is a priority, so he staggers players’ arrival times and warmup sessions. The facility has four fields, so Christenson can send pitcher and position player groups to different ones. But sometimes they need to sync up for a drill. Groups are smaller, which means there are more to coordinate, since the A’s have about 65 players currently in camp.
“It’s kind of like doing a fivestar sudoku puzzle,” Christenson said.
It should simplify when Cactus League games begin Sunday, sending many A’s players to nearby Hohokam Stadium. That could also provide a dose of normalcy for both Bay Area teams, as the Giants and A’s will open spring home games to a limited number of fans. The Giants have held workouts at Scottsdale Stadium, where they have two clubhouses and manager Gabe Kapler said physical distancing is not an issue.
“With all the different areas we have outside, we actually can spread out really well,” Kapler said. “So I think we’re going to be fine. … We’re going to continue to practice common sense.”
The Giants navigated the 2020 season with no true positive coronavirus tests and one false positive that led to two games being postponed. A 162game season presents a longer test. However, Austin Slater, the Giants’ player union representative, said he believes a full MLB season is feasible this year and: “I think we do have other factors in play” against the virus.
“Some guys have gotten it this offseason, have antibodies; we have vaccines coming out, there has been generally positive reception among guys and staff to potentially get vaccinated,” Slater said. “So I think there are other things in play that will help us get through that.”
Slater said MLB and the players’ union will not make vaccines mandatory: “It’s a casebycase for each player, how they feel about it. … All you can do is provide information and point them in the right direction when they have questions.”
The A’s had one player, pitcher Daniel Mengden, test positive for the virus during last season on a road trip in Texas. The team had to quarantine in hotel rooms in Houston for several days before being cleared to fly back to Oakland. Melvin said that showed: “You can’t let your guard down.”
“That’s going to be a message that never goes away here is that you cannot let your guard down and even if you do all the right things it doesn’t make it a surefire thing that you’re going to stay away from it,” Melvin said last week.
This season, players and close staff will be required to wear Kinexon contact tracing devices — electronic wristbands that logs whom the wearer has come into contact with and for how long — in team facilities and during team travel or activities. The NFL and NBA have also used the device. The Giants and A’s did not have them in the first week but several players said they welcome the idea.
“If it helps them recognize something and get it quicker, then I’ll wear anything they want me to wear,” reliever J.B. Wendelken said.
Diekman, who is atrisk due to a history of ulcerative colitis, said he believes wearing the devices “at the field will definitely help stop spreading.”
“Anything to get us through the next 7½ to 8 months,” Diekman said. “We need a full year. The twomonth season — I mean, it was great, but that’s not a real baseball season.”