The ongoing baseball negotiations hit an outside impasse last week when players across the league began to test positive for COVID-19.
While MLB and the MLB players association debated salaries and how many games to play in 2020, the original foe returned when positive tests started to roll in. The Wall Street Journal reported that 11 players on 40-man rosters tested positive between June 5 and June 19. USA TODAY reported Sunday that 40 players and staff members tested positive last week.
The Philadelphia Phillies shut down their Clearwater, Fla., facility immediately Friday after five players and three employees tested positive. The rest of the league followed, as USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported Friday that “Major League Baseball will close all spring training sites in Arizona and Florida for deep cleaning and will not permit players or staff members until they pass a COVID-19 test.”
Nightengale added to the story Sunday, reporting that every team except potentially the Toronto Blue Jays will have a de facto spring training at their home ballparks.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the outbreak has caused the league to reconsider the possibility of playing all 2020 games at a secure site, similar to the NBA’s plan to play every game at Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex in Florida. A Wall Street Journal source suggested Southern California as a possible site, as Dodger Stadium, Angel Stadium, Petco Park and several college ballparks are all in the region. Arizona was discussed as a “bubble site” early in the pandemic.
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The contentious negotiations to restart the season continued throughout the weekend, with the players postponing their vote on whether to accept MLB’s most recent proposal — a 60-game season with players receiving full pro-rated play. The players have continually pushed for more games than the league, but the number has dropped the longer the negotiations have lasted.
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The latest plan was to start the season July 19, but USA TODAY reported that the recent tests have pushed that back to July 26 at the earliest.
“I really believe we are fighting over an impossibility on games,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred wrote to union chief Tony Clark in an email obtained by USA TODAY. “The earliest we will be ready for players to report is a week from Monday [June 29] given the need to relocate teams from Florida. That leaves 66 days to play 60 games. Realistically, that is the outside of the envelope now.”
Nightengale reported that, if the league and players don’t reach a deal this week, Manfred will mandate a 54- to 60-game season.
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