Coronavirus strikes family of announcer Miller
San Francisco Giants broadcaster Jon Miller and his wife, Janine, were tested for COVID-19 and are awaiting results, Miller said on KNBR on Wednesday.
Miller’s son and his fiancée were diagnosed with the new coronavirus after returning home from a trip to Europe.
“You feel bad for them, because they’re just so sick,” Miller said. “It’s a horrible thing. It’s painful, relentless. It just never goes away, it seems like. They’ve been working with it for 10, 12 days now. They said it’s getting a little bit better and what not. That’s all we can do is what they’ve asked us to do, which is stay away from other people and try to discontinue the spread of it.”
Jon and Janine picked up the couple at the Phoenix airport upon their return from Europe and drove them to their home in Tucson. Three days later, his son and fiancée started feeling symptoms but didn’t take a test until March 21. They received positive test results on March 23.
Miller and his wife had a flight scheduled out of Phoenix the day following spring training’s cancellation on March 12. Jon and Janine bought a new Toyota Prius and drove it from Phoenix back to the Bay Area.
Jon and Janine took the test following their son and his fiancée’s positive diagnosis. They’re still waiting for results.
“We’ve had no symptoms of anything, I’m happy to say,” Miller said.
PLAYERS WOULD STILL BE FREE AGENTS IF NO GAMES >> Mookie Betts and all the players set to be free agents after the 2020 season would still get that chance if there is no baseball this year as part of a broad deal being negotiated by the commissioner’s officer and the players’ association.
If there’s no season because of the pandemic, the agreement would credit major leaguers with the same service time this year that they earned in 2019, a source said.
Trevor Bauer, Marcus Stroman, George Springer, JT Realmuto also would be eligible for free agency, even if the season is canceled.
Betts, the 2018 AL MVP, was acquired by the Dodgers from Boston last month for outfielder Alex Verdugo and two prospects. In a pair of deals at last July’s trade deadline contemplating they would get a top pitcher for 1 1/3 seasons, Cincinnati obtained Bauer from Cleveland and the Mets received Stroman from Toronto.
Service time affects a player’s status for free agency, salary arbitration and the pension plan. The likely service time agreement was first reported by The Athletic.
Major League Baseball and the union would agree to try to play as many regular-season games as possible, the person said. They also would agree to explore one-time changes to the postseason, which would create the possibility of expanded playoffs this year.
7-INNING DOUBLEHEADERS? IT’S A THOUGHT >> If Major League Baseball needs to squeeze more games into a condensed season without exhausting pitching staffs, perhaps this idea of seven-inning doubleheaders could get tossed into play.
“Maybe that’s something we have to consider,” Toronto Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins said.
Opening Day has been postponed until at least mid-May because of the pandemic. The regular season had been scheduled to begin today.
Minor league teams and college teams typically play seven innings in each game of a doubleheader.
But twinbills are planned in the majors.
MLB, UNION WEIGH OPTIONS >> As Major League Baseball handles the fallout of the pandemic and tries to determine when — or even if — it will begin its season, the league is grappling with a number of key issues that could come to a head over the next few days, sources familiar with the dealings told ESPN.
MLB and the MLBPA have worked toward a potential agreement over the past 10 days, acknowledging the inevitability of a shortened season that both parties hope would begin by early June and would guarantee players a prorated salary that would depend on the number of games played, sources said. rarely