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Astros Report COVID Infection; Rangers Close Spring Facility

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As Texas reports a growing barrage of coronavirus infections, its two MLB franchises each were in the news in relation to the virus. Fortunately, in both cases it seems there’s no particular cause for alarm.

Astros GM James Click said today that the team had a player at the team’s spring facility in West Palm Beach, Florida test positive for COVID-19. (Via MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart, on Twitter.) The player is said to be doing just fine at the moment.

Per Click, the team’s procedures helped avoid any spread beyond the lone player. (It was not specified whether he was a major or minor leaguer.) “There were no other positive tests,” Click says.

The Nationals share the recently constructed complex but have not opened it to their players. AP’s Howard Fendrich tweets that the Nats did have one minor-league player in the Dominican Republic test positive. The player was not at the team’s facility there and those that were have tested negative, Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post reports (Twitter link).

As for the Rangers, they’ve decided to halt the activities they had been overseeing in their spring home in Arizona, Tim Brown of Yahoo reports on Twitter. Though there haven’t been any positive tests or presumptive coronavirus cases, the organization decided to hit pause while the league sorts out testing and related protocols.

It seems that approach could be adopted more broadly. Today’s revelations of coronavirus concerns in several camps, in particular that of the Phillies, emphasizes the point that baseball needs to get its house in order if it is to put on any kind of 2020 season.

MLB Will Not Make Counter-Proposal On 2020 Season

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6:36pm: An MLBPA announcement confirms the news. Per the release, the league informed the union that it will not schedule a season of over sixty games.

6:30pm: MLB has informed the MLB Players Association that it will not make a new proposal to the union in an effort to resolve the sides’ disagreement over the financial structure of the 2020 season, per Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich of The Athletic (via Twitter).

Just what that means for the potential resumption of play remains to be seen. One might think that commissioner Rob Manfred will simply declare a season length at full pro rata pay — the option that the league has long held in its back pocket, but which brings with it the potential for an open-ended grievance action.

Last we had heard, the league preferred not to take this step. Whether there may be an alternative means of resolving the matter is not immediately clear. Per the report, the league will consider its options over the weekend, which is perhaps yet another indication that the league believes it is well served by allowing time to trickle away.

This latest development comes on the heels of today’s run of worrisome indications that the coronavirus has already made inroads into MLB facilities even before the league has undertaken a resumption effort in earnest. Those reports reflect truly concerning developments. They also play into the hands of the owners that have evidently decided to take a hard line on the 2020 season.

It seemed just days ago that we were finally headed toward resolution on an attempted restart of the MLB campaign. Now, there’s as much uncertainty as ever — greater, perhaps, given the urgent need to launch a season in the immediate future if one is to take place at all.

Dodgers Sign First-Rounder Bobby Miller

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The Dodgers have agreed to terms with first-round draft choice Bobby Miller, MLB.com’s Jim Callis reports on Twitter. He’s slated to receive a $2.2MM bonus, a bit under the $2,424,600 slot allocation that came with the 29th overall pick.

Miller, a standout righty out of Louisville, drew late first-round grades from several pundits. They generally cited his big frame, loud fastball, and generally promising mix of secondary offerings. Baseball America, for instance, lauds Miller’s “size and explosive stuff” while also acknowledging some concern he could end up in the bullpen over the long haul.

Other observers weren’t convinced, viewing Miller as more of a second-round talent. The concern, as Keith Law of The Athletic put it, is that Miller has “a pretty high-effort delivery” and “hasn’t shown average control at any point in his college career.”

The Dodgers obviously feel they can mold Miller’s physical tools into a compelling package. The Los Angeles organization has now reached agreement with its first and its final selected players, but still has four unsigned draftees to negotiate with.

Giants Close Spring Facility Over COVID Concerns

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The Giants are the latest MLB team to shutter a Spring Training facility due to concerns over the spread of the coronavirus. Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic reports on Twitter that the organization is taking the precaution while awaiting test results.

It’s important to understand that there’s no confirmed infection from a person associated with the team. But “one person who had been in the facility and one family member exhibited mild symptoms,” per president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi.

Hopefully, the tests on those two individuals will come back negative. The team has also recommended testing for anyone else that had been through the facility. Regardless of the outcome, the fact that these steps were required serves to highlight the magnitude of the challenges still facing Major League Baseball.

We heard earlier today about worrisome developments at spring facilities in Florida, a state that has seen a notable uptick in infections. But the virus is tearing through Arizona, the locus of the other half of the league’s primary training sites, at an even faster rate.

MLB Reconsidering “Bubble” Approach To 2020 Season

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As if there weren’t enough moving parts already, Major League Baseball is now re-thinking its fundamental approach to putting on the coronavirus-altered 2020 campaign, Jared Diamond and Ben Cohen of the Wall Street Journal reports.

MLB had previously contemplated naming a host city that would house all of the season’s games. There were various permutations of the concept, some involving multiple cities. At base, the idea was to limit travel and keep players (and other key personnel) from interacting with the broader world.

While the league had moved on from such an approach, it now seems the creation of a “bubble” is back on the table. The worrisome rise in cases in several states has surely had an impact. Today’s news regarding the spread of COVID-19 at some organization’s facilities may well have influenced the thinking as well. Indeed, Diamond says eleven players on 40-man rosters have tested positive for infection over the past two weeks.

It’s rather discouraging to see this possibility back on the table at this juncture. Even as MLB and the MLB Players Association seek to bridge their final disagreements on the economics of the season, the basic logistics of safely holding a campaign seemingly remain in doubt.

Nationals Agree To Terms With Cade Cavalli, Sammy Infante

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The Nationals announced Friday that they’ve officially signed first-round pick Cade Cavalli. The Oklahoma right-hander was the No. 22 overall pick in this year’s truncated draft.

Washington has also agreed to terms with compensation pick Sammy Infante, per Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post (Twitter links). He’ll receive $1MM, Jim Callis of MLB.com tweets, which is slightly more than his No. 71 overall slot value of $884,200.

The Athletic’s Keith Law was the most bullish on Cavalli among most prominent pre-draft rankings, listing him as this year’s No. 13 prospect. Cavalli landed 17th at FanGraphs and 22nd (matching his actual draft position) at both Baseball America and MLB.com. ESPN placed him 24th.

A clear consensus first-rounder, the 6’4″, 225-pound righty was a two-way player for part of his college career but will focus on mound work as a pro. Law writes that Cavalli has been up to 97 mph with the fastball and has pair of power breaking pitches to complement that heater — ultimately tabbing him as a potential No. 2 starter should things go well for the 21-year-old.

Infante, a shortstop out of Florida’s Monsignor Edward Pace High School, had been committed to the University of Miami but will forgo college to begin his pro career. He didn’t rate among the top 100 prospects on any draft boards, but did feature among the next hundred names on several. ESPN.com was most bullish, ranking him 122nd. Baseball America opines that Infante stands out for his “nice collection of above-average tools.”

Blue Jays Shut Down Spring Facility

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The Blue Jays have shut down their Spring Training facility in Dunedin, Fla. after a player displayed symptoms of COVID-19, Jeff Passan of ESPN.com reports (Twitter thread). There’s no positive test yet, but Passan notes that the player in question is on Toronto’s 40-man roster and had recently spent time with players in the Phillies’ system. The Jays’ Dunedin complex is just six miles from the Phillies’ spring facility in Clearwater, where eight people — five players and three staffers — have tested positive for the coronavirus over the past three days. Another 32 tests of Phillies players and personnel are still pending results.

Scott Mitchell of TSN tweets that about 20 players have been working out at the Jays’ spring facility, including about 10 players who are on the 40-man roster. Passan adds, however, that multiple players have yet to even be tested at all — despite GM Ross Atkins telling him the team has been “overly precautious with testing.” Should reopening the Dunedin facilities untenable, that’d create problems for the Jays even if a 2020 season can come together. As Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith points out, Dunedin has been a fallback option in the event that government regulations prevent the Jays from hosting games at Toronto’s Rogers Centre.

The Blue Jays’ Dunedin closure adds to a growing list of concerns as professional sports teams have sought to begin play after months of shutdowns. Beyond the positive tests in Clearwater and the symptoms in Dunedin, it’s also important to note that the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning have shut down their facilities after three players and a pair of staff members tested positive for COVID-19. The NFL’s 49ers also had a player test positive in Nashville, Tenn. earlier today, per NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo. A member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ coaching staff has also tested positive.

Taken together, it’s all a sobering reminder that the largest roadblock to return to regular-season play in any sport is not (and has not been) finances or length of season but the ongoing pandemic. Even if the players in question make full recoveries — which obviously is not a given — they still have families to consider, more at-risk members of the coaching and training staffs surrounding them, umpires, team personnel, etc. Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer reported this morning that positive infections have already spread to multiple members of the infected members of the Phillies organization. Similar instances of spreading are likely to occur — particularly with positive cases on the rise not only in Florida but also in Arizona, Texas and California, among other states.

Twins Agree To Terms With Sign Second- And Fourth-Round Picks

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The Twins have agreed to terms with second-round pick Alerick Soularie and fourth-round pick Marco Raya, reports Darren Wolfson of SKOR North and 5 Eyewitness News (Twitter link). They’re also expected to finish up a deal with first-rounder Aaron Sabato before long. He’ll be in town for a physical next week, per Wolfson.

Soularie, 20, had a huge freshman season with San Jacinto College in Texas before transferring to the University of Tennessee and posting similarly impressive sophomore numbers. In his two seasons with the Tennessee program (2019 and this year’s shortened 2020 campaign), the outfielder batted a combined .336/.448/.586 with 16 homers, 14 doubles, a triple and 10 steals in 311 plate appearances. The Cards initially drafted Soularie after his 2018 showing with San Jacinto, but not until the 29th round, so his decision not to sign at that point will pay substantial dividends. Soularie’s No. 59 slot comes with a $1.19MM slot value.

MLB.com’s Jim Callis tweets that Soularie’s bonus will check in at $900K, which falls a bit shy of his No. 59 overall slot’s $1.185MM value. Pre-draft rankings on Soularie ranged from 105th overall at MLB.com to 175th at Baseball America and 193rd at FanGraphs. He’s touted for his hit tool and what is currently an all-fields, line-drive approach. MLB.com’s report on him suggests that he could eventually tap into 20-homer power, though, and Eric Longenhagen at FanGraphs noted that Soularie has “some similarities to Khris Davis.”

Raya, meanwhile, was a Texas Tech commit who ranked 238th on Longenhagen’s list and 291st at BA. Both reports on him note that he has an above-average slider and a heater that reaches the mid-90s, with praising his ability to spin not only a slider but also a potentially above-average curveball. Raya is just 6’0″ and 160 pounds, so some scouts surely questioned his size.

Five Phillies Players, Three Staff Members Test Positive For Coronavirus

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12:03pm: Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the outbreak has spread to multiple family members of the five players and three staffers.

11:35am: The Phillies issued the following statement:

In response to published reports and the questions that those reports have raised, the Phillies are confirming that 5 players and 3 staff members working at the club’s Clearwater facility have tested positive for Covid-19.  The first confirmed case occurred this past Tuesday, June 16.  In addition, 8 staff members have tested negative for the virus, while 12 staff members and 20 players (both major league and minor league players) living in the Clearwater area are in the process of being tested and are awaiting the results of those tests. … In terms of the implications of this outbreak on the Phillies’ 2020 season, the club declines comment, believing that it is too early to know.

Owner John Middleton added in a personal statement that the team is “committed to the health and welfare of our players, coaches and staff as our highest priority” and, as a result, the team’s spring complex in Clearwater has been closed indefinitely.

11:00am: Five players and three staffers at the Phillies’ Spring Training complex in Clearwater, Fla., have tested positive for the coronavirus in recent days, Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports reports. None of the cases have required hospitalization to this point, although the rapid manner in which the outbreak spread through camp even without a full roster and staff present, certainly illustrates the risks and complications that could arise even if MLB and the Players Association are actually able to hammer out an agreement. Notably, Salisbury adds that a “significant number of team personnel” are still waiting on results, so further positive tests are possible.

Phillies players have been working out at Clearwater’s Spectrum Field for several weeks, but Salisbury writes that despite limited group sizes and strict safety precautions, the virus quickly spread through Phillies camp.

It’s obviously good news that none of the positive tests have required hospitalization, but the sheer volume of positive cases is still an ominous sign. An outbreak like this during the regular season would require quarantine for a substantial portion of the affected active roster, and most teams would have at least a couple of older members of the coaching staff in proximity to the outbreak. The potential for spreading the virus to the opposing team at a time when multiple members of the roster are perhaps playing asymptomatically also can’t be overlooked.

The outbreak at Phillies camp comes at a time when the broad focus has been on the exhausting series of strategic leaks and vaguely worded statements from MLB and the MLBPA as ownership and players butt heads over the length of the season. So much emphasis has been placed on the financial battle that the yet-to-be-agreed-upon health/safety protocols and the very real potential for COVID-19 outbreaks in close-quarters clubhouse settings have, to some extent, faded from the discussion in recent days.

The latest report out of Florida abruptly thrusts that portion of the debate back to the forefront. And with cases on the rise in key states like Florida, Arizona, Texas and California, the potential for similar instances is prevalent. It was never realistic to expect that there would be no positive tests or even team-wide outbreaks. The goal was to limit such occurrences and prevent mass-scale infections. Still, it’s discouraging that a limited group which represents a fraction of the group that would be gathering for a full-season schedule has produced a rather substantial number of cases. If nothing else, the Phillies’ Clearwater outbreak seems likely to cause all parties to revisit even the elements of the health and safety protocols on which they’ve generally agreed, so as to ensure they are sufficient for both sides.

Pujols To Cover Salaries Of Angels’ Furloughed Employees In Dominican Republic

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The Angels have been panned for implementing some of the industry’s most aggressive cuts throughout their scouting and player development staffs, and first baseman/designated hitter Albert Pujols is offering a helping hand to some of his countrymen who’ve been impacted. According to Maria Torres of the L.A. Times, Pujols will pay the salaries of the Angels’ furloughed employees at their academy in the Dominican Republic for the next five months.

Pujols becomes the latest established veteran to make a gesture along these lines, joining Dodgers lefty David Price and Rangers outfielder/DH Shin-Soo Choo — each of whom donated $1,000 to every minor leaguer in his respective organization to help cover lost wages. Pujols’ gesture will cost him roughly $180K, per Torres. Cynics and critics will surely point out that it’s a relatively minimal sum for Pujols, but that doesn’t detract from the fact that he was under no obligation to step up in this manner. And, those on the receiving end of his generosity are undoubtedly moved by his unexpected decision.

Meanwhile, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reports that the Halos have at least slightly scaled back some of their planned budgetary cuts. Nine of the team’s scouts will return to work in light of MLB recently lifting some of the restrictions it had placed on in-person amateur scouting. Some of those scouts are working this week’s Perfect Game Showcase in Alabama, which began on Wednesday.

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