MLB's protocols upon return will include encouraging players to avoid high-fivesGETTY IMAGES
There is "concern throughout MLB that a second wave of the coronavirus will send the country back into lockdown in the fall just as playoffs are coming to a crescendo," according to Bob Nightengale of USA TODAY. League officials had "previously considered the possibility of extending the season into as late as December, but that idea has been scraped and now there is strong sentiment that the World Series must conclude by the first week of November." MLB is "encouraged that games are now being played safely in South Korea, with no player testing positive for COVID-19, with no fans permitted inside the ballparks." MLB is "not recommending daily blood tests, but temperatures will be taken each day for every person that enters the ballpark" (USA TODAY, 5/14). In N.Y., Joel Sherman notes MLB's medical/safety protocols to return to play will "include trying to discourage players from spitting, high-fiving and taking ride services such as Uber to the ballpark." MLB "hopes there will be an educational process to get players comfortable and behind a variety of new standards designed to reduce the chance of both contracting the virus and/or spreading it." The league's medical protocols "will include a call for regular (but not daily) blood tests" (N.Y. POST, 5/14).
INACTIVES CASHING IN? THE ATHLETIC's Ken Rosenthal noted former MLBer Prince Fielder, owed $24M in the final year of his contract with the Rangers, is to "receive his full termination pay under terms of the March agreement between the owners and players" regarding a shortened or canceled '20 season. Sources said that the amount Fielder receives "might decrease if the parties reach a subsequent deal to reduce the pay of players who were released before the COVID-19 pandemic, but such an adjustment is unlikely." The players are "no longer on 40-man rosters," and the MLB CBA "seemingly protects the guarantees in their contracts" (THEATHLETIC.com, 5/13).
TIME TO COME TOGETHER: In Boston, Dan Shaughnessy writes fans "reluctantly are prepared to live with no baseball if it turns out that COVID-19 will close everything down deep into the summer and fall because player safety cannot be guaranteed." But what fans "cannot live with is no baseball because the owners and players cannot work out player compensation" because of "mutual distrust and tired old arguments." What fans also "cannot live with is Business As Usual by the ever-angry/intransigent" MLBPA and the owners. This is "not 'business as usual,'" and agent Scott Boras, MLBPA Exec Dir Tony Clark and the PA "need to cease with the typical, tired negotiation rhetoric" (BOSTON GLOBE, 5/14). In N.Y., Kristie Ackert writes the owners have "put the players in a no-win situation by setting the narrative that it comes down to the money." But the players "have so much more at risk here." They will be "risking their health and that of their families and friends." They have "concerns that go beyond themselves" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 5/14).
