Major League Baseball's decision to suspend spring training and delay the start of the regular season by at least two weeks is, obviously, unprecedented and brings with it plenty of uncertainty.
Since no one -- least of all commissioner Rob Manfred, owners or the Players Associations -- knows how long the coronavirus pandemic will last and what its impact will be, trying to project the next few weeks (or months) is futile.
Nonetheless, Red Sox CEO and president Sam Kennedy, chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom and GM Brian O'Halloran conducted a conference call Friday to attempt to address various issues.
Some highlights:
- The Red Sox have instructed their employees at Fenway Park to work from home for the time being while preparing a three-day-long deep-clean of the ballpark. They're also working toward having Lee County --which owns their spring training complex -- to conduct a similar cleanse of jetBlue Park. The team has also ceased airplane travel for scouts -- both those who assess professional and amateur players -- and urged them to also work from home and rely on video and other methods for evaluation.
- The organization is working toward a plan aimed at addressing payment to part-time and hourly workers at Fenway, but does not yet have one in place. "While we don't have details worked out, we're going to do what we can to support all of our employees during this difficult time,'' said Kennedy. Meanwhile, Kennedy deferred questions about major league players being paid once March 26 arrives, saying that's an issue to be resolved between MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Association. (Players are not paid during spring training, beyond a per diem).
- Players -- both major leaguers and minor leaguers -- will be allowed to return home if they so choose. Players will also be allowed to stay at their teams' spring training complexes and work out at the facilities, while having access to training and medical staffs.
- Kennedy said the Red Sox do not currently have any players or employees who have tested positive for the virus, but added: "But we're also realistic. There feels like a sense of inevitability that we would (at some point) have a positive test from either someone who has been at Fenway Park or a member of our front office family, but so far we've not had any positive tests. But we are taking proactive medical precautions.''
- According to Kennedy, the expectation -- for now -- is that MLB intends to fulfill a 162-game schedule, with the first two weeks (currently postponed) made up at the end of the current schedule, taking the regular season into mid-October, and by extension, the World Series into mid-November. "Obviously, that's subject to change as the situation develops ... but we have not canceled any of those (early-season) games; we're looking at a re-scheduling.''
- With players officially idled for the next month -- the final two weeks of spring training and the first two weeks of the regular season schedule -- it seems inevitable that teams will have to hold what is, in essence, a second spring training to prepare for the resumption of the season. "We wouldn't necessarily be starting from scratch,'' noted Bloom. "But there would still definitely be a need for a build up if we're going to do this safely. ... The short answer is we don't know. We don't know exactly what the circumstances will be when we get a chance. It's hard to know. We're all trying to figure this out as we go.''
- The most difficult part will be monitoring pitchers during the shutdown. Said Bloom: "This is one of the tougher questions that I think every club is going to have to answer because a lot of the preparation for the season is usually working backward from a known and defined start date and we don't have that right now. And even having the tentative date of two weeks into the season, with the uncertainty surrounding that, you don't want to hit a full gallop too soon and then have to hold that if the season doesn't start then. It's been something we've had a lot of conversation about. (Pitching coach) Dave Bush and our other staff have been communicating with players on this. ... It will be different case-by-case. Certainly for starters and multi-inning pitchers, it's a little different from short relievers in terms of the time that is required. We're basically just trying to strike that balance between not letting pitchers getting de-conditioned and making sure we're maintaining some kind of workload.''
- The team's approach with Chris Sale, who was sidelined almost two weeks ago with a strained flexor muscle in his left arm, will not be altered by the shutdown. "Strictly from a medical perspective,'' said Bloom, "nothing really changes with that. We knew that he wasn't going to be pitching in games for a while and we also there's uncertainty regarding his pitching status generally and we're still going to want to resolve that. We're still going to want to progress. We haven't gotten to that point. But we're still going to work during this time period, without games, to try to get some progress and some definition on his status.''
- According to Bloom, there's been "no formal directive'' from MLB about freezing rosters during the shutdown. But Bloom noted there are some important dates in relation to the CBA -- including the option for teams to release players and pay them only a portion of their contracts -- for "industry business'' this weekend and teams are seeking clarity on those from MLB.