Latest On Training Facilities, Health Concerns, Potential Rule Changes
Decisions are looming for MLB and the MLBPA regarding a potential 2020 season. The distribution of revenue, salary amounts for players, and the length of the season have been the most publicly controversial topics, but there is a myriad of other negotiating points that could change the game in 2020.
For starters, the league and players are reportedly agreed on changing the format of extra-inning games for the 2020 season. They would adopt the minor league rules that received a trial starting in 2018, per USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. In extras, each team would start with a runner on second base (the batter who made the last out in the previous inning). This should press the action and help avoid ties taking games deep into the night. That runner would count as an unearned run for the pitcher, going down in the scorebooks as if the batter reached on an error. Regardless of whether or not they decide to allow for ties, rules will revert to traditional extra-inning rules for the start of the postseason.
Even bigger than revenue sharing or rule changes, however, are the health conditions facing players. Yesterday represented a step back as news broke of players at multiple MLB facilities with confirmed COVID-19 exposure (stories from Angels, Phillies, Blue Jays, Astros, and Giants).
This underscores a concern for players, who are seeking additional protections for players. It’s been agreed upon that high-risk players can elect to skip the 2020 season with full pay and service time, but the players’ union are looking to get those protections extended to players with high-risk family members as well, tweets MLB Network’s Jon Heyman. Any player can choose to opt-out of the season, but as of right now, unless a player qualifies as high risk, they would forfeit their right to accrue service time or collect a paycheck.
For now, all thirty teams have shut down their training facilities for cleaning, per Bill Shaikin of the LA Times. Given the cases of coronavirus that were revealed yesterday (including 11 NHL players), it’s certainly the prudent call to shut down the facilities to reboot (and disinfect). Clearly, the negotiations between the league and players become moot if they can’t establish a clean and safe environment.
The sport has taken a lot of heat for the contentious nature of the debate between owners and players, but if owners can’t guarantee the safety of players, and if players can’t do their part to stay as safe as possible, a lot of time and money will have been wasted trying to get the game back on track.
Amateur Draft Signings: 6/20/20
Let’s catch up on the latest draft signings …
- The Astros were able to wrap up all of their draft business, per Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle. In addition to picking up some undrafted free agents, the Houston organization inked its four draftees. The key signing was Alex Santos, a high school hurler who’ll turn pro after being offered $1.25MM — a fair bit over the $870,700 slot he was chosen at. Zach Daniels and Tyler Brown each signed for near their slot amounts, while fifth-rounder Shay Witcomb took just $56K and left the team with room to ink Santos.
- Also inking for $1.2MM was Rangers’ choice Dylan MacLean. Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reported the news on Twitter. MacLean was a fourth-round pick in the draft, signing for more than double his slot amount. MacLean is a southpaw hurler out of Central Catholic High School in Oregon.
- The Braves went well over slot to sign fifth-rounder Bryce Elder, according to MLB Pipeline’s Jim Callis (Twitter link). Elder will receive $850K, far north of the $336,600 allocation for the 156th overall pick.
- As he said he would, Tigers fourth-rounder Gage Workman has reached agreement on a deal with his new team. The Detroit organization announced the signing, though it isn’t yet known what the Arizona State infielder will receive to forego a return for another run with the Sun Devils. Still just twenty years of age, Workman posted a lifetime .298/.372/.496 mark at ASU. He’s likely to begin his pro career as a shortstop.
- The Cardinals announced that they’ve signed third-rounder Levi Prater. He’ll earn $575K ($627,900 slot value), Callis tweets. Callils notes that Prater is a right-handed hurler with a 90-93 mph fastball.
- The Phillies added fourth-rounder Carson Ragsdale and fifth-rounder Baron Radcliff, per Callis (Twitter links). Ragsdale will earn $225K, well under the $497,500 slot value. Radcliff, a Georgia Tech outfielder, is slated to take home $100K, which will also leave some savings since his draft slot came with a $371,600 pool allocation.
- The White Sox chased some serious mid-round savings. Third-round choice Adisyn Coffee has inked for $50K and fourth-rounder Kade Mechals went for $10K, Callis reports (Twitter links). Both are right-handed hurlers, Coffee from Wabash Valley College and Mechals out of Grand Canyon. It’s not hard to interpret these signings: the White Sox wish to reallocate the rest of the slot money ($733,100 and $517,400, respectively). The club is believed to be lining up a big bonus with second-rounder Jarred Kelley, though he hasn’t yet signed.
- Rays third-rounder Hunter Barnhart is heading to Tampa Bay on a $585K bonus, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports on Twitter. The Rays saved some cash in inning Barnhart, whose third-round slot carried a value of $604,800.
- High school righty Marco Raya has agreed to terms with the Twins. Callis tweets that he’ll receive a $410K bonus, which isn’t far shy of the $442,900 slot value. Raya is foregoing a commitment to Texas Tech. Though he’s hardly a power hurler, he’s said to have an “interesting four-pitch mix.”
Korea’s Kiwoom Heroes To Sign Addison Russell
In a surprise move, longtime Cubs infielder Addison Russell has found a landing spot in Korea’s top league. He’s joining the Kiwoom Heroes on a $530K contract, per Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News (via Twitter).
Once a top prospect and promising young big leaguer, Russell is best known now for off-field malfeasance. Russell was suspended under the league’s domestic violence policy after his ex-wife detailed serious allegations of abuse.
The Cubs still gave Russell another shot, keeping him through arbitration in 2019 and bringing him back to the majors after the suspension was served. But Russell was not able to take advantage of the second chance, as he continued to produce middling offensive numbers.
All told, since the start of the 2017 season, Russell carries only a .243/.310/.379 batting line. While he’s a quality defensive performer, that wasn’t enough output to merit another trip through arbitration this past offseason.
Though the Cubs had already absorbed the public relations hit of retaining Russell, other organizations declined to bring him aboard this past winter. He was waiting for an opportunity even while Spring Training neared completion.
The lack of a big league deal may ultimately have helped Russell secure his next chance. Unlike most players of his ability levels, the 26-year-old was not under contract when the Heroes went looking for another foreign player. Russell will have a chance to get his career back on track in the KBO, which is playing at full tile (albeit still sans fans) while MLB tries to get its own season underway.
Two Angels Players Have Contracted Coronavirus
At least two players in the Angels system have tested positive for coronavirus, GM Billy Eppler tells Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register (Twitter link). This becomes the latest instance of infection in MLB ballplayers.
Eppler did not divulge any further details regarding the identities of the players in question, including whether or not they are on the team’s 40-man roster. But he did make clear that they had not been at the team’s facilities during the pandemic shutdown, so it seems there’s no reason to worry about further spread within the organization.
We have now seen multiple teams now acknowledge actual or potential COVID-19 diagnoses within their organizations. The information has hit the news wire even as labor negotiations seemingly reached a new impasse.
MLB decided earlier this evening that it will close off team facilities for a period of time. Players and other personnel will not be allowed access unless they have tested negative for coronavirus.
MLB Closes Spring Camps To Establish New Protocols
9:32pm: This policy is going into effect immediately, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter). No players or staff members will be allowed into spring facilities until they have had a coronavirus test come back negative.
6:09pm: Major League Baseball is “strongly considering” shuttering all thirty of its member teams’ Spring Training facilities, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post (Twitter link).
Obviously, that’s startling news to hear when the league is supposed to be readying for Spring Training Part II to get underway. But it certainly seems sensible given the eye-opening reports that emerged today regarding the spread of coronavirus at some facilities.
Per Sherman, the idea would be to close things down, perform a deep clean, and then establish a clear and uniform protocol for accessing these sites. That seems like a wise course of action if a 2020 season is going to be possible at all — regardless of precisely how many games the league and union can agree upon scheduling.
After months of negotiating, there isn’t much wiggle room to work with in squeezing in a campaign. It’s already rather apparent that there will be rolling coronavirus hot spots even over the summer, with real concern that things could get worse in the fall.
The avoidance of major disruptions to the schedule will be as important as it will be difficult. It’s frankly surprising that greater attention wasn’t paid to that effort in the first place.
Astros Report COVID Infection; Rangers Close Spring Facility
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
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
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
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
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.