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How The Delayed Season Impacts The Indians

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All 30 big league clubs are waiting to see whether a 2020 season will be played at all, but assuming a season is able to take place in some capacity, the prolonged delay will impact some clubs more than others. We’ve already examined the potential effects for the Yankees, Angels, Phillies, Athletics and Twins. Today, we’ll turn to Minnesota’s likeliest challenger in the AL Central, the Indians.

For every roster, the hiatus most obviously affects injured players. The delay gives currently them more time to recover, and Cleveland has a few who fit that bill. That’s most notable for a pair of right-handed starters.

Veteran Carlos Carrasco had been nagged by inflammation in his throwing elbow during Spring Training. While Carrasco fortunately avoided structural damage, president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti had cast doubt on his chances of being ready for a March 26 Opening Day. Cleveland hadn’t provided a firm timetable for his projected return, but the issue seemed relatively minor. Presumably, the 33-year-old would now have a much better chance at being in the season-opening rotation if baseball resumes.

That’s also true of staff ace Mike Clevinger. The hard-throwing righty underwent knee surgery in mid-February, which was expected to sideline him for six to eight weeks. Nothing has trickled out on the status of his recovery since, but we’re in the middle of that timetable now. Assuming Clevinger’s progressing as had been expected, he seems likely to be ready to ramp back up if the season gets going.

It’s even possible we see hard-throwing righty Emmanuel Clase in the season-opening bullpen. That wasn’t true prior to the shutdown when Clase went down for eight to twelve weeks at the end of February with a strain in his back. Owner of a 100 MPH cutter, Clase was the primary return from the Rangers in the Corey Kluber deal (along with getting Kluber’s $17.5MM salary off the books). If healthy, he’ll likely be an integral part of Terry Francona’s relief unit.

That’s a trio of potential impact arms who could see a greater portion of the season for Cleveland than had been initially anticipated. And simply by introducing more randomness, a shortened season probably increases their odds of upsetting the reigning division champs in Minneapolis. Yet the threat of a cancelled season looms as large for the Indians as any team in MLB.

Enter Francisco Lindor. The face of the franchise is two years from free agency. If it never becomes possible for MLB to return in 2020, Lindor will pick up another year of service time by virtue of having logged a full year in 2019. Extension talks, which have never seemed all that likely to come to fruition, were tabled even before the MLB moratorium. A cancelled season would be one fewer year for Cleveland fans to ’enjoy’ the presence of one of the game’s most talented, charismatic players. Regardless of whether a season is played, Lindor’s name would surely be bandied around in trade rumors next offseason unless an extension is reached. Cleveland fans won’t want to hear it, but there’s now seemingly a possibility he’s played his final home game there.

Fortunately, much of the roster is under team control for 2021. If the 2020 season is ultimately cancelled, the Cleveland front office could bring back the entire starting rotation and eight members of the starting lineup, as projected by Roster Resource. (Only second baseman César Hernández, an offseason signee, isn’t controlled beyond this season). Yet Lindor’s status already looms large for the franchise; if the season were wiped away, it’d only become more pressing.

Quick Hits: Verlander, Draft Scouting, Moore

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Justin Verlander is the latest player to contribute towards the COVID-19 relief effort, as the Astros ace and his wife Kate Upton announced (via Twitter) that Verlander’s weekly paycheck will be donated to a different organization every week.  “We’ll also be highlighting the organization that we choose so that that everyone can see the amazing work they’re doing right now,” Upton said.  As per the terms of the recent agreement between the MLB Players Association and Major League Baseball, Verlander is part of the group of players (who have reached salary arbitration or are on guaranteed contracts) that will receive roughly $5K per day in both April and May.  Now, all of the money Verlander receives from those payments will go to a variety of worthy causes.

Some more from around the baseball world…

  • Major League scouts will soon be permitted to contact prospects for the 2020 draft and the 2020-21 international signing period (as well as the prospects’ families and advisers) beginning next week, CBS Sports’ R.J. Anderson writes.  MLB halted all scouting activities as part of the league-wide shutdown in March, and any sort of in-person workouts or meetings are still banned.  ESPN.com’s Kiley McDaniel reports that teams are also not permitted to view any video footage of such workout sessions that took place after March 27.  That said, teams can gather data and video on players (from third parties or from the prospects’ representatives) prior to that date, and also contact the prospects’ teams by phone, e-mail, or any other type of indirect method.  With some rough plans now in place for a shortened 2020 draft, teams will now have some avenues to gain fresher information on players they might wish to select.  The amateur draft will now take place in July, while the next international signing period (originally scheduled to open on July 2) could be pushed back as far as January.
  • The 2020 season was already going to be a new experience for Matt Moore after the left-hander signed with Nippon Professional Baseball’s SoftBank Hawks, though the coronavirus pandemic has created an extra layer of unexpected adversity.  Moore talks to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal about the differences and similarities between playing and living in Japan as opposed to the majors, his offseason courtship from SoftBank that included a private workout for the team, and how playing for the Hawks marks something of a return.  Moore spent four years living in Japan as a child when his father was transferred to a U.S. Air Force base in Okinawa.

Rangers Executives Take Temporary Pay Cuts

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As clubs brace for the possibility of layoffs or staff reduction while revenue is halted, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reports that several top-ranking Rangers executives have taken temporary ~20% pay cuts. The hope is to protect lower-level employees from being laid off or furloughed.

The salary reduction will hit the “top executive staff,” per Grant. That includes president of baseball operations Jon Daniels but not principal owners Ray Davis and Neil Leibman, neither of whom draws a salary. Further details aren’t known.

Whether and when the team will explore further cost-cutting efforts isn’t evident. We have yet to hear much from other teams around the league on this front. The situation is perhaps a bit different in Texas, as the club had been anticipating a massive revenue boost even as it pays (part of) the cost of its still-unused new ballpark.

By leaguewide agreement, all teams already decided to retain their usual salaried employees through the end of April. Players, of course, have been handled separately. And the slate of salaried employees generally does not include a large number of people you’d encounter during a typical trip to the ballpark. Teams each promised $1MM to hourly employees. But that left unaddressed the employees of third-party vendors. At least some teams have expanded their efforts to ensure some money flows to those workers.

MLBPA Approves Assistance Program For Non-Roster Players With Prior MLB Service

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The Major League Baseball Players Association on Friday approved a program intended to provide supplemental income to non-roster players with prior Major League service time, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter links) and Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports (Twitter links).

Under the newly implemented program, players with at least a day of MLB service time who were in Major League camp on a non-roster deal as of March 13 will be eligible to receive anywhere from $5,000 (less than one year of service) to $50,000 (six-plus years) depending on their level of prior experience. The program, entitled the MLBPA Financial Assistance Program, is aimed at previous big leaguers who were not covered under last week’s $170MM settlement that would be paid out in the event of a canceled season because they’re not currently on a 40-man roster. It’s an optional program, per both Rosenthal and Brown, meaning that those with ample financial security may choose not to opt in.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan adds a more detailed breakdown of the payout structure, reporting that players with at least one day of service time but less than a full year are eligible for the minimum $5K supplement. Players between one and two years of service could accrue $7500, while players with two to three years could earn $15K. Those with three-plus years of service but fewer than six are eligible for a $25K payout, and players with six-plus years of MLB service can claim the full $50K.

The new program is likely of particular import to players in the lowest bracket — e.g. Pittsburgh’s James Marvel (22 days of MLB service), Texas’ Ian Gibaut (41 days), etc. — but may not be utilized by more veteran players who’ve earned tens of millions of dollars in their careers. It does not replace the $400 weekly stipend that was afforded to minor leaguers through the end of May, the majority of whom won’t benefit from this new program by virtue of the fact that they’ve never been on a 40-man roster and thus never been under the union’s umbrella. As the New York Post’s Joel Sherman tweets, however, the MLBPA wanted to provide some extra cover for those who’ve previously paid union dues while spending time on a 40-man roster.

How The Delayed Season Impacts The Twins

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All 30 big league clubs are waiting to see whether a 2020 season will be played at all, but assuming a season is able to take place in some capacity, the prolonged delay will impact some clubs more than others. We’ve already run through the Yankees, Angels, Phillies and Athletics in this regard.

Turning to the Twins, who’ll be looking to defend their first division crown since 2010, they’ll suddenly have the opportunity to get nearly a full season out of one of their most important pitching pickups of the winter: left-hander Rich Hill.

Rich Hill | Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

The 40-year-old Hill underwent “primary repair” surgery on his left ulnar collateral ligament over the winter and inked a one-year, $3MM deal with Minnesota (plus $9.5MM of available incentives), knowing that he’d miss the first few months of the season. Primary repair is a less invasive alternative to Tommy John surgery that can be pursued depending on the extent of the tear and its location within the ligament; Hill’s injury met the requisite criteria, and he was targeting a June or July return to the mound. It’s now possible he’ll be ready to join the Twins’ rotation early in a truncated season — if not from the very outset.

Manager Rocco Baldelli gave an update on Hill’s status in a recent interview with Steve Phillips and Eduardo Perez on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM, suggesting that Hill is rehabbing and throwing and has “done very well — about as well as you could ask for.” To this point, there’s no reason to think his initial rehab timetable needs adjustment.

Hill wasn’t the ace that many Twins fans hoped to see the front office add this winter, but on a per-inning basis he remains highly effective. The durability concerns with the veteran southpaw are very real even if his recovery from offseason surgery goes as planned, but there’s no denying how good Hill has been recently when able to take the mound. In 58 2/3 innings last season, the lefty pitched to a 2.45 ERA with 11.0 K/9 against 2.8 BB/9 — despite pitching part of the season with the ligament damage that necessitated his surgery. Hill only managed 327 regular-season innings over the past three years, but he logged a 3.30 ERA with just under 11 punchouts per nine frames in that time and also chipped in 37 innings of 2.43 ERA ball in the playoffs.

The postponement of Opening Day not only gives Hill more time to get up to speed — it also should allow the Twins to more easily manage his innings. It’s likely that rosters will be expanded at least early on, which should give Baldelli some extra relievers if the club wants to limit Hill to three to five innings per outing to begin the season. One of the Twins’ previously projected fifth starter candidates — Randy Dobnak, Devin Smeltzer, Lewis Thorpe or non-roster invitee Jhoulys Chacin — could potentially be paired with Hill in a tandem or piggyback type of arrangement.

Additional downtime will also allow the Twins to ensure that several key players are at full strength to begin the year. None of Byron Buxton, Jorge Polanco or Marwin Gonzalez was expected to open the 2020 campaign on the injured list, but each is recovering from surgery. Buxton went under the knife last September to repair a torn labrum and was only just about to get into Grapefruit League games when Spring Training was suspended. Baldelli has said Buxton would’ve been ready for Opening Day, but there shouldn’t be any doubt about his shoulder’s well-being now.

Polanco, meanwhile, underwent surgery to repair an ankle injury that dogged him throughout the 2019 season. He appeared fine at the plate, hitting .295/.356/.485 with 22 long balls, 40 doubles and seven triples, but it’s possible that the nagging ankle issue contributed to Polanco’s lackluster defensive ratings and his lack of stolen bases (just four). Gonzalez, meanwhile, underwent a debridement of the patellar tendon in his right knee over the winter and was a bit behind schedule in camp. He should be fully up to speed once play resumes.

There are also possible implications for suspended right-hander Michael Pineda, who still has 39 games remaining on a reduced 60-game ban issued late last year. That suspension will still be in effect if the 2020 season is able to be played, and there’s been no indication that it’d be shortened or prorated to reflect the reduction of games on this year’s schedule. If the season is canceled entirely, however, ESPN’s Jeff Passan has previously reported that drug suspension wouldn’t carry into the 2021 campaign. Pineda would seemingly be able to join the rotation from day one.

The hope in Minnesota is that by the end of whatever season we get, Jose Berrios, Jake Odorizzi, Kenta Maeda, Homer Bailey, Hill and Pineda will combine to make the bulk of the starts. With six starters, plus the trio of Dobnak, Smeltzer and Thorpe on hand as depth options (and perhaps Chacin as well), the Twins should be well-equipped to handle regular doubleheaders and fewer off-days in the accelerated regular-season schedule.

In a worst-case scenario that sees the season postponed entirely, the Twins could see holdovers Odorizzi, Gonzalez, Nelson Cruz and Trevor May all reach free agency. Meanwhile, Hill, Bailey, Tyler Clippard and Alex Avila could depart without ever formally suiting up in a game that counts.

Latest News & Notes On Coronavirus & Baseball

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We’re all pining for the return of baseball. It’d be nice to watch, especially in these trying times. More than anything, though, the start of play would mean that we’ve achieved some amount of control over the spread of the coronavirus — and, perhaps, that there’d be an end in sight to the suffering it has wrought. In the meantime, we join all those around the world in honoring the brave health care professionals, first responders, logistical employees, and others who are doing everything they can to sustain us.

  • The unfolding tragedy is particularly acute in New York, the present American epicenter of the COVID-19 crisis. Baseball is an afterthought. Any hope of playing it will depend upon addressing the broader public health need, as Yankees reliever Zack Britton acknowledges (via MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM, on Twitter). “At the end of the day,” he says of talk regarding the scheduling of the 2020 season, “it doesn’t matter until the virus gets under control and cities and people are able just to go back to everyday life, let alone being able to go and watch baseball or us play baseball.” Getting to a point where the spread is manageable seems an obvious prerequisite for sports, even if played without fans. But the league and union are rightly thinking ahead and trying to plan to move back online as soon as possible. Britton says the sides have already begun considering potential neutral sites to stage games, potentially providing alternative venues that could be utilized as needed. The unnamed locations would have the sorts of playing, lodging, and other facilities required to make play possible.
  • We’ve seen many MLB players pitch in financially and otherwise. They’re also quite understandably thinking of the needs of their families. Veteran Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka has headed back to his native Japan with his wife and child while waiting for baseball to resume, Brendan Kuty of NJ.com reports. Tanaka says he felt in “danger” in Florida, where the virus is a growing threat. He also chose against returning to the home he maintains in New York. (There is at least a touch of baseball-specific news on the Yankees’ pitching staff, as we covered here yesterday.)
  • Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak has revealed that one employee of the team has tested positive for COVID-19, as Mark Saxon of The Athletic tweets. The unnamed employee was not on hand at the club’s spring facility during camp; rather, he or she was stationed in St. Louis. MLBTR extends its best wishes for a quick and full recovery. Fortunately, that seems to be just what occurred for legendary former Cardinals and Angels outfielder Jim Edmonds. As Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register writes, Edmonds ended up in the hospital for pneumonia and ultimately tested positive for COVID-19. But he’s thankfully already on the mend.
  • It’s always worth highlighting the good acts that take place in times of crisis. As Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times writes, the Rays have initiated some assistance to local charity Feeding Tampa Bay, promising $100K and another $150K in matching funds to help spur a food drive. The Feeding Tampa Bay executive director calls it a “tremendous gift.” Meanwhile Rockies first baseman Daniel Murphy is the latest veteran player to make a sizable financial commitment. He’s giving $100K to a “family assistance fund” to assist minor-leaguers who support children or other family members. More on that initiative here.

MLB Cancels 2020 London Series

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Major League Baseball has officially announced the cancellation of the 2020 London Series. The Cubs and Cardinals had been scheduled to play a two-game UK set in mid-June.

This hardly rates as a surprise given the coronavirus crisis that has engulfed the world. Putting on MLB contests, with or without fans in attendance, will be hard enough to pull off in North America. There was little reason to attempt play across the pond when it’s quite likely a live audience wouldn’t even be permitted.

One might have expected the league to postpone the London series rather than cancelling it outright. But even a move to a later point in 2020 would’ve come with immense challenges: added logistics, difficulties of international travel, and conflict with a highly condensed schedule.

In the long run, MLB surely hopes to resume play in London. The league was able to do so in 2019. It has also held regular season contests in Tokyo, Sydney, and Monterrey over the years.

2020 Season Increasingly Likely To Begin Without Crowds

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What began as a backup plan has increasingly turned into an apparent inevitability as the coronavirus pandemic continues to grow. If MLB is able to get a 2020 season off the ground at all, it’s likely to be played initially in empty stadiums, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post.

Just days ago, reporting indicated that the league and union contemplated a return with fans on hand. But that came with a caveat: the agreement gave commissioner Rob Manfred flexibility to launch the season sans spectators (and/or at neutral sites) if circumstances warrant.

As Sherman explains, there’s a growing belief within the game that Manfred will indeed have to find creative solutions to re-start play. The logistics inherent to staging a typical ballgame — stadium workers, public transportation, fans packing stands, etc. — are wholly incompatible with social distancing measures.

Flexibility will surely be the name of the game. Toronto has already announced restrictions that would seem to preclude a typical MLB contest through June 30. Other cities (and/or states and federal governments) will extend or add limitations on gatherings. Even if attendance becomes possible in some jurisdictions, uniformity is unlikely for some time.

Even playing without fans could prove challenging. Consider the difficulties facing Asian leagues that are attempting that feat at present, with halting progress. But it’s surely better than nothing. As Sherman explains, both the league and the players recognize their common interest in getting some revenue flowing again. And we could all stand to see new ballgames, even if only on a screen.

Sherman also highlights another factor at play: the role of the minor leagues. That’s important in its own right, particularly given the typically meager wages paid to minor-league players and the broader battle between MLB and MiLB over the future of the farm system. All of the logistical challenges facing the majors will be multiplied — and without the same revenue potential to support herculean efforts to stage games.

The issue also ties into a key element of a potentially jam-packed regular season: the need for extra MLB players. As Sherman explains, we might see 30-man active rosters. But there’ll be a need for constant supplementation — just as ever, but perhaps even moreso now with the possibility of a shortened second Spring Training and condensed schedule. Developing prospects, keeping depth players available, and managing the 40-man roster for the short and long-term will be more complicated than ever. And it’ll all take place without the underlying structure of a typical minor-league season, at least for some time.

Perhaps some creative solutions will help make this all possible. Sherman floats the concept of upper-minors players participating in some sort of modified instructional league format, where they’d prepare to join the MLB roster as needed. I’ll go ahead and float my own idea: the temporary addition of a few 40-man roster spots that could be used on veteran players. That way, teams could field rosters without forcing up youngsters prematurely or risking prospects to open needed roster space. And it would limit the amount of roster churn — in particular, players moving between different organizations — which could be an important tactic for helping to limit the possibility of disease transmission.

Manfred will face innumerable foreseeable difficulties. Beyond that, there’s broad uncertainty — in all directions. Perhaps some as-yet-unknown development will ultimately brighten the outlook. For now, we can only wait, hope, and do our part to ease the burden on public health systems and our own communities.

 

How The Delayed Season Impacts The Athletics

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Every Major League Baseball team is facing some sort of impact from the coronavirus, which has delayed the start of the regular season and could wipe it out completely. Before the 2020 campaign begins (if it does), MLBTR will break down the ways that the pushed back campaign could affect each big league club. We’ve already handled the Yankees, Phillies and Angels. Let’s stay in the Angels’ division, the American League West, and turn our attention to the Athletics.

Last season was the second straight 97-win, playoff-bound effort for the Athletics. Their success in those years came in spite of tremendous adversity in their pitching staff, largely on account of injuries.

Left-hander A.J. Puk, one of the franchise’s prized young arms, has barely pitched since undergoing Tommy John surgery in April 2018. He sat out all of that season and the majority of last year, when he totaled the first 11 1/3 innings of his career from the A’s bullpen. The flamethrowing Puk showed well as a reliever then, but the hope remains that he’ll turn into a quality starter in the majors. Under normal circumstances, those hopes – at least for the early part of 2020 – may have taken a hit when Puk dealt with shoulder issues near the beginning of this month. Puk looked as if he’d begin the season on the injured list then, but with Opening Day a long way from happening, he seemingly now has a much better chance to crack an A’s rotation that should also feature Sean Manaea, Frankie Montas, Mike Fiers and Jesus Luzardo.

Like the 24-year-old Puk, Luzardo counts as one of the A’s high-end young southpaws. And injuries have also held back Luzardo, who sat out a significant portion of 2019 but did dominate over 12 innings from their bullpen. Luzardo, 22, has never even hit the 110-inning mark in a season (he threw 55 in 2019), so it stands to reason that he’ll benefit from a shortened season from a workload standpoint. The same applies to Puk, who amassed just 36 2/3 professional frames from 2018-19.

On the offensive side, the A’s could receive more contributions than expected from right fielder Stephen Piscotty. A little over a month ago, the 29-year-old was said to be questionable for Opening Day because of an intercostal strain. So, the longer this shutdown goes, the better his chances are of being available for a full season. Piscotty was an integral part of the A’s lineup two seasons ago, but numerous health woes held him to 93 games and limited his effectiveness a year ago. A healthy, bounce-back performance from Piscotty would be a boon for Oakland, which lacked a solid third outfield producer last season to complement Ramon Laureano and Mark Canha.

In a worst-case scenario, there won’t be any baseball this year. If that proves to be the case, it’s possible one of the A’s stars, shortstop Marcus Semien, has played his last game in their uniform. Semien went from good to great last year, a season in which he slashed .285/.369/.522 with 33 home runs and 10 stolen bases to finish fifth among position players in fWAR (7.6). That could wind up as a platform season for the soon-to-be 30-year-old Semien, who’s due to reach free agency next winter. There has been mutual interest in a long-term contract, but the league has halted extension talks for the time being. Furthermore, considering their low-budget ways, the A’s may not be in ideal position to keep Semien from testing the market and ultimately exiting.

The hope for everyone who follows baseball – especially those in Oakland – is that Semien will line up at short for the Athletics in the coming months. That would mean actually getting to watch baseball in 2020, after all, but it’s anyone’s guess whether Semien has donned an A’s uniform for the last time.

Baseball Leagues In Korea, Japan Face Ongoing Coronavirus Challenges

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5:08pm: Although NPB had been pushing for an April 24 start, Sports Nippon in Japan reports that league officials are now questioning whether that’s a viable target date (English-language link via Tokyo-based baseball journalist Jim Allen). Half of the league’s team presidents met this morning and acknowledged that a later date is now likely necessary, although a specific timeframe has yet to be agreed upon. Allen notes that league officials have run simulations of scenarios that include May 8 and May 15 starts to the season.

Meanwhile, in a full column for Yonhap, Yoo reports that the KBO is contemplating weekly Monday doubleheaders as the league mulls season lengths of 124 games, 117 games and 108 games (all declines from the traditional 144-game length). Major League Baseball, of course, has discussed similar use of frequent doubleheaders in an effort to maximize the number of games possible in a shortened season of its own.

9:15am: With COVID-19 raging in the United States, it’s hard not to glance longingly across the Pacific. In Korea and Japan, authorities have seemingly gained control over the spread of the virus — so much so that their highly respected baseball leagues are working toward a resumption of play.

That’s not to say the effort is without challenges. Ramping up economic activity while holding back the tide of disease requires flexibility that’s flatly inconsistent with baseball’s typically regimented structure. Both the Korea Baseball Organization and Nippon Professional Baseball have had to adapt their plans on an ad hoc basis.

The KBO had been tracking toward an Opening Day about three weeks from today. That’s no longer on the table, as Yonhap’s Jeeho Yoo reports (Twitter links). Now, with teams still prevented from traveling away from their own facilities, April 21st is scheduled for the start of the preseason.

There’s still hope that the KBO campaign will get underway by early May, if not a bit sooner. But the league has seemingly scrapped plans to get in all 144 games. Per Yoo, teams expect to play as few as 108 contests.

For the time being, the Japanese schedule has not been altered further since initially being pushed back from March 20 to April 24. But the NPB has come across its own problems. Star Hanshin Tigers right-hander Shintaro Fujinami and two teammates have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to the Associated Press (Kyodo News was first to report on Fujinami). They are the first three professional baseball players in Japan to test positive for the illness.

There have been spectator-less exhibition contests taking place in Japan, but the Tigers canceled their farm team practice game Thursday in response to this news. They’ve also suspended all practice through April 1 and ordered their players and staff to self-quarantine. It’s obviously possible to imagine that this worrisome development could ultimately contribute to another delay for the league. More broadly, the news on the Hanshin players represents another grim reminder of what the world is up against and how challenging it is to carry on with pro sports or any other aspects of normal life at this time.

In other less-than-promising news out of Asia, China has halted attempts to resume professional sports, Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com reports on Twitter. It seems the overarching concern lies in the potential for transmission between asymptomatic carriers of coronavirus. That decision and reasoning further underscore the remaining uncertainty in dealing with this disease. Even when progress is finally made in getting sports and other business activities back online, it’s all but certain that new hurdles will arise.

Just what this all means for Major League Baseball in 2020 is anyone’s guess, though it’s obviously not promising. But it’s important to bear in mind that the situation is evolving at an exceptionally rapid pace that largely defies prediction. Remarkably, it was less than three weeks ago that MLB halted Spring Training.

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